Handycat

Random thoughts over the past week… A week ago today, we pitched the revised board and got a few notes which we brought back to Indianapolis and implimented. The board is in Nick hands for final notes and Standards and Practices notes.

The trip to California was great. It was wonderful to be going there having already gotten the gig. Usually when I travel, it’s all about selling something which can be stressful - and lonely. It was fun having Russ there, too. We got the chance to meet some of the other creators and I really enjoyed that. I like the sense of community that is fostered in this whole project. One of the great things about visiting in California, is that the whole cartoon business seems a lot more real. There’s actually money in it! Some of the time, we feel kind of alone out here in Indiana [Read more…]

The photo above is the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank. Fun, huh? Each of the Oh Yeah! creators hopes to see their own characters on top of that building one day too!

Brian and I arrived in LA on Tuesday. On Wednesday we headed over to the Oh Yeah! offices to re-pitch the Handycat storyboard. Most of the changes were successful and helped to smooth out the story and characters; however in some areas, we over-fixed. Those scenes are being pulled back into line and re-inserted into the storyboard so that it can be forwarded on to the network for a final approval. Hopefully, everything will be okay, and we can get back to work on the art and character designs. We�ll be concentrating on that this week.

While at the Oh Yeah! offices, we also met with Meredith Layne, our casting supervisor, to start the process of finding the [Read more…]

Handycat knows that every self-respecting handyman should arrive in a very professional looking truck. Though it�s used, and the hand-lettering on the side was no doubt done by him, he knows it helps him make that lasting impression! Handycat is new to the business, so you may not have seen his truck in your neighborhood yet ….Maybe for the sake of your property, that�s not such a bad thing!

The Repitch - As a result of the notes we got from the Frederator and Nick folks regarding the storyboard, Brian and I spend a good amount of time last week just talking over the changes we needed to make. Dreaming up alternative funny scenes, suggesting new dialogue, and trying to create humorous situations isn�t always easy � but it sure is fun. I love to laugh and many mornings lately, that�s a lot of what we�ve been doing � and yes, some [Read more…]

AUGH! So, last week, I posted on this and thought I was including a picture, which I wasn’t. So, I added another post with the picture. Then, later, it became apparent that I could actually EDIT things here, and I could combine the two posts. So, I did it. What I didn’t realize is that there were at least three responses to the post I deleted when I put the picture in the first one. I didn’t even get to read them. Russ did. He said they were from Fred, Melissa and Momala - so thanks to all three of you.

This is Drillbit. He’s Handycat’s dog. He brings up a couple of thoughts about creativity and how capricious it can sometimes be. Russ thought of the name, but since he thought of it, he also second guessed himself, wondering if anyone would ever associate it with the dog as [Read more…]

Hi, I�m Russ Harris � And we�ll be producing �Handycat� from our home studio here in Indianapolis. (As an interesting side note - if you look closely at the fly-over shots in the new CBS show Close To Home, set in Indianapolis, you can see our building!!! Well, sort of…almost…well.. no, not really at all…that�s the DMV…never mind.) Anyway, enough about location, let talk about cartoons� And how excited we are to be a part of the OY! Team!

Well, it all started with Brian�s pitch in April to the Frederator folks of our proposed short entitled �MyCrobes.� Before the pitch even started, Larry Huber walked in and said, �Hey! MyCrobes is the same name as my short!� Oh well… you know what they say about great minds…. Anyway, after the pitch, everyone agreed that our MyCrobes concept wasn�t quite right. So back to the Indiana drawing board, or in my [Read more…]

The turnaround is the current rough model on Handycat. I did 800 drawings of cats or cat parts (I counted ‘em - how crazy is that?) in search of something that fit the personality we envision. This could either be considered dedicated creative diligence or creative floundering. And it feels worth it as we’re zeroing in on something. This week found us officially starting production and starting the process of dismantling the old Ink & Paint room and turning it into a story room. It’s been a long time since we pinned individual sketches up and mixed and matched and played and added and deleted and it’s kind of fun. We’re excited about working on this project - being reunited with Larry Huber and Fred and working with Eric and Melissa and Claudia and Kevin… and that’s just for starters. I particularly want to thank Fred for the mentoring he’s [Read more…]