A collection of animators who have had decades of combined experiences at companies such as Pixar, DreamWorks Animation and Disney have come together to create a new series for young adults.
According to the group, the series will have characters from backgrounds that are under-represented in animation. They have set up an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money in order to produce a 3D CGI animated pilot.
Currently a web comic, The Book of Mojo, is an urban fantasy set in the near future and has been created by Everett Downing who has worked on films such as Ratatouille, Wall-E, Toy Story 3 and Ice Age. It follows Creepy, a 13 year old runaway witch and Mojo, a seven foot tall enchanted statue.
The lead protagonist is a black female. “Many of its viewers were not only excited by the premise, but also by the story’s female lead, a strong young person of colour. As an African-American father of two girls, imagery in the media is very important to me, and diversity is something I’m excited to address in a fun and entertaining way,” said Everett on the Indiegogo page.
“We think stories can change the world. We’re passionate about animation but we feel the current paradigm of American animated series is very limited. We want to tell stories featuring characters that we feel are under-represented in animation. Our cast features a colorful and diverse array of characters that we can’t wait to introduce you to,” he added.
The group is a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Harry Potter and all things Joss Whedon. The series is inspired strongly by their storytelling sensibilities.
The people involved are Everett, Michael Yates, Kenji Ono, Zachary Shore , Tiffany Ford, Jesse Aclin, Maria Yi, Portlynn Tagavi, Alex Li, Frank Abney, Aaron McGriff, Montaque Ruffin, Erica Cunha, Seung Sung, Anne Yang, Tyler Hunter, Morgan Johnson, Kim Tillman, Joey Richter, Yvie Raij, Monique Henry-Hudson, Hilary Rood.