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The Comox Valley — where humans and toons interact

After being in the entertainment industries in Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver, Christian Ryan is doing the same — in the Comox Valley.
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ANIMATOR CHRISTIAN RYAN hangs out with characters from his upcoming series

After spending time in the entertainment industries in Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver, Christian Ryan is still doing the same — in the Comox Valley.The American-born animator, is turning to local talent to help produce his animated series Fox & Bigfoot, which he, along with his three siblings —The Brothers Ryan — hope to pitch to major television networks this winter."It's a Seinfeld-type series, aimed at college kids," explained Ryan. "It's set in a world where all the humans are gone, and animals come out of the forest and live human experiences. They comment on human society and all of its irony and misinterpretation."To fund the creation of the series, Ryan noted the brothers have turned to kickstarter.com, a website that helps people fund creative projects. With seven days to go, the project has raised more than $7,000, with a goal of $12,000.Depending on the funding level, which ranges from $5 to $2,500, donors can receive different gifts from the creators, from original production artwork all the way to an executive producer credit.Ryan said although they have some Hollywood actors to voice some of the characters, including Nick Offerman and Aziz Ansari from Parks and Recreation, he added he wants to focus on hiring local comedians and actors from the Comox Valley."We want the show to be a platform for new and established comedians for them to develop their ideas on world," he noted. Although they are creating the series independent of a television production company, Ryan said the brothers are pooling their talent and contacts. "My one brother just graduated from film school in Utah, another is in music school in New York and another works in graphic design, and now I'm in the Comox Valley. We use Skype a lot for story meetings," he added. Ryan said despite using computer software to animate the series, the overall look of the animation will have a traditional, hand-drawn look. The brothers hope to create a pilot episode along with a second episode, and use the two to distribute the show throughout film festivals in the U.S. and to pitch to television networks. "Our first step is to develop the script, hire voice actors, start storyboarding and the start animating," he explained. "We hope to have it done by December and start pitching then."To contribute to the project, or for more information about the project, visit www.kickstarter.com and search Fox & Bigfoot.photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com



Erin Haluschak

About the Author: Erin Haluschak

Erin Haluschak is a journalist with the Comox Valley Record since 2008. She is also the editor of Trio Magazine...
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