Hello everyone!

It's that time of year. The beginning of the year! 2023 was a wild ride in so many ways. We had so much going on that we couldn't fully get to everything we wanted to do, which might be a good problem to have. I'll do my best to catch up on everything we've done since our last update and let you know what we have coming up for the future.

10TH ANNIVERSARY
As many of you may know, 2023 was the studio's tenth anniversary. There were a lot of things we wanted to do in celebration of that, but not a lot we had time for (as mentioned before). What we did manage to do, was a fun stream in celebration featuring Chris, David Young and I. We chat about past experiences and play a little IC trivia. That can be seen HERE!

A SCRIPT CALLED MISERY
After five years of off and on work, it is complete. The first comic book series we produced is finally finished and fully available with all five parts of the story. Links to every issue can be found HERE! It feels very good to have weight of this one lifted off of our shoulders. There was a point in time where we wondered if we would ever see the day, and it seriously bummed me out to think we would leave something half finished like that. Luckily, we were able to strap in and get it done.

THE DOG PARK
While on the topic of comic books, it's probably a good time to jump to this one as well. You'll probably notice that the last couple updates on it were more or less giant shrugs. We sort of surprised ourselves with a major push to complete the other project, which we pretty much anticipated the opposite of. Sadly, it meant there was no movement on this series and that may remain the case for a while. Optimistically, I would love to put out a single issue or something, but that will also be hard to promise. There is a lot of work finished for the second volume. All of the scripts are complete and many of them have been penciled. It all comes down to time, which I know I won't have much of. We'll make announcements if progress is made, but I certainly wouldn't expect it.

SHORT FILMS
We spent the entire year talking about a couple of short films we made. Those being HOLE IN THE GROUND and DEATH IN LAVENDER. Both of which is still currently in the festival stage. I'm sure we'll be switching gears to an online release for the former soon-ish. Probably some time this year? Definitely. I have to assume at least. The other is completely up to Fritz, whom we co-produced the film with.
2024 should see a couple new short film productions as well. We've been talking about some possibilities recently and are excited to pursue them.

ARRIVE ALIVE
Getting into the big topics now! Principal photography for our live action feature was completed in November. To call it an undertaking would be an understatement. We had 18 shoot days spread over 3 months and it was a lot of work to coordinate. We have a few things to pick up here and there and editing will begin soon. Needless to say, December was spent enjoying a bit of down time. Time will tell where this thing goes, but we're excited to send it out to festivals this year!

THE TWO OTHER FEATURES
Yep. We've teased both of these a bit, so here's a little update on them. Considering we're not giving titles yet, don't expect much. 
First up, something that has only been lightly talked about, Christopher Strong is directing a feature documentary. We're very excited as this is the first real foray into this field. We did a nice readthrough of the script last month and we're ready to go into production this year.
As for the other, we have previously mentioned a new animated feature film. This finally made some real strides in 2023. We spent a good amount of time gathering voices and making storyboards, which culminated in screening the first complete animatic of the film at our studio holiday party. All in all, it's coming out great. I guess I haven't said it here before, but I will be serving as writer and director for the movie. Much like our last animated feature outing, the process will be long. However, we are employing new methods in this production which could potentially quicken the pace (or maybe it will slow us way down, who knows).

THE PODCAST
Last but not least, we have the podcast. Season 9 wrapped up with a nice holiday special. While the studios tenth anniversary has come and gone, the podcast's has just begun. Season 10 will be premiering very soon with the Golden Jamies as our launch episode. Should be lots of fun. We're trying out a lot of fun new stuff in this year's schedule, so we're all very much looking forward to it.

I'm sure there is more to say. But hey, what ever that's enough for now. We all know I'm terrible at updating this blog. So I'll probably see you next January!

​- Tyler