New Animated Series about Kentucky Releases in August

Pikeville, Kentucky, November 24, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Shannon Hall and Zachery Brown of Kentucky are working to create an animated series entitled ‘Now I’m Confused’ that will premier on Youtube in August of next year. The two have creative backgrounds ranging from animation to writing and have been working on this project since 2012.

The series will focus on life in Kentucky, the stereotypes that native Kentuckians face, as well as politics, celebrities, and pop culture in America. The two have made it clear that the show will have a 'nothing-off-limits mentality' and that 'no one is safe'.

 They are currently gearing up for a crowd funding campaign that will launch November 30th on Indiegogo.com.  They hope to raise roughly $2,300 to fund the pilot episode and plan to enter it in the Sundance Film festival after its completion.

The campaign originally launched on Kickstarter.com, but was cancelled so the creators could “go in a different direction”. “[Indiegogo] is the best platform for the type of funding that we are seeking. It has dramatically reduced the amount that we need to complete the pilot episode and offers options like ‘flexible funding’, which is geared to offer success to the campaign even if the initial goal isn’t met.”

The series will follow the exploits of three foreign exchange students, Miyu from Japan, Viktor from Russia, and Owen from England, and one previously homeschooled teen, Lance from Piketon Kentucky, as they enter the public school system for the first time. Although Piketon is a fictional town, the name is derived from actual Kentucky cities ‘Pikeville’ and ‘Lexington’. Their rivals hail from McBurg, a combination of ‘McDowell’ and ‘Prestonsburg’ (the creators’ hometowns).

Shannon and Zach were inspired to create the cartoon during the 2012 Presidential election and wrote numerous scripts for the first few episodes. They have since moved on to more topical ideas and although the plot of the pilot has not been announced, the first episodes have been referred to as 'Firstmus' and 'Gayliens'.

Shannon says that her main influence has been Comedy Central's hit South Park, so you can expect to see similar comedic styles to the offbeat comedy of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Stand-up comedians such as Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Chris Farley influenced Zach's comedy style. Their approach is described as wildly unconventional. “The main purpose of the cartoon is get people to think about the things going on around them, without necessarily realizing that they are thinking at all, all while portraying it through the eyes of these teens who are unaware of the grand scheme of things. We want to connect things that may not typically have any relation and most of the things that we write about are topical, so we try to find a way to make it a lasting joke. We try to let the teens be the voice of reason for the adults, who can’t seem to see past the same ideas that were passed down by their parents. We want to challenge the system of thinking. We have discussed writing about things that are in the news, but we want to hold back from flooding our audience with the same things that they always see on TV. It’s hard to balance it, but so far we have been getting it right in our minds.”

“We try to make each other laugh. If it is something that we find funny, someone out there will find it funny too. We don’t want to force things to be funny, or try too hard to make each other laugh because if it’s not doing the trick the first time we discuss it, then it’s not worth putting weeks worth the work into so we just move on.”

Shannon and Zach hope that others will be inspired to follow through with their own creative dreams, “We want to inspire people to follow through with their creative dreams. Back home it’s almost impossible to get out of the shadow of the mountains around us. Kentucky is sadly overlooked as the potential goldmine for talent that we know it is.”

The campaign will last 45 days, and begins on November 30th. You can visit their website: www.confusedseries.com