Now, that Phungus & Mowld episode 3 is in the can, I want to focus on another project that has been stalling for too long. I want to make the Shadywoods movie a reality. If you have followed my blog, you’re probably aware that I was torn about the format.

Personally I want to make it an animated series. Since I call it Shadywoods, which is not the name of the protagonist(s), but the name of the location where it all takes place – the Shadywoods forest – I thought every season could be about a different character or group of characters living in the bewitched forest (this could also open the door to infinite merchandising, ha ha!).

However series are a hard sell. Unless you have a whole season completed, you don’t really have a sellable product. Even with three episodes out now for Phungus & Mowld, I basically have an extended proof of concept, but no product as such.

So I’ve decided to first make a Shadywoods feature length movie. In Animation, feature-length means usually more than 45 minutes. I’m aiming for 60, but to be honest a “real” animated movie should be more around 80–90 minutes. I will, however, still leave the option open to treat the “movie” as an extended pilot, if I find financing and can convince whoever shells out the money to go with a multi-season endeavor instead of a one-off film.

I’ve so far written several scripts for Shadywoods, full movie length, as well as several episodes for the case it were to be made into a series, and now my task and challenge is to figure out a way to massage this into one coherent story, review the characters and their traits and hammer out a script quickly, so I can start the work on the actual film. I’ll keep you up-to-date on the Shadywoods Sneaky Peak Production blog, so come back often to see how this is coming along.

This will also mean that Phungus & Mowld might have to be put on ice for a year or more, because I just don’t have enough time to produce two animated episodes/films in a year.

I’m just putting this here so you know I have’t abandoned Phungus & Mowld, it’s only on hold for a while.