Well, yes and no. Before we get to this part, we are going to have to go back to 2010 real quick. Sit back, relax, grab some ice cream because we are about to share with you our journey up the rugged mountain (still climbing it by the way).
It was 2010 and we had just released our first ever children's story book, Fat Rabbit Farm: Babee and the Valley of the Hungry Ninjas. We almost did not release book #1 because during the time we were working on the deadlines to make it to print, Patty's father was battling cancer, a very vicious one that took his life in 2 months. It almost seemed like life itself just ended, especially for Patty. Mourning was only natural but somehow she managed to complete the illustrations for book #1 to make it in time for print and release. In part of promotion for our book release we hosted a book signing at a local retailer that carried FRF products and met a fan of ours, (which we won't name anyone for their privacy) who had been loving and supporting the FRF brand ever since it was at this retail store. It was funny because he thought we were this huge brand from Japan! He happened to be an executive at Fremantle Media and we started talking, and shared our life long goal of the FRF brand becoming a TV Series. He connected us with with another awesome EP to have a lunch meeting and see if we could get the ball rolling. We all had a great chat about FRF and a bit about ourselves, and where we want to see FRF in the near future. Even with the nerves in our tummies, we still managed to chow down some delicious food, too!
The deal was on! We then were connected to the FME Kids division and met the whole team. Everyone was so awesome and nice! We were super excited to be working with the team there. After all the legal mumbo jumbo stuff, we finally signed a deal with FME on August, 2011. The deal was actually a step deal, where we would explore creating a game app first and then see where things go. A game app!? Hells yes please! This was just as exciting as an animated series! Who could ask for more? We were ready and focused. In 2012, FME Kids reached out to Smashing Ideas to explore some game app ideas. When we saw the proposals, the game platforms looked amazing. Either one would have been perfect with the FRF property. Buuuuttttt, unfortunately things did not fall through with the game app. Yes, we were bummed out. But we knew we had to continue on our journey. Luckily, FME would not give up on us. We got a phone call a couple of months later from the VP we had been working with and told us that they wanted to move forward with development for an animated series! Woohoo! *happy bunny dance* Morale was back up sky high and we were ready to put the work needed to make this happen. The world needed to see an FRF cartoon.
In 2014, FME reached out to a few seasoned writers to get their take on an FRF series. All of them were amazing. We were so impressed by everyone's take, we knew it would be a hard decision for FME to make. FME later locked in Josh Weinstein (writer for Simpsons, Futurama, Gravity Falls, showrunner for Strange Hill High, to name a few). We were so grateful and lucky to have a writer at this caliber on board for the FRF series.
Script time! Josh wrote out the pilot/ first episode. This was it. This was going to be our first episode of Fat Rabbit Farm. We loved it. It was such an awesome experience to having our characters come to life more and more throughout the process of this. We just wanted to read and live in more episodes! We really liked how Josh and all the FME team took into consideration our inputs, thoughts, and suggestions. You guys are the best!
In 2015 (can you believe it's been 5 years in the making? Time just flew like that!) FME connected to an animation production in Australia, Studio Moshi to create a test animation based on the pilot. OMG! This was finally happening! *happy bunny dance*
We cannot tell you how fun and exciting this process was. From fine tuning to how the characters should look like to sitting in on the voice overs at the studio, the experience has been incredible. The EPs at FME, Josh, and Studio Moshi all did an awesome job in putting this together with us. The challenging part, we think, was to show and tell just enough in 3.5 minutes long.
Okay so now back to the cartoon part. The goal of this short was to lightly introduce the characters (some) and set the tone of the show. We have come so far and long on this journey and we cannot give up! FME believes in Fat Rabbit Farm and they haven't given up on us either. We have this awesome animation short ready to be shared to the world, an amazingly creative team, but we need to convince the networks that there has to be an FRF series!
Over the past 10 years in creating for Fat Rabbit Farm, making people laugh and smile has been our passion. Everything we have done has lead up to this and this where you guys can help make this happen! Patty and I need your support more than ever on this.
Please enjoy our animation short, give us your feedback, share with your friends and family, and lets make the world a better place with more laughs and smiles! #FRFCARTOON #letsmakethishappen
ENJOY THE FAT RABBIT FARM CARTOON SHORT HERE