ANIMATION
In Development
Willy
Animated Series
From Ludo Studio, Mad Ones and Sad Man Studio, Willy is a 10-part animated sit-com set in 2003 Far-North Queensland, which follows a fruity teenager with a big imagination as he navigates small-town life on his family’s struggling banana farm. Willy is created by Samuel Leighton Dore (Showboy) and Bradley Tennant, with a proof-of-concept animation featuring voices from Judith Lucy, Anne Edmonds, Reuben Kaye and Danielle Walker. The series will be also written and directed by Leighton-Dore, produced by Liam Heyen (Erotic Stories) with development producer Chloe Hume, and executive produced by Daley Pearson (The Strange Chores season 2) and Charlie Aspinwall (Bluey season 3).
“Screen Australia has announced 23 feature films and six television dramas that will share in over $810,000 of story development funding. Among the funded projects is Willy, the latest animation series from Ludo Studio, the production company behind world-wide phenomenon Bluey”
Seahorsies
Animated Children’s Series
SEAHORSIES follows the underwater adventures of cheeky young seahorse siblings SHELLY and CRASH as they learn all about FAMILY, FEELINGS and FUN. Shelly and Crash are pretty lucky! Not only do they have the whole Great Barrier Reef as their playground, they have two homes and four parents who love them! With colourful surprises around every coral corner, Shelly and Crash always keep swimming and they always have each other.
Samuel Leighton-Dore and Bradley Tennant of Sad Man Studio were proud to be announced as participants of the 2024 Asian Animation Summit: Mentoring and Market Grants with their animated preschool series SEAHORSIES.
Other Half
Animated Horror/Comedy Feature
Selected for Screen Australia and AiF’s Untapped program in 2023, OTHER HALF is an intergeneric queer take on Plato’s Symposium, combining 60s and 80s animation styles to craft a truly unique love story — one that will break your heart in two, then sew it back together.
In 1960s Brisbane, bereaved couples therapist DR. MILDRED PENNY abducts a series of newlywed clients, surgically attaching them spine-to-spine and forcing them to compete in challenges designed to prove they are soulmates. The rules are simple – succeed and be separated, fail and spend an eternity as one.
20 years later, unlucky-in-love documentary film student CHLOE conducts interviews with the one surviving couple, PETE and JILL, who are divorced but still attached, in hopes of solving the absurd case. This project is personal for Chloe – her parents were one of the couples who didn’t make it.
Birds of Paradise
Animated Short
What if the 1960s Gold Coast Meter Maids origin story was a queer heist, one which saw a group of misfit friends rob the rich to protect beach-goers from parking fines?
In 2024, Samuel was proud to be announced as one of the five Gold Coast artists to participate in HOTA Gallery’s ArtKeeper program. The initiative supports emerging and established artists to keep creating by offering a fixed-term contract to work on their proposed project at HOTA. The program encourages the artists to take risks, experiment and create great art in conjunction with internationally acclaimed playwright and artistic director, Wesley Enoch AM.
Samuel will be creating development materials for Birds of Paradise, an animated short film reimagining of the Meter Maids origin story, told from the perspective of non-dominant voices in 1960s Gold Coast. Drawing on HOTA’s extensive archives, Samuel aims to develop a rich, vibrant work of historical fiction that celebrates the Gold Coast’s unique history through a camp, critical and comedic lens. Samuel will work to write and storyboard a screenplay for the short film, as well as produce a creative document for the project.
Shorts
A selection of animated short form projects produced in-house at Sad Man Studio. The stories we want to tell are authored, colourful, emotionally intelligent and silly. You can see the full collection on our Vimeo page.
Collaborations & Commissions
The Man Cave
In 2020 Sad Man Studio produced a series of short animations for Melbourne-based mental health organisation The Man Cave, who teach emotional intelligence to school-aged boys across Australia.
Forming part of their training and student coursework, the videos teach young people how to connect with mates, ask for help and navigate conflict with an open heart.
Wear It Purple Day
Short animation based on original artwork by Samuel Leighton-Dore created for ‘Wear It Purple Day. Wear it Purple Day is an annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day especially for young people, based in Australia. Supporters wear purple to celebrate diversity and young people from the LGBTIQA+ community. The Day is organised by Wear it Purple, a student run, not-for-profit organisation, providing presentations and workshops.
Bennydrama Merch
Short animation based on original artwork by Samuel Leighton-Dore created for comedian and actor Benito Skinner’s 2020 merch range.