THEBRUVS.COM – A NEW BRITISH ANIMATED WEB-SERIES
British TV writer and producer Ian Brown has teamed with award-winning animation director Eoin Clarke to launch comedy animation webseries – TheBruvs.com.
Featuring London villain brothers Doug and Den Bruv, the series follows their misadventures as they try to go straight and keep their noses clean in leafier climes north of London. Joining them for the ride are their old Dad, permanently over-spraytanned girlfriend Chanterelle, their sister Janice and her son Jason.
While they try to be good, the brothers generally end up in trouble – often violence – mainly between themselves…proving blood really is thicker.
After coming up with the bones of an idea, Ian Brown – whose other TV credits include worldwide motoring show phenomenon Top Gear, as well as numerous entertainment and comedy series in the UK – approached Eoin Clarke to design the characters. Eoin’s other credits include award-winning shorts, storyboarding for the legendary Ray Harryhausen and commercials. Eoin draws the characters by hand and animates the episodes solo.
Eventually Ian and Eoin decided their idea was too good to keep to themselves and felt the correct platform for the punchy shorts was YouTube. They set up TheBruvs YouTube channel and promote the series via Twitter, Facebook, tumblr and their own dedicated website www.TheBruvs.com
They have also gained a lot of support from self-confessed geek-ish podcasters. With 12 shorts already posted, the series is gaining momentum all the time and has also had its fair share of celebrity support – including from the likes of Mission Impossible star Thandie Newton – and many UK household names.
“We have started small,” says Ian “Mainly for budget reasons. In that we barely have one. But by making it and posting the films online independently we can work at our own pace and – we hope – to a high standard. The reaction so far has been very encouraging and most supportive.”
There has been some interest from some mainstream TV networks in the UK. “It is still early days,” says Ian. “Our aim is to keep developing the characters with each episode and allow them to grow, turning this into more of an animation sitcom series. There has not been a hit one of those in the UK to speak of. But of course, we love the US juggernauts like The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad South Park and Bojack Horseman. We’re not comparing ourselves to them – yet. But we are very encouraged by the reactions so far.”
Ian worked with Jeremy Clarkson for 20 years on his solo dvd projects as well as more recent Top Gear projects. He has also written or produced for the likes of Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, Charlton Heston, Tom Jones, Piers Morgan, Homer Simpson, Simon Cowell, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and many more.
Eoin’s work has won awards round the world. He was animator in residence at the Museum of the Moving Image in London.
“The next few episodes are already Voiced,” says Ian. “And we are working hard to complete them and post them as soon as we can. Animation is not a quick process. We are truly grateful for all the support so far – and for people’s patience. We love TheBruvs and love doing the films. We hope to keep at it for quite some time yet, lengthening the films and expanding the characters. There is a lot still to come from them” .
Find out more information about TheBruvs.com at their website or you can catch them on Twitter and Facebook.
