Slapworks Creatives Triumph: Winning Best Script at New Voices in Animation Contest

Exciting news for Slapworks Creatives! Founders Mark and Zeke Nelson have clinched victory in the 4th Annual New Voices in Animation Screenwriting Contest with their adult animation script, "DETECTIVE GIZMO."

The prestigious contest, hosted by Stage 32, connects creatives worldwide in film, television, and digital content. It's a coveted platform for emerging talents in filmmaking: live action and animation.

The winning script, "DETECTIVE GIZMO," stood out for its blending of humor, suspense, and social satire. Their success highlights Slapworks’ commitment to pushing creative boundaries, and producing resonant content.

Goose and Chicken Fight to Save Their Own Nuggets

Slapworks Launches Adult Animation Series Loosey Goosey & Fried Chicken

LOS ANGELES, CA – July 6th, 2022 – Slapworks Animation Studios is serving up free-range fun by releasing the first two episodes of their new 3D adult animated show on YouTube today, Loosey Goosey & Fried Chicken Episode 1 LINK

The serialized web show follows two flightless birds trying to migrate home, but can't seem to escape a strange and dangerous land called "Florida." The show stars some of the best voice acting talent in the biz, including Rob Paulsen (Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Fred Tatasciore (Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Yosemite Sam, Hulk).

The Slapworks creative team has visual effects experience on 50+ tentpole film and TV projects (Avengers: Endgame, The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Black Panther) and created "Goosey" with an eye on unity. Says director Mark Nelson, "This show is about embracing differences. Goosey is boneless, and Chicken is deep fried and decapitated. One's spineless, the other is brainless. Total opposites. Separately, these two mutants will end up on a Chick-fil-A menu, but they're stronger together and might just stay alive by covering each other's flaws."

The show features 9 episodes that will launch every 2 weeks in chompable 1-3 minute segments on the Slapworks YouTube Channel LINK

Fred Tatasciore tastes like Chicken

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Slapworks is excited to be collaborating with some of the most talented voice artists in the biz. One of our favorite actors (and favorite people) is the ridiculously talented and funny, Fred Tatasciore. Fred is famous for voicing some of the most iconic characters in animation, including The Hulk, Yosemite Sam, amongst many others. We've worked with Fred in the past, most notably in the Student Academy Award winning short, The Jockstrap Raiders. Not only did Fred voice the lead character, Mikey, but also most every other character in the film. Talk about range.

Another supremely talented voice over actor we've recently collaborated with is the great Rob Paulsen. Rob stars in the new Animaniacs reboot on Hulu (Yakko, Dr. Scratchansniff), and voices Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, as well as voicing characters from such monster hits as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Donatello), and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (Carl Wheezer). Not only is Rob an amazing talent, he's also one of our most inspirational people, who in 2016 was diagnosed with Stage III throat cancer, but beat the crap out of it to continue entertaining people the world 'round.

In our last recording session, Fred had this to say about Slapworks:

"This is why I like working with you guys: your characters are inspired. Aggressively stupid and f*cking wild, but inspired."

Mark Nelson Goes Back To the Drawing Board (i.e. computer screen)

Slapworks Founder, Mark Nelson, jumps on the computer this week for a brief animation tutorial. "When I was a student, I was constantly looking for 'how to' videos and interviews to learn all I could about the craft of animation. That was the primary motivation for this, and other upcoming, tutorials."

A graduate of UCLA's Animation Workshop, Mark won the Student Academy Award for his animated short, "The Jockstrap Raiders." He has worked as a Previs artist and Sequence Supervisor on such franchises as Marvel, Kong, and Star Wars. Says Mark, "The same principles of storytelling and animation exist whether you're doing a no-budget student film, or a gigantic studio tent-pole. But the key is to always be learning."

Mark is currently directing episodes of the upcoming Slapworks show, "Loosey Goosey and Fried Chicken" : a 3D animated comedy series that tells the story of two flightless birds trying to migrate home, but who can't seem to escape the bizarre and dangerous land called "Florida."

Be sure to subscribe to our Slapworks Animation YouTube channel to be notified when more videos like this come available.

Kelsey Walmer Cooks the Books for "Goosey"

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Kelsey Walmer suffers no fools. Well, at least that's the point of view she had when voicing the Accountant character in "Loosey Goosey & Fried Chicken." "I started the process of building the character off Jan from "The Office." That no-nonsense attitude, and the feeling that everyone is beneath her, started the ball rolling." Kelsey also injected some of her own experience from working with others. "There's always one person that you work with where you wonder: how did they get this job? More importantly, how have they kept it??" 

The Accountant character plays an important catalyst role in the upcoming "Loosey Goosey" show. As a corporate rep for TGI-Apples – a chain restaurant that presents itself as neighborly – The Accountant pushes Chef Jacques Sausage to bring profits up… which puts the Chef on the eponymous characters' tail.

As a theater major at Loyola Marymount, Kelsey minored in animation where she started her voice acting journey. "When my animation classmates learned I was a theater major, many of them had me do voices in their animation projects." After winning some voice over awards at festivals, Kelsey also learned from her mentor Debi Derryberry, one of the most sought after voice actors in the biz, the voice of Jimmy Neutron, and countless other popular voices for over 30 years. Said Kelsey, "Debi has been a wonderful voice over mentor, from teaching me the basics of mic technique, to helping me discover a range of voice I didn't realize I had, to intelligently and creatively breaking down a script."

Kelsey continues performing in live action roles, but loves voice acting. "Part of the fun is that there's no typecasting in animation. I Can play anything: a grandmother, a kid, and the family dog… in the same show, or even the same scene!” 

During the quarantine, Kelsey is big on the Nintendo game Animal Crossing, and watching Netflix's "Tiger King." Keep an eye out for Kelsey and her Accountant performance in upcoming "Loosey Goosey & Fried Chicken."

Finding Loosey Goosey

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Loosey Goosey was born without a bone in his body. A rare condition leaving him consisting of loosely held together cartilage, he is spineless…. literally and figuratively. An anxious ball of nerves, Goosey is the neurotic “straight man” to his partner Chicken’s rebellious nature. But despite Goosey’s physical shortcomings (and probably because of them), his intelligence has developed and his brains have kept he and Chicken alive… so far.

Finding the physical character of Goosey has been a journey. Mark Nelson created multiple concept, designs, and 3D animation tests, finally landing on the right goose physiology. The above pic is an early 2D concept sketch of Goosey. Stay tuned for the 3D final model in our blog!