YA Streaming Services and Indie Creator Studios
Yesterday I saw a post on instagram from Rad Sechrist the creator of Kipo, and he made a very valid point about when it comes to animation there’s no “middle ground” for animated shows that have a Young Adult aka YA audience and SOLELY YA audience.
There’s many great cartoons out there that should be marketed to YA and teens, but there’s this stigma in animation that if it’s bright and colorful and wacky with comedy, it’s for kids. And if it’s dark, edgy and has dark humor and violence with swearing, it’s for adults. But seriously WHY IS THERE NO MIDDLE GROUND!!!
Adventure/action animated shows like:
Avatar The Last Airbender
The Legend of Korra
Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts
Steven Universe
OG Teen Titans
She-Ra and The Princesses of Power
The Dragon Prince
Slice of Life animated shows like:
Hey Arnold!
Hilda
Mystery/Dark animated shows like:
Gravity Falls
The Owl House
Over The Garden Wall
Infinity Train
Harley Quinn
There’s so many other shows, but I’m trying to get my point across as much as I can lmaoo. There’s not enough shows like these that have a timeless feel to them. These shows can talk about and show social issues, inclusion and diversity without being on the nose. Something people of all ages can watch and aren’t so stigmatized and boxed into one label.
A goal of mine is to create an indie studio for artists of all kinds. A diverse and inclusive safe space to create animations, stories, music, etc. I’d love it to be a small team, but still a team of people that are good at their crafts and we can bounce off of each other with different ideas and creative processes. Big time animation and record labels are fraudulent, and never give you the full credit that you deserve. Especially with how hard it is to fully get a project done and finalized it takes so much effort.
I have so many ideas for animated shows, movies, video games, comics, and they all have a general audience demographic. This may not get much traction, but please start and create indie studios for young and aspiring talented people. Not just for animators and artists, but musicians/singers, and writers/authors. We’re all creators and we need inclusion and diversity for the next generation.
