Helga

We're having some teething problems with the character models for MY DADDY at the moment, which have prevented them doing any animation tests yet. Will be next week now I believe.

So what's the thing with Helga, then?

Helga is a more benign "villain" than Hambel, basically being a bit of a buffoon. She is a roly-poly pseudo-German, with a ridiculous accent that suggests she's a fan of sausages. She only really "loses it" at the end of the story, being seemingly oblivious to the fact that she's in a contest up until then.

In other news...

Had a meeting with the writers of my new project (lets just call it the UGLY SHOW as a working title) on Friday in Newcastle. Much laughter ensued as we went over their pilot script and kicked around new storyline ideas. I harbour a (possibly futile) hope that we can get something actually animated that I can take with me when I go to the Annecy Festival in France in June. It's a longshot, admittedly, but it'd be great to have something I can put into a broadcaster's hand.

Have approached Ian Culbard to direct the teaser animation, and he seems to be fond of the project to such a degree that he'd like to run at the whole design of the show too. If that's the case then it means he snaffles the Production Design credit for the show, if we get positive interest off the back of what we present. Ian and I have worked closely for years so it's a natural progression. I feel myself moving further into a Producer role on this one, which feels weird with it being my project, but I like to think we're bringing on board people like the two Andy's and Ian who have real strengths.

Bada Bling!