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Clyde: The 1st of two cousins,
he is athletic and tall, with long sideburns and a mullet. He’s
also a huge fan of pro-wrestling, utilizing backwater grappling
to “take out the trash,” keeping the Redknech Ranch
clean of evildoers. Thanks to his Eagle-spirited eyes, he’s
a skilled marksman with his hunter’s bow, though Clyde is
also known to be a bit OCD.
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Cleatus: The younger of the two cousins, he is sentimental and loyal to the bone. Simply the best tracker that an adventurer could have thanks to his Bear-spirited nose. He also has a several “Nevers.” He NEVER takes off his hat, and is NEVER without his trusty tool belt. Thanks to his tool belt, he is a jack-of-all-trades with duct tape, and much quicker to jump into nefarious situations
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Granny: The family matriarch, she is an Animal Spirit master, passing down wisdom to her family. All of her knowledge is stored in the family’s sacred recipe book, which she hides in the kitchen. Inside rest the secrets of near mystical serums, soaps, and ointments such as her Everlasting beauty salve, and her Cure-All vegetable soup. Her best friend Miss Chicken, who thinks she’s a Chihuahua, is her constant companion. Together, they’re a fantastic family-raising duo. |
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Dufus the Dog: A large, muscular
Tennessee walker hound. Also the Redknech resident intellect,
he would earn a perfect score if he took his SAT’s. Unlike
his cousins, he is often found sitting human-like, reading Shakespeare,
and other materials. Who knows what books he learned from, but his
classic kung fu moves may be or not to be a force to reckon with.
Dufus just has a problem communicating, due an inability to control
the volume of his barks. |
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The Everliving: A tall, grumpy, skeletal zombie, who speaks quickly and a lot, whether anyone is listening or not. He has a quick mind but slow body, and forever complaining about frailty. He is what he is, and does what he does, but no one knows where he comes from or why he gets in the way. Nonetheless, the Everliving is the mastermind behind many plots to rid the world of the Redknechs. |
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The Catlady: This former beauty
queen is the classic cougar with leathery, overly tanned-skin. She
always wears her pink bathrobe, and her fingernails and toenails look
like claws! Hell-bent on finding Granny’s Recipe book, she desires
to possess the secret Everlasting Beauty Salve, for no amount of grooming
can restore her lost appeal. The Catlady’s army is her family
of felines. |
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Fatback: A scowling, hulking menace, this ripped juggernaut has huge well-defined muscles, especially his overdeveloped lats (latissimus dorsi). Hence the nickname “Fatback.” This “thinks he knows it all” type loves to watch TV, especially trivia game shows, and he hates not being the smartest in the room. So Fatback is out to whoop some hillbilly butt! | ||||||||||||
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The Game Warden: A snobbish, Oxford-educated circus owner. He and his robotic helper monkey “Fred,” use their technology-driven “Spectacle Spectacular” to rob people of their hard-earned cash. Rumor has it that great, great Grandpa “Red” Knech bested his clan in a tracking contest. So the Gamewarden wants nothing else but revenge. Besides why shouldn’t evil triumph when good is so country dumb? | ||||||||||||
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Lawrence “Larry” Lobo: A true cowboy and owner of the town “Diner,” Larry loves El Pollo Pancakes, and is a very skilled man on a grill. Larry often helps out the Redknech clan with his great strength, and the world’s only boomerang ten-gallon cowboy hat. | ||||||||||||
The Birth of Redneck Ninjas. Living in Los Angeles, fighting to find work,
to build a respectable resume is challenging. The market is simply
over-saturated with talent, from the trained performer searching
for that break, to the celebrity-hungry, starry-eyed everyone else.
I grew tired of auditioning for other people’s work, so I
followed the oldest piece of advice, which the acting periodical
“Backstage West” frequently repeated, and created my
own.
People ask me, “where does my creativity
come from?” Honestly, it comes from observing life, both near
and far, and a whole lot of play. My acting teacher, Gregory Berger-Sobeck,
called it “mucking around,” and I can’t think
of a better description. You leave your reservations behind, and
let your inner-child loose and get “dirty in the mud.”
So I daydreamed a lot about growing up in the rural south, raising
chickens, gardening, working with my hands, and family dynamics.
Then one night at a party, I called my friend a “redneck ninja”
because he too was raised rurally, but was great at his craft, which
was design. The idea stuck: “Being rural but really adept
at the things you love” but I kept the phrase in the back
of my mind.
So I started attending The San Diego Comic-Con in 2003, hoping to network. I met people who hired pencilers, inkers, and other visual illustrators, but I couldn't find anyone interested in voice-over actors. Nevertheless, I continued going to Comic-Con with Doug Warr of Headstart Entertainment, and his friend, a brilliant writer named Aaron Mason, and spent many Friday nights with them watching films, playing video games, reading entertainment trades, and overall planting creative seeds, as we loved the business of entertainment and story telling. We all grew up loving animation, watching tons of cartoons, playing video games, and carrying around children’s storybooks with the accompanying voice-over cassettes. Anyway, I started to coin the phrase “redneck ninjas” around them. It scored a laugh, however the full concept didn’t come until June 2006, when I took a much-needed road trip to the Grand Canyon. When I got to the Canyon walls, I was floored.
I thought about all the spiritual ramifications, like how this spectacle
generated a state of awe. At that moment, Redneck Ninjas became
an animated concept in my head. I wrote a treatment, and pitched
it to Doug, because his company Headstart Entertainment optioned
animated properties. He liked it so I set about researching the
name, getting the trademark, and designing it. Then in January 2007,
on the unlucky 13th day of the month, two days after my 32nd birthday,
I was paralyzed in an automobile accident. Redneck Ninjas sat shelved
until I was strong enough to work, thanks to a lot of pushing by
John Shaffner, currently the CEO and Chairman of the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences, and his partner Joe Stewart. John
and Joe are Emmy award winning set designers whom I’d befriended
while living in Los Angeles, and they remained close friends after
my accident. They supported my talent, which lead to finding Chicago-based
artist, Jasen Strong.
Collaborating with Jasen really helped to nail the visual world and tone of Redneck Ninjas. Without him, the idea would frankly suck. No one else could create such colorful, expressive characters from descriptions on page. We really found a great way to work together. What was on page? What is the story about? It’s all about family. Specifically, this family is a tribe of country-fried warriors, who struggle to function in the modern world. Somehow, by skill or luck, they always manage to save the day. They are masters of Qi, hillbilly fighting, and in every metropolis, they stick-out like pink flamingo lawn ornaments. Fax machines and emails? You might as well be speaking Greek. They try their best, serving the forces of good, but not without hitting many potholes, and leaving road kill. “Where do I see Redneck Ninjas going?” I see it as an animated series, where CMT, Spike or Adult Swim would be the ideal network for its audience. My biggest dream is seeing children playing the video game. The world is so fun, full, and zany, and I envision all gamers laughing, fighting for, and loving these characters. Of course, I’d love a repeat of Lucas-Luck, where George Lucas got a movie and all property rights. Having my baby, Redneck Ninjas, on that scale, I’d stand up out of my wheelchair!
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