In March of this year, Spike Trotman’s Iron Circus Animation along with Creator Tracy Butler and Director Fable Siegel released a 27-minute YouTube pilot for Lackadaisy. Based on the Eisner-nominated, Prohibition-Era webcomic by Tracy. Needless to say, the response was overwhelmingly positive. It had the charm of a Don Bluth animated film but embraced an Untouchables like sensibility (see the pilot below). With that response, the only question was where to go from there.
Starting this week, the creative team behind the pilot is starting a BackerKit campaign to help to bring more Lackadaisy goodness to life. With the campaign getting started, we had the opportunity to sit down with creator Tracy Butler to discuss the pilot, the team’s ambitions about its success, working with director Fable Siegel and what they hope for in their Backerkit campaign. So, let’s welcome Tracy Butler to GVN Talking Comics.
The Original Premise
GVN: Thank you so much for some of your time, Tracy. I want to say first off that I loved the pilot. It was like a Don Bluth style animation mixed with the Untouchables. Loved the characters and the atmosphere. So that being said, let’s start with what you based your original story on and were cats always your choice for your characters?
TB: My pleasure! And that’s more or less the look and feel we were going for, so that’s good to hear. Thank you! The story came about amidst a foray I took into St. Louis area history after I moved into a historic home there. It’s common to lack any real appreciation for the places you live, I suppose. You’re so accustomed to them, you don’t see anything but the mundanity, but something about that move sparked an interest. So, I went treasure hunting and dug up a lot of information relating to the brewing and Prohibition backstory of the city, about the caves underneath, and all of the lore connected to them. I was listening to a lot of jazzy music at the time too. At some point, it just sort of started coagulating into a story.
Since this was to be a story about bootleggers and gangsters, cats seemed like a natural fit. I’m not sure I’ve ever been successful at articulating why. The visual playfulness it grants me is certainly part of it, but I think it’s also that, in my head, there’s a correlation between the nature of cats, the compelling villainy of charismatic gangsters, and the appeal of the bedraggled jazz musician.
Early in the development phase of the comic, I think I dabbled with the idea of including other anthropomorphized animals, but only briefly. I wanted the felinity of the characters to provide levity and visual playfulness, to look congenial and domesticated or bestial and feral at turns, but without being distracting or suggesting some kind of bio-fantasy element that isn’t actually there. After all, at its core, it’s really a story about people.
Animated Ambitions
GVN: As you developed Lackadaisy back in 2006, did you even contemplate the possibility of making an animated feature or was your original webcomic your focus at that time?
TB: As the story was beginning to take shape, I was watching it in my head (with my mind’s eye, so to speak) unfurl like an animated film – like the Disney and Don Bluth movies I grew up on. So, I perceived it as something animate, but at the time, I didn’t have access to a crew of artists, the software required, the rendering power, audio recording equipment, or any of the kind of funding I’d need to pursue longform storytelling with animation as the vehicle. Because this was going to be something I’d have to embark on as a solo artist, working mostly in the late nights and early mornings between day job hours, comics was the answer. One of the wonderful things about comic-making is that it doesn’t really have any entry barriers. With a pencil and paper and an idea, you can be a comic creator.
Working with Fable Siegel
GVN: You wrote the script for the animated pilot along with Fable Siegel who also directed the 27-minute pilot. How did that collaboration come about?
TB: However deep my love for the art of comics has grown, the dream of making an animated version of Lackadaisy has been something I’ve kept tucked away since I began working on it. And, come 2020 or so, a lot of those barriers I mentioned before – funding, software, and so forth – were starting to look surmountable. Around that time, I happened to see Fable, an artist, animator and fellow comic-creator I’ve followed online for years, mention on social media that they were looking for some freelance work. I reached out and asked if they might be interested in developing a pitch for Lackadaisy and was met with some extreme enthusiasm for the idea.
Well, we did that, and we had a good time with it. Then we showed the pitch to some people in the studio system. They told us no one would make it. It’s too unusual, too much of an unknown quantity, and networks are very risk averse. If we wanted a cartoon, we’d have to make it ourselves. So, we did.
Reception for the Pilot
GVN: The pilot was introduced to the public on YouTube in March, and it blew up. No small wonder considering the quality of the piece. Did you have any idea when it was put out for public consumption that it would be so well received?
TB: No. In fact, Fable, Spike, and I were all preparing ourselves for the potential of a non-response. It’s hard to know if you’ve got something that’s really going to land with an audience, and these days, it’s even harder to know if a given algorithm is going to be kind to you. By the time we were preparing to release, no matter how much analyzing we tried to do, a lot of that felt out of our control. We had multiple discussions about it, and we all agreed that whatever the response – be it applause or crickets chirping – we’d walk away knowing we did our absolute best. We made peace with that and then set the premiere date.
That the pilot was received so well was stunning.
The New BackerKit Campaign
GVN: So, coming on July 27th, you are partnering with Spike Trotman and Iron Circus Animation for a Backerkit crowd funding campaign to bring fans more Lackadaisy animation goodness to the masses. What can fans find when they check out your campaign on the 27th?
TB: Yeah! After taking survey of the network and studio landscape in its present state, we’ve decided our best option is to try to produce more of Lackadaisy on an independent basis. The crowdfund is very much about that. If this can get us into production on an Episode 1, we think we can find a way to leverage that into a Season 1.
Printing new Iron Circus editions of the Lackadaisy Volume 1 & 2 hardcover books, which we worked very hard on during the course of the pilot’s production, is also wrapped up in this crowdfund. Lackadaisy’s never had a wide selection of merch to accompany it, but we’ve been making note of what the fans have been asking for, and we’re taking the opportunity to introduce some plushes (one of Mordecai and one of Rocky) and a large enamel pin collection as well.
Lessons Learned
GVN: Part of your campaign consists of your next 10-minute Lackadaisy animated short. What did you and Fable learn from your first pilot that you feel will expedite or improve your results for future shorts such as this one? (Although the first one was pretty damn good.)
TB: Haha, well, for one thing, we learned what it actually costs to make an animated short as opposed to what we projected it would cost to make an animated short. Or I suppose, it would be more accurate to say, we learned how to balance our ambition with the budget we have. We learned a lot about where we need to make improvements to our pipeline on the technical side of things, and how we need to streamline our communication methods as well. It’s something we’ve been actively consulting with the crew about since the pilot’s release in an effort to move ahead with a smooth workflow and happy artists.
Hoping for More
GVN: Thank you, Tracy. I do appreciate your time and wish you nothing but success in the upcoming campaign. Before I let you go, is there anything else you want to share about what’s coming for Lackadaisy fans?
TB: Thanks very much! There’s not a lot left I can say without saying too much at this time. I’ll just add that Fable, Spike and I are really excited about the future of Lackadaisy and we’re having a lot of meetings and making a lot of plans to try to forge an ongoing, self-sufficient series. We really hope fans will respond to that idea with the same enthusiasm they had for the pilot!
Speaking of the Campaign, here are some of the things being offered during its run as well as samples of the work in progress.
The Backerkit link for this campaign can be found here. Be sure to check it out.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
