Episode Summary:

Jo is away in Lisbon for this episode, leaving Andy and Emily Horgan to kick things off with a discussion about a timely YouTube Culture and Trends report — Animation's New Wave: How Independent Online Animators Are Reshaping the Entertainment Industry — before bringing in a guest who feels almost like the report's cover star: indie animator and creator Emily Brundige of Strawberry Vampire.

The episode opens with Andy and Emily Horgan picking apart the YouTube report, which surveyed 614 animation fans aged 14 to 24 and found that the majority prefer watching indie animated series on YouTube over major studio output, and that over half watch animation content in languages other than their own. Emily Horgan is candid about the report's limitations — the sample size is modest, and the framing is clearly designed to serve YouTube's own commercial interests — but argues that the very fact YouTube has invested in packaging and publishing this data is itself meaningful. It signals that independent animation on the platform is something YouTube is actively trying to cultivate, not just observe. The Amazing Digital Circus is cited as the headline proof of concept.

The discussion quickly turns to two creators who are living the indie animation reality right now. Tiny Chef — the beloved stop-motion show that started as an indie project, got picked up by Nickelodeon, and was then cancelled in the fallout from the Paramount/Skydance gridlock — is highlighted as an instructive case study in building an ecosystem around a show. The viral cancellation clip that made it onto Good Morning America was the moment, but what mattered as much as the moment was the infrastructure already in place: the Instagram following, the merch website, the email list, the Fwiend Club membership community. Brand partnerships with Greggs and IKEA have since followed — a smart alignment of the chef IP with food and home brands — though Emily Horgan raises the very real challenge of knowing how to value those deals when you have no background in commercial negotiations and your back is against the wall.

The second half of the episode brings in Emily Brundige directly, joining from Little Toughy Studio for a check-in on Strawberry Vampire. When the pilot animatic launched last Halloween on a channel with just 2,000 subscribers, it got 60,000 views in 48 hours and has since passed 200,000. A passionate fandom has formed around a show that, at this point, consists of an animatic and a handful of shorts. Now, with a second Kickstarter running — this time with a larger goal so she can actually pay her collaborators properly — she's at 79% funded with six days to go. She describes the campaign as a tight basketball match she's still watching closely, but the response has already validated the core question she was testing: whether fans who love the IP would put their hand in their pocket to make more of it.

Emily Brundige is refreshingly open about the reality of being a one-person studio and one-person marketing operation simultaneously. The Substack she launched after her first appearance on the podcast now has over 1,000 readers, feeding back into her YouTube channel and building genuine two-way momentum. The Kickstarter rewards are thoughtfully designed — plushie keychains, pins, stickers, custom painted resin figures by animation industry heavyweights including Penn Ward, Patrick McHale, Lauren Faust, and Jorge Gutierrez — and she's offered ten backers the chance to appear as background characters in the animatic, a clever fandom participation play. The episode ends with Andy and Emily Horgan pledging $150 to get the Kids Media Club podcast a thank you in the credits.

Running through the whole conversation is a broader point about what quality means in independent animation. Both Emilys and Andy observe that audiences — particularly the 14-to-24 demographic YouTube is courting — are perfectly happy watching animatics if the characters and story resonate. The definition of production quality is shifting, and authenticity and community are increasingly the things that build lasting audiences, not polish.

Support Emily Brundige's Strawberry Vampire Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strawberryvampire/strawberry-vampire-help-us-make-the-next-episode

Key Takeaways:

1. YouTube's indie animation report is as much a strategic signal as a data release — the platform is actively trying to cultivate independent animation as a category, and the report is a way of giving that ecosystem legitimacy and visibility.
2. The 14-to-24 demographic is driving indie animation — YouTube's data points to this age group as the primary audience, and notably the report focuses entirely on them rather than the under-13s. The kids designation remains commercially and regulatorily thorny for creators on the platform.
3. Tiny Chef's story shows that infrastructure matters as much as the viral moment — the cancellation clip went massively viral, but the email list, merch site, and community membership already in place meant they could convert that attention into sustainable support.
4. Brand partnerships are a viable revenue lever for indie creators, but knowing how to value them without commercial experience is a real challenge that the industry hasn't yet solved for independent producers.
5. Crowdfunding works best when the audience is built before the campaign launches — Emily Brundige's advice is to start collecting emails well in advance of a Kickstarter, giving fans notice and building a list of people who have already signalled they'll support the project.
6. Building in public creates authenticity and fandom — sharing the process of making a show from the animatic stage outward turns production transparency into a community-building tool, and audiences respond to that inclusion.
7. Quality is being redefined by independent animation — audiences who love a show's characters and story will watch animatics, shorts, and work-in-progress content. Full production polish is no longer a prerequisite for building a devoted following.
8. Creative freedom is one of indie animation's most underrated advantages — Emily Brundige contrasts over a decade in traditional studios, where creators have no say over merch or IP decisions, with the indie model where she can commission a comic, make merch decisions, and shape the universe entirely on her own terms.
9. The ecosystem around an IP matters as much as the IP itself — Substack, YouTube, email lists, Kickstarter, merch, and brand partnerships are all parts of the same machine, and indie creators who build across all of them have multiple ways to sustain their work.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. kidsmediaclubpodcast.com

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Kids Media Club Podcast.

I'm Andy Williams and I'm here with Emily.

But we have no Jo today.

It's a busy time, isn't it?

She's off in Lisbon.

But it's all good.

We've still got a bit of chat coming through to you guys.

In fact, it was kind of handy because we were talking about indie animation, the three of us last week.

We were talking about some of the folks that we know that are out there in the wild making it happen.

And then YouTube went in and released a culture and trends report called Animation's New How Independent Online Animators are Reshaping the Entertainment Industry.

It's like they were listening to our WhatsApp group.

Amazing.

And so if you kind of filter through maybe the PR gloss, what's the kind of substance of the report?

Listen, I would say the substance is the PR glass.

Right.

Like this is the thing.

I think it's very interesting that YouTube are putting out a report that's pushing this, right.

That are, you know, they're obviously like it's something that they want to encourage.

It's pushing it very positively.

There's some nice stats in there.

Like 61 of 614 to 24 year old animation fans agree that they like watching animated series created by independent animators for YouTube more than a series created by a major studio, Controverse.

63% Of them watch animated series created for YouTube weekly or more.

And 50% of animation fans agree that they, they also like to watch animated series in languages that aren't their own.

So listen, I mean the sample sizes on this aren't, you know, vastly compelling.

But the fact that YouTube has invested in this, put it together, wants to put that message out there that independent animation on YouTube is a thing I think is, you know, that in itself is, is, is interesting.

Obviously we know about successes like the amazing digital circus that released a new episode recently which, which seemed to go, you know, particularly gangbusters and you know, like it feels like it's something YouTube is going.

It, it doesn't feel this is evidence that this is something that YouTube is going after.

Otherwise they wouldn't be putting it into a cute report with data.

Absolutely.

I mean, do we have any do we have any clarity over who they asked?

I mean it was a, it was a, it was a survey between Google and Smith Geiger, you know, an agency and stuff like that.

So you know, like, I'm sure it was done, I'm sure it was done solidly and.

But the bottom line is it's something that YouTube are trying to push, you know, and I think it's interesting.

Obviously we've, we've talked about indie, Indie.

Some indie folks on the, on this podcast.

We know people like Corey Williams are out there trying to do it, do it on their own.

Tiny Chef broke the Internet last year.

Obviously that is a show that started as an indie stop motion animation.

Tiny Chef is so adorable.

If anyone's listening and hasn't gone to see it, just go.

Managed to get picked up by Nickelodeon, had I think two seasons with Nickelodeon of a show there and then got canceled by Nickelodeon.

And the creators obviously decided to, announced that cancellation through the most heartbreaking clip ever.

That literally broke the Internet.

Got them onto Good Morning America last year.

It went so viral like and, and I feel like it went viral in a way that things today don't go that viral that often.

Right.

Like a real viral moment that kind of cut through in culture and so, and they've been subject to, you know, they started Indy, went, you know, got the commission, got the commission, got cancelled.

Everything I read about it was, it was basically canceled because the Paramount situation was just so in gridlock with acquisitions and Skydance and etc that you know, they just were like, we need to release you to go and be free rather than like keep you on a kind of like in greenlight limbo.

And so Tiny Shadows.

The happy thing about that is that that those rights weren't stuck in that gridlock, that they kept the rights and.

I don't know yet, I don't know if they have the rights to the seasons that were produced.

But at least, you know, they're able to go and do their own thing, pursue their, their own stuff.

And since then they've had, you know, it like the thing is, it's tough for indie creators on, on, on YouTube because if you, if you're producing four kids and you've got that mfk designation, then you are stuck in the revenue rush, the revenue rush of YouTube kids.

So I thought it was also interesting.

All of the producers that I know that work in kids in animation, they view YouTube as a very powerful discovery tool.

Yeah.

And, and, and kind of useful source for data and research, but they don't view it as a monetization stream.

Yes.

And I also think, interesting in this report is all about 14 to 24 year olds and not about 6 to 13 year olds.

Yep, right.

Like that's telling.

Yeah, yeah.

But trying to keep out of that regulatory crosshair.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Kids is a dirty word.

I think I wrote that up in my newsletter a few, a few weeks.

Oh no, I wrote, I wrote it up for, yeah, for Kids Screen a few weeks ago.

But the thing about Tiny Chef is, you know, they, they had, they have an, they had an ecosystem.

Right.

And I think that's what, that's what creators have.

That's what indie producers need to have.

Right.

Like they had, they had their Instagram following that has, you know, that, that's strong.

They had set up a website with, you know, merch, but they were basically gathering an email list.

You know, obviously when it went thoroughly viral, you know, they had that infrastructure in place to then, you know, join, join the, the Tiny Chef Fuend.

Fuend club.

I'm a member, I am a paid member of the Tiny Chef Fuend Club.

You know, and that kind of, you know, that gave them a starting point for people to put their hand in their pocket and support Tiny Chef.

I think it's, it starts from like $2 a month, right.

Like you go going up to whatever month you want to spend.

I would say in my observation, it took them maybe a little bit of time to get going on what they, you know, get planning on what they wanted to plan.

I, they obviously didn't expect to go so viral in the moment and have, you know, with the whole fundraising apparatus ready to go.

So the Fwiend Club, at one stage I was like, well, I cancel because I'm not really getting any value out of this.

But it's kind of ramped up since it's like behind the scenes, behind the scenes town halls, you know, access to exclusive drops of merch, updates on how Chef is doing.

And they've also seen what they've managed to do, which I think is cool and I think is like one of the major levers that's worth pulling is to do content partnerships.

So they did a content partnership with Greggs for international listeners.

That is, that is a UK based,.

Iconic, an iconic British brand.

It's top savory sausages.

Yeah, it's a savory pastry brand, you know, convenience food shop that is on every high street in the UK and it's random but it's big.

Just take our word for it.

So they did, you Know, and the pastry.

Right.

Like, the baking thing with Chef is perfect.

Like, perfect.

Like, you know, brand alignment.

So they did that one.

They did another one then recently with ikea.

IKEA across Europe, which again, I think for Tiny Chef, with his apron and his accessories, like, makes a lot of sense.

So that was really cool.

Swedish meatballs.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.

So fake.

You know, they're managing to get a few bigger commercial deals done.

Hopefully.

Hopefully that, you know, they're getting the upshot of that, particularly in places where Tiny Chef is just such a perfect brand ambassador for someone like Cracks or someone like ikea, you know, so there's kind of.

There's people.

People.

People are hustling.

People are hustling out there.

Yeah.

And.

But it's an interesting.

I mean, that's a very interesting example of how a lot of creators are now having to wear so many different hats when they're operating in this area where they're having to kind of handle the merchandise or the brand partnerships where previously the channel would have handled the brand partnerships.

I know they would have had a.

Division to do that.

And it must be so difficult because you're just like, how much is this worth?

Like, how much am I. I don't know.

If you give me, like, you know, particularly when your back's against the wall and it's like, well, just give me like, a few grand and that'll be, you know, that's more than what I.

Right now versus going.

Actually, hang on a second.

Like, if I.

This is a big brand and Greg's just a.

Take our word for it is a big deal in the uk, you know, and.

And IKEA is obviously big globally.

Like, how do you.

How do you hold for your value on that?

It's when.

When you have no experience.

So I don't know if the team involved in Tiny Chef have experience or not, but, like, as a.

As an.

As a general creator producer, it's not necessarily something you'll have visibility on, so.

Yeah, no, it takes a lot of hustle.

The other one, obviously, then that's hustling at the moment is our friend Emily Brundage, who we spoke to on the podcast a while ago.

Yes, indeed.

And so she's done a animatic for the pilot episode of her new series, Strawberry Vampire, and now she's looking to crowdfund for her new.

For the latest episode.

So it's a kind of fantastic example of building in public.

Yeah.

And she's spun up since we've spoken to her with the substack and all this kind of stuff.

Anyway, we managed to get her on the phone because it's a very hot moment for her fundraise right now.

And so here's the interview with her.

Hi there, everyone.

I'm the only person in this room not called Emily.

Aren't you looking?

You're losing out.

What's it called?

Known for Emily's.

Emily Square.

That's not good.

Awesome.

Well, we're here with me, Emily Horgan, and great to be here with Emily Brundage of Strawberry Vampire Little Toughy Studio.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

Big weeks for having me again, guys.

Big week.

Big week for you this week.

Yeah.

Talk to us.

Yeah.

What's going on?

So I.

The last time I spoke to you, what can you do you remember what was happening?

Was it after the pilot?

It was after the pilot or was it before?

I think I thought it was after the pilot.

But you hadn't started like your substack or anything like that at that stage.

I think it might have been before.

Yeah, I don't remember the animatic.

Yeah, yeah.

So since then, just to catch people up who don't know, I released a Kickstarter funded pilot animatic for my indie show Strawberry Vampire last Halloween.

And it kind of did really well.

I mean, it just had a really passionate response.

It saw, and this is.

My channel, only had 2,000 subscribers.

It was a small channel, but it got 60,000 views in 48 hours and now it's just broken 200,000 views.

And since then I've just grown this really passionate fan base for the IP who's only seen the Animatic and a few shorts.

So then most recently I started a second Kickstarter knowing that I now have this following these fans and shot for a bigger goal so that I could pay everyone involved this time.

You know, because the first time you can call in favors, but the second time I feel like if you can pay people correctly, you know, that's always nice.

So.

And right now we have six days left, but I'm pleased to say that because I just didn't.

This was an experiment.

Like I didn't know for sure whether or not fans would show up.

I did start collecting emails for a mailing list, which I strongly advise ahead of doing a Kickstarter of people who say they would support this project.

And you know, I gave a lot of notice, or actually not that much notice, but like a month in advance.

And so right now we've raised I think 79%, so we're at 29,000.

With.

Six days to go, it's like, you know, people tell me that there's a big surge at the end and that people, people look at and say, oh, you'll definitely hit your goal.

But to me it's still, you know, a tight basketball match that I'm watching.

But if I do hit my goal, to me it's really meaningful.

First of all, that so many people love this show and want to see more of it even in animatic form because we're just trying to fund the next animatic episode.

But then also what this means for indie animation that people are so rabid for this kind of material.

You know, like the stranger.

More indie shows that studios aren't making right now.

Yeah, and, and, and also, I mean, what's really exciting about it as well, and I think it's, it's something that we've talked about a lot and I think a lot of people in the community animation and kids media community are really interested in is this idea of building in public.

You're really kind of, you're really building the show as you're making it and you're sharing that and using that to build a community around it.

That's really exciting.

Yeah, I mean I started a substack I think a little after we last spoke, however long ago that was like a year ago maybe, but now I have over 1,000 readers.

So that's another area where, you know, not only are people reading what I'm writing, but also I can put, I can link my substack to YouTube videos and Vice versa.

So it kind of can feed into each other and yeah, it's exciting.

I feel like, it's nice to feel like because I've been working my butt off, like I.

It's very hard to be a one person studio and one person marketing team.

And that's what I've been.

I haven't hired any help with that.

So it's been just.

I've been working all the time.

It's almost disgusting.

Like my daughter comments on it and that's not good, you know, like, are you going to be working this weekend, mom?

And.

But it's nice to feel like all that hard work is starting to pay off in ways that I can see, you know.

Yeah, no, it's amazing.

And like, such a very timely report dropped from YouTube this week as well.

Culture and Trends report from YouTube Animation's New Wave how Independent Online Animators are reshaping the Entertainment Industry.

I think they're talking about you, Emily.

Yeah, but it's so wrote it for me.

I think it's so interesting like that one of the things that we would say and like in the kind of reshaped media landscape for kids with social media, you know that idea of quality has changed.

Right.

Like people are happy to watch an animatic.

That's what's something that's touched on in the report.

People are happy as long as the story is there and the characters are there.

What quote unquote quality I'm air quoting for people who are listening in ears.

It's a magical air quote is really changing.

We see that like we see that across tons of formats on digital that it doesn't always have to be the fullest of full fat to.

To to have a valid audience and have a valid following.

Yeah.

And the other thing too.

Oh, sorry.

I was just going to kind of add a little bit to that which is.

I think the other aspect of it is that it makes it feel very authentic.

The fact that you're including the.

The audience in that process from the start.

I mean you're.

There's a trend for adverts now to include within the edit the behind the scenes stuff.

Oh yeah, yeah.

I was hearing about that.

It feels like it's part of that kind of.

It.

It kind of resonates with that kind of trend as well.

Yeah.

And the other thing I was going to say is even if you're.

If you have like me, my official like traditional narrative 11 minute episodes are animatics, I can still have supplemental material shorts that are fully animated, you know, things that are easier to do to kind of fill in that whole universe, you know.

So that's really appealing to me is like seeing how kind of alternative like just there's no limitations when it's your own ip, you know, like if I want to produce a comic, like I commissioned one of my favorite comic artists to do a three page comic that I might, I think I'm going to use to submit to publishers or maybe see if there's interest with the fans.

I don't know.

But like just the fact that I can make those choices is really freeing for me because I've been working in the traditional studios for over a decade and while that has its own rewards, you have no say in like what's done with your property and whether they even make merch nowadays.

They usually don't make merch unless it's a huge franchise like Unicorn Academy or something.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean that's just another hat that you've ended up Acquiring you're kind of.

You're now the traditional studio as well as the writer and the creator.

Yeah, yeah.

How long.

So how long has the Kickstarter been running for?

Because you're.

It's with a week.

Yeah, 75% there.

Yeah.

So it's 30 days.

Okay.

30 Day window.

Yeah.

Which they.

Kickstarter gives you different options but they say they advise for the 30 day so that you can have that momentum.

Okay.

If it goes on forever, you know, or something.

It's hard to really capture that momentum.

The urgency.

Yeah, yeah, the urgency.

So you're around 75% and 75.

Around 75% there.

79% I think.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then what type of like rewards were you offering?

This is where some of the merch stuff comes in.

Yeah, yeah.

So.

Well, previously I only did merch with really like non existent overhead because I didn't know for sure whether people would buy things.

And so I have a shop@strawberryvampire.com but it's all print on demand.

So it's closed mostly in a mug.

But the margins are pretty.

Are not great with print on the demand.

But anyways, that's another subject altogether.

But for the Kickstarter I wanted to do something special.

So my friend Ruka Ito, who's a Japanese animation artist designed a cute little Franny plushie.

So they're plushie keychains that's like kind of a chibi, a cute version of Franny playing accordion and there's a pin of bat Franny.

Franny has a pink bat with a strawberry and there's a poster stickers.

And then we had some special rewards.

So because I've been working in animation for so long, I've made connections with people who have gone on to do really amazing things.

So some of my friends offered to custom paint resin strawberry vampire figure.

Oh, cute.

And so some of those people, I mean they're all superstars in animation like Penn Ward, Patrick Nikhale, Lauren Faust, Jorge Gutierrez, Matt Braley.

I'm probably missing someone, but yeah, so that was cool.

And.

My friend Ruka also just made a digital coloring book recently as an add on and yeah, just.

Oh one special thing that I offered recently was I checked with my storyboard artist to make sure it was okay.

But we offered 10 positions to be a background character.

Oh cool.

In the animatic.

So design either like their oc, like their, you know, character that they created or just themselves designed as a student at Franny's school.

Awesome.

So there's some really interesting stuff there, and I see it.

For those of them, it's like, special thanks in the credit credits.

Does everybody get a special thanks in the credits?

Who?

I think so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Everyone who pledged.

Yeah.

Awesome.

So if the.

If the Kids Media Club podcast pledges $150, can we get a special thanks in the credits?

Credits?

Heck, yeah.

Okay, well, our EVP of finance has approved it, and so we'll get on to that right after.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, I love having your names.

Yeah, well, we would love to.

We would love to support in an awesome project, and we've been following you all the way, Emily.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate the support very much.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Well, listen, fingers crossed that it all goes well.

You will put our check in the mail and, yeah, we come back and talk to us about it.

By the time the check arrives, the Kickstarter will be over.

But it's a thought that counts.

It's in the email.

It'll be in the email.

Yeah.

You know what I'm talking.

All right, guys, thank you.

Thanks, Emily.

Thanks for letting me check in with you on everything that's been happening, and hopefully my mom doesn't have to donate.

That's my goal.

Anyways, we'll be in touch.

Great.

Bye.

We hope you enjoyed that chat with Emily Brundage.

We're very excited to see what she does with her show, Strawberry Vampire.

If you'd like to support her, please check out her Kickstarter page for a variety of options in ways that you can back the show.

And that's it for us for this episode.

Please like and subscribe and listen to us wherever you get your podcast, and we will see you all next week.