SHEEP IN THE BIG ANNIVERSARY!

Approximately twelve million years ago in LA, I had JUST finished up the pilot for Codename: Kids Next Door and lay on the floor in my office, phone in hand, talking to sooper high powered Cartoon Network Executive Linda Simensky. The conversation kind of went like this:

Me: Can I have a series?

Linda: No.

See, Cartoon Network was making TEN pilots that year and mine was the first done. Absolutely no decision was going to be made until all of them were finished so I basically had to sit on the pilot for a year. So the question was:

What was I gonna DO?!

The answer came relatively quickly in the form of a Sheep.

A Sheep in a Big City.

Yup... Mr. Mo Willems was in need of a director for 2nd season of Sheep in the Big City. So, was I in?

Well, kind of.

After working on Kenny and the Chimp, Pepper Ann, and KND, I hadn't actually worked in anyone else's style in a loooong time so I was a bit scared. But then again, I desperately needed the production experience if I was ever going to get my own show.
And Sheep DID look like fun to work on.
Oh, and they were paying money, too.

So yeah... I was in.


And it turned out to be one of the best things I ever did.
I worked with an awesome crew...
I learned a ton about tv series production...
And I really liked working with Mr. Willems.
(but don't tell him I said that)

Unfortunately, the show got canceled after second season.
Fortunately, the show got canceled to make way for Codename: Kids Next Door.

And after much deliberation, it was decided that the Sheep production model would become Kids Next Door's. So we flipped the production staff, switched up artists, and to punish Mr. Willems for bossing me around so much, I hired him as the head writer. Good thing, too since it was his architecture that helped solidify the KND's world.

So why am I taking this trip down Sheepy Lane?

Because Mr. Willems just reported that last Thursday, November 4th was the 10th Anniversary of Sheep In The Big City's premiere. If you're a fan, definitely go check out his reminiscing over HERE!

And just for fun, here's one of the 'bits' I directed: