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An animated adventure series · Neverland, before the legend

Petey & Jas

Before the Pan and the Hook were enemies, they were boys, and best friends. This is the untold first adventure of Neverland. Two kids from nowhere find an island where you never have to grow up, and learn the one thing the island can't protect them from is each other.

Kris Wimberly · creator, Studio Smokescreen
Supervising director, Disney's Sofia the First: Royal Magic · Firebuds · Elena of Avalor
Watch Kris pitch the show (90 seconds)Kris on camera, over the boards and designs · to be filmed
Petey and Jas key art. Two boys, a fairy, an islander, and a mermaid in front of a galleon and the peaks of Neverland.
OPENS OCT 23

Stage 2 of 4 · opens Oct 23

First Flight

Star 1 is already done. The studio developed and paid for the world, characters, and pitch package itself. Now Neverland gets moving with 90 fully animated seconds of Petey and Jas's first flight over the island.

Pledging opens at LightBox Expo · Oct 23

We'll email you when pledging opens. No spam. Privacy

The Show

the world and the duo

The world

Neverland, before the stories you know. Before the crocodile, before the lost boys, before the hook. A wilder island, with mermaid shoals, dragon migrations, and moons that shouldn't share a sky, seen through the eyes of the two boys who will one day fight over it.

The duo

Petey, the boy who will become the Pan Fearless, generous, allergic to rules. The kid who jumps first and never looks down. Character line to be finalized by Kris
Jas, the boy who will become the Hook Sharper, prouder, older by a year and poorer by a mile. The best swordsman either of them knows, and the first real friend Petey ever had. To be finalized by Kris
The islanders Names and lines from the series bible for the fairy, the island boy, and the mermaid in the key art
The island itself Neverland is a character. It chooses, it protects, and it remembers. Island rules from the bible

Tone and the vision

A warm, cinematic all-ages adventure in an anime-influenced style. Comps to be confirmed by Kris. Every episode is an adventure, and the season ends where the legend begins, on the day the friendship breaks.

Why this story is free to tell. J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is in the public domain in the United States. The characters and world belong to everyone. Every design on this page is original to Studio Smokescreen.

Petey & Jas key art
Character sheets
(from the pitch package)
World and environment art
(from the pitch package)

The Creator

the track record behind the pitch

Kris Wimberly has spent fifteen years inside the biggest animation studios in the world, including Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., and Universal. He's currently the supervising director of Disney's Sofia the First: Royal Magic, the revival of one of the most beloved kids' franchises on television. And he came up the long way, from custodian at Disneyland to the director's chair, one storyboard at a time.

Petey & Jas is the show he's been drawing in the margins the whole climb. It was developed to the standard of a network pitch, because it was one. ShowSparks exists so a slot on someone else's schedule is no longer what stands between a finished world and its audience.

Delivery record: supervising director on a flagship Disney Jr. series, on air now · Studio Smokescreen's broadcast-quality production for major studios and brands · complete development package for Petey & Jas (world bible, designs, pitch deck). See Star 1, delivered, below.

The Plan

second star to the right

A series gets made the way you cross an ocean, one star at a time. Each star pays for a real piece of production, and a star only opens when the one before it is funded and delivered. Petey & Jas starts with Star 1 already shining.

Star 1 · The World

Development · studio-funded
DELIVERED

Funded: series concept, world bible, character and environment design, and the full pitch package. The same materials presented at the top of the industry.

📜
Design pack and pitch packageDelivered, and on this page for you to judge. This stage cost the studio real money, and it's already yours.

Star 2 · First Flight

Animated teaser
GREENLIGHTING NOW

Funds: 90 fully animated seconds of Petey and Jas's first flight over the island, boards through final mix, produced by Studio Smokescreen's own crew.

You get, when this star is greenlit The finished teaser, delivered to backers before the public, plus the production shared openly as it's made.

Star 3 · The Pilot

Goal set from the teaser's real costs
AWAITING GREENLIGHT

Funds: a full pilot episode, script through final animation, voice cast, and score, budgeted from the teaser's real per-minute cost instead of a guess.

You get, when this star is greenlit The complete pilot, backers first. Stars 1 and 2 are yours no matter what. Nobody leaves with nothing.

Star 4 · The Season

After the pilot ships
AWAITING GREENLIGHT

Funds: season one, possibly alongside partner studios. A teaser and pilot that fans funded is exactly the proof that brings distributors and partners to the table.

You get, when this star is greenlit The season, the story that ends where the legend begins. Backers aboard since Star 2 will have watched Neverland get built from its first moving frame.

Where the Stage 2 money actually goes

Budgeted by the studio that will make it. Our platform fee is waived on this campaign, since it's our show and our platform. Split pending the final production quote.

Animation (rough → color)47%
Boards & layout19%
Backgrounds & color design14%
Score, sound & mix11%
Edit & post9%
Platform fee (waived, house show)0%
The honest math. Broadcast-quality animation runs roughly $10k to $15k per finished minute. Ninety seconds on this budget only works because development is already paid for and the studio makes it in-house. That's the deal on the table, and you can hold us to it.

Join the crew

no crates to ship, just the story

Every reward is intangible on purpose. No pins, no posters, no postage. Every dollar goes into frames on screen, and what you get back is access, credit, and a hand in the work.

Full disclosure, in plain words. Petey & Jas is owned by Studio Smokescreen, the same studio that runs this platform and will produce every stage. The people asking for your pledge are the people on the hook for delivering it. No middleman. It also means we hold this campaign to a stricter standard than anyone else's. Every budget line above is our real production quote, and every deliverable ships to backers before anywhere else.