tinyBuild, the creator and publisher of the hit video game franchise Hello Neighbor, created by CEO Alex Nichiporchik and Jon Carnage (Twitch TV), has enlisted writer/creator/producer collective Man of Action Entertainment’s (Big Hero 6) Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle, Joe Casey and Joe Kelly and Creation Station’s Omar Spahi (Code 8) and Dillon Gemmill (NCIS: Los Angeles) to develop and write a new all-ages animated series, Hello Neighbor: Welcome to Raven Brooks. All will serve as Executive Producers.
Billed as the first-ever animated series to debut inside a video game, the toon will launch with tinyBuild’s sequel game Hello Neighbor 2 game on December 6. A rough test version of the pilot from Nichiporchik and Carnage debuted on YouTube in 2020 and garnered over 11 million views in just the first week (now over 21 million views). tinyBuild is following up this success by upgrading every aspect of the show and changing the distribution model at the same time.
“We already have a wildly popular video game franchise with Hello Neighbor, including spin-offs and a prequel, but we wanted to do something unconventional and break the mold of traditional distribution,” said Nichiporchik. “Since we wanted to make a top-tier quality series, we are extremely delighted to work with the talented team of writers from Man of Action Entertainment, who previously created, produced and wrote Ben 10.”
After the first episode of Hello Neighbor: Welcome to Raven Brooks premieres within the game itself next week, it will also be available on YouTube for all the game’s fans to enjoy. Nichiporchik added, “This is the first time a video game story unfolds in animation and expands upon the canon.”
“We are hoping to pioneer cross-media storytelling with the series … It’s been an amazing time working with the insanely talented folks at Creation Station and Man of Action Entertainment,” added tinyBuild CrossMedia director Carnage, “The care they have put into crafting an incredible Hello Neighbor story has really brought Raven Brooks to life, they are masters at their craft and it’s been a blast to create this with them!”
There will be 18 episodes of the animated series, which overlaps the events of the Hello Neighbor video games, with the remaining episodes debuting in 2023. The first episode story directly integrates into the event of the game.
Hello Neighbor: Welcome to Raven Brooks focuses on the new girl in the neighborhood, Trinity (Kimberly Woods), who moves in across the street from creepy neighbor, Mr. Peterson (Armen Taylor). and quickly befriends Nicky (Kieran Walton), who is already obsessed with finding out what horrific secrets are hiding in Peterson’s basement. They enlist their less courageous friends to join them in their terrifying stealth missions to help rescue whatever is trapped in that horror house basement. The series will not be rated for children to stay true to the themes of the source material games.
Gemmill is also the story editor on the series and Todd Haberkorn is the voice director and a cast member along Woods, Taylor, Walton, Christian Bell, Giselle Fernandez, Reba Buhr, Cedric Williams, Larry Herron, Nisa Ward, David Shatraw and Mary Jane W.
Man of Action Entertainment created the $7 billion boys’ action franchise Ben 10 for Cartoon Network and the team and characters for the Academy Award-winning feature film/TV franchise Big Hero 6. They are also the creator/producers of Sonic Prime, debuting on Netflix December 15.
“The arrival of Hello Neighbor: Welcome to Raven Brooks represents the evolution of all ages cartoons from traditional kid whodunits to current teen nostalgia thrillers like Stranger Things,” said Man of Action in a joint statement. “It’s a really fun place for us to land after decades of making primarily kids’ adventure shows, and we are thrilled that Creation Station invited us to help steer their ship on this project along with the active, informed participation of tinyBuld, who created and manage the franchise the series is based upon.”
Man of Action also praised studio Animasia as “amazing animation partners who have tweaked their original pilot designs to add an extra layer of grim horror for this full series launch plus a fantastic voice cast, top-notch production crew and brilliant music from Louis Fagenson, the likes of which you usually only experience in Friday night fright fest films!”
Creation Station’s Gemmill and Spahi said, “As fans of the original Hello Neighbor video game, we jumped at the opportunity to team up with both the creators at tinyBuild and animation industry veterans at Man of Action Entertainment to bring the next chapter of the story to life and dive deeper into the lore that makes the franchise so great.”
