SCRIPT WRITING
I’ve scripted comics for several major franchises including Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hasbro’s Action Man A.T.O.M. and Warner Bros’ Tom & Jerry. I’m also the co-script writer and narrative consultant for animated pop band Gorillaz, having worked with creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett since 2016 to bring the world of the virtual band to life.
Comics
Written extensively for Nickelodeon’s TMNT comic published by Panini Comics, and many of those strips featured in their official Collected Comics graphic novel. Here’s the cover, and one of the strips from the book…
A few pages plucked from Action Man A.T.O.M., TMNT, and the Gorillaz Almanac 2020…
Gorillaz
Since 2016, I’ve been a script writer and narrative consultant for virtual band Gorillaz. In collaboration with Gorillaz creator Jamie Hewlett and co-writer Tom O’Malley, I’ve helped expand the virtual band’s world and lore, devising narrative for each album phase, then scripting the virtual characters’ adventures and dialogue across a diverse range of media, from print to animated shorts to radio shows.
Most recently, along with Jamie Hewlett and Tom O’Malley, I co-wrote the narrative for Gorillaz’ 2023 number one album campaign Cracker Island, and communicated the story to fans by scripting character press interviews, animated shorts for Gorillaz Instagram, Discord, TikTok, and Youtube channels. I received a narrative design credit for helping to create the plot for the Silent Running music video, which dramatised the final act of the cult-themed story we had developed during the campaign.
In 2020, I co-authored the best-selling Gorillaz Almanac (published by Z2 comics); a compendium of stories, comic strip, fictional interviews, and Gorillaz lore, celebrating the band’s 20 year anniversary. There’s a few excerpts below…
I helped create in-character radio shows hosted by each fictional band member, which aired on Apple Music 1 in 2020. As well as writing each script, I directed the four voice artists in the studio.
In collaboration with co-writer Tom O’Malley, I scripted this animated short for a promo for Gorillaz’ G-Shock watch range…
This is one of four animated character backstories I helped create to update fans on what each band member got up to during the six year hiatus between Plastic Beach and follow-up album Humanz.
To promote tours and album campaigns, I have scripted countless fictional press interviews in the characters’ voices for the likes of Rolling Stone, NME, and AV Club. Here’s an in-depth interview with unhinged band leader Murdoc which featured in Vice. I have also crafted multiple character bios, like this one, in the voice of Gorillaz frontman 2D.
I was given the role of lead narrative designer and interactive dialogue writer for the band’s first venture into AI. Working with tech developer Imperson, we created the Free Murdoc experience, which put fans directly in touch with an AI chatbot version of band leader Murdoc.
The interactive messenger and voice experience immersed fans in a multi-episodic story in which they helped Murdoc break out of jail by completing regular tasks and puzzles. While enduring a lot of insults.
The Free Murdoc Experience ran for five months, with a new chapter released every two weeks. It even won a few awards.
Webby Awards 2019 — People’s Voice Winner
Drum Social Buzz Awards 2018 — Best use of Chatbot
CMA Awards 2018 — Gold: Best use of Innovation
