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    Reel FX Debuts “Fort of Hard Knocks” for Best Fiends, Mobile Entertainment Co. Seriously

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments6129 Views

    Seriously, a mobile entertainment company, has rolled out Fort of Hard Knocks, the third original animated short within the Best Fiends franchise. This latest short film further demonstrates Seriously’s vision of creating an IP, Best Fiends, as a mobile game first, and building it out to animations, videos, and more.

    “We have so many wonderful stories to tell in the Best Fiends universe, and we can’t wait to share our latest animation Fort of Hard Knocks with our community of players and fans,” said Andrew Stalbow, CEO and co-founder of Seriously. “It’s so much fun extending out the brand beyond our games and we’re lucky to live in an age where we, as creators, get to distribute our content direct to our audience on mobile. Both our brand and our direct connection have the potential to be a significant competitive advantage and point of differentiation for us going forward.”

    The feature film-quality animation was produced by Reel FX Animation Studios, the animation studio known for Book of Life and its work on Despicable Me, Ice Age, and Looney Toons. Fort of Hard Knocks stars a Hollywood talent voice cast of 2018 Emmy-nominee Pamela Adlon (Better Things, Californication), Kate Walsh (13 Reasons Why, Grey’s Anatomy), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), David Herman (Office Space), and Maurice LaMarche (Futurama, Zootopia). 

    The cinematic short was directed by Augusto Schillaci via Reel FX. Produced by Emmy-nominated producer, Claudia De La Roca (Futurama), the animation moves to music composed by Heitor Pereira (Despicable Me). 

    “The ‘Best Fiends’ franchise continues to be an amazing experience,” notes Schillaci. “Fort of Hard Knocks pushed our creative collaboration to a new level in character animation, story, comedy and visual style and I think fans will really resonate with the final piece.”

    In 2017, Seriously launched two animated shorts with Reel FX–Boot Camp and Visit Minutia–that brought the Best Fiends world to life. Through the success of the animations and a comprehensive video strategy, the animations have more than 12.8 million combined views and helped grow the Best Fiends YouTube channel to more than 605,000 subscribers to-date. Players can enjoy the shorts and all Best Fiends social content without leaving the game thanks to Seriously’s in-game Video Center. This has successfully helped drive views across all social platforms.

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    Credits

    Client Seriously Petri Jarvilehto, creative/exec producer; Nikolai Von Keller, writer; Andrew Stalbrow, exec producer; Claudio de la Roca, producer and casting; Philip Hicky, Matt McMahon, associate producers; Heitor Pereira, music; Miguel Francisco, original character designs; Ville Lepisito, creative consultant. Production Reel FX Animation Studios, Dallas Augusto Schillaci, director/art director/VFX supervisor; Nolan Southerland, editor; Rob Zeigler, assistant editor; Scott G. Peterson, digital supervision; Robin Morrison, associate producer; Kasey G. Henley, Constance Levesque, production managers; Casey Braden Barnes, Adrian Walker, production coordinators; Rod Douglas Jacob V. Eaton, story dept.; Nathan Smithson, modeling supervisor; Ben Li, Phoebe Kim, Steve Hilbert, modeling; Kenneth Kanipe, Ryan Porter, Douglas Bell, Daniel McCrummen, rigging; Tobi Trebeljahr, Megan Petasky, Clayton Stillwell, art dept.; David B. Vallone, animation supervisor; Bryon Caldwell, Robert Lazzarini, Ernesto Bottger, Tom Danen, Dorian Soto, Don Dixon, John Durbin, Jason Behr, Monica Aston, Ray Chase, Chris Street, animation; Jessica Hogan, lighting supervisor; Alberto Beguerie Braun, Kelsey Craig, Tyler Delisle, Ed Whetstone, lighting; Doug Hogan, Julie Terrell, lighting support; John Anderholm, technical supervisor; Ryan Bland, Joseph Kiser, Tony Fan, Ted Lebeau III, Michael Jefferies, Seth Schewartz, Logan Kelly, TDs; Jake Rusch, effects; Frank Pittenger, TJ Callaway, Oliver Benavidez, audio engineers; David A. Parrish, head of production; Pete Herzog, exec producer. (Toolbox: Maya, Nuke, INSIGHT)

     

    Media Type:Film: Short
    ScreenWork Categories:Short film
    Video Tags:Augusto SchillaciReel FX Animation Studios



    The Best Work You May Never See: Writer-Director Steve Fuller’s AI Spec Spot For The Amazon Fire TV Stick

    Friday, March 6, 2026

    Steve Fuller wrote, directed and served as artificial intelligence creative lead on this AI spec film for the Amazon Fire TV Stick.

    Fuller took on the spec piece not as a tech demo but rather as a storytelling experiment. He was no stranger to AI going into the project, having deployed it for the past couple of years on treatments and as a means to supercharge his design work. Still, the veteran director--who’s enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Jeff Lewis’ The Directors Network--felt the need to learn and experience more when it came to AI. Thus he initiated a spec piece so he could integrate AI even better into his narrative toolbox.

    Spurred on by a desire to discover how his directing instincts could translate into the best utilization of AI resources, Fuller came up with a creative concept for a product he was a user and fan of--the Fire TV Stick. What if a treasure trove of iconic characters and worlds were racing towards a huge Fire TV Stick in the middle of a desert, converging there in order to compete for viewer attention? And the climax of the spot has a household about to make the fateful choice for what they’re going to watch from all these varied options and forms of entertainment.

    While via AI he was able to amass major celebrity talent and elements of blockbuster entertainment franchises for the Fire TV Stick adventure, that wasn’t the objective for Fuller who explained, “I was not trying to make a short film and suddenly have it star Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise. Instead I wanted to see if I could use AI to make a really big and epic commercial.” The spec project was designed to open up the opportunity to curate imagery, create video sequences--all the while making choices as a director. “I approached it as I... Read More

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