In May 2018, Emerson Chan and I premiered the pilot to Wacky Towns at the San Jose State University FPS Fest. Even at this small school film festival, we were nobodies. But against all odds, we won the award for Best Picture alongside our team of fellow student artists. For some reason, the award was a gold spray-painted pair of shorts.
A successful festival run followed. But unfortunately, the pilot was not picked up afterwards. I wasn't discouraged however, because my team and I weren't doing this to win. When we began production for Episode 2, it became our goal to have fun, learn more valuable skills, and create an entertaining show. But most importantly, the true goal of this project was for all of us to collaborate as a team. I'm so thankful for this crew. Everybody here was not only talented and passionate for storytelling, but also had a good heart and treated everyone with respect. And that's one of the most valuable things you can find in a film set.
In November 2019, Episode 2 of Wacky Towns was made public as the last episode of the series. A third episode was in development but was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID 19 lockdown in 2020. However, more Wacky Towns stories are on the way with an upcoming novel in the works.
In 2021, both episodes (including an additional promo short) were remastered and compiled into one TV-length pilot.