Following the success of Yomiko, Hutchison 3 commissioned a pilot episode of 'Live from the Metropolis'. After extensive user group testing Hutchison commissioned a series of 12 episodes to be aired on its exclusive 3 channel. The series kicked off with a pilot episode featuring terminally ill Simon who, in his search for instant relief from the pains of life, ends up on the Tommy Hunter show.

The series focused on Tommy Hunter, a television host down on his luck, trying to hold together his last attempt at show business. Surrounded by a TV production team that is incapable of performing the most simple of jobs, Tommy goes from episode to episode hosting a crumbling TV show with guests that range the bizarre to the desperate.

Off the wall

Pulling from the latest news stories from across the globe, Tommy Hunter's first show discusses the pros and cons of euthanasia, a hot topic that researchers at AAC Studios thought was a country near Thailand. The pilot episode featured Simon, a terminally ill patient who was on the TV show gambling his own escape from life.

polorised scripts

With the pilot episode aired to a user group the response was polorised, split with people loving the episode or hating it, exactly what we wanted. Based on further feedback we scripted an additional six episodes that featured the development of Tommy Hunter and the TV production crew at ACC Studios.

Origins

'Live from the Metropolis' was an off-shoot of Yomiko, a web series that featured two key characters Yom & Iko. Using similar characters across storylines, the look and the feel of 'Live from the Metropolis' echoed each other.

Role: Creator, creative direction, art direction, animation and writer
Client: Hutchison 3
Agency: Paperocket

Rik Peter - Animator, editor, sound design and producer
Nicolas Gouldhurst - Script editor and runner ;)