A TALENTED family has given a whole new meaning to being productive during the COVID lockdown, with the creation of new Netflix series Adventure Beast.
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The animated, adult comedy series was the brainchild of Sandra Walters and Mark Gravas, along with their three daughters Melani, Claire and Lauren.
It went live on Netflix on October 22, with Walters and Gavas co-creating, financing and producing the series from their home during the lockdown.
The stories centres around the adventures globetrotting conservationist Bradley Trevor Greive, his niece Bonnie and field assistant Dietrich as they look at the good, bad and ugly of nature.
Outside of being an animation character, Greive is an Australian author who has penned more than 20 books, including The Blue Day Book and co-wrote Penguin Bloom about Newport couple Sam and Cam Bloom.
"It's set around the world with animal stories and how they relate to humans, with real facts that we've written into the animation," Ms Walters said.
"We took the themes he explores in his books and looked at all sides of nature: the dark, the beautiful and the things that we don't talk about as much, like the dangers of animal birth and how being a coward in nature is actually smart."
We're excited that Netflix are making animation content. It was very thrilling.
- Kapow Pictures co-owner Sandra Walters
Walters and Gravas own Kapow Pictures and this is their first project with Netflix.
"We're excited that Netflix are making animation content," she said. "It was very thrilling.
"It can take a long while to create/finance/produce a TV series. We are very happy that our show Adventure Beast is finally streaming on Netflix."
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The animation was produced on the Sydney's northern beaches, including with the help of the couple's daughters, who are all in their 20s. Melani was the production assistant, Claire worked as character/prop designer, and Lauren worked as line producer.
"It was excellent because we could all work together," Ms Walters said.
Adventure Beast features 12, 18-minute-long episodes and is streaming on Netflix now.