NORTHANGER AVENUE

“Morland & Mishaps”

We produced “Morland & Mishaps,” our first full-color animated short, in one month as a proof of concept for a much larger story:

Northanger Avenue

Sixth-grade Catherine Morland must rely on her siblings and new neighborhood friends to keep her out of mischief whenever she gets caught up in book-fueled daydreams.

The characters from the 1817 Jane Austen novel “Northanger Abbey” possess so much charm and relevance to a modern audience. Northanger Avenue brings these experiences to a modern setting and a younger audience (8-11) in a way that celebrates the process of becoming who you are. The animated series explores the difficulty of growing up in a culture divided by status and class, from the primarily lighthearted viewpoint of an enthusiastic middle schooler. The show uses humor to approach important topics that today’s children face in their own lives, including bullying, heartbreak, loss of parents, envy, fear and bigotry. 

Each episode contains a slice-of-life scenario while also including elements of fantasy from Catherine’s daydreams. Every adventure features a new imagination setting based on whichever book that Catherine is reading, with references to a wide variety of book genres and influences. Even the series title is based on a book, Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, from which several character names have been adapted to fit a younger, American story.