OUR HISTORY
a look back...*** This is a long-ass read with pictures. Just a heads up. Split it up. Take your time.
Go get your coffee.
Well, let’s see. When asked to write a blurb on the history of the project, a lot of images came to mind.
Why would us, a handful of monkeys, wanna write about any of this?
Looking back though, what our history did have was a lot of trial and error, and a lot of lessons learned, which is why you’ll see some of our “Classic” posters as means to illustrate some of these lessons.
Like this one:
Of course. So, as you can see, some of these will feel a little bit like a bit of a stretch.
Sorry about that.
Back in 2010, looking at television and film, it was evident Latino voices seemed limited in Media. It seemed that for such a strong demographical force, we sure let other people tell our stories, and such rich stories as they were.
So it felt some noise was necessary, to take a stab at changing some of that.
The original idea was a bilingual piece, since that is the world that all of the Latinos out there (including myself), live in.
So maybe a bilingual comic strip for newspapers was the answer. What about a strip in both English and Spanish, at the same time?
It felt like ‘Yeah, that’s right, this format is the answer, we got this’.
Yeah, right.
The problem was that newspapers were disappearing quickly, especially bilingual newspapers. Editors liked the idea, but couldn’t afford new features.
Hmm, there is something here, but we were not sure what it was.
Let’s re-think this.
Let’s not let a good idea get muddied.
In 2012, we explored a more technologically advanced medium.
A good way to deal with the bilingual element of our concept, we thought, was to add interactivity. ‘Hey, let’s build an App!’.
We can’t just sit around and do nothing, otherwise the concept is gonna disappear into the night.
Let’s not fall asleep on this one.
We wanted to expand to digital properties but very quickly realized that creating an App would become very costly and unwieldy, and its success would depend mostly on the promotional muscle that the project would be able to have.
Tough call.
There was a lot of hot air going around from us, us becoming the self-proclaimed “experts” and all, but nobody really knew what they were talking about.
Just a lot of talk.
At this point, things were pointing at Animation.
There were a lot of connections in filmmaking and post-production, as well as in Academia, for a solid base.
We also knew a number of people in the industry, so figured, hey, maybe there is strength in numbers!
Let’s get together and rally.
Obviously, there is a national movement to capitalize on one of the fastest growing demographic in the US, the Latino millennial consumer.
TV networks were being developed precisely for this market. The strategy of producing the show in English, with Latino accents, could give the show the street cred it needed.
The team looked around and discover that putting together a group of like-minded Latino artists was actually very easy.
Even though this group rag-tags were not to be trusted.
So in 2014, we scraped together whatever change we had, and produced our first animation Cheo The Plumber, a tongue-in-cheek look at religion.
The piece was well received, with a handful of publications writing stories about us.
Could this be true?
Are we onto something here?
Should we stop asking stupid questions?
We felt, hey, maybe this momentum is enough for us to capitalize on a campaign to fund our second short.
So we went into the crazy process of crowdfunding.
This is where sleep was lost, nerves were shattered, friendships were tested, and I’m sure our diet of beef jerky and coffee let us looking more than a little haggard.
Our significant others had to put together interventions, to remind us to eat a piece of fruit or vegetable, from time to time.
At the end of it all, we created quite a splash and raised enough to propel our next short, Esterotipos En El Ring.
With two shorts under our belt, and with a lot of support from the masses, it was time for action.
It was time we jumped into full gear, carefully.
Mofongolandia has been catching momentum and gathering a following.
Our next step is to find us a home on TV, enough is enough. Even though Social Media has been very, very good to us, the changes we set out to make on the perception of Latinos in media, telling our stories, by us, needs to reach the next level.
We believe that combining TV and Social Media will reach the audiences that we want to reach. And will help us be the change that we want to be.
Even though, deep inside, we are still just a handful of monkeys, throwing poop around, and trying to make it in this crazy jungle.
Thank you for your time and cooperation.
– Jorge Trelles
Executive Monkey