Wanderlust Productions, best known for its wildly popular documentaries Finger of God, Furious Love, and Father of Lights, is releasing its first cartoon, Anointed Fighters, today, November 20, 2013.
Anointed Fighters is the pilot episode for what the team at Wanderlust hopes to be a full-fledged series. The story details the adventures of a young boy named Tommy who is mentored by the mysterious (and quirky) Grand Master in the ways of spiritual warfare and true, Godly love. The series is attempting to create compelling, fun entertainment for kids that also delves into deeper spiritual territory than any other cartoon series. Should the pilot prove popular, the team at Wanderlust has slated future episodes dealing with such touchy subjects as divorce, anger, and abuse, but always with a strong Biblical worldview.
“I was looking at what my kids are watching,” says Darren Wilson, the writer and producer of the series, “and I realized that there’s pretty much nothing, even in the Christian community, that is both a lot of fun but that also goes deep. I know my kids are struggling with things that aren’t being addressed on any level in the entertainment they consume. So I figured if no one else is going to do it, why not us?”
While the current DVD only includes one episode plus a variety of extra features, Wilson views it almost as a kind of “reverse crowd funding”. “Usually, people create a concept then go to places like Kickstarter or Indigogo to try to get people to support their vision,” Wilson admits. “With this model, we’re actually providing you with the finished product in the hopes that you’ll purchase it and not only show us that you want more media like this, but you’re also helping to actually fund that media.”
Anointed Fighters is both the cartoon debut as well as the directorial debut for Wanderlust team member Matt Bilen, marking this as the first project from Wanderlust that was not directed by Wilson. As is part of the joy of creating cartoon content, the whole Wanderlust team joined in on voices, including Wilson’s young daughter.
While Wilson and his team have a full slate of projects in the works—The Greatest Fight, with UFC legend Ken Shamrock is scheduled for release in early 2014; and Wilson’s highly anticipated two-part documentary, Holy Ghost and Holy Ghost: Reborn, set for release in Fall 2014 & Spring 2015 respectively, they remain committed to their newfound children’s programming, provided the public wants it.
“At the end of the day,” Wilson admits, “it all boils down to support. If people like a cartoon from us and buy it, we’ll make more.”
