In response to one of the most explosive elections in modern history comes TRUMPOCALYPSE, an original animated comedic parody series from next-gen content creators Astronauts Wanted (helmed by Judy McGrath, the woman who brought you Rock The Vote and Choose or Lose while CEO of MTV Networks), NowThis (expert short-form digital storytellers with over 2.3 billion video views a month), and animators Chris Nielsen and Bart Batchelor at Oddfellows Labs and Automatik.
The series, produced in association with Oddfellows Labs and Automatik, is available today on the NowThis Election Facebook page. New episodes will run every week leading up to the November election.
A first look at TRUMPOCALYPSE is available here:
https://www.facebook.com/NowThisElection/videos/1302413509790136/
Speculating with wild satire about what might happen if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States this November, the six-episode series takes a pop culture approach to the worst case scenarios - think apocalyptic comedy rooted in classic Trumpisms.
The series is part of a larger animated series idea developed by Astronauts Wanted and co-produced with Oddfellows Labs, Automatik and NowThis, that takes world and pop culture events (from Brexit to celebrity parenting) and imagines the consequences run amok.
Nick Shore, Chief Creative Strategist, Astronauts Wanted: "For this generation, the line between news and comedy in media has been obliterated. This series simply takes that idea to its absurd conclusion!"
"NowThis has become the go-to source for election coverage with the most engaged political audience on Facebook," said Tina Exarhos, Chief Marketing Officer, NowThis. "We're thrilled to be venturing into scripted content with Astronauts Wanted during this epic election cycle."
In the first episode, viewers are introduced to a cast of characters who are impacted absurdly in Trump's America: utterly deregulated Wallstreeters buy stocks in "feeling depressed"; regular gender-fluid folks are forced to go to Canada just to use the bathroom; white supremacists with nothing left to hate on but inanimate objects; and a neighborhood watch turned deportation squad.
TRUMPOCALYPSE is produced by Astronauts Wanted in association with Oddfellows Labs and Automatik. Executive producers for Astronauts Wanted are Judy McGrath, Nick Shore, Kim Rosen. Executive producers for Oddfellows Labs are Chris Ferguson, Chris Nielsen and Bart Batchelor and NowThis. Executive producer for Automatik is Brian Kavanaugh-Jones. The series is created, written and executive produced by animators Chris Nielsen and Bart Batchelor.
TRUMPOCALYPSE is created by Astronauts Wanted, the producers of the Streamy-winning feature length film A Trip to Unicorn Island with top global star Lilly Singh; the stylishly awkward cult hit talk show TAWK (2016 Webby Honoree) with Awkwafina, now in its fourth season; fan-led travel series Hey
USA with Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart; and the social media reality series @Summerbreak, created with the Chernin Group.
ABOUT ASTRONAUTS WANTED Astronauts Wanted is a youth-focused content development and production company. We create premium programming that puts story first while tapping the zeitgeist of the youth experience. Our mission is to capture the imagination, eyeballs and fingertips of the next generation of content consumers -- whatever video or social platform they are consuming their content on. Astronauts Wanted was founded by Judy McGrath, former Chairperson/CEO
MTV Networks.
ABOUT NOWTHIS NowThis is among the world's leading producers of short-form video, with over 2 billion views a month across multiple platforms. The company produces platform appropriate content, providing audiences with timely and relevant news in a format that that is visually conducive to the socially distributed model.
