Evolution of Fantasy

Created for Facebook Watch in partnership with HarperCollins through the Epic Reads page, Evolution of Fantasy is an 8-episode animated essay series exploring how the fantasy genre has changed over time, and why it endures. Each episode tackles a specific idea in the ecosystem of fantasy: writer influences, folklore and dragons, fanfiction and fandom, blockbuster rivalries like Harry Potter vs Twilight, and the constant "wheel of adaptation" that turns books into films, shows, and cultural identity.

The series lived on a platform with built-in reach and community: Epic Reads' audience of 1.2 million followers, where episodes sparked significant engagement and viewership. Stylistically, the goal was to make the genre feel tactile again, like fantasy worlds literally leaping off the page. The animation leaned into a storybook aesthetic with nods to the earliest language of cinema animation, including Lotte Reiniger's shadow-puppet influence, giving the series a handcrafted feel inside a modern social platform.

My role was director, writer, and producer, guiding a team of animators and illustrators through concept development, scriptwriting, visual direction, and episode execution to ensure a cohesive voice across the season.

Across the 8-episode run, Evolution of Fantasy reached 8.05M total views, generating 42K+ reactions and 990+ comments across the series. Released to the Epic Reads community on Facebook Watch (1.2M followers), the episodes sparked active conversation, proof that fantasy doesn't just endure on the page, it survives through the people who keep engaging with it.

This project exists because fantasy isn't just escapism. It's a system of belief. The genre survives the way myths survive: through retellings, transformations, and communities that keep the stories circulating long after their authors have finished writing them. Evolution of Fantasy was built to honor that engine, to treat fandom not as a side effect, but as the living force that keeps fantasy moving through culture.

HarperCollins approached us with the opportunity, and we developed over 20 potential episode topics before narrowing down to the final eight. That process shaped the series into something intentionally curated: episodes that could be watched casually, shared socially, and still feel intellectually coherent. This is an on-ramp into the history, mechanics, and emotional pull of fantasy. The ambition wasn't just to summarize a genre, but to make viewers recognize their place inside it: the way stories become identity, the way adaptations reshape meaning, and the way imagination gets passed hand to hand like folklore.

If it works, the series leaves you with a simple truth: fantasy lasts because people need it, and because they keep building it together.