Even in middle school, Sam Sawyer knew she wanted her doodles from math class to be something more. Years later, after working in comics, she returned to an old drawing she’d created in 7th grade. Now, it’s on its way to becoming an animated series.
Sawyer, a queer 24-year-old artist who has devoted her time to her artwork and watched as queer creators like Rebecca Sugar make diverse characters more mainstream, is now ready to bring her fantastical creation to the screen with SALEM: the Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantments, and Monsters. The main character, Salem, is described as a “bright-eyed cryptid who lives with their guardian, the infamous Boogeyman.” A cryptid, a plant or animal not recognized by the scientific community, has always been a creature shrouded in legend, which felt perfect for the kind of character Sawyer says she wanted to create.
When the cryptid, who Sawyer says is a non-binary character, finds out they’re adopted, they set off on an enchanted journey to discover their true origins and are joined by a photographer, Oliver, and psychic medium, Petra. The setting of the show, “Hollow Watch,” is in the woods of West Virginia, and is known for paranormal and cryptic phenomena.
Sawyer says she made the character non-binary because she wants young people and people who enjoy cartoons to see someone non-binary in the lead. “It happened naturally, mostly because they’re a cryptid—their species and what they are doesn’t necessarily fit into the gender norms that exist in the society we’ve created,” she told The Dot and Line. “So it just felt right story-wise, but it also felt right in the sense of wanting to have that representation for a group of people in our society who aren’t always represented.”
Sawyer made a Kickstarter with a goal of $60,000 to create the first episode. Going back to watch the darkest cartoons of the early 2000s for inspiration, Sawyer drew from favorites like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy or Courage the Cowardly Dog.
“Aside from giving people something to enjoy and watch, I’d really like to give people a story that can make them reach out to friends and say, ‘Hey we haven’t talked in a while! It would be cool if we could reconnect because you’d like this show I watched,’” Sawyer told The Dot and Line. “I’d like for the show to give people a chance to stop worrying about their lives and sit down for a moment and enjoy something that’s a really fun show that also talks about diversity and our differences but [highlights] that we’re still the same.”
The show’s all-star voice boasts big names like Laura Bailey, best known for Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, and Spider-Man; Rob Paulsen of Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs; and Adam Mcarthur of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Expected to come out in spring of 2021, the Kickstarter for the show has already surpassed its goal, currently totaling nearly $75,000. You can read more about SALEM on its Kickstarter page and follow along on social as the journey begins.
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