Team Mo'Larky

From the mind of visionary designer Justin Harder, Magic Machine presents Mo’Larky. 

Magic Machine is an LA based incubator and creative collective founded by Justin Harder and Chris Waters to develop boldly designed animated story worlds for family and adult audiences, targeting both digital and traditional platforms.  

The Developers

Born in Chicago (huge Cubs fan), Justin studied Graphic Design at Art Center in Pasadena and quickly became one of LA’s most sought after and pioneering motion graphics designers. Justin’s portfolio includes award winning projects for a diverse list of clients, including Nickelodeon, Hulu, VH1, Sundance, and Coke to name a few. 

Magic Machine’s first project, Mo’Larky, initially conceived by Justin a year ago, is a culmination of his life’s work, a vision synthesized from seventeen years collecting ideas, stories and designs that continue to inspire and inform his work today.  

It was Justin’s passion, as well as his fun, pop infused character designs and strong creative vision for Mo’Larky that drew longtime animation industry veteran and current Stoopid Buddy Stoodios Development Executive Chris Waters (huge Dodgers fan) to join the project late 2016. Introduced by a mutual childhood friend, Justin and Chris have spent countless hours developing Mo’Larky into a comedy adventure series that is both a love letter to the coming of age stories and sonic influences of their youth, and a bold new vision that they hope will inspire the next generation of designers and storytellers.

The Collaborators

Magic Machine brought on writer Nick Cron-DeVico who penned the pilot episode while helping give further shape to the Mo’Larky universe. Nick is a comedy writer and UCB-trained improv performer out of USC. Recently, Nick wrote for the Cartoon Network show 'Clarence' and the YouTube Red series 'Sing It!' In addition to TV work, Nick scripts comics for the KaBoom Studios 'Clarence' and 'Adventure Time' series. He currently writes for 'Robot Chicken' on Adult Swim, and is developing a show for College Humor's new web platform, Dropout, and a TV adaptation of Eden Sher’s 2016 book.  

Mo’Larky will be produced out of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, an artist-friendly collective founded by partners Seth Green, John Harvatine IV, Matthew Senreich and Eric Towner.  The company has a knack for creating unique visuals and telling character driven stories with an uncanny sensibility. Stoopid Buddy Stoodios is home to the longest running stop-motion show on television, “Robot Chicken,” Sony Crackle’s Emmy-nominated “SuperMansion” with Bryan Cranston, “Buddy Thunderstruck” for Netflix and the soon to be released 2D animated series “Hot Streets” for Adult Swim.  

The company’s multiple-building campus and state-of-the-art facility located in Burbank, CA, makes it one of the largest studios specializing in 2D, puppetry, stop-motion and CG animation in California. The company’s work covers the animation gamut, ranging from charming hand-crafted animation all the way to high-end feature quality animation.

The Musicians

MODOM is the collaborative brainchild of composers Chaz Windus and Keith Ruggiero. Chaz and Keith wrote and composed the original songs for the Mo’Larky pilot, and will continue to provide original music for the series.  

Evolving from their earliest years of performing in various bands and audio branding, Chaz and Keith share a mutual love for synthesizers and Star Trek. Windus hails from his long running studio “Blazing Lazer,” which has defined the sound of VH1 and MTV over the past ten years. Ruggiero, who still tours as a member of the New York based “Electroclash” band Soviet, resides in Los Angeles, home base for his sound design and music composition studio “Sounds Red”.