Why Andy Lee's Do Not Watch This Show is his biggest creative challenge yet
The process of bringing Lee's books to the screen has taken years. (Supplied)
Andy Lee is no stranger to the media sphere, with top-rating projects across TV, radio, podcasting and writing.
But when it came to turning his best-selling kids' book into a TV show for the ABC, it was a process unlike anything he had experienced.
So, what made it so challenging?
"Long, it's so long [to make]!" Lee said, laughing.
"I went into a sound booth some time in March last year and, finally, people can see what happened with it when [the show airs] in July this year.
"To give you perspective, the first book took 40 minutes [to write] on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne.
"[The show] has been quite the process, but I've loved it, I've absolutely loved it."
For anyone new to the Do Not Open This Book series, Lee wrote and released the first book for his nephew, George, as a birthday present in 2016.
Lee created Wizz and the original book in 2016 for his nephew.
He's since written 10 more, with the next book set to be released before the end of the year.
The TV adaptation, Do Not Watch This Show, sees the book's main character, a blue monster named Wizz (voiced by Lee), brought to life.
He takes viewers on fantastical journeys with life lessons along the way, all while imploring them not to watch any further.
With him on screen are his friends Douglas (also voiced by Lee), Tortoise (Denise Scott), Lime (Joel Creasey), Kiwi (Kura Forrester) and Goblin (Dave Hughes).
Joining Wizz on his adventures is his cast of mentors, friends and semi-foe, Goblin.
As well as the main cast, expect cameos from other notable Aussie voices, including:
- Hamish Blake
- Carrie Bickmore
- Tony Armstrong
- Chrissie Swan
- Glenn Robbins
- Mick Molloy
"David Hughes being Goblin I find the most fun because I think Hughesy's natural voice does sound like a goblin," Lee joked.
"It was funny when he came in to do it, he was like 'So mate what voice do you want?' and I was like 'Oh man, I want your voice. You know, I didn't hire you because you're an amazing character actor — all due respect — I want Hughesy'.
"I love the idea of this show [going] international, that Hughesy will be the voice of the goblin next door that's constantly feuding with Wizz."
Lee's 'big learning'
Lee said part of the extra time it took to make the show was crafting hand-drawn expressions or movements for the characters.
While the animation used 3D technology to produce Wizz and friends' basic movements, any adjustments Lee or the team wanted were made by hand by illustrator Heath McKenzie.
"The amount of drawings has been quite incredible," Lee said.
"To give you an idea of just Wizz's expressions, I think we ended up with 60 mouth shapes."
The opportunities to tweak or change the animation were "endless". (Supplied)
Retaining creative control was a priority for Lee, and was part of the reason talks with a Hollywood studio for the show didn't come to fruition.
But Lee himself says being so deeply involved in the show's creation was both a blessing and a curse.
"The strange thing about making an animation versus a live action is we used to go out and film something and we'd get back into the edit and I'd go 'Oh do we have a shot of that? Oh no, we don't, OK well that's all it is,'" he said.
"Now I sit in the edit and go '[It] would've been good if he kind of fell from the ceiling here' and the editor goes 'OK, well let's just draw that in.'
"The problem is it's endless, you could keep changing things.
"That was my big learning: 'OK, there has to be a point where you can't creatively keep changing it because otherwise this thing will never get finished.'"
Luxury of no nerves
Given the effort it's taken to bring Wizz to life on the screen, is Lee nervous about sharing the show with the world?
"Not until you said that," he joked.
"No, not really. I suppose I've had the benefit of making them and you watch them back and ... watch every frame and ponder it.
"At the end of that process, I tend to just be very excited for people to see it."
While Lee says he's not nervous for the show's release, he admits his measure of success has "never been a numbers" game.
"As I get slightly older — gosh that's an old person thing to say — it's certainly more about how much fun you have," he said.
"It's so hard when you release something, you never know how it's going to go and there's so many things that can dictate how something resonates.
"It's important not to hang too much on the results because that would be a pretty nerve-wracking game."