Animator Morrison eagerly awaits debut of cartoon series ‘Jus Fi Fun’

Robert ‘Tred’ Morrison, the brainchild and animator of Jus Fi Fun, highly anticipates the day when the first 13 episodes of his cartoon series hits the screens of Television Jamaica (TVJ).

The series, which is set to air on TVJ in 2024, was conceptualised by Morrison, a Jamaican who now resides in the United States (US).

Jus Fi Fun is an all-inclusive Jamaican animation company which has created a unique lane with animation production with phenomenal storytelling, vivid images and colours that enhance the graphics while depicting Jamaica’s culture and creativity.

Jus Fi Fun revolves around the dynamics of a group of friends: Karrot, Face, Almshouse, Sweetsop, Bigga, Doris, Cutie and supporting cast, as they depict the Jamaican culture past and present in their day-to-day lives.

A date has not yet been finalised for the show’s television launch in 2024, but according to Paul ‘Squirrel Rosenberg’ Lawrence, executive producer, Jus Fi Fun, he anticipates the television premiere to be in the first quarter.

‘Nostalgic approach’

Lawrence said the shows provide well-needed therapy which needs to be brought to the masses not only in Jamaica, but worldwide.

“Our nostalgic approach to animation reminds viewers of things they might have forgotten or never knew about Jamaica. Expanding our series to full-length movies (such as the Bogga Yagga Sagga), Jus Fi Fun has created a unique channel with well- written and executed content, aesthetically authentic scenes and engaging characters,” Lawrence explained to The Gleaner in a recent interview.

More than an animation series, he also said Jus Fi Fun is a lifestyle; a reminder to laugh and not take life situations seriously.

“The goal to empower neighbourhoods, like the one depicted in our show, is one of the many passions of the Jus Fi Fun team, along with growing our footprint in Jamaica, by mentoring and hiring other Jamaican animators,” Lawrence said.

“The impact that we are getting from the masses, not only in Jamaica or our people in the US, but internationally, is ‘Thank you for this therapy. I needed this’ and that’s what he [Morrison] is emphasising. It’s not just about a cartoon. It’s more of a lifestyle,” he said.

Jus Fi Fun is currently in discussions with a few major streaming platforms in the United States. Netflix, Hulu and Adult swim from the Cartoon Network, and, as a result of a promotional run in Jamaica in August last year, they were approached by TVJ and was given the opportunity to air the first season on Jamaica’s local television.

The whole concept behind Jus Fi Fun started with Morrison, after realising his love for animation and teaching himself the skill online through websites, software and programming.

“I started dabbling with it around 12 [to] 13 years ago. I started doing stuff and people were saying they liked it. They had never seen stuff like that before, and I started sharing it with people,” Morrison told The Gleaner.

“Jamaica never had cartoons. The only thing we had was probably little commercials here and there, but we never had like a cartoon geared at our culture, so little did I know that I was doing something groundbreaking at the time, and then I found the calling Jus For Fun because I was doing it just for fun,” he said.

Dissatisfaction with foreign characters

The idea of developing Jamaica-based characters came from his dissatisfaction with foreign characters the software allowed him to recreate.

“The problem I had in doing that was, it didn’t feel like it was mine. I felt I was using someone else’s platform to do what I want,” he said.

Lawrence got involved after becoming close friends with Morrison in the US and working together in 2017 on a podcast sponsored by Heineken.

“He was my executive producer and we worked together in developing this podcast, and as that grew, we created a studio where we were producing a couple shows in that studio, of course the podcast being one, and then we spoke about bringing in the animation and taking it to the next level, which is working from the studio, bringing in all this new equipment/the green screen and everything that we now have access to, so as we merged together the ideas and the creativity that stemmed from podcast, and I realised what he had with the animation, that’s how I came in the game as the executive producer on this,” Lawrence, who has background in marketing, told The Gleaner.

Persons interested in watching content can visit their website at jusfifun.tv or their YouTube channel.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com