Gisborne artist Charlie Faulks has been awarded $472,000 by New Zealand On Air to produce his short, animated series Bloke of the Apocalypse. He talks to his friend, journalism student Lulu Hubbard about the opportunity and the main inspiration for the show — his dad Will.
“The show is very close to my heart — I took inspiration from my own life having grown up on a farm in Gisborne,” Charlie Faulks says when asked what inspired his new animated series Bloke of the Apocalypse.
Earlier this month Charlie, 20, was awarded $472,400 by NZ On Air to create and produce a series of the animated show he developed last year in his spare time.
The funding is from a pool specifically targeting youth audiences and is to be used over an 18-month production period.
While Charlie is the show-runner with creative control, he will also have two producers — Ben Powdrell and Francesca Carney — who say they are beyond excited to get stuck in.
Bloke of the Apocalypse is a story that follows a young boy Oliver and his father Bloke as they combat an unexpected zombie apocalypse in rural Aotearoa.
Charlie’s upbringing in Gisborne inspired the story.
“The world of my series exists pretty quietly, but still says a lot,” Charlie said.
“I went into this project wanting to capture the stillness of the rural New Zealand landscape — a landscape that is abundant in and around Tairāwhiti.
“Gisborne is a small, docile town that also harbours a lot of character.”
Charlie lived in Gisborne until 2022 when he moved to Wellington to study for a Bachelor of Screen Arts.
Creating Bloke of the Apocalypse allowed him to reflect on his time in Gisborne while away from home, by picking apart memories which inspired some of the show’s characters.
“My childhood in Gisborne was fantastic. It’s not until you look back at your upbringing that you realise how lucky you really are.
“My parents are the best ever — no bias I swear — and the Tairāwhiti community is such a sweet, mutual, insular environment to raise a family.
“I’m living in Wellington at the moment and there’s always a certain special excitement when I’m on the plane home.”
Charlie worked on Bloke of the Apocalypse in university halls last year, as a side project while busy with other work.
He has been a freelance drawer since the beginning of the 2020 lockdown.
“I was fortunate enough to be in a space where I was happy being forced to stay home with my family, and I recognise that it was an incredibly hard time for some people.”
It was during this time that his work became noticed and he gained the opportunity to be compensated for his talent.
“I started receiving small character design jobs,” Charlie said. “I remember some of those first ones so distinctly — it was an absolute thrill at the time.
“Slowly but surely, I began getting more traction with my online presence which, in turn, brought more clients to me.”
Sharing his talent online has brought Charlie an impressive amount of attention. Today he has 29,000 followers on Instagram alone.
“It’s been a four-year process of building a network of creatives and drawing, and it feels like it has crescendoed with Bloke of the Apocalypse.
“It’s extremely satisfying and somewhat strange for Aotearoa’s largest film and TV funder to acknowledge something so silly,” Charlie said.
“I’m glad they did, though.”
Charlie’s passion for drawing started at an early age. However, his plan wasn’t always to be a showrunner.
“When I started I just wanted to be an artist of some kind, but my goals and dreams evolved to be more specific.
“Now I’m interested in having creative control over projects — something I get to have with Bloke of the Apocalypse.
“Being able to oversee and manage each facet of the creative timeline is a luxury for me and when we build our team, those creative relationships will upgrade the production immensely.”
While Gisborne inspired the scope for his show, a lot of character inspiration came from Charlie’s father Will.
“My dad is a true ‘bloke’ — he goes hunting, shears sheep, has chest hair, etc. I’m the exact opposite.
“Playing with this specific relationship and mining it for comedic effect comes naturally, because I continue to live through it.”
The two protagonists, Bloke and Oliver, both hold strong personalities which Charlie has been able to explore while creating the show.
“In Bloke’s DNA is every single Kiwi farmer — that quiet, closed-off force that exists in all rural areas of Aotearoa.
“Because of his naturally stubborn and close-minded demeanour, Bloke digs his heels in and refuses to acknowledge the levity of the oncoming zombie apocalypse — instead deciding to worry about the potential skiddies in his loo.
“In short, Bloke just has a lot of trouble expressing emotions and connecting with his son Oliver.
“Oliver, on the other hand, is outspoken and actually understands what’s happening in the current moment. He’s healthy and expresses emotions, which is an obvious direct contrast to his father.”
Having been brought up in Gisborne, Charlie hopes the community can enjoy the series as much as he enjoyed reflecting on his childhood throughout writing the series.
“I want people from Gisborne to point at the screen and say, ‘I know someone exactly like that!’ Every character in my show will be a jumble of the usual personalities that reside there. Hopefully the comedy lands with everyone — it’s very Kiwi; sarcastic and soft.”
With production already under way, you can expect to see Bloke and the rest of the awesome characters created by Charlie on your screen in late 2025.
The first three episodes of Bloke of the Apocalypse, which Charlie worked on solo over the past year, can be found online.
