'Fairfax' features the guys in Los Angeles' Hipster Hood on Amazon

*** This article was written for the December '21 issue of Animation magazine (No. 315) ***

Growing up has always been difficult. But getting through middle school amidst the contradictory weirdness of Los Angeles' hypebeast culture in the social media-saturated 21st century is more than difficult: it's comic gold that can only be adequately conveyed through adult-oriented animation.

This is the idea behind it Fairfax, which debuted its eight-episode first season last month on Amazon Prime Video and was created and produced by longtime friends and Los Angeles natives Matthew Hausfater, Aaron Buchsbaum, and Teddy Riley. They are joined as executive producers on the project by Peter A. Knight, Jon Zimelis and Jason U. Nadler, from development and production company Serious Business, and Chris Prynoski, Ben Kalina and Antonio Cannobio for Cincia, who animated the series. The show features character designs by artist Somehoodlum, who is a consulting producer alongside digital pop culture brand Pizzaslime.

Fairfax plays the voices of Skyler Gisondo, Kiersey Clemons, Peter S. Kim and Jaboukie Young-White as a quartet of middle school students seeking fulfillment and influence along Los Angeles' famed Fairfax Avenue and its fashion-obsessed hypebeast culture .

Fast, fun and fearless

The show has a quick pace and a sense of humor that spares no one, all balanced with a sense of heart - and Buchsbaum says they aim for a 50-50 mix. "We always find that when we put our hearts into our stories, and make them really emotional and give the audience the opportunity to connect with our characters at that heart level, that we earn our satire," he says. "We earn our beats, we earn the opportunity to be relentless in some situations."

Buchsbaum, Hausfater and Riley all grew up in Los Angeles, with the last two friends since childhood. Riley and Buchsbaum met at USC, and when Hausfater reconnected with Riley the trio fell in love.

“Matt essentially walked up to the two of us and was like, 'Yo! We should do an animated show about Fairfax! '”Riley says. “And right away we figured out exactly what it was and it was just perfect because it really was a show about our growing groups of friends. It always seemed like a cultural melting pot to me, "adds Riley." Everyone's there, from Orthodox Jews to rappers and everyone else - and all the hypebeast stuff - and it felt like a world in the same way South Park or Springfield [ [The Simpsons] it looked like a world. "

“We just wanted to tell wacky stories and be able to pay homage to our favorite genres, be it Die Hard o Apocalypse now. We wanted to be able to go to crazy places and not spend a billion dollars to do it, ”says Hausfater.

"Plus, seeing animated kids chasing this stuff was more fun than the live-action version," adds Riley. “The thing we loved about XNUMX year olds is that when you are that age, everything is life or death. Your best friend, for which you would take a bullet; your worst enemy, you were pushing in front of a bus… It led to funnier stories because they could take something like a t-shirt as seriously as you would take a plot from a mafia show.

Incorporating the heart of Fairfax culture into the show was also an important element. Visually, Somehoodlum's art captured the feeling the creators were looking for. "They are already in this world and have a great style," says Hausfater.

The merchandise corner also made Amazon an obvious place to present the show. "We knew there was an extra joke to play with the merchandising component of the show," says Riley. "There was something that, of course, only Amazon could do to help us make it happen, that other streamers can't do, and it really was a perfect match." The e-tailer began throwing limited edition items from the streetwear brand on display, Latrine, before the series premiere.

Bringing on Serious Business's Zimelis and Nader, the launch went so well with Amazon executives that they were called back within an hour, says Hausfater. The trio brought in a team of writers to add some new perspectives to the scripts and got a crash course in animation working with Los Angeles-based Titmouse.

"Everyone in Tit, from top to bottom, has been so generous in teaching us the process," says Riley. "Seeing how much work it takes to make a 24-minute comedy really blew us away, and we truly have an infinite appreciation for the meticulous attention to detail the artists and animators have."

With COVID-19, the crew worked remotely through all eight episodes of the first season, as well as the second, production of which is expected to be completed by early November.

As the show begins streaming life, the creators see Fairfax as a portrait of a generation that has not yet had its television moment. "We celebrate them as much as we want to satirize them," says Buchsbaum. “We always say we think this is a generation that will definitely save the world, if they don't die before they eat the tide pods. We really think they are fantastic. "

"I'm the most inclusive generation, but I'm also the only generation that thinks it's a good idea to get a face tattoo," adds Hausfater.

The first season of Fairfax premiered Friday, October 29 on Amazon Prime Video.