The Chronicles of Clenchport: An Introduction
A Behind-the-scenes Look at the Upcoming Animated Series I'm Writing!
Many of you may have noticed that I mention a series in my bio called “The Chronicles of Clenchport.” You most likely haven’t heard of it, which makes sense because it’s not out yet!
The Chronicles of Clenchport is an upcoming horror/comedy animated series that I am writing and performing in as well. I’m creating it alongside my best friend of over twenty years, James Nethery, and a small, but extremely talented team of artists, animators, and voice actors!
With this article, I’m hoping to kick off a series of posts where I take you behind the scenes and show you what we’ve been working on!
We’ll start with a good old-fashioned introduction, but future posts will dive into characters, settings, the expanded universe, members of our team, and more! So, without further delay, let’s head to Clenchport!
Two Friends, Two Decades, and One Lifelong Dream
The concept for this series is the culmination of over two decades of stories and lived experiences. It all started roughly twenty years ago in Orlando, Florida. Specifically at the Orlando Science Center, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I've been friends with a talented animator named James Nethery for over two decades now. He's my oldest and most loyal friend.
We met when we were only about fifteen years old, both volunteering for community service hours at the Orlando Science Center so we could apply for college scholarships.
We got along immediately, but our friendship quickly solidified when I told him I was a writer. He responded by telling me that he was an animator.
It was a match made in heaven.
It didn't take long before we started working on projects together. We had a clay animation series back then about a character named Lucky Bob, and before you knew it, Lucky Bob was cast in his first "feature" film.
We made the jump to 2D animation and produced a thirty-minute film that I wrote called "Lucky Bob's Time Machine." This cornerstone of cinematic history told the story of Dr. Al, who built a time machine only to have it stolen by Barney's evil twin.
This villain, aptly named "Evil Barney," is perhaps one of my most nuanced and sympathetic characters.
I'm kidding!
He was about a flat as the 2D animation used to bring him to life, but that's not the point!
We had a lot of fun and knew we wanted to do a full series. Over the years, we continued producing cartoons, many of which are long lost to time.
The animation improved, though, and so did the writing. We honed our crafts, polished our scripts, and even became pretty decent voice actors as time went on.
In 2025, we're finally doing what our teenage selves dreamed of: making an animated series.
It’s going to be a combination of cosmic horror and comedy, and it won't just exist as an animated series, either. We're taking this idea to short stories, a podcast, and anywhere else it wants to go.
Allow me to introduce my first-ever transmedia universe.
Turns out, making a Transmedia Universe is Hard
A transmedia universe exists across different types of media, such as books, TV, comics, podcasts, and other forms of creative expression.
The idea is that each piece fits into a larger whole but also stands on its own. This means that if all you do is listen to the podcast, you're still getting a complete story.
This also means that if you listen to the podcast and then watch the series, you can piece together a larger narrative about the world or worlds it's set in.
Pretty cool, right?
Well, it's harder than it sounds. You see, this fictional universe centers around the town of Clenchport, Virginia, where strange things have always been part of everyday life.
In the animated series, we follow citizens of the town and showcase their strange and often wild backstories and all the trouble they get into.
In the podcast, two lifelong residents of Clenchport recount stories from the town's past and feature strange audio recordings that seem to have come from other versions of Clenchport in parallel universes.
Yeah, it's wild.
Aside from all of that, a few of my Substack stories are set in and around the town of Clenchport, so you can see how these pieces start to fit together, but enough about shared universes. Let's talk about the series and why 2025 is the year to become a fan.
Putting Clenchport on the Map in 2025
We've been working on Clenchport for several years, but 2025 is when you'll see the project really come to life.
My friend James and I have begun assembling a team of incredible artists, animators, character designers, and voice actors. We have a Discord channel set up for team members, and the energy is infectious.
As the head writer of the series, I can't quite describe how happy I am to see people excited about this crazy idea that I came up with.
James and I talk nearly every week on Facetime (we live in different states). We're usually out in the backyard, smoking a cigar and discussing our new ideas for the series. It's a good time.
So, where are we now?
Well, I've written a number of scripts for shorts featuring a few of the town's characters, as well as a mini-series where they find themselves being interrogated by a mysterious figure who calls himself Agent Durwood.
Fans of my work here on Substack should recognize Agent Durwood’s name as well. He’s shown up in a few of my aforementioned stories here.
These shorts will showcase our art, animation, and voice work. They will also give people a chance to get acquainted with the town's residents and its deeper mysteries.
Once these shorts are done, we will also have a script for the pilot episode. It has gone through numerous drafts and edits, but I'm confident it will be the best possible way to launch the series.
We've also outlined all the episodes in the show's first season. I collected all of this information into our pitch bible, which is complete and ready for design (I made some placeholder art in Canva and quickly remembered that I'm not an artist).
We're also on social media! The Chronicles of Clenchport can be found on Facebook, X, Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram.
Francis, a fictional intern at the Clenchport Chamber of Commerce, runs our social media channels. It's a fun persona that allows us to post in-universe updates about the town and further deepen the lore.
Last but not least, I've also been writing episodes of the podcast I mentioned earlier, which is called The Many Worlds of Clenchport. This podcast explores stories from the town's history and mysterious audio from alternate versions of Clenchport in parallel universes.
Speaking of audio, anyone who is a fan of my voices and narration on Substack here will be glad to know that I am indeed playing several characters across the Clenchport universe.
I play five characters in the animated series, and I’m also one of the fictional hosts on the podcast! I’ll share more on those roles later, or maybe I’ll let you try and guess once you hear the characters.
Before we wrap this up, I’d like to also share some details on how Clenchport fits into my larger horror mythos where many of my stories take place. So, let’s talk about The Synaptic Sprawl!
Connecting Clenchport to my Larger Horror Mythos
This topic could easily fill its own article (and it probably will at some point), but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention my connected horror universe (or mythos) known as The Synaptic Sprawl.
You’ll notice that there’s a second of my Content Directory here on Substack that is dedicated to the Sprawl.
As a horror story (with comedy of course), The Chronicles of Clenchport fits into this larger universe.
The Sprawl is a gigantic multiverse of parallel realities, beyond which lies the Abyssal Prison, a place full of unfathomable horrors known as the Exiled Ones.
Resurrected warriors, known as Wardens, are tasked with defending the Sprawl and the living things within it, for all eternity. Agent Durwood, for example, is a Warden.
So how does a small town in Virginia connect to all this? Well, it's only possible to enter or exit the multiverse through specific locations known as a Nexus. As you’ve probably guessed, Clenchport is indeed a Nexus.
Not only that, but Clenchport is hiding one of the most sought-after fugitives in all of the Sprawl, and Agent Durwood is here to find him.
Not because he was ordered to, but because he needs to. You see, despite being an immortal guardian, Agent Durwood’s is surprisingly human…
He’s come to Clenchport seeking revenge.
Still With Me?
If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is, especially when we all have day jobs on top of this crazy project.
It's worth it, though. I love seeing everyone on the team's passion; it keeps me going. Life can be incredibly difficult, and at those times in the past, part of me has thought about giving up on this whole project.
When that happens, though, I think about all the people who have read the materials surrounding this fictional town and instantly became fans of the project—so much so that they chose to work on it alongside us.
So, I keep going. For myself, for them, and for the fans who will one day connect with this wild and wacky world we're creating.
I look forward to seeing you all there.
I love this Bradley! A bit different than I expected from what you told me in our calls, but I'm hooked! I'm already a fan. Can't wait to see more from Agent Durwood.
I can’t wait !!!!!!!! This looks so great!