A 20 year old from Wellington has been given half a million dollars to write, draw and animate a web series based on his family.
And he's doing it all from the bedroom of his Mount Cook flat, where he lives with two other students from Massey University.
This year, Charlie Faulks will graduate with a Bachelor of Screen Arts with more than four years of experience in the industry.
"Everyone drew when they were little - I just never stopped," he said.
"But, professionally, I started over lockdown, and I would have been, I don't know, pretty young.
"I started on Fiverr, which is kind of like freelance services, doing character design.
"Since then, I've been able to move off of there, and ... go off my own back, which has been so nice."
The father in Bloke of the Apocalypse is a 'gruff, macho, farming man who has a lot of trouble showing his emotions', says Faulks. Photo: RNZ
Faulks has been designing characters for TV shows all over the world, including the US and the UK.
But now it is his turn to design characters for himself, with his animated horror-comedy web series, Bloke of the Apocalypse, about a father, Bloke, and his son, Oliver, who discover a zombie apocalypse on their farm in rural New Zealand.
The first three episodes have been uploaded to YouTube, with the rest of the season being released in September or October next year.
"It's based on my dad, and my brother, and my upbringing in rural Gisborne," Faulks said.
"It follows those two characters, who are exaggerated in the show. Bloke is this gruff, macho, farming man who has a lot of trouble showing his emotions, and Oliver is this quite smart kid who struggles connecting with his dad because of the way he is.
"And so it's this almost toxic relationship between them, where they're trying to understand each other but they're almost speaking different languages, and then they're combating a zombie apocalypse."
In the new web series, Bloke and Oliver combat a zombie apocalypse on their farm in rural NZ. Photo: YOUTUBE
Faulks received $472,368 from NZ On Air as part of its $5 million investment in new content for young New Zealanders, which was announced at the end of April.
"My producers, Ben Powdrell and Francesca Carney, who I met through Floating Rock Pitchfest - which is a thing here in Wellington - told me about this funding pool within my reach at NZ On Air," he said.
"They thought my idea would be perfect for it, and after a few months of waiting nervously, we got it, and yeah, it's been insane and crazy."
Faulks has amassed a following of almost 30,000 people on Instagram.
And this week, he finished the first draft of his feature film - a live-action comedy-horror titled Upchuck.
"I like to have [a number] of projects going at a time, so that's just been something I've been working on.
"I like writing, and it's nice to have a secondary creative force that's not drawing," Faulks said.
"I hope I get to make it one day."