An Inspired Chat with Charlie Faulks of Wellington

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Charlie Faulks. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Charlie, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is a normal day like for you right now?
Filled with a mixture of excitement and anxiety as I wait for my animated series to premiere. With Bloke Of The Apocalypse already completed, myself and the rest of the crew are busy finalising the marketing campaign. That means posters, trailers, adverts, interviews and everything in between. It’s all hands on deck. So for me personally, it’s a mixture of overseeing all of those elements while beginning to adventure into new projects. After months and months of pure tedious animation production, it’s a real luxury to have a bit of variation day-to-day. I’m splitting my time between the tail end of the Bloke Of The Apocalypse and fresh busy work like writing screenplays, storyboarding new ideas and meetings. Honestly, just trying to capatilise on the luck that has surged through this current production and shift that into different things. I’m currently shooting a found footage feature film with some mates after a super ambitious spur of the moment idea.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Charlie Faulks, an animator based in Wellington, New Zealand. Most recently, I have written and directed an animated series called Bloke Of The Apocalypse. The entire first season is coming out on YouTube on the 31st of October. Inspired by my family and a rural upbringing, it’s a project three years in the making and something I’m incredibly proud of. The show is very unique in both subject matter and style, with characters built from Kiwi archetypes and presented in a fun 2D animated form. After receiving funding for it from the New Zealand government in 2024, it’s been an absolute joy to bring an amazing team together and establish a very unconventional production pipeline. In addition to that, we get to make Bloke Of The Apocalypse with pure creative freedom – something that feels very rare in this day and age. As an industry newbie, the experience of creating the show has been the best learning experience you could ever ask for. It’s completely hands-on and immersive and it has set me up better than anything.
Alongside that, I’m really lucky to be in New Zealand – a lot of times I think I take it for granted. The rest of the world is on fire and we’re doing alright, we have our freedoms, we’re not fearful and we’re keeping afloat. We’re lucky.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
This may sound short-sighted but probably seeing The Lego Movie for the first time in the cinema. It blew my little mind. The beautiful animation, the genuinely funny writing, the characterization, the snappy editing – it was all so brilliant. I realised just how purely creative movies can be. I’m still riding high from that inspiration even today – eleven years later.
Apart from my grandma, no one in my family really watched films on a regular basis – it was VERY rare to watch one as a family. Thankfully, my grandma used to take me to the cinema to see the latest animated movie quite a bit. These outings would not only be for me but she loved these movies as well (thinking back she might have just used me as an excuse to go and see them).
These animated films operated on numerous levels; elements that would appeal to children but they also had a clever edge to them that would make adults laugh. In retrospect, these moments were really informative. It was wild that a mere infantile ‘kid’ movie could make my grandmother laugh… but of course they could. And they SHOULD. Animated movies should be layered, they should be constructed with care and they should operate on different levels. They should have enough passion within them to entertain across generations – otherwise what’s the point? Where’s the connection? Isn’t it more special when a parent and child can enjoy something together? It doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. A lot of stuff made for younger audiences today feels like a sketchy street hypnotist holding up a brightly coloured pocket watch for your child and swinging it. Forgettable garbage that has no positive impact whatsoever.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Something along the lines of “don’t be embarrassed about your work/inspirations”. I think growing up in a small town and going to a high school that had an affinity towards rugby (ugh), there was a certain insecurity about my passions. I was a kid who loved drawing and that didn’t quite mesh with the interests of everyone around me. Fortunately, I held onto that passion and didn’t let the environment tear it away. When I made it to Wellington to study animation, I was overjoyed to be in a place where creativity was abundant. And as I went through the three year degree, my interests became more and more refined. I slowly became absolutely addicted to the process of both animation and filmmaking – I’m now at a point now where I’m a full-fledged film nerd complete with a degree to prove it.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
There’s not much of a public ‘me’ either way. I like being private and my social persona is predominantly my work – I like it that way. I’ve never really had a private Instagram account, I’ve never seen the point and no one cares when I go for a hike or something (if I went for hikes). I believe there has to be a degree of separation, it’s just all too easy slipping head first into the shit storm that is the internet. My Instagram account (the platform I use mostly) is solely for my work and career but recently, I’ve started posting YouTube videos that actually include my face and voice (gasp!). It’s just me talking about art, creativity and animation but It’s been a strange experience putting those online – it’s very new to me.
Mum was a big proponent of that sort of thinking and I’d say that mindset has stuck with me in a positive way.. She was very stern about not showing my face online as a child and keeping it exclusively my drawings. I think that’s a good rule of thumb in general – it’s just… weird seeing young children online – being paraded across the internet like show ponies. But, as a hypocrite, it’s been great having my 11yr old brother be a part of this current project – I do think he’s old enough to have a bit of awareness around it… typical Gen Alpha.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
Not much, those things seem to mean so much to me. I feel like I can be a very proud person – a trait that actively clings on to all of that sort of stuff. Maybe that’s something I’ll mature out of? It feels ingrained in me… maybe I need to be, like, publicly humiliated or something (what if I like it too much?).
I think I’m very conscious of being very young so just give me a few years to cool down and ask again. I may venture off into the mountains, befriend a goat, not talk for a decade and discover the true way of living a good life. Until then though I want to hold my name, role and possessions tight… also watch my show Bloke Of The Apocalypse.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://charliefaulks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faulksie/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Faulksie

Image Credits
Sara Tansy