Following the success of SAOL, which continues to reach tens of thousands of students across Ireland and the rest of the world, An Tobar Nua asked us to create a five-part educational docuseries that would dive deeper into questions of meaning, morality and belief.

The goal was an ambitious one: to engage 16–18 year-olds in topics usually reserved for university-level discussion: the meaning of life, the nature of God, and the foundations of moral thought.

To connect with that audience, we knew we couldn’t lecture. Instead, we proposed a more playful, narrative, dramatised structure: two characters in conversation on a train, whose reflections unfold through cinematic cutaways into their imaginations. That idea became the heart of An Dara SAOL: a quirky, visually rich series combining live action, motion design, VFX, stop motion, and physically built sets and miniatures.

The project was vast in scope. Collaborating closely with An Tobar Nua, we re-worked all five scripts, designed and built custom sets, sourced props and costumes, directed actors, and coordinated an expert team of collaborators. Every episode was meticulously pre-visualised through a full shot-for-shot animatic, built from one of the early table reads, allowing us to refine story, flow and visual rhythm before stepping on set.

The result is a distinctive and visually striking series that treats its audience with respect. Behind every frame sits months of writing, designing and collaboration, all in service of one goal: to create something that sparks genuine curiosity and great conversations.