Back in the early nineties, my work in stop-motion brought me ties to numerous producers looking to develop ideas for toy lines, and animated feature films. I feverishly wrote several screenplays. One of those scripts was Faela, a lighthearted fantasy that focused on the little girl market, but developed into a good deal more.

Faela is a fairy tale, a bit incongruous to my body of work, I know. Perhaps it was my infatuation with a rambunctious New York actress that inspired it, or perhaps Faela herself whispered it into my ear, but the story had to be told. It’s a lively romantic romp that will appeal to young girls, and fans of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. It features a witty, irrepressible pixy named Faela who lives in turn-of-the-century Ireland. And don’t worry; it has a scary monster as well.

‘Not content with her role as ‘nature-sprite’; budding and blooming flowers all day, Faela has become a trickster. Whether tantalizing goblins, exaggerating orchids, or enraging an entire Irish town with her magical mayhem, Faela can test the mettle of even the most patient pixy. Her friend Scuff warns her not to ‘taunt the big-folk’. Such antics could get her banished from the Faerie Realm. But what does a ‘brownie’ know?
Then, after one prank too many, the High King is forced to punish her. She gets assigned as ‘house fairy’ to a widower blacksmith and his daughters. Her mission is to restore courage to Elsie, the timid younger child. No big deal for an ‘s’ stounding fairy, or so she thinks. Of course, no one knew that Elsie has the ‘gifted sight’, the ability to see fairies. Not even Scuff, who is sent to spy on her and ends up trapped in the body of the family dog! And Faela soon learns that caring for a five-year-old is no easy flight through a garden.

To make matters worse, she falls in love with a young man. To pursue romance as a human, Faela possesses the body of Elsie’s tempestuous older sister Katie in a comical challenge of wills.
But things go astray when the Pooka, a fiendish shapeshifting goblin who will spare no wickedness to see Faela banished, steals off with little Elsie into the haunted hills. For a banished fairy must marry a goblin, and the Pooka has his heart set on Faela as his fairy-bride.
Will Faela come to her senses in time, save Elsie, and avoid her terrible fate as a Pooka-wife?’

Faela is currently being written as a novel. The character of Faela was also produced as a model kit. Below are some images of artwork, character designs, and maquettes that were created over the years for the project.