ST. LOUIS — "How do we tell good stories that will, hopefully, change people's lives for the better?" David Steward II asked.
It's the goal for each project he and his partner, Carl Reed, embark on with their team at Lion Forge animation.
The St. Louis-based company made national headlines earlier this year after their first big project, "Hair Love", received the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
The film was a collaboration between multiple groups, including Sony Pictures Animation and Matthew A. Cherry. It tells the story of a Black father working to figure out how to style his daughter's natural hair while her mother is in the hospital with cancer. It's less than seven minutes long and has more than 36 million views on YouTube.
Now, the Oscar-winning film will be adapted and developed into a miniseries for HBO Max, with Steward and Reed tapped to work as executive producers on the project.
“We’re definitely excited to be working with HBO Max and, of course, the team and Sony and Matthew and, you know, looking forward to giving you guys more of what you love," Steward said.
While the theme of loving and embracing natural Black hair will be a part of the story, the series will expand past the original story told in the short.
"It also focuses on, you know, just the kind of day-to-day struggles and joys and events this young family finds itself with," Reed said.
The series will be called "Young Love". It's in the early phases of production, and it is slated to come out some time next year. While the concept itself seems simple, Reed said this sort of representation presents a new narrative.
"I think it's going to be super fresh," Reed said. "We're twice as excited as everybody else. You know, we haven't really seen young millennial parents raising this kind of young Black girl of today."
For two guys who grew up watching characters that didn't look like them, the ability to tell stories through diverse lenses and share them with the world is a passion.
"By default, we had to find some way to see ourselves in the He-Mans and the G.I. Joes and, you know, the Barbies of the world," Reed said.
As millions around the world of different races and backgrounds fell in love with "Hair Love", the sense of openness to diverse perspectives also creates a sense of hope for the future.
"We've had to do it for a long time, as Black people," Reed said. "I think, now, it's a great situation that people are open to doing the same thing even though they don't have to."
Lion Forge has a number of other projects coming up including one focusing on the impact COVID-19 has had on different areas and communities.
They also teamed up with a creative team out of Puerto Rico to create a project based on the comic "Puerto Rico Strong" to support disaster relief on the island.
As COVID-19 continues to impact the nation and the world and the fight for justice and equality for all continues, Steward and Reed said they're going to continue the fight on their own front.
"I hope that what we're doing delivers a message of hope," Steward said. "I hope it delivers a message of understanding and love. At the end of the day, we strive to bring people together, to bring communities together. Only through working together are we truly going to have change."
Through their stories, they hope people will be able to see how similar human beings are, despite what they see on the surface, so they can have tough discussions from a more unified place.
"All too often, people in this demographic are seen as being agitators in this issue," Reed said. "So, with every instance of social strife and struggle, we need to see those moments of joy to show through it all, there's family and there's happiness. There are these common things that we all share, and we all hold dear and we all think are important."