Help Bring 'The Uptown Chronicles' to Life

My Story: Hi, I'm Steven Goard, I’m a full-time Voice Actor and creator. From a childhood stage performer, rapper, producer and graphic artist. I’ve always loved to create! I have had the honor of voicing national commercials for brands like Cheerios, Gatorade, Hanes, and many more. I’ve been a promo voice for the NBA, ESPN, and Fox Sports, and have narrated documentaries for ID Discovery and the Discovery Channel. It’s also been a privilege to be the voice of ‘LEM’ for Starry Soda™ by Pepsi® and the voice of Kang the Conqueror for Marvel Heroes Unite on the Australia Disney Wonder Cruise. Wanna see what I've worked on? Click here

I'm also the creator of the animated series, The Uptown Chronicles. If you're wondering, "What the heck is The Uptown Chronicles?" Well...simply put, It’s about a black family in the year 2100 in Chicago. Five siblings inherit mystical abilities from their guardian mother's ancestral line, they must band together to defeat a sinister enemy intent on stealing their powers to achieve immortality. Intrigued? Keep reading or if you haven’t already seen our trailer. Click here

Currently, The Uptown Chronicles is being pitched to be an animated series. Through SDG Quantum Productions we have independently produced this trailer to show the concept of what this animated series can be but with your help this series can be so much more!

Our goal is to help shift the cultural narrative about the African American family by creating content that showcases our connection to our ancestral lineage, fostering loving and healthy family dynamics and inspiring humanity to commit to moving ourselves forward consciously.

All funds raised will go toward making this series a reality and begin production of our Pilot episode!

All original character art and illustration by Patrick King.

I am a proud father of 5 beautiful children and have been married to my wife 8 years of the 10 we have known each other. Aug 20 2023, my birthday, sparked the beginning of what has turned into not only a burning passion to create this series but an opportunity to create content for our culture to shift the narrative of what a positive black family dynamic really is. With a house full of 7 we always have something going entertainment, laughter and life to enjoy and of course the growth of everyone.

My family is my beacon of light and I was inspired not only to create stories inspired by our wild adventures at home but that connect to the journey of the African American family in today’s world. Each of these characters was in some way inspired by the journey of each of my children and my wife and I have been on.

As a voice actor I love voicing characters creating this was an opportunity for me to showcase my acting skills and passion for animation but along the way I began to see not only how much this content is needed due to the lack of positive black family dynamic portrait in our media landscape right now, but the opportunities this would provide for huge network of talented and magical African American artists, actors and collaborators that are passionate about their craft.

After creating the initial script, story line, character dynamics, background and initial sketches of the characters, I teamed up with the amazingly talented illustrator Patrick King to help design the original 2D characters based on the designs I sketched. Then In September 2023 I teamed up with Alonge Hawes, a brilliant writer and creator of the critically acclaimed and award winning TV series "Silver and Gold" and web series "Blue Collar Hustle". As things began to take shape, I then brough on Freddy " Dom" Lounana the amazing 3D animation director and creator of the 3D feature film "Space Agents The Mysterious Ax". Things began to significantly take shape and the vision of this series coming to life was within reach!

This trailer took about 7 months to make from inception to where we are now! Though the trailer was independently funded, with a significantly larger budget I believe we could show its potential and create a series that will be here for years to come. My vision has always been to combine The Cosby Show (for its longevity and contribution to our perception of a middle class black family who deals with everyday issues and the longevity of the show), The Boondocks (for its undeniable hilarity and portrayal of real issues in a comedic way), and Black Panther( for its focus on Afro-futurism , connection to our ancestry and overall showcasing of our African American culture being at the forefront of technology.) What will really be the defining characteristic of this series is the story telling!

50K is our initial goal which will get things going, but the more we raise, the more The Uptown Chronicles can be from storyboarding to modeling, texturing, layout, animation, lighting, editing, visual effects etc.

I have assembled an amazing team of brilliant writers, animators, actors, business professionals, all aligned on the vision of this project to not only see the light of day but truly change our content landscape! With your support we can PUSH the QUALITY TO DREAMWORKS AND PIXAR!

Here's a short clip of our documentary to learn the story behind "The Uptown Chronicles Series Crowdfund" and help us meet our goal.

Synopsis: The story follows the Hamilton family, led by scientist father Dre and guardian mother Maya, as their five children - gifted chef Tasha, bookish Sienna, average teen Ty, and prodigies Jordan and Keira - discover they have inherited special abilities from their ancestral lineage. The children learn from their parents about their destiny as the last descendants of ancient magical guardians tasked with maintaining balance in the world.

When a mysterious threat in the form of a giant robot called Neocron attacks, seeking magical bracelets worn by the children, they awaken their powers of super strength, telekinesis, speed, and technology manipulation to defeat it.

In the end, the family bonds against the looming threat, determined to stay together and face their fate.

Our Vision: Here's the vision for The Uptown Chronicles series. For our first season we already have all 8 Episode scripts done and ready to be animated. Our first Episode (Pilot) is 48 Minutes, while all succeeding episodes are regular episodic length 25-30 minutes. We are seeking funding to get our pilot produced to the highest quality and will be working tirelessly to get picked up by a network for distribution soon after we release the pilot episode.

While we are actively pitching to investors to help greenlight this Pilot, we want to begin the production of the pilot as soon as possible because we know this content is needed and that's where YOU ALL come in!

Let's Talk Funding:

How can I help?: If you're not able to contribute, we totally understand. Even sharing this campaign or the

original trailer would mean so much. Visit our website and sign up for our mailing list to keep in the loop on releases and events.

Meet the team:

ROLE ON THE TEAM

Steven Goard

CREATOR/DIRECTOR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: A 15 year veteran professional voice actor with creative roots in stage acting, music production and emceeing. Steven is best

known for voicing “Kang the Conqueror” for Disney’s Australia Cruise and being the voice of ‘LEM’ for Starry Soda™ by Pepsi®. As one of CESD Agency’s most sought after talents, Goard’s other credits include voiceover roles in nationally syndicated commercials for Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Oreo, Gatorade and ESPN; as well as critically acclaimed television series ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’ and ‘The Really Loud House’. In 2023, Goard created the production company SDG Quantum Productions with the goal of originating material that speaks to the stories of the wider African diaspora, further authenticating black voices in the ever-expanding circuit of fictional storytelling.

Alonge Hawes

WRITER/CO-DIRECTOR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: an auteur who In 2017, created, wrote, produced, and starred in the web series Blue Collar Hustle, which premiered on YouTube in February of that year and has since amassed over 80,000

views on the official series channel. The early success of Blue Collar Hustle led to the series being distributed on rising online platforms such as Seeka.TV and KweliTV. In October of 2017, Alonge entered into a marketing partnership with Seeka.TV, making Blue Collar Hustle a cornerstone of Seeka’s programming. As the creator, writer, and showrunner for the series, Hawes has been the recipient of numerous awards and

accolades, amongst them winning the award for Best Web Series at the Global Film Festival and Best Representation Of Communities Of Color at the Minnesota WebFest. In 2019, Alonge entered into a series development deal with Seeka.tv, which bore forth the creation of his second digital series titled Black On Both Sides. Black On Both Sides was bestowed the Best Screenplay award at the January 2020 edition of the Oniros

Film Awards. It was also named Best Web Series by the Cult Critic Movie Awards, and Alonge was also named Best Director.

Meet the Voice Actors:

STEVEN GOARD

A musician, producer, and 15-year veteran in professional voice acting, Steven is best known for voicing Kang The Conqueror for Disney’s Australia Cruise line. He is also the official voice for Google Fiber Tech Support in addition to voicing and narrating nationally aired commercials and programs for Gatorade, ESPN, and ID Discovery. Goard created the production company SDG Quantum Productions in 2023 with the goal of creating and producing material that speaks to the stories of the wider African diaspora, further authenticating black voices in the ever-expanding circuit of fictional storytelling.

JASMIN RICHARDSON

A veteran of both stage and cinema, Richardson’s film credits include supporting roles in Killer Among Us, Missed Signal, and Among The Beast. Her stage credits include The Book Of Mormon.

ZANE "LIL ZANE" COPELAND JR.

Perhaps best known by his moniker ‘Lil Zane’, under which he has been releasing music as a rapper and producer for over 20 years, Copeland is also an accomplished actor with credits including the STARZ original series BMF and the films Finding Forrester opposite Sean Connery and Dr. Doolittle 2 opposite Eddie Murphy.

SHANI HAWES

An accomplished actor for over a decade, Hawes's credits include award winning performances in the digital series Blue Collar Hustle, the Seeka.TV original series Black On Both Sides, and the critically acclaimed heist series Silver & Gold.

MARIA KATRE

A graduate of The British American Drama Academy, Maria Katre is perhaps best known for the short film ‘Mo’, which she wrote, produced, and starred in. ‘Mo’ was bestowed Best Drama Short by The Independent Shorts Awards, with Katre also being awarded Best Actress by the same institution. An accomplished musician, Katre also performed trumpet beside Beyonce during her groundbreaking Coachella performance in 2018, also featuring in the subsequent concert film, Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce.

MINA KRAYNAK

A lover of animated storytelling, a precocious talent, and an extremely smart and intellectually gifted mind, The Uptown Chronicles marks Mina Kraynak's voice acting debut!

ARINZE

Professional and determined beyond his years, The Uptown Chronicles marks Arinze's voice acting debut!

MAJOR ATTAWAY

No stranger to voice acting, Major Attaway has voiced roles in several anime series such as One Piece, Dragonball Z Kai, and Space Dandy. He also recently concluded his thrilling ten year run as the voice of the Genie in Disney's Broadway production of Aladdin!

JASON C. LOUDER

perhaps best known for co-starring on The CW’s DC Superhero Series Black Lightening as Frank “2-Bits” Tanner. Jason C. Louder also appeared in the Hulu original series Wu-Tang: An American Saga portraying the character of Cressy. Other credits include a recurring role on the Starz Channel original series BMF as Remi Ransom and the upcoming series Vice Squad: New Orleans.

Film Credits:

Directed by: Steven Goard

Co-Directed by: Alonge Hawes

Produced by: Steven Goard

Executive Producers: Steven Goard and Alonge Hawes

Written by: Alonge Hawes

Illustrator and Production Designer: Patrick King

Animation Director: Freddy "Dom" Lounana

Edited by: Joshua Dennard

Sound FX by: Haggar Audio

Music by: Sound Decision Consulting and SDG Quantum Productions

Casting by: Steven Goard and Alonge Hawes