Boxtown is a 2023 independent animated noir buddy comedy web pilot created by Charlie Gavin (formerly a storyboard artist on Big City Greens, Clarence, and Harvey Beaks) through the production company Bandit Mill Animation. It stars the voice talent of Alex Hirsch and Sarah Lew.
The pilot is set to center around a con-man detective by the name of Tim Standing (Hirsch) who teams up with a young orphan named Bill (Lew) who posesses a love of True Crime and a hidden violent streak. The project is currently gathering funds
for production on Indiegogo, with a targeted pilot release date of Fall 2023.
Previews: Announcement, Clip 1, Clip 2, Indiegogo Video
In early 2024, creator Charlie Gavin announced an in-character "true crime" podcast, in which Bill the Orphan discusses (fictional) crime cases that happened in Boxtown.
Boxtown contains examples of the following:
- Animation Age Ghetto: Parodied in universe - in the Indiegogo video, Tim Standing, upon learning the show is to be animated, declares animation as being for babies and then tells any children watching to steal their parents’ credit card information and send it to him.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Bill the orphan is introduced in the first clip as a wholesome little chap, but the next clip shows him flying into a murderous rage when a crowd laughs at him.
- Confirmed Bachelor: Tim Standing, who is canonically aroace (asexual and aromantic,) though he is willing to pretend otherwise for personal gain.
- Eccentric Millionaire: The late, great Argus Pinkerton.
- Gamer Chick: Kara McClusky.
- Heir Club for Men: Averted Gender-Inverted Trope with Pinkerton.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: In the first clip, Bill claims to the nuns escorting him to a convention that being a detective is a godly and wholesome pursuit… right before asking them to hold a jug of stakeout urine while he gets a bag of severed fingers autographed.
- Nepotism: How Pinkerton got her job, which she is very sensitive about.
- Nun Too Holy: Played with. The nuns who work at the orphanage are cynical, but ultimately dedicated to their cause.
- Self-Proclaimed Knight: The King of Crime.
