I never set out to write a full-length animated musical. I set out to build a papier-mâché volcano. In August, 2020, I showed my two-year-old daughter videos of volcanic eruptions of YouTube and she became enthralled. Remembering the old science experiment of baking soda and vinegar, I told her we could make our own volcano. So we set to work.

Maybe it was the stress of the 2020 lockdown, or maybe there was magic in the air, but I started to expand the world around the volcano to include a small town (with a waterfall), a forest, a witch's cabin, an abandoned castle on a hill, a metropolis, and a lighthouse on a beach. As these elements came together, I saw a story emerging, one that would take characters to various locations throughout the volcano world. Very quickly, these ideas took the form of music, and I began writing songs that described these characters and their adventures.

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At first, it was fun to imagine a stage play that enacted these songs and this world, but I soon discovered that the screenplay form was best fit to embody the narrative potential this world had to offer. So the idea of a movie was born and I started drafting a screenplay.

Even though a feature film is robust, the world still offers even more narratives and stories, so future projects are in development to fully explore the world of Mount Lucretius.