One Year: A Retrospective on the Pilot of Hidden Anecdotes & Other Tales

The year is 2008. I’m a fourth grader going to a school thirty minutes away from my house. My brother, six years older than me and with a brand new driver’s license, is my primary source of media and pop culture. While early adopters of Netflix DVD, my parents use it primarily to watch old movies and tv series from their youth, and actively frown upon modern media, in particular fantasy and sci-fi as genres, and especially video games as a medium. Despite this, I have access to multiple game systems including a Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, and Xbox 360. I’m playing Runescape on the house computer because I’ve been banned from playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion after my dad witnessed me hunting down and murdering Perennia Draconis for the Dark Brotherhood storyline. My brother comes into the computer room with a copy of Mistwalker’s Lost Odyssey and tells me he got the newest game made by the creator of Final Fantasy.

I still remember my first time experiencing that game. It introduced the concept of Mental Health to me as a child raised in an “it’s all in your head” household. The cast of characters, many of whom are a thousand years old during the game’s events, are all suffering different mental illnesses (mostly PTSD) born out of their differing experiences having lived for so long. It also made me interested in the concept of the short story. When the protagonist Kaim arrived at the Uhra Inn and the first story in the ‘Thousand Years of Dreaming’ triggered, I remember at first that I was slightly annoyed that a video game was going to force me to read a short story, but before long, I was ready to eat my words. The story had nothing to do with the game's plot, yet it captured me. Hanna’s Departure: The story of a girl Kaim once knew, sickly and destined for an early grave, who never let her ailments get the better of her outlook on life. The heart-breaking memory of Kaim’s last time returning to the Inn owned by the girl’s parents, and talking to the motionless body of the girl as her spirit slowly fades. 

It is to this day the moment in video games that makes me cry hardest. Kaim knowing that Hanna can hear him but is physically unable to open her eyes or move; her tears as he tells her a story but leaves out all of the sadness and violence because he wanted to spare her the ugliness of the world, and of humanity — it gets to me even now as I write about it. In many ways, Lost Odyssey was the beginning of my appreciation for Anthology Worldbuilding. Every story in those ‘Thousand Years of Dreaming’ tells you more about the world and more about the characters with which you are interacting, without there being a clear narrative or tie between them. They are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but they are beautiful nonetheless.

I created Hidden Anecdotes & Other Tales (HAOT) in 2021 while struggling with major mental health issues after graduating from Film School and staring down the barrel of three more years of university. I was revisiting Lost Odyssey while living with my roommate at the time; one of our producers, Reed. I was sitting at my desk, and got to Hanna’s Departure and insisted I read it to him while he played something on the Playstation. All I remember was struggling to keep myself from tearing up as I read it. When I finished, I remember hearing Reed say, “please tell me you were recording that…” I unfortunately had not, but it was a terrific compliment. I briefly considered reading through every story in the “Thousand Years of Dreaming,” and doing that as a Youtube series. Soon the idea had evolved into its own original concept with plenty of inspiration. I wanted to create an infinite universe of worldbuilding capability and use it as a platform for writers of all different styles and interests to come together and tell their stories in a contained, supportive environment. I started work on a basic prototype of the project in late 2021 using a few works I had written previously as individual short stories, and tying them together with a very basic premise. But, as anyone who has suffered undiagnosed ADHD accompanied by anxiety and depression will know, that particular cocktail turns one’s motivation into a mere concept. So while that prototype never went anywhere, it did get me thinking about the project a little bit harder, and more logistically. 

Fast forward to my final semester in Winter of 2024, and I have chosen to end my time at school with a more official, guided prototype — not just of the series, but of my future as a creative director. Working with a professor at my school, I planned my process, put together a full 90 minute demo of the Pilot using every tool provided to me by the school and delivered it as my “Final Project.” Despite having the demo ready to use as a pilot, I didn’t feel it was strong enough to be used as a legitimate release. So with the help of a team of people who were interested in contributing, I revised the script further, and set out to remake what I had just finished making a few months earlier.

We’re coming up on one year since we officially released the Pilot episode of HAOT, which is strange to say the least. I’ve said it before, but I’ve always struggled to put my creative work out there, which makes it very difficult to succeed as a creative of any kind. Part of this was meant to help give unknowns a platform to collaborate and feel supported, but it was also meant to hold me accountable for releasing my own work. It’s the curse of the perfectionist: when working alone, nothing will ever be finished. 

Looking back, there are many things I would change about the Pilot, but from the start I envisioned this as a stepping stone for creatives. It is a safety net for people of all different creative disciplines giving them a world of inspiration to fall back on if they are in a drought. It was never meant to be perfect, especially from the start. It was always meant to evolve with me, the team I work with, and those who join us as time goes on. I am incredibly grateful to have so many people who believe in the mission of this project and want to see it continue. I want to thank every single person on our wonderful team for trusting me, trusting the process, and putting themselves out there. I am very excited for the future of HAOT, and of OCM. 

Though we are taking a brief hiatus, we will be back on September 2nd with Another Tale by our very own Ava Bruintjes, followed by the next chapter of the Interstellar Saga on September 16th! Hope you tune in on our website, or anywhere you get your podcasts!