Being Nigerian is knowing that the most ridiculous things can happen at any time because E Dey Happen. This randomness is what our animated series hopes to capture.
E Dey Happen (EDH) is a Nigerian animated series created by Eris Ekanem, telling the story of three friends trying to find independence while dealing with an awful work-life, family drama, and the chaos of living together. With the second episode in the bag and funding locked down for a full season, “E Dey Happen” is truly happening. But back in 2021, it was just a Google Doc shared between two friends.
The Origin of EDH
In 2020, during the pandemic, I took a stab at learning animation. Unfortunately, it stabbed me right back. I’d been drawing stick figure comics for about a year and wanted to take things up a notch. Several cringe-worthy attempts later, I had something resembling animation—choppy and makeshift, not exactly Adult Swim material, but enough to get a few strangers laughing online.
My first animation? A short debate on using water versus tissue paper. Yes, I know, very profound.
The more I wanted to animate, the harder it became, especially with a 9-to-5 job. It was starting to feel impossible. Then I stumbled upon Pageant Queen, an animated short by Ivorylee Productions on YouTube.
[GASPS] A woman animator in the flesh? Ivie was a unicorn, so I hit that follow button on Instagram immediately and became a secret fan until the 4th August, 2020, when I discovered she was a professional animator.
I was so impressed that I started taking animation seriously, barraging her with questions about what to study and which software to use. Ivie was always super helpful, and soon enough, I knew I wanted to do more with her.
But let’s be real—animation wasn’t going well for me. I’m a writer, sometimes an illustrator, but animation? That was a hydra I couldn’t tackle alone. It took a year to figure that out.
On the 13th of November, 2021, I pitched a collaboration to Ivie. My plan? Close the physical distance between us, because working together would be easier if we were in the same city.
What I didn’t expect was Ivie’s enthusiastic “YES” to my offer. This wasn’t just any “yes”—it was a “YES” that got me off my butt and straight to work. Here was this talented animator willing to work with me, and all I had was a gut feeling that we could do something great together. That “YES” was the start of our journey, even if we didn’t know where it would take us.
By 29th November, we were already tossing around names. I remember being on that Google Doc with Ivie, live-editing in real-time. The project was temporarily called YBS as a pun and an abbreviation of our protagonists names.
There was something about ‘E Dey Happen’ that gave us both a sense of purpose. It was our shot at living authentically, the start of our lifelong commitment to the arts. This project snapped us out of autopilot and made us fully present.
Fast forward to 2024, August 13th was when I learned that Ivie had said “yes” because she needed a job and thought I was offering one. I was, but it’s not really a job if I couldn’t afford to pay her. EDH had to take a back seat in 2021. While I couldn’t afford to pay her, I quietly started searching for someone who could.
In 2022, I began working with wuruwuru. They’d already worked on a comic called The J Guide and were creating animated shorts like Hanky Panky, while also building one of the largest archives of album cover art in Nigeria. EDH joined the ranks of projects they were funding, and just like that, I found myself working with my friend again — this time with compensation.
And honestly, that’s all that mattered: my friend getting paid and us getting the chance to build something out of nothing together. Since then, we’ve completed and published EDH’s Pilot on YouTube, secured funding from Independent Arts, completed episode 2 of EDH, made new friends along the way, and opened social media pages for EDH.
Be the first to know when we publish EDH episode 2. Subscribe to our substack and follow us.
Yay!! EDH szn
Love to see, read and experience it!
i’m sat!