Ryan Clayton, a former James Fallon High School student, has created Schooled!, an adult comedy series set in a fictional university residence.

Clayton and his collaborators Jess Wheeler and Tim O'Shea have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a seven-minute pilot later this year.

“Schooled! came about having lived on campus,” Clayton said. “It was one of those things that my friends and I threw around quite a bit as an idea. We thought there was a great irony in the fact that living on campus, you know, you’re supposed to be there learning, but the fact is most of your time there is spent actually killing brain cells. In the last couple of years I thought, well, I may as well have a go at it and not die wondering.”

After completing year 12 in 2002, Clayton studied graphic design at University of Canberra and now is a senior art director at a Melbourne advertising agency. O’Shea, a fellow university alumnus, and Wheeler also work in advertising as copywriters.

Schooled! definitely sits on the adult side of animation, set in the Fairwater University Centre of Technology, a name we won’t abbreviate.

“We thought that one might be a bit cheeky,” Clayton said with a laugh. “Australia doesn’t really have a great presence in that field.

“For Aussies who grew up on American comedy, I think we need a unique voice, something we can actually relate to as Australians.”

The pilot episode will introduce first year student Ray Clarkson, who arrives at Fairwater, a less than prestigious institution, full of enthusiasm to start his new life.

“And it all just goes downhill from there,” Clayton said.

“I’ve been telling my friends it’s ‘loosely’ based on my experiences and for the sake of my parents it’s probably best to keep it that way too.”

The crowdfunding campaign aims to raise $35,000.

“That might seem like a lot, but with animation there’s so many different moving bits,” Clayton said.

“You only get one shot with a pilot, let’s show exactly how we want this thing represented, in the best light.”

Storyboard artists, recording, sound mixing, the animation itself and the voice characters are all part of the production.

Some people have bought a character in their own likeness, a fundraising option available.

“We’re looking to coincide it with O Week 2018, so we’ll basically at the end of this campaign go straight into pre-production,” he said.