“Speed is a huge advantage,” Will Bryan says about what Yessir Media, a company he co-founded with Katharine Bradley in March 2025, brings to the table.

“You’re able to do a lot of animation with player-controlled movement. Practically, what that means is that, say, we have a dialogue scene between two characters. Katherine plays one character, I play the other character, our animator controls the camera, and the three of us jump into a server, and we hit buttons to emote,” he continues.

What Will and Katharine have done with Yessir Media is transform Roblox from a gaming platform into an animation tool, producing narrative content at a fraction of the traditional costs. 

Their vision? To connect traditional animation studios with content that truly engages today’s children. The Richmond-based company combines live-action “digital puppetry” with professional animation techniques to create content that can be produced in weeks rather than months.

“A big part of what’s exciting about Yessir is taking a lot of the energy that is actually already existing on YouTube right now and in the creator economy, especially with Gen Alpha, and creating a bridge between the professional world and that wild zeitgeist of the internet,” explains Will. “This is why we see ourselves as different from any of the animation studios that are out there.”

“Yessir Media came from Will and my desire to meld two worlds: his experience in kids IP & entertainment and our background in filmmaking. We think of all the possibilities offered by platforms like Roblox and see how we can treat it like a movie studio to meet kids where they are,” says Katharine.

Technical Approach: Reimagining Animation Production

At the core of Yessir Media’s offering is its production methodology, which transforms how animated content is created.

This approach allows the team to capture performances live within Roblox and then enhance them with more detailed animation work. “What we do is a combination of animation within Roblox that’s player-controlled and then more advanced, bespoke character animation using Blender and a combination of plugins that is then exported to Roblox,” says Will. “Everything we do is captured in Roblox.”

The production pipeline progresses from initial concept through script development, live performance capture, “surgical capture” for more nuanced animation in Blender, and ultimately to music, editing, and review. Once the initial assets are created, the team can produce an episode in just one to two weeks.

Another distinguishing element is their approach to performance. Unlike traditional animation studios, which Will feels often “scrub” personality from content through multiple approval layers, Yessir Media deliberately leaves room for improvisation.

“One way that is different about us from other companies is that we leave room in the scripts for both the voice and in-game performers to improvise,” Will notes. “We want them to have freedom. We want them to listen to the audio tracks and then riff in real time. And if they come up with a funny visual idea, because they can see the camera too, they can.”

Services and Business Model

Yessir Media operates on dual tracks: client work and original content development. For clients, they offer two primary services:

1. Animation production using their Roblox-based methodology
2. Combined packages of animation and Roblox game development

“One of the packages that we’re offering is both animation and a Roblox game,” Katharine explains. “That’s the strongest combination because then they can be shaped by and inform each other and cross-reference each other, drive traffic from one to the other.”

This combination offers efficiency benefits for clients. As Will notes, “The cost goes way down in terms of bang for your buck because you’re developing all of these assets that can be used in two different ways. You can then reuse all game assets for the animation. Traditionally, you would have to create teasers and gameplay videos to promote the game; however, animation is a much more powerful tool for this purpose. So it’s like this virtuous cycle.”

For client projects, Yessir Media initiates a “brand immersion” process to understand the client’s objectives, metrics, and aesthetic preferences. They then develop concept springboards, scripts, and eventually move into production.

Market Opportunity and Timing

The founders believe they’ve launched at a pivotal moment when the animation industry is seeking new ways to connect with young audiences on digital platforms.

“We just happen to pick the right time to launch this thing,” Will observes. “If we launched a year earlier, the industry would not have been ready.”

The receptivity they’ve encountered has surprised them. “When we were talking about this a year ago, we were like, ‘This is going to be a very niche thing. Only a few people will be brave enough to try it,’” Will recalls. “What blows my mind is the people who have reached out to us.”

According to the founders, this interest stems partly from major companies recognizing the importance of platforms like Roblox in reaching younger audiences. “People know that they need to be on Roblox. They know the power of the platform,” Will explains.

Challenges: Bridging Professional and Creator Worlds

Building a company that connects professional media practices with creator culture poses challenges. One of the main ones has been finding animators who combine platform-native understanding with a professional work ethic.

“Number one, logistically, is finding animators who are young, 18, 19 years old, who get the memes, they live on the platform, they get it—who will keep regular office hours and sort of combine putting them into a professional workflow,” Will explains.

The founders have experienced this directly with their animators, some of whom operate on their own schedules: “We have one animator that we love working with and he texts us all hours of the night just because he’s like a night owl and he’s like, ‘Dude, get up, check this out. I did something revolutionary.’”

As Will and Katharine note, this cultural gap mirrors what many established companies have experienced when trying to enter the Roblox space: “A lot of these companies that we’ve spoken to have experienced is that they want a Roblox game. They put out a call for bids. They work with all these young companies, particularly those in the very young Gen Z segment, and launch their own Roblox studios. And there’s just no professionalism.”

In addition to these cultural challenges, the team works within technical and legal considerations specific to developing professional content on Roblox, following the platform’s established guidelines.

The 90s Nickelodeon Spirit: A Vision for Kids Media

Both founders draw inspiration from early Nickelodeon programming of the 1990s, seeing it as a model for the kid-centric approach they want to bring to modern platforms.

“We’re approaching this with a very kid-centric ethos,” Katharine explains. “We both grew up on Nickelodeon in the 90s, and something about that was so powerful to us because it felt kid-led. It did not feel like it was created for kids, but by kids. And we see that on Roblox right now.”

This perspective shapes their critique of the current animation industry, which Will believes has become overly cautious, bureaucratic, and market research-driven.

“What we want to do is carry the torch from early Nickelodeon into the new era,” Will says, referencing Geraldine Laybourne, the executive who transformed Nickelodeon in the 1990s. “She turned it from a home for typical 1980s children’s programming to what we now think of when we see the orange splat. And she did it by respecting kids and letting artists have freedom.”

The founders view the current convergence of platforms—where YouTube, Roblox, and traditional media are intersecting—as an opportunity to revive the spirit of creative risk-taking.

Genuine Character in the Age of AI

As AI-generated animation becomes increasingly prevalent, Yessir Media positions its human-centered approach as a deliberate counterbalance to this trend.

“With Roblox, we see it as the anti-AI sludge,” Will explains. “It’s so real, and you can feel the hands of the animator when you watch it.”

This focus on authenticity extends throughout their production process. While they see value in AI for workflow efficiencies, they deliberately choose human performers over AI voices: “We could make all of our voices AI. That would take a day and cost like $400. We don’t do that. We hire voice performers. Because what we get with voice performers is the wild anarchy of four voice performers and four microphones on a Zoom call riffing off of each other.”

The founders believe that as AI makes perfect animation more accessible, the distinctive human touch of their work will become increasingly valuable. As Will specifically notes: “Stuff that feels handmade in a very real professional way is going to become much more valuable in the very near future.”

What’s Next for Yessir Media

With their first projects launching in mid-to-late summer, Yessir Media is at the beginning of its journey. Their goals extend from client work to developing original series and eventually feature-length films over the next few years.

“Our long-term goal is to do, in addition to client work, originals and original IP,” Katharine confirms. For the founders, success will be measured not just by their own growth but by their impact on the animation industry as a whole.

“The legacy that I want to leave in this space is empowering kids by listening to them and creating content that they love and meets them where they are,” Katharine says. “Creating content that respects their intelligence and autonomy and respects them as autonomous, full human beings who know what they like.”

Will adds, “I like the idea of setting an example for other companies and creators. What we want to do is demonstrate financial success in this space because that’s the one thing that’s going to make other people more comfortable with taking risks.”

If they could change anything about the animation industry with a magic wand, Will’s answer is immediate: “More courage, more risk.”