Lord writes, directs and produces as one half of a long standing partnership. The pair adapt material nobody expected to be good, from a toy line to a discarded television format, and take it seriously enough to find a real story inside. Project Hail Mary continues that habit with a science fiction novel built on scientific problem solving.
He met his collaborator at university and they have worked together ever since, first in animated television and then in features. Animation shaped the writing method: gags built in layers, dense background detail, and a willingness to rewrite structurally very late. Their production work has given several unconventional animated projects the room to look unlike anything else.
Recurring subjects: self invention, friendship between mismatched people, and institutions that reward conformity. The comedy is fast and layered, with jokes that reward a second viewing. Sentiment is deployed suddenly and without warning, usually just after the audience has relaxed into the gags.
The animated feature the pair wrote and directed changed what a licensed property was allowed to be, and their production of a stylistically radical superhero animation reshaped the visual expectations of the entire medium. Their public departure from a large franchise also became a reference point in debates about directorial authorship inside studio systems.
For viewers who want jokes and genuine feeling in the same scene. Suited to families, and to anyone who assumes an adaptation of a commercial property cannot be personal.
