Adored filmmaker, Joel Haver, has shared that he turned down the opportunity of a lifetime to maintain his independence and passion for the craft.
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On July 4, Joel Haver announced to his 2 million fans that he had rejected an offer to make an animated TV show for a major streaming service. Although he didn’t dare name the service (after receiving vague threats), he does narrow down the options a little…
Joel Haver is known for his experimental and impressive animation style and his skits. More recently, however, he embarked on an ambitious project. He managed to produce one feature-length film a month for all of 2024.
This cemented him as a talented writer, director, and actor.
Rejecting The Deal Of A Lifetime
Joel Haver explained that he did entertain the idea of producing a show for the vague streaming service.
“We had about six months of meetings and offers and stuff like that. But ultimately, I decided to go my own separate way and make an independent project instead,” he said.
“Even though this company offered me way more money than I could ever feasibly make something for on YouTube, and that was just for the pilot, I decided to go off and do something else on my own,” he said.
Since turning down the offer, he’s embarked on another project, to make a feature-length film in his unique animation style.
Haver explained that, to him, maintaining his independence as a creative and maintaining control of his projects was more important than any pricetag.
” The number one reason I didn’t do the show is because my independence is priceless to me.”
His distaste for TV shows also played a part.
Who Did Joel Haver Reject?
Throughout the video, jokes are made that eliminate certain streaming services. Peacock, Tuby, Apple TV Plus, and Amazon Prime Video get eliminated.
It is my best guess that it was Netflix who gave the offer. The absurd amount of money thrown toward him for a rather experimental and ‘out there’ animation series points toward them pretty heavily, I’d say.
Although this is pure speculation.