We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dwight Mathis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dwight below.

Dwight, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I came up with The McSenses in the back of my History lecture class in 2007. The idea started from a doodle of a large nose with a small body accompanied by his counterpart, a large eyeball with blonde hair, lip stick and bottle shaped body. The two characters, nose and eye, became Ned and Ira. From there, the rest of the family was created, and thus The McSenses family.

This is a story about a family of commercial actors who discover that the company they’ve been working for were the ones responsible for their genetic mutations in the first place. Imagine if Tony the Tiger discovered Kelloggs secretly mutated him when he was just a cub. Created solely to sell cereal. How would he react? Would he maul them all or strategically take down the company?.

I knew I had a great idea when I first saw the rough compilation of the family together. Over the years, as movies like Inside Out, and Mitchells VS. The Machines came out, I saw that other creators and directors were thinking on the same wave length. It wasn’t until I gained the attraction of celebrity actors and producers that I knew I had something special on my hands.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I started my creative path as a Graphic Designer in 2010, which transitioned me to fashion design. During those transitional and core milestones, I learned the ins and outs of merchandise design and sells, working with factories as well as licensors for major brands such as Harry Potter, Capcom, DC, Marvel, and much more.

After 7 years of design, I grew restless for something else. I wanted to learn more about the film side of the industry as well as entrepreneurship. I left my 9-5 in the summer of 2017 and tried my hand at running a film studio with a few friends in Dallas, TX.

It was a good attempt, a lot of mistakes, a lot of ego checking and turning inwards to work on myself as a person and how I communicate. It was a major learning experience.

I later moved to Costa Mesa, California to work as a designer for Mitchell & Ness. Although it satisfied my creative outlet and allowed me to take care of myself, something was missing.

Film and television was always on the forefront of my heart and mind. So I began applying.

Eventually I landed a job at Ion Television in Clearwater, FL. I packed up my car and drove to the opposite end of the country to start my life over, yet again.

I pitched an original series called “Full Disclosure” my second month in, and it was later greenlit in which I produced. A moment I would never forget.

In 2019 I left the 9-5 grind for good and focused all my efforts on building my brand Normal Network and developing intellectual properties such as The McSenses and Books Over Brains, 2 animated projects I hope to produce with a major studio.

How’d you meet your business partner?

You’ve heard of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, they are clear examples of how partnership works. They understand each other on a comical, directional, and narrative way down to each emotion and detail. That is the major key behind successful cinema.

I met Jon Brokaw through his sister, my life partner Brianna. When we would all get together during family occasions, Jon would always be the center of entertainment. Whether it’s a joke, or a new stand up routine, he was always there to make someone laugh. I noticed over the last 2 years, his unique ability to piece words together effortlessly, his comedic timing, and genius level of recalling stories and details of old to new films. He’s a thesaurus.

Half a year ago, I was having trouble coming up with the synopsis for The McSenses. So I thought, “well Jon is pretty smart and he knows a lot about movies, plus he reads a ton” so I called him.

I read what I had at the time, and he says “do you have a pen and a piece of paper?” In no time flat, he gave me a brilliantly structured synopsis that was easy to digest and entertaining. Blew me away.

So I asked him a few weeks later if he could help me write a script for The McSenses pilot. With no prior experience in screenwriting, Jon knocks out a 21 page script that reads like a seasoned tv writer.

I knew then that Jon was the partner I was searching for.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to make The McSenses the next #1 show in animations history. The mission is to create jobs and help boom the entertainment industry in new, healthy ways. This family has been with me through it all. For over 14 years. When I lost everything, when I gained a little, they’ve been there, motivating me yet waiting to be created. When my life was crude, so was their story and design, and as my life evolved and became polished, so did they. Now is the time to release them to the world because I’ll be releasing myself through them. I want the McSenses to show awareness of how out of touch we’ve become with ourselves, and hopefully we find our way back with the help of this semi-dysfunctional family.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.normal.network
• Instagram: @normalnetwork @themcsenses
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcsenses/

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