Jason Sullivan, the creator the internet cartoon sensation “Sminky Shorts”, has been signed to United Agents, the London-based office that represents Rickey Gervais, Richard Attenborough other stars.

Sullivan (27) from Kanturk, in County Cork, produced the short animated films under the name Andrew James, was contacted by the agency after his cartoon’s were featured in the Irish Examiner newspaper.

He told the paper the fact that “Simon’s Cat”, which has an audience of 250 million people, is represented by United clinched the deal for him.

Jason said “They told me that Sminky Shorts is going down well in England.

“They’ve told me that they see huge potential for it. But it could be in a different format, like an episodic thing.

"It could be tailored to suit various audiences but if you start worrying about your audience too much, it can kind of backfire on you. I have loads of material ready to go, and loads of ideas for TV shows.

"I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. It seems to be working. And if it works, it works. If is doesn’t, then it doesn’t."

The Cork animator is now in talks with producers affiliated with RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster), Channel 4, the BBC and Sky.

He told the Irish Examiner that he taught himself how to animate and created the cartoons in his bedroom about three months ago.

Having posted his creations on Facebook and YouTube they became an instant hit.
He explained that he was encouraged to do more when the clip about the nervous horse entitled “I Can’t Do It” went viral.

There are now 11 videos online which have racked up over 3.5 million views.

The shorts went viral after he produced ‘I Can’t Do It’, featuring a horse with a voice remarkably like Roy Keane.

Cork News reports that the catch phrases such as “I Can’t Do It” have become part of Ireland’s youth’s vocabulary since the YouTube videos went up but Sullivan says he doesn’t know how far he can go with this set.

He explained “In the coming weeks, I'll be putting one up on the return of some characters. It's something that is called for, that’s all I can say. It’ll become clearer when it airs!

“Going back over characters is tough so it isn’t something I’ll be doing too often.

“I’m keeping to animals as they seem to be working. However, I’m not sure about making regulars out of the characters I've done already. They can get a bit annoying after a while.”

Sullivan added that he’s noticed his cartoons have been getting a lot of attention from Ireland’s every growing number of expats in England, the United States and Australia. He added “It’s all ex-pats, and people abroad who know Irish people.”

Here’s a playlist of “Sminky Shorts” cartoons: