A man in Dartmouth messes around with a home computer animation program, posts some of his work on the Web and the next thing he knows, he's catching the eye of some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

As a kid, Frank Forrestall loved to draw Sly M, a character he created to entertain himself. Then, just one week after posting his animation on the Web, Forrestall got a call from a Web company with some pretty big connections.

"There were a lot of big names on there, Dreamworks, Spielberg and Ron Howard and my jaw hit the table at that point," says Forrestall who is the son of well-known local artist Tom Forrestall.

It seems Hollywood was intrigued by the surreal fantasy of Sly M and his attempts to save the world, so much so, they asked Forrestall to create a 13-part series called Tales of Irth.

Forrestall won't talk money but he says the deal means he can make a good living, hire on a team of animators, and do it all in Dartmouth.

"The idea that we were a continent apart had nothing to do with it," says Forrestall. "They just didn't think about it. It might as well be just around the corner."

For Forrestall, when Tales of Irth debuts on Dec. 16, it'll be a childhood fantasy come true.