Thursday, November 5, 2026
Franklin Square native Jason “Jay” Alvino and his creative team are hoping their personal stories and artistic voice can help their latest animated television project find its place on screen.
Alvino, a screenwriter and former visual effects artist, co-created the animated series Beefy Frank with longtime friend and collaborator Mike Carlo.
In July, the pair announced that a third collaborator, Christy Karacas, a producer best known for Superjail! and Ballmasterz: 9009, has been added to the team as an executive producer.
Carlo is an experienced animator currently working as a supervising director at Nickelodeon Animation Studios, and Alvino most recently won Best Unproduced Screenplay at the Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival for his project, Low Life, in 2024.
Alvino, H. Frank Carey High School class of 1991 alumnus, began working in the film industry shortly after graduating. With absolutely no college experience, he began making connections in the industry and working as a VFX artist. As a lover of all things horror, Alvino worked on several B-movie horror projects.
For Alvino, the journey to this point has been filled with setbacks—health complications, industry shifts, and multiple project rejections—but it’s also been a story of perseverance and passion.
Alvino was diagnosed in 1998 with a rare autoimmune disease, pemphigus. The disease causes blistering of the skin and mucous membranes, producing patchy painful, red sores all over the body.
“It was just the weirdest thing that, you know, I became this monster in my opinion,” Alvino recalled. “I looked like something I would make in one of my horror movies.”
He has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy at NYU Langone Hospital during flareups. The disease became so prominent that he was in and out of the hospital for nearly two years.
Eventually, Alvino began reentering social circles, and in 2002, he was introduced to Carlo through Alvino’s cousin. The two quickly began bonding over shared creative interests, especially horror films, music, and storytelling. They began collaborating professionally when Carlo contributed concept art and storyboards for Alvino’s film projects.
“We both had the same twisted sense of humor and love for horror,” Carlo said. “It just made sense.”
Alvino founded Wicked EFX, a Brooklyn-based studio, in 2005, moved to California in 2008 to work at Quantum Creations—where he worked on projects including Tron Legacy and Sucker Punch—and eventually, after another pemphigus flareup, shifted to screenwriting full time in 2010.
After moving back to Franklin Square in 2017, he rekindled his relationship with Carlo, who was working on a strangely unique project—Beefy Frank.
The concept for the series originated from Carlo’s early idea of a monstrous character, but it evolved into a darkly funny narrative about a mutant decapitated hot dog head trying to reintegrate into normal life after his ties to the mafia landed him in prison—a rich blend of horror, personal history, and cultural absurdity.
“It’s very much influenced by Long Island culture and just how ridiculous and lovable our families are,” Carlo said. “The stories are real; the humor is real. It’s weird, it’s original—and that’s what we’re leaning into.”
The creative pair began developing the show around 2017 and pitched Beefy Frank to several studios including Netflix, Amazon, and Comedy Central—and even had it optioned by a studio.
After early studio interest waned, the project stalled but was revived when Adult Swim showed promise in 2020 and gave the project new life. Carlo and Alvino created a sample animation to showcase the show’s tone, characters, and humor.
However, Carlo said the team doesn’t know where they stand with Adult Swim anymore, explaining that the studio has quietly “fell off” without official word as to whether they still want to work with the team.
Though the project is still in development, the creators are preparing to shop it around again—this time with their completed short animation and Karacas’ backing.
“We’re trying to make so much noise that they have to pay attention to us,” Alvino said of the project.
“We’re not waiting around for a studio to give us permission anymore,” Carlo added.
Karacas recalled reading Alvino’s script and being thoroughly impressed by it. After meeting in person, the two hit it off and initiated a friendly relationship. Karacas said he was drawn to the originality of the concept and the way it tapped into a cultural voice not often explored in animation.
“I just really liked the project,” Karacas said. “Jay’s an amazing writer, and Mike is such a talented animator. When they asked me if I’d be an EP, it was a no-brainer.”
According to the team, taking creative chances is not something studios are willing to do anymore. With the industry increasingly turning to corporate control and using calculated risks to maximize profits, projects like Beefy Frank are often passed for being too weird or unusual.
“I think things need to be authentic and exciting and real,” Karacas said. “There’s a huge audience for this, and I think it’s very relatable and funny.”
Karacas is a firm believer that people shouldn’t care what anyone thinks as long as they love what they’re creating. He said it’s refreshing to see Beefy Frank be such an original idea and inspired by a culture many connect with.
“I really believe in the project,” Karacas stressed. “I think this could be huge.”
Alvino and Carlo share Karacas’s optimism and believe that if the team wants to get the show made, it’s up to them to make it happen.
“We had ups and downs, and there were times we thought it was dead,” Carlo said. “Jay’s been through a lot, but he never gave up. And that’s what keeps this thing alive.”
For Alvino, this is a passion project and something he believes represents a deeply human part of the industry, which he worries will disappear without original projects like Beefy Frank.
“All the frustrations I’ve been dealing with,” Alvino said, “I’m trying to channel it into something positive because I think storytelling is essential to our culture and humanity.”
