PACO PACATO
Animator/Director creating the animated series Seiphur.
What is Seiphur?
Seiphur is the name of my passion project—an animated mystery series set in a dystopian world. It follows Safira, a broke dancer, who along with two other street performers is forced to team up with an eccentric vigilante thief. Their ever-shifting schemes spiral out of control, leading them to uncover secrets about their own pasts and the terrifying truth behind Seiphur, humanity's last refuge.
Story
Safira is about to give up on her dream of becoming a professional dancer. Alone, misfit, and broke, she limits herself to performing on the streets of Seiphur, where few stop to watch and even fewer leave a coin. But one day, due to a bureaucratic error, her sad routine is disrupted: Gigante, an eccentric cat trainer, arrives with a permit for the exact same spot.After being met with Safira's usual bad temper, Gigante claims the situation is nothing more than the Ministry sending him to her aid, as he has the perfect solution to fix her life. With nothing left to lose (or even the strength to argue), Safira ends up accepting the madman's pitch, only to soon discover she has become the assistant to a thief posing as a vigilante. With a moral flexibility only surpassed by the size of his ego, Gigante puts Safira in humiliating and dangerous situations, in schemes that, while quite profitable, have nothing to do with her talent for dance.Two more misfits show up with duplicate permits. First Nina, an anti-social young cellist whose native language is violence; followed by Lírio, a kind succulent plant seller, pathologically incapable of worry. Gigante seems, once again, to ignore the obvious error and welcomes them as if they were sent by the Ministry to complete the gang, promptly including them in his plans. Aided by intel from Olli, a talented bartender who records everything that reaches his ears, together they embark on adventures where mysterious disappearances and all-too-convenient coincidences end up transforming Gigante's outlandish schemes into genuine cases around Seiphur's corrupt and powerful elite.Branded as targets and fleeing the brutal forces of the Sacred Stability, Safira, Gigante, Nina, and Lírio seek the truth about that unequal and lethargic society. Along the way, they collide with their own traumas, which intertwine in a plot that not only challenges the status quo of a despotic world but also dangerously questions the very founding of Seiphur, the last refuge for humanity.
What's Seiphur current status?
I have written the script for the pilot episode, a very rough outline for one season, and all the concepts and exercises that you can see on my social media. Since I work on developing Seiphur only during breaks from my professional work, the process, although fun, has been slow. If you'd like to help speed it up, you can do so through my Ko-fi or my Patreon.My goal in the near future is to take the Seiphur pilot to crowdfunding. With that in mind, I recently started planning a minute-and-a-half trailer where I will be able to collaborate with many artists I admire.
Paco Pacato © 2026
Piri-Piri Animation Studios
What are Piri-Piri?
We are an animation collective of indie artists with a common goal: to produce our own IP projects and also work for people, brands and companies who share our ethical and exploitation-free principles.
What do we stand for?
No idea is so good that it justifies exploiting or hurting people. With this in mind, we only work for customers with whom we identify and whose products are not nefarious. In our transparent, horizontal hierarchy, teams are equally paid according to a clear set of rules. We believe well-paid creatives, doing what they love, do their best work.We won’t exploit our collaborators or our clients, and we won't work for those who exploit theirs!
What do we do?
We are a full-scope animation studio with a strong focus on traditional 2D animation. Our team brings together diverse styles and approaches, united by a shared passion for the craft. This allows us to take on any brief and deliver the best creative solution for it.
Hire us.
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Seiphur's Audition: Safira
This is the audition to find the person who will voice Safira, the main character in Seiphur, the animated series I've been developing. You can find more information about the series here.
About Safira
At 22, Safira lives for the day. Not that she's the type to just go with the flow, like most people – she simply lost all hope for the future. A dancer by vocation, she's relegated to dancing in the street, instead of on the most renowned stages as she always dreamed. She keeps dancing because it’s the only thing she really enjoys doing.Thrown out of the orphanage into the world, she spent the last 4 years alone and out of place, surviving on what her parents left her. After pawning almost everything she owns, she counts the days until the precariousness of her street performances and the brevity of her failed odd jobs make her lose what little she has left – a place to live.It is at that moment that she meets the eccentric cat trainer, part-time vigilante, Gigante. Needing more energy to ignore him than to go along with his delusions and plans, Safira ends up doing what she would never do alone, until she discovers what she's really made of. Alongside Gigante, Nina, and Lírio, her flaws, failures, and anguish may, after all, be the necessary weapons, not only to turn her meaningless, purposeless life around but to turn an entire society upside down.
Personality Traits
•Grumpy
•Impulsive
•Proud
•Empathetic
•Pessimistic
What does she sound like?
Safira sounds like a young adult woman, with a neutral voice tone—expressive without being cartoonish—and a medium pitch. She has no cultural background drawn from the real world, since Seiphur has been humanity’s last refuge for so long that no one knows anything about the past. Therefore, please focus solely on her current situation, as I’ve described above.Think of all the characters, including Safira, as speaking Seiphurian, and English is merely a tool for the audience to understand them. Given this premise, there is no specific accent I’m looking for. You can try to be as neutral as you can, but don’t worry about it too much if it takes away from your expressiveness.
Short-term Goals
Although I’ve already written the draft of the pilot episode, I’m not yet ready to move forward with its production. So, I’ll start by producing short snippets to introduce the characters and a little bit of the world of Seiphur to my audience.It’s in this context that we’ll hear Safira’s voice for the first time, in a short dialogue with Gigante—and if you’re chosen as the voice actress, this will be your debut as Safira.
How to audition?
1.Download the video:"I'm not grumpy"2. Dub itUse your voice to dub the short animatic that follows the countdown, following the lines embedded in the video. Since this will be a remote production, the audio quality will also be assessed. Therefore, you should have access to professional recording equipment.3. Fill the formOpen this Google Form, fill it, and upload your performance. Please note that only one take per person will be accepted. Files can be video (mp4 preferably) or audio (mp3 or wav). Only auditions conducted in this way will be considered.4. Share it! (optional)If you'd like, feel free to share your take on social media and tag both @paco_pacato and @seiphurproject.TimelineAuditions will be held from September 15 through September 29, 11:59 PM GMT+1, 2026. If we don't find anyone, we may extend the audition period.
F.A.Q
Q: I’m under 18, can I audition?A: For legal reasons, we are only accepting candidates who are of legal age.Q: Is this for a paid gig?A: Yes, it’s a for paid gig. Since the first recordings will likely be just short snippets for online publication, they’ll be paid by the line. The final budget hasn’t been set yet, as I’m still trying to secure additional funding, but I can guarantee at least $8 USD per line for the chosen actors.Q: Will there be a contract?A: Yes, there will be a standard contract for each service, plus an NDA and protection for the author against AI training.Q: Will there be auditions for the other characters?A: In the future, yes. However, both the roles of Nina and Gigante have already been cast.Q: Do I need to show my face?A: No. We’ll be focusing on your voice. However, when announcing the chosen VA, it would be a plus to have a face.
THANKS!