What Is Glitch Productions? The Studio Behind Murder Drones & Digital Circus
11 June 2026 · 6 min read · by OCpit
Two of the biggest indie animation phenomena of the decade — Murder Drones and The Amazing Digital Circus — come from the same place: a studio in Sydney called Glitch Productions. If you've fallen down either rabbit hole, here's the studio behind the curtain.
From SMG4 to a real animation studio
Glitch Productions is an Australian–American animation studio based in Sydney, founded on 27 May 2017 by brothers Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul. The two are best known for SMG4, the wildly popular Super Mario machinima comedy series they'd been making on YouTube for years. Glitch was the step up from "two guys making videos" to a studio that produces original, fully animated shows.
The Glitch lineup
- ▹SMG4 — the long-running comedy series that started it all.
- ▹Meta Runner — their breakout original, a stylised sci-fi gaming series.
- ▹Sunset Paradise — an earlier original series.
- ▹Murder Drones — sci-fi horror-comedy by Liam Vickers. How to watch it →
- ▹The Amazing Digital Circus — surreal horror-comedy by Gooseworx. The cast, ranked →
- ▹The Gaslight District and Knights of Guinevere — newer additions to the slate.
Are the shows in the same universe?
No — and this trips a lot of people up. Murder Drones and The Amazing Digital Circus share a studio, not a universe. They have different creators, different tones and no shared canon. The fun overlaps are behind the scenes: for example, voice actor Michael Kovach plays both the sweet N in Murder Drones and the troublemaking Jax in The Amazing Digital Circus.
Glitch's whole model is creator-led: hand a distinctive voice (Vickers, Gooseworx) a real budget and a YouTube audience, and let the show be weird.
Why Glitch matters
Glitch proved you can build a genuine animation studio on the back of a YouTube audience, release for free, and still produce shows with the polish and ambition of a streaming series. For fans, it means more of the strange, heartfelt, horror-tinged storytelling these two shows are famous for.
Whichever Glitch show pulled you in, you can build a character for it: a Murder Drone or a Digital Circus performer — free, no signup.
Glitch Productions FAQ
Is Glitch Productions the same as the SMG4 channel?
They're closely linked — the same founders run both — but Glitch is the studio that produces the original animated shows, while SMG4 is the comedy series (and channel) that started their journey.
Where can I watch Glitch shows?
Primarily free on YouTube, which is Glitch's home base. Some titles, like Murder Drones, have also appeared on streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video.
Frequently asked
›Who owns Glitch Productions?
Glitch Productions was founded and is run by brothers Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul, the Australian creators best known for the long-running YouTube series SMG4.
›What shows has Glitch Productions made?
Glitch produces SMG4, Meta Runner, Sunset Paradise, Murder Drones, The Amazing Digital Circus, The Gaslight District and Knights of Guinevere.
›Are Murder Drones and The Amazing Digital Circus connected?
They share a studio (Glitch Productions) but are separate shows with separate creators — Murder Drones by Liam Vickers, The Amazing Digital Circus by Gooseworx. They aren't set in the same universe.