The star of Tanya Hennessy's latest kids' book, Pink Santa, may one day end up in the same league as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Boss Baby and the crew from Madagascar.
DreamWorks studio executives met with Hennessy in the US earlier this year, interested in making a feature film based on the character in her first picture book - a Santa whose suit turns pink in the wash and shows how Christmas is joyous and inclusive.
She said the movie executives were very positive when she met them at the DreamWorks Studios in Los Angeles in April.
"And it was like, 'We love this idea, this is the kind of concept we're looking for. It's how can we extend this to a feature'?" she said.
"And then the [writers'] strike happened.
"So I'm in a backlog at the moment. Everybody has been writing, obviously, because they haven't been working, so the backlog is pretty significant. So, hopefully, it gets looked at for next year.
"Can you imagine working for DreamWorks? It's my dream. To even to be in a meeting there. I was there for, like, three hours. I was there with all the Oscars and everything is Shrek-themed and Trolls It was so surreal - and I'm here for my ideas. It was like, 'What'?"
Ideas are one thing Hennessy is not short of - at any time.
Based on the positive reception from DreamWorks, she's writing her own feature film as well as being seconded to create a TV series for Endemol Shine. Both hush-hush projects.
Not so secretive was the launch in Priceline stores this week of her third collaboration with MPCosmetics, called Breakfast at Hennessy's. The release coincided with her 38th birthday on November 16.
Canberra, especially, goes nuts for her makeup, even though it's six years since she left her gig as a breakfast announcer on FM104.7 to pursue her online career in Sydney.
"You know the biggest place [the makeup] sells is Canberra? Same with my books. Belconnen Dymock's that is one of the highest retailers for me," she said.
"People go, 'What's your favourite place in Canberra'?. And I go, 'The dick owl in Belconnen and Westfield'."
Doing publicity for the make-up line, Hennessy is dolled-up as Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 classic Breakfast at Tiffany's. But the Breakfast at Hennessy's range is more tongue-in-cheek, with breakfast-themed products such as French Toast lip tiny balm and Bottomless Brunch blush palette.
"Oh my god, OK, I've never lived more. Audrey Hepburn. Although I don't have quite the same glamour as her. I was wearing crocs and pants, I just had the top on. And the air conditioning aimed straight at my crotch. So totally different to Audrey Hepburn," she said, with a laugh.
"I wanted to make a whole range of cosmetics that had a sense of humour. So it was Breakfast at Hennessy's. 'Yes, I can look this glam but I can also not'. You can wear it casually, you can wear it at fancy locations, you can wear it anywhere," she said.
"Breakfast at Hennessy's is meant to be a celebration of the breakfast buffet. Everything in the collection is relevant to something you can get at the buffet, which is just my favourite place. So why not bring the breakfast buffet to your face?"
Among the range is the Get Bready! eyeshadow palette with shades named Unsupportive Bra, Cake for Dinner and Lower Back Pain. Very grounded in reality.
"Make-up can take itself so seriously," she said.
And I was like, 'Where can I find a gap in the market that is fun and irreverent and silly and joyful'? Instead of, 'I've got to get it right and it's got to be perfect'. It doesn't need to be perfect as long as you feel good and it's easy. I just don't want to make obnoxious, bullshit stuff."
Hennessy joined Canberra radio station FM 104.7 in early 2016 before leaving in late 2017 and becoming a bonafide superstar with funny shorts she released online, attracting millions of followers along the way. She's also won radio awards, been named Young Alumni of the Year by Charles Sturt University and sold out a national comedy tour. Pink Santa is her fifth book, others including two in the Stevie Louise series.
She credits, of all things, the iconic Bredbo Christmas Barn, just south of Canberra, for giving her the inspiration for Pink Santa.
"Pink Santa is doing so well. I was kind of so surprised by its success," she said.
"It was from a silly idea because it's about laundry ultimately. It was like, 'What if Santa the night of Christmas took off to wash his suit from the night before so he washes it on a hot cycle and turns it pink'?
"It was like, 'Wow he can I turn into something bigger and that no one owns gender and no one owns colour and Christmas can look different? It doesn't matter if your Christmas doesn't look like everybody else's. It doesn't matter if your Christmas is pink or traditional or you have one parent or 40 parents, it doesn't matter'."
The Bredbo connection came through one of her regular sorties back to the national capital.
"The thing is, I actually come to Canberra lot, sneaky sneaky," she said.
"I'm always in and out because I love the food. And there's this amazing Christmas shop just past Canberra in Bredbo, so we always go to that. It's like my favourite Christmas shop.
"And all the Christmas decorations in that shop are kind of like what inspired Pink Santa. I have a bunch of their decorations in my house that are all pink and I just sat and stared at them for so long, the longer I looked at them, I started to think, 'What would happen if Santa was pink? How would that happen'? So, kind of, thanks to Bredbo!"
Now "obsessed" with writing for TV and developing her feature film ideas, Hennessy says a family with her partner Tom is still a hope.
"I feel like I'm in a relatively good place," she said. "Going to do some more IVF next year and if it doesn't work, I think we might just move to LA. I'm a bit sick of it.
"I kind of want time to sit with it and think, 'Do I want this'? Or, 'Will I be OK without it'? And I think I will be OK without it. And if that's the case, I'll write 15 feature films."
- Pink Santa is published by Allen and Unwin.
