The Low-Budget Success Story by Denise Morris on 11/03/2006 at 3:54 PM

If you're down with Larry, Bob, Jr. Asparagus and all those other chatty vegetables, then this may be interesting to you. In a recent interview with Nuclearity.org, Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggie Tales, talked about what it took to get his vegetable empire going.

Although Vischer's product began selling first in Christian bookstores and then later in the bigger chain stores like Wal-Mart, he says that much of what becomes popular in today's world will be through small-time products on the Internet. He recommends that people who want to get started with a project use cleverness, creativity and the World Wide Web -- all of which don't require big bucks:

[Vischer] points out Homestarrunner.com as a model. The site has gotten incredible attention by offering low -- budget animated shorts like "Strong Bad E Mails." We can expect to encounter more media like this, alongside studio projects with massive budgets.

"What's dying is everything in the middle," says Vischer. He gives two examples: "Lord of the Rings -- 300 million dollars for three films. And Home Star Runner -- two guys working out of their dorm room. Those things work great."

He says there is a lot of success to be had for "people who are being clever instead of being rich," which is what Veggie Tales started out as.

Good news for those of us without $300 million, eh? So, if you've got an idea for -- oh I don't know -- some talking tuna fish, set up a Web site and go for it! If you're funny, creative and have something useful to say, you just may get some people to pay attention.