CHAPTER 8
The Premise
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Getting Started
Whether you’re writing a premise or treatment for your own work or trying to sell a premise
to the story editor of a television cartoon in production, the process of developing a story
idea is roughly the same. You think of a good idea and write it down in a generally accepted
form. Since most of the work in animation writing consists of writing for established cartoon
shows, we’re going to focus here on the process of developing an idea and selling a script
for an animated television series that’s in production.
Writing a Television Animation Script
If you want to sell a script for a specific series, then you have to pitch a really good idea to
the story editor of that series. He’s the one in charge of assigning the scripts for the current
season. The story editor will usually expect to see your idea in the form of a short premise,
written as a narrative. Unfortunately, there’s no pay for writing a premise. If the story editor
likes your premise and thinks that you can write well, then he may give you the go-ahead
to write an outline. If he likes the outline, then he’ll give you an assignment for the script as
well. But before he’ll even consider your ideas, the story editor judges your writing ability
by reading a sample script. See Chapter 20 on agents, networking, and finding work for more
information on the sample script.
Preparation
Before you meet with a story editor, watch as many episodes as you can of the show you’re
pitching. Analyze the episodes. How long is each? What makes this show popular? How is
it different? What’s the level of reality? What are the rules of that cartoon universe? What
makes it funny? Who are the main characters, and what makes them funny? Make notes.