Structure Planning
What are the main points needed to tell your story, the skeleton? What scenesare absolutely
necessary? Look at your premise. You may want to start at the climax and work back from
there. The specific personality traits of your star/hero cause this story to happen. What were
the characters’ motivations to get them to the climax? After you have the skeleton, you fill
in the blanks with the minor points.
- What does that star/hero/heroine want?
- Who opposes the star? Who’s the villain or antagonist? His motivation?
- What’s the catalyst? What incident starts the story moving?
- Your hero needs a plan. His goals should be in direct conflict with the villain’s goals.
The villain tries to foil the hero’s plans. - Each turning point requires a decision by the hero, who solves the story problem.
There are no unseen forces, no easy solutions or clues. The hero/star leads the action
throughout the story. - The hero continues to oppose the villain as new information comes out.
- Everything looks very bad, and the hero risks losing it all. What’s the major crisis, the
worst thing that can happen to the hero to keep him from attaining his goals? - The hero is faced with his most difficult decision, his critical choice. The decision leads
toward the climax of your story with the biggest battle. The hero wins and attains his
goal. - Did your hero learn something? If so, that’s the theme. Not all cartoons have a theme.
- Now wrap everything up quickly in the resolution.
Look at the series sample script to see the length of each act. The acts for your TV
sample script are probably roughly equal in length, leaving your hero in trouble before each
act break. Remember that features usually have a structure of Act I, 25 percent; Act II, 50
percent; and Act III, 25 percent of the overall length of the story. Every scene should be
visual with action and conflict.
More to Think About
It’s okay to restructure your plot somewhat at this point if the restructuring makes for a
better script. You may want to add more plot. You could change motivations if you wish. Is
your story true to the elements and characters of that series? Don’t change the location or
the villain. The story editor is balancing locations and villains for an entire season. If adding
more characters is absolutely necessary, get permission from the story editor first. Remem-
ber to stage action for the budget, using cuts, camera shakes, and trucks to avoid expensive
animation where it’s not needed. Save the expense for the important story points and the
important gags. Don’t leave out whatever it was that sold your premise in the first place.
You may surprise your story editor with a few new twists.
130 Animation Writing and Development