must also appeal to their parents, because they’re the ones who usually lay out the
money.- Appeal. Does it appeal to the needs, hopes, and dreams of your audience?
- Quality. Do you have a good tale to tell? Great designs?
- Profitability. Is the buyer going to be able to make money on your idea?
More Things to Keep in Mind
- Off-the-wall ideas are good. Start wide. Then bring your idea down a bit.
- A catchy title shows creativity and attracts buyers and an audience as well.
- Good stories are usually simple. The children’s classics aren’t too complicated. Take
your ideas and give them twists, reversals, and surprises to make them original. Stories
need to connect with the core emotions in us all. - Describe characters in a way that gives readers an instant handle on their personali-
ties (“a relationship like Fred and Barney”). Don’t mention a character’s age, specif-
ically, unless it’s important to the concept. - When you talk to anyone in the development department of a company, remember
to be friendly. Being friendly doesn’t mean taking up their time; I’ve never met a
development person who isn’t extremely busy. Often people find it more convenient
to respond to a short e-mail than to take a call. Or make friends with the assistant.
An assistant who likes you can provide a wealth of information and help you
schedule a pitch meeting. Relationships are everything in the animation business.
Assistants are also very busy. - Do your homework. Don’t develop and pitch what a network has on the air today or
what they had on the air that didn’t work last season. - Leave enough variety and openness in your basic situation,arena, and characters for
room to develop in future seasons. Can these characters undergo change? Can they
go to a new locale? Can new characters be brought in...all without destroying the
fun of the show? - Is this a good idea for animation? Is it practical to produce?
- Can this idea be produced at a cost that will make a profit?
- Many buyers look for CGI shows that can be made on a television budget. Some feel
that CGI works better in preschool television than in shows for older kids. Sometimes
unrealistic CGI facial expressions, modeled on a cartoon budget, can drive away older
kids because there’s a lack of emotional depth. - You want your characters to be easily seen against the backgrounds, or the action will
be confusing and the audience won’t “get” the gags. Backgrounds that are a little busy,
however, can sometimes make low-cost animation appear to have more movement
because the characters travel across the busyness.
Development and the Animation Bible 79