- If this is a children’s show, think of the kids! Stretch their imaginations. Develop pro-
gramming content that’s active, not passive. Give them good role models. Let them
laugh and forget all the stress of modern life. Provide them with content that is enter-
taining, healthy for them, or educational...or all three. Programming that sends
negative signals to parents in any way will be more difficult to sell. And yes, kids do
have a right to enjoy pure entertainment, too! - Develop what you personally have a passion for and what is going to sell. Many buyers
will have a new budget to work with each January. Most companies today are looking
for new concepts all year around, but they don’t buy many!
Generally Accepted Rules of the Selling Game
You can option your idea to a production company and get a development deal to develop
the concept further. The production company will tailor your idea to the needs of that
company and to what they think will sell. Generally speaking, a small, independent pro-
duction company might take higher risks and be more creative. A mainstream, large pro-
duction company is likely to takes fewer risks, and they could be less creative. If the company
is a major international player, they may have the means to distribute your project as well,
but they’ll probably have to sell the project to another department or division. If not, they’ll
have to find financing, possibly by finding a co-producer, and then they’ll have to sell the
project to a broadcaster or other distributor themselves.
Buyers of television programming look first for concepts with marquee value. Many
buyers, particularly those in the United States, will not buy anything without it. To create
new characters or a new series that’s based on something with marquee value, you must
obtain the option rights from the existing rights holder. Cartoons like Muppet Babies, The
Flintstone Kids, The Disney Babies, and so forth were based on known characters. If you
hold the rights, you can spin off a minor character from a well-liked television series as many
prime-time shows have done in the past. If you’re developing something with marquee value,
be sure you don’t lose whatever made the original a success. Keep the feel of the original
and the look of the characters and environment. But make it practical for animation. For a
concept with marquee value, you’ll want to license something you can afford, something so
new that the big companies are not yet bidding on it, something more obscure but really
worthwhile, or something old and forgotten but well loved.
Projects with financing, partial financing, or merchandising already in place will proba-
bly be easier to sell. Many companies don’t really expect a writer/developer to explore these
areas first, but including additional incentives might help you get your project off the ground.
Better production values usually mean a longer life for a film or a television show, but
not always. Generally, kids have become more sophisticated in film and programming tastes
and in artwork as well. They’re more design conscious than they once were. Certainly fads
play a large part in longevity as well.
The general mythology of television programming has been that boys (especially after
age six) won’t watch “girl’s shows” but that girls will watch “boy’s shows.” About the time
that children start grade school, gender tends to become an issue. Some hits have been less
gender specific. And, in fact, action shows with strong, rough-and-tough girl heroines have
80 Animation Writing and Development