My twin brother and I have an outstanding idea for an animated tv show that has been 15 years in the making. The imaginary world that is the basis for the show was conjured up one summer when we became bored painting a house in between University semesters. Perhaps it is a twin phenomenon, but since childhood, we've regularly dreamt up outrageous characters, and then acted them out in spontaneously created skits in our room or elsewhere. And this type of behaviour has continued right into adulthood (we're now in our mid-thirties), can you believe it?! Our present idea consists of a cast of colourful and hilarious characters that become involved in incredibly zany and funny predicaments. We do all of the voices for the characters, and the concept is a huge source of very postive and high quality humour for the both of us. It has only been within the past four years that I've realized that it would be great to be able to share this humour with the rest of the world. However, the one detail that could potentially present a problem for progressing this idea all the way to an animated tv series is the fact that my brother and I cannot draw.....despite our hyper-rich and active visual imaginations. We could always attend art school for 3 or 4 years, but our present circumstances don't support this option. Bearing this in mind, here are some questions I was hoping to get some help with:
1. To what degree does our lack of drawing ability hinder our chances of bringing our idea to life in the form of a 2-d animated tv show?
2. Have there been any examples in tv animation history of successful shows being written and produced by "creators" who had to rely on others to draw the characters?
3.What kinds of steps could we expect to follow between where we are now and releasing a 6-episode pilot series?
4. How common is it for creators to seek funding within the investment community in order to progress a show concept to the next level?
5. What is the likelihood that creative control could be lost by relying on other individuals to draw the characters in our show? Could we still maintain a high level of creative control by being both the writers and producers of the show?
Thank you very much for any insights and advice that anyone can provide.
Thank you, Laurence. Your advice is very very helpful. For the record, the story concept that my brother and I have is funny because of the visuals that both of us circulate throughout our imaginations while acting out the characters, and discussing plotlines. Thus, a visual medium is by far the most appropriate way to present our idea, and not via an on-stage performance. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
1. Not that much. Eventually someone will have to draw characters/style frames and it will cost money.
2. Yes. It happens all the time. If you are not the primary designer, you should be able to describe the characters, tone and environment through writing. If you don't do that thoroughly, you are relinquishing creative control to the designer.
3.First create a bible. Someone can link you to some examples. Then try to get someone who is not an intern to read it (that's the hard part!). This is a long process. Original development will sit on bibles from established veterans for a really long.
4. I've been down that road and it's not pleasant. If you want it air on television, you really shouldnÕt start any major production without going through a network. There are other outlets for independent programmingÉ
5. There are tons of variables there.
Best of Luck!
Hi Frisbee and welcome to the AWN Forums.
1: Most animated shows aren't created by the animators. Sure there are artists involved, but for the most part the shows are created by writers.
2: Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, pretty much all of them. Sure some of the creators drew some stuff in the begining, but they usually end up moving into writing duties.
What you can do is call animation studios like Cartoon Network, Disney and the other studios, and ask how you would go about pitching a show. Follow what the tell you and go from there. You don't need any animation at this point. In fact you usually need only a few concept drawings of some of the main characters. The rest is all writing. In most cases when you meet with them, they'll tell you what they do and don't like. Don't get your hopes up too high, these studios get thousands of story pittches a year. Don't be surprized if they don't like it, or they have a similar show in development.
Good luck.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Ape is correct. Raising the funds for the complete production will be difficult for you. you would need atleast $250,000 to get anywhere i reckon.
a pilot could be cheaper. but before all that you will need a pitch book which elabroates
the characters,
their interaction
the world they live in
some storyboard panels or action panels
some concept art(not necessary)
story ideas - not scripts, but where is the story begining, where does it go, how things evolve.
you will need to have this information organized mentally and have visual representation for it.
then you can go through the process of pitching with different studios depending on where you are.
4. Usually people don't do that. Like I said, or at least ment to say before, if studios are interested in your show idea, they tend to work with you changing things and reworking other things. That way a show will be more to their style of shows. If you go in and get money and make your own short, it tells studios that your show idea is already set. Now the studio can't really change things.
If the studio is interested in your show and works with you to develop it, they will usually fork over some money to develop and animatic, then maybe a pilot.
5. If you are working with a few friends that will do are for you, write up a contract that what they do is work for hire and that you own all the rights for the show. If a studio picks up the show, you might retain some, maybe most of creative control, but you will almost certainly loose all monitary rights to it.
The good news in all of this is that lots of studios are starting up shorts programs. They'll tend to pick a lot more show ideas to develop and turn them into 7 or 11 minute pilots, air those and from those pick the best ones to develop into full series. This is how Cartoon Network originally got shows like Power Puff Girls, Cow and Chicken, Dexters Lap and Johnny Bravo.
Good luck.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Animated Ape, Giggle Plus, and Skinny Lizard:
Thank you all for your incredibly helpful and eye-opening advice. I feel that I have a much clearer picture of how to bring the show idea closer to reality thanks to your feedback. And I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to realize that being a talented drawer is definitely not a prerequisite for developing an animated show for tv.
I'll be sure to make further postings when further questions arise, and hope to be able to reciprocate the advice-giving favours on this forum at some point in the future.
Thanks again.
frisbee