Private, interactive class on Zoom with Evan Anglin, Co-Head of Animation at Zero Gravity Management

Plus, walk away with a fully polished pitch deck or series bible—your professional calling card for pitching animated features and series!

Payment plans available at checkout or email edu@stage32.com for more info!

Animation gives you a rare creative advantage: the chance to build worlds, characters, and stories without limits. But limitless imagination only becomes powerful when you can communicate it clearly. In today’s industry, a strong pitch deck or series bible is your proof of concept—your opportunity to show executives, producers, and collaborators why your animated feature or series deserves to exist. When you can convey your vision with clarity, focus, and style, you give yourself a real shot at breaking into a growing market that’s hungry for fresh voices and bold ideas.

Yet even the strongest ideas can get lost when the materials aren’t working. You may be overflowing with plot, visuals, or dialogue, making it hard to distill your concept into a focused pitch. You may worry your project needs more spectacle, when the real fix is sharper character work or a more grounded structure. And because animation is so collaborative, your deck or bible has to do more than summarize your world—it must energize artists, inform directors, and instantly show executives how your project fits their needs. Whether you’re creating a feature deck, building a series bible, or weaving in educational or STEM elements for children’s animation, the challenge is the same: balancing imagination with clarity. This lab is designed to give you the skills and frameworks to do exactly that.

Your instructor, Evan Anglin, brings exceptional industry insight to guide you through this process. As the Co-Head of the Animation Department and a Literary Manager at Zero Gravity Management, Evan represents award-winning showrunners, feature writers, directors, production companies, designers, and animation/live-action hybrid talent. He has shaped careers across studios and platforms, held leadership roles at Bold Management & Production, Partos Company, and Innovative Artists, and continues to produce projects including STEM NIGHT and THE PANIC. With a passion for character-driven storytelling, YA, dark comedies, animation, and hybrid work, Evan understands exactly what executives look for—and what makes a pitch deck or series bible stand out.

Throughout this six-week lab, you’ll learn how to craft loglines, synopses, character sections, world overviews, episode or act breakdowns, visual tone pages, comps, and more. You’ll receive hands-on guidance through every stage of building your deck or bible—from establishing tone and theme to constructing season arcs, feature franchise potential, and next-season overviews. By the end, you will walk away with a polished, industry-ready pitch deck or series bible that reflects your creative voice, showcases your world, and prepares you for real conversations with executives, producers, and artistic collaborators.

This interactive Stage 32 lab is held on Zoom and goes substantially more in depth than a Stage 32 webinar. Best of all? As soon as you sign up you will be linked on email with your Stage 32 Educator and given a questionnaire to fill out and send back to them. You will have access to your Educator for the duration of your class by email to ask them any questions you have about your craft or career - it’s like having a mentor on demand! And, if you can't make a live session, don't worry! All class recordings will be available 48 hours after each session and you will be able to view them in your Library on your Stage 32 profile. Finally, you can expand your network with like-minded creatives - you'll have a dedicated lounge for interactive support and discussions with your fellow classmates!

Testimonial from Evan Anglin:

“Animation is one of the most exciting and opportunity-filled corners of the entertainment industry right now. I’m excited to teach this lab with Stage 32 because it’s a chance to help you turn your wildest ideas into professional, pitch-ready projects. If you’ve ever dreamed of creating an animated show or film, this is the moment to take that next step.”

WEEK 1 – OVERVIEW AND SYNOPSIS

• Course overview and expectations
• What execs look for in animated series & features decks and bibles
• A breakdown of each kind of animation feature and TV genre
• Identifying the key elements needed for your deck
• Establishing tone, theme, setting, and world-building (including STEM for kids’ animation)
• How to Present your deck or series bible in a creative way (Examples)
• OVERVIEW OF A SERIES DECK AND BIBLE EXAMPLES AS A WHOLE; FOCUS ON SYNOPSIS
• Q and A with Evan Anglin

ASSIGNMENT: WRITE YOUR SYNOPSIS (FEATURE) & PILOT SUMMARY (TV) , LOGLINE, TONE & THEME

WEEK 2 –LEADS AND SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

• Review filmmaker’s  loglines and tonal choices
• How to introduce characters with clarity and impact
• Selecting the right characters for your story world (people, animals, objects, hybrids, etc.) and understanding why they matter
• Defining leading characters vs. supporting characters
• Classifying roles: series regulars, recurring characters, and guest stars
• Crafting distinct character voices
• Creative approaches to building a series bible and pitch deck that visually reflect your story’s identity
• Q and A with Evan Anglin

ASSIGNMENT:

CHARACTER SKETCHES: Create Character Sketches for all main characters / Series Regulars (Series)  and supporting characters, recurring characters (Series)

WEEK 3: 1:1 CONSULTATIONS

• This week will consist of one-on-one consultations. Each writer will send in their character sketches and updated synopsis and loglines prior to consults for direct feedback.

WEEK 4: BUILDING WORLDS + EPISODE BREAKDOWS

• How characters interact with the world
• TV: Sitcom universes (microcosm vs. macrocosm); preschool contained settings
• Film: How magical elements reshape the world
• Creating a world where the world itself is a character; 
• Locations – Settings – focus 
• Specifically for TV – FOCUS ON EPISODE BREAKDOWNS – Episodic & Serialized
• PITCH DECK AND SERIES BIBLE EXAMPLES
• Q and A with Evan Anglin

ASSIGNMENT 4 : 

FEATURES – PUTTING TOGETHER WORLD VISUALS, SETTING DESCRIPTIONS, VISUAL TONES; 

TELEVISION: Setting Descriptions. 5 EPISODE BREAKDOWNS, (If Working on STEM SERIES, make focus on the learning element of each episode) 

WEEK 5: THE WHY, FEATURE FRANCHISES & SEASON 1 & Beyond 

• Review of filmmaker’s work from last week
• Incorporating Season Arcs And Season 2 & 3
• How to present Franchise Films 
• Q and A with Evan Anglin

ASSIGNMENT 5: 

FEATURES: COMPLETE COMPS PAGE, THE WHY NOW PAGE. 

TELEVISION: COMPLETE NEXT 5 EPISODE BREAKDOWNS, Season 2 and Season 3 OVERVIEW

WEEK 6:  One on Ones- FINAL DECK EVALUATIONS

• Submit your completed DECK or SERIES BIBLE FOR REVIEW. We’ll evaluate the shape and potential of your draft. Evan will offer feedback on what is working, what is not and any additional polishes that are needed.  

Assignment: Incorporate feedback, revise your deck or bible and time celebrate your accomplishment! 

• Writers developing an animated feature or animated series and needing a professional pitch deck or series bible

• Creatives with big, imaginative worlds who need help distilling their vision into clear, compelling materials

• Screenwriters transitioning into animation and wanting to understand what executives look for in animated projects

• Live-action writers eager to explore animation or hybrid storytelling

• Artists, directors, and creators who want to shape their project’s identity through strong characters, world-building, and structure

• Anyone wanting hands-on industry feedback, one-on-one guidance, and a polished, pitch-ready deck or bible by the end of the lab

Testimonial from Evan Anglin:

“Animation is one of the most exciting and opportunity-filled corners of the entertainment industry right now. I’m excited to teach this lab with Stage 32 because it’s a chance to help you turn your wildest ideas into professional, pitch-ready projects. If you’ve ever dreamed of creating an animated show or film, this is the moment to take that next step.”