Animation : Stage 32 8-Part Screenwriting Lab: Write your Animation Feature or TV Script (March 2026) with Evan Anglin by James Lagrimas

This sounds like such a solid opportunity! With animation growing so fast, learning how to craft strong characters, build immersive worlds, and pitch scripts confidently is huge. Definitely bookmarking this lab. Thanks for sharing James Lagrimas.

Same here Cyrus Sales It's an excellent opportunity. Animation has been killing these past few years at the box office and the Emmy's.

Hi everyone, this is one of my favorite classes I teach on Stage 32, and one that is especially close to my heart.

In this class, we dive into animation writing across both feature films and television. We focus on developing your characters from the ground up, as well as building the worlds they live in.

What makes this class different from most is that it is heavy class discussion based. Alongside the writing process, we explore case studies from a range of films and series, breaking down key topics and techniques that go into crafting a strong script.

I am especially passionate about these conversations, digging into what works, why it works, and how you can apply it to your own storytelling.

As sneak preview of a case study that we are going to be discussing is #animatedmusicals with Pocahontas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn2yNGu2huk

Hello all. I'm Tui in Aotearoa (New Zealand) The first session will be at 4am Sunday in NZ time which is tomorrow morning. I might be a bit bleary! Just saw that Pocahontas clip. A questionnaire was mentioned in one of the emails. Can't seem to find it. I think we're supposed to fill it in.

Hello, I believe this is the place to post questions for the class? This will help me decide what project to work on. I have an animation/live action pilot that I am passionate about, but it involves a one-off character from a preexisting show (that, according to what I've read, isn't planned to be used again). I realize that gets into IP legality issues...is it worth working on that? Is it the kind of thing I could pitch directly to the studio that owns the character, or would I need to see about acquiring the rights? Should I just avoid it and pick a different project where I create all the IP?

Thanks so much to Evan and everyone. really enjoyed the first session except when struggling to view the clips. Eeeek!

But I'm a bit fuzzy on what is required for this assignment. Did I hear Evan say, "It can be either/or?

So those two files you provided, "Drawn to Life" and "Flamingo", am I correct to think we are asked to produce something just like that, but for our own story? And that we can choose just one of them or both? I ask because right now, I'm currently thinking "feature film" and so producing something like "Drawn to Life" is more appealing for me. Producing a pilot for a series, would difficult because right now I'm not thinking "series"

Have to say I loved the idea of the Flamingos posing as garden ornaments to cross the park unseen. Priceless!

Hi Everyone! Very nice to meet you all today! I enjoy animation of all types, from He-man, She-ra and the Thundercats, to My Little Pony and the barbie movies to Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks, Looneytoons to Batman the Animated Series, X-men, Static Shock to Danny Phantom anime of MANY different genres and types to Chinese Dongua Like Throne of Seal, Soul Land Heaven Offical's Blessing, and Master of Diabolism (aka Master of Demonic Cultivation). Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir to Avatar the Last Airbender. My favourite genre blends mix fantasy/ supernatural with action, adventure and romance, possibly with a historical aspect (think Brendan Fraser's The Mummy, Inuyasha, Yona of the Dawn, Gargoyles, One Piece).

Really enjoyed today's session with everyone, looking forward to this journey!

Alison Cook that sounds messy, and I have also heard that it is not good to use any IP you don't have full rights to (for pitches, etc). So if you want to use anything you make in this class for future projects it might be worthwhile to start fresh with something new or drop the character from the pre-existing show.

Until I read the conversation here between Alison and Sarah, I had no idea you could "own" characters. Chewing that one over now, not from the point of view of the one re-using the character, but from the angle of being the one who created the character. Intriguing.

Really happy to be in this class with you all. I just got a really nice review of my Desert Rat animated action adventure feature script, with the main note that I should add more comedy. I agree. Maybe sometime we can have a discussion about how to add more comedy into the sorts of stories that regularly put our heros into dangerous and challenging situations. Just a thought. - JT

I loved the Pocahantas musical clip. I grew up with Disney musicals and love them, but for a while, it seems, animated features steered clear of that sort of musical. As a result I shyed away from explicitly including musical elements in my features, except for Desert Rat, which has one key song. Is there more interest now in doing animated features as musicals?

Tui, Stage 32 has a webinar specifically on how to adapt your book into a movie or series, take a look for it in the education section. You might find it helpful.

Thanks Sarah. Will check that out.

I did check it out and there were a lot of webinars there that were very expensive. We are retired so income limited. Also its far more expensive again in our dollars. There are a lot of courses and opportunities offered on Stage 32 but most are out of my price range. This screenwriting lab was a huge stretch for me so it'll be a while before I stretch any further. I'm hoping to get what I need right here.

I definitely feel that Tui. Especially with the exchange rate factored in for those of us outside the USA! Just wanted to let you know it was there as an FYI.

Thanks so much to Evan and everyone. really enjoyed the first session except when struggling to view the clips. Eeeek!

But I'm a bit fuzzy on what is required for this assignment. Did I hear Evan say, "It can be either/or?

So those two files you provided, "Drawn to Life" and "Flamingo", am I correct to think we are asked to produce something just like that, but for our own story?

(YES EXACTLY :))

And that we can choose just one of them or both? I ask because right now, I'm currently thinking "feature film" and so producing something like "Drawn to Life" is more appealing for me. Producing a pilot for a series, would difficult because right now I'm not thinking "series"

-- if you are feeling going with a feature then let's run with it! Excited to see your one sheet! advise strongly to choose one

Have to say I loved the idea of the Flamingos posing as garden ornaments to cross the park unseen. Priceless!

(thank you)

For ALISON:

Hello, I believe this is the place to post questions for the class?

Yes this is the place!

This will help me decide what project to work on. I have an animation/live action pilot that I am passionate about, but it involves a one-off character from a preexisting show (that, according to what I've read, isn't planned to be used again). I realize that gets into IP legality issues...is it worth working on that?

----- I would focus on original idea rather than an actual existing up, unless it is the public domain.

Is it the kind of thing I could pitch directly to the studio that owns the character, or would I need to see about acquiring the rights? Should I just avoid it and pick a different project where I create all the IP?

-- we can discuss this during class to talk about existing IP.!

As we dive into CLASS 2 for THE ART OF CHARACTER - want you start thinking about these discussion points.

DISCUSSION PROMPTS FOR NEXT CLASS:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMATED CHARACTER AND WHY?

EITHER TELEVISION or MOTION PICTURE

WHAT MAKES A CHARACTER A STRONG CHARACTER AND IMPACTFUL TO THE FILM OR STORYLINE?

Thanks Evan for answering my questions.

I am looking forward to those discussions about character, and have some thoughts to share on the topic.

BTW, since my Stage 32 profile photo is years out-of-date and I have no camera set-up on my computer, I'll post a more recent photo here. This is me at home with the ocean (Hinemoana) I have in my back yard. The ocean is always one of the main characters in my stories. In fact, she narrates my most recent one.

And Sarah, I want you to know I do appreciate your suggestion about the webinars and may well follow it up at some stage.

It's only 3 o'clock on Thursday afternoon in the western US but it's already Friday morning here. Evan said he needed our assignments by Friday morning so mine has been sent. I may not be ahead of this class with anything else, but at least I'm ahead in time. LOL!

This may be the only advantage to having to wake up at 3.45 am to meet you in session. :(

Mo Dao Zu Shi aka The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation aka The Master of Diabolism, currently on Crunchyroll. Live action adaptation The Untamed, currently on Netflix. Mulit-genre wuxia donghua, featuring many characters you would typically categorize as villains but different kinds of villains. Some with clear, understandable reasons for their villainous actions, others with more nebulous ideas and some just evil for greed, evil, etc. types of reasons. A lot of commentary on difference between your true self and how society perceives and reacts to you, especially if you fall outside of typically social roles (someone who ins't gentry who is smarter and more capable than the gentry class). One of the only times I have ever seen a villain mastermind who is manipulating society behind the scenes verses another villain mastermind manipulating society behind the scenes subplot.

Yona of the Dawn aka Akatsuki no Yona is an anime with fantastic character growth of the main cast. One season of anime made, 2nd season in production, based on a manga finishing up this year.

Haikyuu is a sports anime on Crunchyroll, featuring players from a specific Japanese high school and it has some amazing character development and world building and sports specific information building without feeling like info dumping. One piece that particularly struck me with character interactions is the way characters are introduced to each other often colours impressions and expectations of them. E.g. in this series there is a character who is introduced before we meet him by a senior teammate referring to him as the team's "Guardian God". He plays a defensive only position called the Libero.

With the Ruby movie, I think I had a different reaction to the trailer than the writer may have intended. I have not seen the movie so everything here is just based on that trailer. Instead of finding that trailer appealing, or in the least bit romantic, I was actively turned off by the concept of a teenage girl created from the male writer in his twenties imagination as a love interest, particularly with the manipulative element of the writer being able to shape and mold her as he wished to his will. Especially when stacked with the affair with the teacher intro to her character, since that is not romantic, that is statutory rape and violation of the teacher code of conduct and ethics. The trailer gave me the impression that the movie was a particularly egregious example of the "Born Sexy Yesterday" trope crossed with the "Manic Pixie Girl" trope combined with men's fantasy can be women/ girl's traumatic experiences (even if they don't perceive them to be that at the time) elements. (Lots of adult women now actively warn teenage girls not to date adult men because of their own learned experiences.) So with character sketches and concept development, I think its worth keeping in mind broad audience reactions to the characters you develop. Your "good guy" might very well come across as very much not a good guy to someone with a different point of view, life experiences, etc. To be clear I think its fine to do it, so long as you are doing it intentionally, and you understand why some people are going to be very turned off by such characters and concepts. Especially in pitches and trailers, where you don't necessary have the time or space to convey your full story. I wanted to see more evidence in the trailer that if this was the set up the male writer was going to grow and change and learn better than to think of teenage girls and treat teenage girls that way story, not that this was going to be framed as any type of "love story". Just for context I also do not find the story of Galatea (sculpture carved by Pygmalion and brought to life by Aphrodite) romantic from Galatea's point of view.

Great session today, really enjoying learning through the clips and discussions Evan and all. Ironically realising how much I either haven’t seen in terms of animation, need to catch up on or have forgotten in what I have seen! So glad to have signed up and go on this adventure. And SO very impressed by everyone’s awesome creativity, food for thought, and take aways from these sessions. Looking forward to the next.

Some craft books I have come across that I wanted to share in case anyone would find them helpful. The Emotional Wound Thesaurus A Writers Guide to Psychological Trauma by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, The Negative Trait Thesaurus A Writers Guide to Character Flaws (same authors) and The Conflict Thesaurus A Writers Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles volume 1 (same authors). Also The Ultimate RPG character Backstory Guide Expanded Genres Edition by James D'Amato

Thanks, Sarah for the "North of North" reference. I checked out some of the trailers and it looks about like I imagined for both my settings and for Sedy, my main character. Now i'll have to atch the series. - John

Amy. Thank-you for your offer of help with Zoom. I'm a very inexperienced Zoomer. I've just been looking into why I'm so behind the pack with seeing videos etc, and worked out I was on some half way zoom window. I couldn't even view the "Chat" panel. And that was where Evan was posting links sometimes. I think I've got that sorted now. And I THINK I may be more up-to-speed this time, but I'd still love to have a test session with someone before the next meeting.

The way it's been so far, I've been wasting time for the class. Evan has been forced to make a work-around by emailing me the links but the email takes so long to arrive, you're all ready to move on before I've seen half the clip. I really have to get it sorted.

While we're developing characters, I suppose most of you already know about this but in case you haven't, these questionnaires have really helped me understand the characters in my novels and apply just as much to film characters. They're here:

https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/character-questionnaire/gotham

The new spring season of anime are being released on Crunchyroll and I would like to recommend episode one of Witch Hat Atelier for great writing, beautiful animation and building the major rules of the world in a single episode. This feels and looks like a Studio ghibli film made into a steaming tv series. This is based on a manga, but even if it wasn't I can see why this series would get approved solely from its premise and pilot.

Something horrible has just happened to me. A person has stolen my exact story and infringed my copyright by making a hideous AI animation of it on youtube. It is truly ugly work and copyright theft.

Any suggestion of what i should do?

Tui, I have a navigator character heavily inspired by Māʼohi Wayfinders and Maori. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you might provide me on him as someone from Aotearoa. I was inspired by Tupaia, the navigator for Captain Cook to create this character. I picture his dad as Māʼohi, inspired and his mom as Maori inspired, with his looks taking after his mom's side of the family and his vocation his dad's. Anyone else is also welcome to provide feedback or suggestions but Tui in particular might be able to give me a head's up if something is problematic about this character, or if there are any small additions that would make this character resonate better with New Zealanders.

Ihaka-Nui Kaimee

“The Gentle Giant”

A Maori-Māʼohi inspired Wayfinder and helmsman. As a result of his intimidating physicality and his illiteracy (his culture doesn't use a written language), some look down on Kaimee as an “ignorant brute”. When we meet him he is suffering from touch-starvation. He is deeply romantic, enjoys singing and hopes to meet his fated one on his journey, just like his father did. He regularly performs feats of great strength completely nonchalantly.

Biggest Fear: Never finding romantic love (endless search) or finding it but losing it due to his preference for navigation over fighting despite looking like a warrior.

Unmet need: Genuine valuing his knowledge and skills, acceptance that his true self doesn’t match his looks/ not judging him by his looks.

Relationships

Jai to Ihaka-Nui Kaimee

Jai likes how tall and warm he is, she isn’t intimidated at all by his size but instead views him as the perfect perch and cuddle buddy. She is impressed by how gentle he is with her, and enjoys learning from him about his people’s traditional ways and playing dodging training games with him.

Ihaka-Nui Kaimee

Ihaka-Nui Kaimee views his role towards Jai as one of her “Kahu” (Hawaiian for protector, guardian, steward). He is much like the big dog looking out for the tiny kitten in the Looneytoons cartoons. He is grateful for her touch and comfort, as she is a big reason he recovers from his touch starvation symptoms and is able to regain his joy in life, including starting to sing his people’s songs again.

Tui that's horrible! Your idea was based on your published book, right? Maybe look into Youtube's policies on unauthorized use of Copywrite protected materials/ IP's you don't own and see if you can make a complaint to at least get the video taken down based on infringement of your work?

Tui Allen Reach out to Youtube or file a copyright claim on Youtube against it. Youtube doesn't want that garbage on their platform. Plus, it will never be as good as what you will produce.

I've done that now. They have online forms you can fill in but none of them worked . I spent ages filling them in and copying in all the URLs of the TEN videos this person had made of my story and yes it is my published story Ripple that my agent is trying to find producer for. But whatever browser I used, and within youtube or not, there was never any "Submit" button at the end. Their form is broken. In the end I sent all the info to the copyright@youtube email address and got AI assistance to make sure I worded everything properly.

Oh God! those videos are horrible. The ghastliest AI narration and truly ghastly AI animations. This was very stressful but I've done what I can. I picked it up early - within a few hours of the videos being posted because I have google alerts out on anything concerning my books so Google informed me.

One thing this has taught me is gratitude for those google alerts, I put on my work. If not for them it could have been months before I picked this up. I recommend you all do the same if you have any intellectual property you've created and you don't want it stolen.

Sarah, i just saw your post above, re Tupuia etc.. Sorry for slow reply. I was totally side-tracked and stressing over this copyright issue.

Tupuia is well-remembered here in Aotearoa for his assistance to Captain Cook. And for being a strong connecting link between the tropical Pacific Islanders and our Maori. It is said he could understand the Maori languages as it was only a few hundred years of separation between their two Pacific cultures.

I sometimes kayak around a tiny island chain called Poroporo which some believe was named after Borabora. near Tahiti, half an ocean away from here. Not the only language similarity.

In my kayak, I also visit the very island beach where archaeologists have digs sometimes because they believe it may be one of the earliest landing places for some of the great canoes who brought the ancestors to this land.

I am fascinated by the whole Polynesian ocean-navigation thing. The fact they were using magnificent sailing canoes to confidently criss-cross the open ocean that covers half the globe at a time when most Europeans were too scared to go out of sight of land (in case they sailed off the edge of the world,) just blows me away.

I have often taken my students to the resting place of the great Tainui canoe which is buried at Kawhia on the west coast of the Waikato region. I could talk forever about that sacred place. It was a wonderful way to let those children feel and understand the worth of their ancestral cultural heritage.

The lost Polynesian sailing skills were touched on in the animated Moana movie but a story about actual navigators (wayfinders) who guided them - the great Polynesian minds that knew how to use stars, currents, birds etc to find their way in the open sea is always something I yearn to read, (or view) so I'm excited about your work with this.

I too have navigated the South Pacific in a little wooden boat, under nothing but sail, but I at least had a sextant to help me find lines of position in the open sea. It was decades ago, when compasses and sextants were our most advanced navigation technology. We used to joke that to get from Fiji to New Zealand, after you'd dropped your sextant overboard, you just sailed south as far as penguins but not as far as icebergs and then turn left! For ancient Polynesians there might have been a grain of truth in that.

A word of caution, many Maori were somewhat insulted by the way the Moana movie portrayed their demigod Maui as a buffoonish character. Maui was known to be a trickster but not a buffoon like that. A lot of Maori culture was used (and somewhat mis-used) in that movie. But I loved that the main over-arching theme of that story was to bring back the great and ancient seamanship tradition of the Polynesian people, so I personally forgave Moana everything.

Our own live action kiwi-made movie "Whale-Rider" had a similar theme of helping the people return to the sea, though perhaps it was not the main theme (and as with Moana, navigation was not part of it). I think it really was the main theme of Moana.

Thank you Tui! The fact you took the time while also dealing with that Ai video nonsense is amazing and appreciated. The point about the Maori perspective on Maui in Moana is exactly the kind of thing that I was looking for even though I am not dealing directly with the deities.

As part of my research I came across a great book I would highly recommend to you, We, the Navigators The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific 2nd edition by David Lewis, edited by Sir Derek Oulton published by the University of Hawai'i Press.

Animation is such a powerful storytelling medium. It’s great to see more opportunities for writers in this space. The demand for original animated content is definitely growing. Thanks for sharing this resource!

Thanks Sarah. I'll look up that book.

I checked those pirate video animations this morning and saw this comment where they had been,

"Video unavailable - This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Tui Allen"

So thanks to YouTube! They acted fast.

A tropical cyclone Vaianu is due to hit us here exactly when our next meeting is on. The weathermen are being quite hysterical in their warnings about it and telling us to prepare for floods, landslides, powercuts and evacuations. I'm in a tiny isolated settlement in the wilds of the eastern Bay of Islands. We often get power cuts and our roads can easily be blocked by slips and fallen trees that can cut our little community off. Hope I'm not ordered to evacuate during the meeting. But if I don't turn up at all, it will likely be because the power is out.

yep. Power was out until 3 hours after the last session. Its restored now. How do I view the copy of the session?

The storm was bad. The house shook. I thought the chimney was blowing away and the rain poured but it was shorter-lived than predicted and all over now.

Usually the video of the class is posted in the main class area a day or two later. Today we shared loglines, and little bit about a couple of our characters, and talked a bit about world building, looking at Disney's Hercules and Zootopia for examples of everything in the scene serves to build the world. Our assignment is first 10 pages for series and first 32 pages for movies (I think, movie people please correct me if I am wrong)

Some animated movies people might enjoy: 1) Your Name 2) Belle by Studio Chizu 3) The Boy and the Beast, 4)Nimona 5) Over the Moon 6) Kubo and The Two Strings 7) Cosmic Princess Kaguya (music and folklore inspired) 8) A Whisker Away. Most of these are on Netflix.

Have these notes from a prior course - may be helpful as you’re writing:

FEATURE FILM (90–120 pages)

General rule: 1 page ≈ 1 minute

Page Count Goals:

• Act 1 (Setup): 25–30 pages

• Act 2A (Rising Action): 25–30 pages

• Act 2B (Escalation): 25–30 pages

• Act 3 (Climax/Resolution): 20–25 pages

Total: 90–120 pages

Beat Placement (approximate):

• Inciting Incident: page 10–15

• Plot Point 1: page 25–30

• Midpoint: page 50–60

• Plot Point 2: page 75–90

• Climax: page 90–110

⸻

ONE HOUR DRAMA (45–60 pages)

Page Count Goals:

• Cold Open + Act 1: ~20 pages

• Act 2: 13–15 pages

• Act 3: 10–12 pages

• Act 4: 10–12 pages

Total: 53–60 pages

⸻

HALF-HOUR COMEDY / DRAMEDY (Single Camera)

Page Count Goals:

• Cold Open + Act 1: ~13 pages

• Act 2: 13–15 pages

• Act 3 + Tag: 8–10 pages

Total: 34–37 pages

Shows with interesting "portal" to another world mechanisms: Inuyasha (The Bone Eater's well, connects modern Japan to a version of the Feudal era of Japan where demons roam and spiritual powers and curses are real). Bleach - Portals to Spirit World and to Huecho Mundo a dark version of Spirit World. The portal to Spirit World can be particularly dangerous if you happen to encounter "The Cleaner" during your journey. Yu Yu Hakusho, final season -Portal to Demon World/ The demon Plane. Heaven blocked the access between the mortal world and the demon world to the point only smaller/ lesser demons can pass through. Demons and humans with evil intentions are working to open a large portal with no safeguards between the realms. Devil May Cry (remake) Human World and Demon World, blocked off centuries ago by the Demon Sparda who fought on the side of humans but small rifts between the two still occur. A human child ends up living on the demon side and builds a device that can open these small stable rifts, lesser demons use them to flee the demon world as refugees into the human world, eventually with tragic consequences, creating a very memorable and well written antagonist. Avatar the Last Airbender, The Avatar is "the bridge between worlds, and the bridge between the spirit world and the human world. He can enter the Spirit world through astral projection of his spirit while in a meditative state but while there he can't use his elemental bending powers. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: the Wardrobe allows the four children passage back and forth from Narnia. Coraline: passage to the Otherworld is a small door in the pink palace apartments. Disney's Gargoyles Season 2 A magical boat of Avalon that doesn't take people where they want to go but where they need to be and magically travel's from any body of water to any body of water, across time and and space. Dr. Who, The Tardis time traveling police box.

In anime a common genre is Isekai - "travel to another World", typically a one way journey or a journey with extreme difficulty in returning to one's original world. 3 main versions: 1) A spell summons people between worlds, and they arrive in their original bodies with original memories. 2) Rebirth after death, with original memories intact, often due to the actions of gods 3) Spirit summoned to another world after death, and the spirit possesses an existing person in the new world. Sometimes due to the actions of gods. These range in tone and genre. .

I came across this Imdb list of hip hop films: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls063099039/

Okay thanks again Sarah, I saw the video of the class I missed. Was so frustrating not to be able to interact at times.

There is a novel by Paul Gallico called "Jennie". It's a cat story and by the way, somebody should make an animated feature of it. But in that book, if I recall correctly, there is an entire chapter called "If in doubt - WASH".

I thought of that when Sarah used the intriguing term "composure grooming" when speaking of her cat-dragon character..

As for the next assignment, I think I gathered that the feature film writers among us are expected to come up with the whole first act or a maximum of 110 pages of our script. Is that correct?

How are we all doing with this assignment? I'm finding it the most challenging yet. While editing I keep finding things in parentheses that ought not have been. If Evan hadn't warned us of this one, I'd have been sunk! :) Also I find I've sometimes failed to capitalise the first mention of a character. Though as a script-writing newbie, I'm not sure why that is important.

Tui Allen I'm finding this script to be easier than my Live Action piece. The most challenging part is negotiating with the 'judge' who watches every word I type.

AMY! That sounds terrifying. Who is the "judge" ? Yourself perhaps? The scariest judge of all sometimes. Don't let that judge cripple you.

Tui Allen Haha… yes, guilty. That “judge” is very much me and she tends to show up in everything I do. The creative writing version can be especially harsh at times, but this round we’ve actually been working well together. I think the more I listen to her instead of ignoring her, the more we can collaborate.

Amy, I like that word, "collaborate" with regard to that particular judge.

Non linerar story - Start with the action later, return to the beginning of the journey, catch up then proceed to the end.

In a show I have mentioned previously, Mo Dao Zu Shi, we start with small overview of the main character as told by others gossiping about him establishing him as both a villain and a hero, and a brief scene of him during a war, then we start in the present day where he has been summoned back from the dead (not at all by his will). We follow his adventures in the modern day for a while, then we get a massive flashback/ time jump to his first life up to his death, then we rejoin his current life and follow him as he basically investigates what drove him to his death while also investigating and dealing with a series of murders and mysterious incidents.

This is an hour watch but is a great breakdown video on a REALLY memorable villain character from Avatar the Last Airbender.

https://youtu.be/R4544ZUr_gA?si=NNmJQ-qBaMuRvT15

Youtube: The Psychology of Azula by Hello Future Me if the link doesn't work

Disney Villains - Many Disney Villains fit into inspiration from the 7 deadly sins. I personally think that Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the best depictions of the Sin of Lust ever put on screen.

Maleficent from the animated Disney movie actually doesn't need a tragic backstory because of Fae lore, court customs and the scene where we meet her. In the 14-1500s royal christenings were not private parties, everyone important was invited, and Maleficent herself points out all the groups assembled. In almost all European Fae stories there are both light and dark fae which had their own disputes but often didn't involve humans unless humans specifically did something to take a side. Maleficent doesn't get an invitation but she shows up anyway, essentially giving the King one last opportunity to apologize and maintain neutrality, keeping the current balance. But the blue fairy says, "You weren't wanted" and the King and Queen don't contradict that statement. Maleficent points out she had hoped it was merely an oversight, but the implication is now everyone knows it wasn't a mistake, it was intentional. The King and Queen chose a side between the fae. While Maleficent says she bears no ill will and to prove it she shall give a gift, the royal family is now open to fae rules. They failed to show hospitality and respect to a powerful dark fae, which in almost all European fae stories would be a deadly insult. So a deadly "gift" in return is deserved by Maleficent's standards. Its not out of ill will, or even because she feels offended. Maleficent is simply responding to the King and Queen's choices. https://youtu.be/kYeaNThPdm4?si=7BGZXUpRJZr9uDIz

Really helpful comments/tips here in the chat the last week, thank you Sarah & Amy! And also in the sessions generally! Tui, glad the storm passed.Just catching up now as was pretty offline last week, sorry! Great session today, feels like we are all entering our own act IIs of this writing journey (and awesome lab!) but together in some way - writing is such a solo activity, it’s nice to have the company (‘’,) Wishing everyone happy writing in the coming days - eeeeek!

Sarah, thanks to the link to the Maleficent scene. I also intend to check out the Avatar one you suggested.

When we were talking Cruella de Vil, I was thinking how one of the scariest aspects of her character was actually not from her personally, but from her car. I didn't mention it during the session because I wasn't sure if it was part of the animation or just in the book version.

It was her car's, "Loudest motor Horn in England". There was something so terrifying about that. But in the end I think the dogs turned it against her because it gave them a warning of her approach.

I used to scare the kids in my classes half to death by reading that book to them. They loved it.

Some interesting uses of music I have seen in animation. In anime main character theme songs, especially for epic fights and triumphant moments, are common. In the anime Bleach, the power of one villain, Aizen, was shown by that villain's actions instantly halting the main character's epic theme song moment with a single finger. While the series is over 20 years old people still gush over how epic and audacious that was to witness. https://youtube.com/shorts/Sm006LFIl78?si=TlRsQnadpOK0j0w5

In MDZS musical magical systems are an important part of the story. The main character uses the "ghost flute" to practice a forbidden form of cultivation magic - raising and controlling the dead (zombies), attack magic, controlling resentment and yin, and calm the death through empathy. The first section of this is him using that power during a war. Part one starting at 1:11 includes a scene of him taking revenge on the individuals that committed a genocide of his his clan to the point of leaving only 3 individuals alive and who threw him into a literal hell on earth so he would die as painfully as possible. Warning for graphic violence. While his magic is considered forbidden and evil, he typically uses his powers to try to help people, achieve justice, protect, or win a war.

Part 1 https://youtu.be/88SWbu-bvPU?si=ZkTTPgNX-2ow0zKo

Part 2 https://youtu.be/M4ck-sE8fq0?si=XRfdMcq7UdIBwJ0u

In MDZS the main character has a counterpart character who uses music as well, but his magical system is considered to be good. This magic is used to protect, cleans resentment and yin, communicate with the dead, dispell curses, and can be used as a weapon, in this case for war or to hunt down evil creatures (zombies, supernatural animals, etc). It makes for some interesting action scenes. https://youtu.be/wDgh5MeuKP0?si=h6-zh858fFTZawPv

In both MDZS and Anastasia music is an important device for confirming a character's identity after years of separation. In both cases there is a unique song that is shown to be important to two characters, sung or played at a critical moment. Duets are also used to show closeness between characters.

Sailor Moon is not a "musical" animation like K-pop demon hunters but there are a couple of times in the show and the movies where an important musical piece is used to make a fight or challenge feel particularly epic, provide a frame for flashbacks, reinforce character relationships, etc.

https://youtu.be/h8TWC2pNiuc?si=GXfzu5tZGnKr4huJ

https://youtu.be/rjNcJ4EXQRg?si=OFf34E_wfgKFdqmN

In terms of antagonists arcs, in Avatar the Last Airbender the there is a specific one between two siblings. The musical choice for the final confrontation between siblings warring for the throne shows both the gravity of the fight and the tragedy of war's ability to tear apart family. Here is both the fight scene and an analysis of what lead up to this through the three seasons and why the scene works so well:

https://youtu.be/PRkI15fIJ1w?si=sWq9GUky1Bz1fWgG

https://youtu.be/kX89OV6aJvY?si=USIYckTV0uUBjOhb

The last interesting use of music for world building I will mention today is the use of a musical style to world build that characters have travelled to a different world. In the Anime Bleach at one point the characters travel to a separate world full of very powerful antagonist characters. known Hueco Muendo to rescue one of their group. In the entire series only this world arc has a strong Mexican/ Spanish influence to many aspects, especially the music. This lovely piece is the best example.

https://youtu.be/Z9Onb_z0XPI?si=0gDaW4SgsGOMDxq5

Mjusic is very important to the series however, here is an example of another very important song used when character are sad, confronting their own weakness and powerlessness, and internal struggles.https://youtu.be/zO_532nbu0c?si=7yrqM9fhY3pe_Y9o

https://youtu.be/zO_532nbu0c?si=vDeeEdZDsoqTpD_Q

Responding to Sarah's links:

Possibly because of my own cultural deficiencies, Don't think I "got" the Aizen single finger clip, but I loved the "badass flute moments" that music was terrific - real "magic of music" stuff. I really did feel that power.

In "Sailor Moon R - Power of Love Movie Scene," the music was the only thing that allowed me to keep watching as the graphics were so chaotic to an eye (like mine) unaware of the story.

The Avatar scene got me very confused. I've seen only the first two Avatar movies and this scene (Is it really from the third?) didn't seem anything remotely connected to the first two as though made by a different crew altogether. More like anime than Avatar.

I remember being so excited about the second Avatar movie coming out because it was marine. When i saw it, I was gobsmacked by the beauty of the marine scenes and the whole of the visuals but towards the end I was impatient for the film to end so I could escape from all those explosions, and there simply was not enough story to to keep me interested. I started off thrilled by the beauty but ended up bored to tears. Am I the only person who felt like that?

Yet the much lighter-hearted Happy Feet movie kept me gripped to the end and it's another movie where the music choices were sublime.

The "Never meant to belong" music made me think of someone wandering alone through a beautiful forest but feeling lost and helpless. it had that sense of pensive introspection but with touches of hope. The violin introduced a kind of sorrowful wonderment and melancholy.

As for your Hueco Muendo music, that's so full of excitement and pace and you could definitely feel the Mexican/Spanish influence. Loved the violins racing along in there. Quite the contrast with "Never meant to belong"

That obvious cultural influence made me think of one of my own videos, (not animated) filmed from my kayak but the piece of music that I found for it was of Americana Indian cultural origin and yet it was perfect for my stingrays on a kiwi beach. (Only 2½ minutes long) Can you pick up that native American touch in the music.

It's here: https://youtu.be/MrA3u6fqGQk

Just to clarify, Avatar the Last Airbender, cartoon, is a completely different thing than James Cameron's Avatar Movies. No relation between them whatsoever. The cartoon was actually originally intended to be called just Avatar but the James Cameron movies made that impossible.

Thanks for clarifying Sarah. That explains everything and removes my confusion.This course was the first time I ever heard of Avatar the Last Airbender

Loved the stingray video!

HI all, I'm writing my 1st ever musical montage for a point in my film, "Arctic," that is intended to introduce us, and my secondary hero, Nick, to my main hero character, Sedy, and her isolated but deeply nurturing life in her home village. I'm wondering how long of a montage to write. If it's musical, it seems a music montage could expand or contract based on the music length. So do I write just a few main short scene clips to establish a montage, later to be expanded when a song is written that might be 3 or 4 minutes? Or, do I write as many short scene clips to accomplish my purpose of introducing Sedy, her freinds, her village, her remoteness etc., and not consider how many minutes a song might last? I expect several pages of montage clips (i.e. several screen minutes) would be sort of rediculous. What do you think?

Also, about villains; What do you think about the film, Moana? While most animated films have some sort of Cruella Deville, Moana doesn't seem to have a central, ever present villain, but more a force of nature out of balance. And yet the film works, at least for me. In some way you could say that Moana's family and village culture could be an "antagonist," being that they are pulling Moana away from her destiny. And Maui begins as just an indifferent buffoon, interrested in his own needs, but he's not a "villain" as such. Comments, Thoughts? Another film like this may be "Wild Robot" for example. - JT

I want to offer a couple of resources in case they are helpful to anyone. If you want music but music is not a strong suit of yours, this group does musical commissions (you own the rights to what you pay them for). They can do lyrics and instrumental or just instrumental, cost varies based on song length and complexity. Very friendly people, excellent to work with. https://obpmusical.com/commissions/

The concept artist I used for a lot of my pitch deck artwork accepts commissions. Her name is Isabel Klapwyk. Izzi.afk.artwork on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/izzi.afk.artwork/

John, was it here? Or maybe somewhere else, where we were talking about a villain being possibly "Life". I was watching a comedy TV series recently, called Doc Martin. The villain there seemed to be "life" and it was pretty evil I think, even though it was comedy.

The out-of-balance force of nature is a good idea for a villain and the writer can bring it to life visually in some way, as they did in Moana. I agree - it worked well in Moana,

But villains might also be internal, like when an antagonist is fighting some battle against the forces within themself. That's actually what my own antagonist is doing - battling to overcome her own fear, but I created an external monster to represent that fear, A giant poisonous octopus-like creature.

Maybe that happens more often than we notice in stories. the villain represents our own blockages.

In my second novel, my antagonist is fighting, not her own fear, but her own hatred. I created a psychotic spectre pursuing her, to represent that hatred.

Remember in "The Lorax", the real villain was not so much the Once-ler himself as GREED in general.

Sarah, I checked out that artist and her work is very beautiful. Something regarding art, happened in this country recently which was a bit of a warning to writers. There was a prestigious literary competition and a book that might have otherwise won, was disqualified, simply because it had a cover designed by AI. So real artists are still important, and oh boy, do I value them and envy their skills. I designed my own most recent book cover and produced its art my self. I was happy enough with the end result but it took me a hundred hours to every one a professional would have taken to do the job.

An American artist did my Ripple cover for me and his art had a wonderful energy to it.. I found him online. We became close friends and he visited me in New Zealand three times. He and I went on some crazy Lord of the Rings film-set explorations. Never again sadly, as he died recently.

Moana reminds me more of Gail Carriger's heroine's journey story structure than the traditional hero's journey story structure. It has antagonistic forces but not a "villain" per se.

The link gives a good overview of the Heroine's journey structure and major beats. Please note that both male and female characters can go on a heroine's journey. Scroll down a bit an there is even a handy visual representation of the arc.

https://romantasyrealms.substack.com/p/the-heroines-journey-an-overview

To me a villain is more of a active agent working against the main lead while an antagonist or antagonist force might be something passively or unintentionally working against the main lead but still presenting a challenge to the main lead. Eg the Sea (if not personified) as a neutral force that absolute can and will provide many obstacles to sailors while not intentionally trying to kill them. Your own subconscious blocking you because of patterns its picked up where it thinks it is helping you/ helping you stay alive even if they now hurt you/ block you from your goal. (Man verses nature and man verses self type stories).

That's interesting, perceiving the difference between villain and antagonist - reminding us that an antagonist need not necessarily be villainous. I think I needed that reminder.

I checked out your heroine's journey link and I find it quite relevant to my work. In the past, I always disregarded the whole Hero's Journey idea, thinking it must result in formulaic stories, until I realised I had accidentally created work that represented it exactly, even though I never intended that to happen. Nor did it result in anything formulaic.

Thanks for comments on villains vs antagonists. I've heard it said that an antagonist would be like two horses pulling a wagon, but one is pulling the other way, but a villain is more like two freight trains on the same track, but the villain is th train coming straight at you. I brought this up because in comments from several readers on another script of mine called "Desert Rat," there seems to be a strong bias in favor of a central villain rather than multiple antagonists, like natural forces, random characters who pose a threat, or even the character's own mistakes and flaws..

John, I think you have it all working brilliantly in your movie about the gaseous sheep. I watched it and don't remember any "freight train" villains, but the tension was all still there. Loved that animation. Such creative humour. How do you think up a script like that?

Great images for the antagonist verses villain John! I think for many movies, true villains are easier for audiences to understand quickly and get into the story with, unless the advertising has made it very clear it is a man verses nature type of situation (eg The Martian where an astronaut gets stranded on Mars and has to survive and make it home). Tv has a bit more leeway, especially multiple season tv to have some villains and some antagonists to show a variety of challenges characters can face. There are also villain "galleries" for many Superheroes, which have stories that have gone on for 75 years and having an assembly of different kinds of villains is helpful to keep the story going, show different sides of a character, etc. Some really funny analysis comes up in terms of what would happen if Batman had to face Spider-man's villain gallery and vice versa. It really shows how the characteristics of your hero influence which characteristics of villains make sense so that the villain poses a genuine challenge to the hero.

In response to Sarah’s music points, The end of The Return of Optimus Prime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zo72Bjy_q8

Thanks for sharing. The link may be broken, but animation labs like this can help writers build a real pitch-ready script. Has anyone here taken an animation lab before? What helped most?

Some Animated movie trailers from 2026:

(This one might be of particular interest to you, Tui.)

The Last Whale SInger,

https://youtu.be/OUsep4dkRdo?si=Kw_hwktE0Btc0lVZ

Lydia and the Mist rider

https://youtu.be/-8ZPQcyuveA?si=u8DFMT4_ttYrC_MA

Kindred Spirits

https://youtu.be/QQn9TfXkzTk?si=mimJqmDFvjMHsBJ7

The Forgotten Island

https://youtu.be/9nDuUSqv_uU?si=myKsa6hPZrhP4ibC

I checked out that whale singer one and wondered if I should approach that German company that made it.

Hi Everyone, you all are doing an amazing job on your scripts. What I love about everyone's script is that they are all very different, and the worlds.. omg can we talk about them, they are fantastic. One note that I wanted to bring up which writers from time to time forget when writing is passive voice vs active voice. Yes at times passive voice works, but when writing strongly urge you to write in active voice. is there is an "has been" am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and the been.. in your script do a quick polish look over and see if you can make the depictions and dialogue active :)

Hi everyone, I've mainly just been following along with all the discussions (so many interesting topics!) Really enjoying the lab and finding all the feedback/discussions so helpful. Thought I'd share a few trailers from some of my fav animated films that, for me, have some creative worldbuilding...anyone seen any of these/thoughts?

Nocturna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5wJW8D6y1U

Mune: Guardian of the Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ONAlFkeYYo

The Imaginary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA_i3D5RDvo

And this one is just a gorgeous film based on real life playwright/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, can't wait for it to be available to purchase.

A Magnificent Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzm05nTpiXs

I checked them out. Thanks for these links. Loved the art in "A Magnificent Life" Would love to see that some time.

Has anyone here seen "Flow"? (Made entirely in Blender) It mesmerises me. I've seen it about 3 times.

Here's the trailer:

https://youtu.be/82WW9dVbglI

I bought the flow DVD! So pretty! But I did worry about the little kitty in several scenes, which shows how much emotion can be provoked through body language, music and art alone!

Yes, it amazed me how much was conveyed without a word of dialogue.

One big thing that came out of my one-to-one with Evan is that I have to shorten my script to half its current length. So I've begun attacking it with a chainsaw! He gave me tips on how to do this - pretty much how to change my attitude from novelist to screenwriter. or you might say from verbalist to visualist, (if those are words.) I was a bit sceptical I could do it, but to my surprise it is really working. My bloated page count (nearly 250 pages) is steadily declining.

Hi Everyone, I have to say, I am reading Tui's novel, RIPPLE, and let me tell you the world that she built under the water is something that I haven't seen before. Happy to discuss animated adaptations on the next class for a few mins.

Also for those who have sent me their latest pages, I am working on getting notes to everyone the next 24hrs.

A Clip from the anime Witch Hat Atelier, episode 5, if you want to watch something really beautiful (art of animation) https://youtu.be/E9URbx38AIY?si=RqAQhq2ytIKWEAxs

Spectacular! But it seems a bit jerky. Is it older? I also find it visually confusing. But I'm unaccustomed to anime, despite having a 13 yr old grand-daughter determined to become an anime artist. She lives in Australia, 2,300 kilometres (1400 miles) away, so she gets no chance to educate me.

Witch Hat Atelier is brand new this year and that particular episode was released this week. As for lag it could be an internet tech issue/ a youtube issue or it could be something about the style of anime animation sequences. It isn't unusual for anime animation to be paced in a way that uses pauses for dramatic effect/ to allow viewers to process what is happening/ about to happen and then proceed to the next flurry of action. Especially shows with extremely detailed art. Sort of like a rollercoaster pausing after climbing the first hill right before the drop to the rush of the ride.

The human mind doesn't necessarily register what it is seeing at the same speed that it sees it so often times performers will pause for a beat when they want an audience to recognize and respond to what is happening before them (street performers, circus performers, dancers, etc). I think the same principle applies in this type of animation, where the episodes are structures in a way that gives the audience a moment to comprehend that they have just seen something cool or are about to see something cool.

thanks Sarah - that makes sense.

I've been doing a lot of education on pitching in the last year and a couple of things that keep standing out to me are 1) Good Log lines are often far more formulaic and simplistic than creative minds like, similar to how a regular person describes a rock verses how a geologist would prefer to describe a rock. It might feel like stripping all the cool and unique nuances and elements of your story to get it down to that level of "bare bones" but it is easier for the listener to understand what the basic premise of your story is. E.g. The Godfather- The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

What's doing the work in this log line is the precise wording and the feelings and tension each set of words indicates "aging patriarch" not old man, "clandestine empire" not business, "reluctant son" not son. https://www.inktip.com/article_single.php?a_id=240

2) Listeners are looking for "the forest" and your protagonist's path through "the forest", verses the trees/ the weeds. In other words individual elements of your world, characters or plot might be interesting or even amazing but in the pitch setting, especially the short pitch setting, the listener's interest is is the biggest overarching goal and how everything else is in service of that goal/ is an obstacle/ challenge to that goal. Eg A movie featuring a detective trying to clear someone's name. How does everything you mention in the pitch serve the detective's goal of clearing someone's name? Or illustrate obstacles to the detective's goal of clearing someone's name?

The bartender in your story might be the coolest, most interesting man in the world but what about him is important to the story? The fact that he is your best informant, but is not trustworthy 100% of the time, especially if someone offers to pay him in his true passion, antique cars (and then antique cars become an important part/clue of the story). Everything else about the bartender is just extra and doesn't necessarily need to be in the pitch even if you (the writer) love those details about them and feel the character cannot be fully understood or appreciated without those details.

Many writers describe the individual trees or get lost in the weeds of their story verses being able to get across the "forest" of the story and the path their protagonist is taking to get through that forest, leaving the listener feeling like they can describe the individual elements of your story but not your story at the end of the pitch. Like they have the puzzle pieces but not the assembled puzzle and so don't know what the puzzle image actually depicts.

3) The big goal/ stakes has to be big enough/ universal enough to justify an audience watch an entire movie about this or commit to a tv series about this. Love, revenge, seeking social acceptance, getting back home, making a fortune, surviving the impossible, saving the world, making a world changing invention, etc. are the kind of goal/ challenges big enough people will give you their time. But a normal person, doing a normal job, in normal way with normal stakes might not feel like enough to get an audience to buy in and give you their time unless you find an angle good enough to convince them to watch a "slice of life" piece. So in pitching you have to find a way to communicate that what you are proposing is interesting enough, and has stakes/ goals big enough to people who are not you to justify a movie or series. Jaws= Need to kill the shark to protect human life.

Most effective cliffhangers/ Hooks I have ever seen for getting people to watch the next episode in a tv series: Anime Solo Leveling on Crunchyroll and, in general,Soap Operas where they get people to tune in weekly for YEARS.

John, have you ever read any of the Dirk Pitt novels by action adventure writer Clive Cussler? Your story sounds a lot to me like a mix between Moana, North of North and a Clive Cussler story. Unfortunately only one of the Clive Cussler books has been adapted into a movie, Sahara, which wasn't a great adaptation/ faithful to the book adaptation, but some elements might still work for comp purposes. Shockwave by Clive Cussler specifically might be worth while for you to read. Also Hungry as the Sea by Wilbur Smith (book) for an environmental plus industry concerns all revolving around ships kind of action adventure story. Not an exact fit for your premise as that one is ultimately dealing with Oil tankers carrying particularly poisonous crude through the gulf coast during a hurricane in a ship that is only technically sea worthy but you might find some useful cross over elements if the action adventure side of your story still needs fleshing out.

Thanks, Sarah, for the Clive Cussler reference. I have not read any of his works, but I'll look him up. Yes, "Arctic" is very Moana-ish in theme. North of North has surprised me in that some of the scenes in the show have been almost exactly what I've seen in my imagination. Not sure if that's good or bad, but it feels like I'm on the right track, at least. The nice thing about animation, as opposed to live action series, is that I feel less restricted in bringing magic into my world. This is also turning out to be quite a musical film. Being from Canada you might have heard of Tanya Tagaq and musical style of 'animism' that, for me, at least expresses some of the spirit of the north in my film, - JT

interesting how Sarah and John are going for (as John puts it) "spirit of the north" while I'm going for spirit of the south. My very first novel (never published) was partly set, not exactly in Antarctica, but in the southern ocean among all the icebergs. I was inspired by a story I'd heard about a man who was discovered frozen solid in the middle of an iceberg. I might re-write my story as a screenplay one day. It would suit animation and be impossible any other way.

Quick question - were Act 2 notes meant to come through earlier this week, or are they still scheduled for later this week? Just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss an update anywhere.

I'm reading Scriptnotes by John August and Craig Mazin and they suggest a very useful question to ask of your script is "Why is the character doing what they are doing?" This can and should be applied to every scene and to the movie or tv episode as a whole, it implies some visible action should be happening (it should and if it isn't you have a problem) and the answer can be both concrete and psychological. They find this question to be more useful than the typical what does your main character want verses need to improving scenes and making characters come across well to audiences.

Amy, I think he said early this week but not certain about that.

Sarah, are those script-notes you mention, easily available?

I have a book called Screenplay, by Syd Field which is pretty useful. And I also have many books focusing on story that apply as much to film as to print.

There's another one called "STORY (substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting)" by Robert McKee.

I don't think any of these specialise in animation, but the fundamentals are the same..

Scriptnotes is a book I picked up this week, it looks like it started as a podcast for screenwriters and then all the advice was assembled into a single book.

Hi All, one book that I want to share with everyone that I LOVE is THE ART OF CHARACTER - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Character-Creating-Memorable-Characters/dp/01...

HI everyone - script notes were delayed on my end. everyone should have them in their inbox by tomorrow. Everyone writes at their own pace. if you haven't sent your script material. please send what you have :)

Sarah, I'm considered buying that Scriptnotes e-book but it's a bit expensive for an e-book. I looked at the sample pages and the first page with the list of rules, freaked me out at first because I regularly break so many of them, but the first two little paragraphs after them reassured me and made me laugh, so now I'm very tempted.

I bought the character book Evan recommended - the e-book is cheap.

I started reading the Art of Character book and immediately came across a quote that resonated, and which I'd never really thought about before.

"Comprehending your characters begins with an honest, unflinching understanding of yourself."

It took me back to a moment in my life when I suddenly discovered that part of one of my characters was also a part of me. I'd like to describe that moment in the next meeting perhaps and ask if others have experienced having their fictional characters enter their lives and influence them in that way. My fictional character literally came to life and helped me succeed in a way I would have thought impossible for me.

Tui Scriptnotes is a good read but not necessarily helpful to the situation of book to film adaptation, so I would save up and get it at another time. I enjoy the tips, perspective and the sense of humour in it but its definitely not necessary for this course.

One of the notes Evan gave me is about the strong tone switch between my teaser/ opening of the episode and the rest of the episode. In my case that was actually intentional - the beginning is the big picture, the war, the invention of the rat-hybrids and the decision to licence privateers and then the remainder of the episode is this little cat-dragon venturing from home and going to see. My intention is to book-end the entire season and have the last episodes of the season match the feel and tone of the very opening of the show, with Jai and her crew now being active participants in the war, licensed privateers, facing the rat-hybrids now actively being used as weapons of war on land and sea. Sort of similar to how the Emperor's new Groove opens one way, then a huge tone shift as we go back to the beginning and then the story catches us up to where he is as a llama in the rain.

I wanted to have Jai be like most modern audiences, someone living in a world where war is present and affects them but kind of indirectly, like through the current hikes in gas prices, and then as her journey progresses she is brought more and more into the war itself and becomes an active participant in her own cat-like way.

Jai is a fish-out-of water three times over in the first season, first as a landlubber cat going to sea, then as a cat as a privateer, then as a cat in war. She also goes full circle from a good hunter on land, to someone who has to relearn her hunting skills, and then stretch those hunting skills and learn new magic skills so by the end of the first season she is back to being a good hunter but even better. (As a cat-dragon in season 1 she is about 90% cat and 10% dragon)

In the Second Never-Ending Story movie an interesting device was having the Father find the book and read about his son's adventure's in the fantasy world. So while only hours pass in the real world both the parent and the child experience the story's journey and change. Very different to The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy just goes missing and is found basically the next morning by her family, or the Portal Stories where no time at all passes in the real world and only the main character returns, unchanged. I have also seen stories like Inuyasha, where at the end the main character has a forced return to her own world for three years where she finishes high school and becomes an adult before the portal back to the fantasy realm opens back up, giving her the choice of whether or not to return. In that case the main female lead's mother also gives her the okay to return to the fantasy realm through the well, back to Inuyasha. Even though there is no way to return back through the well at that point and she will never see her daughter again.

We have talked a lot about animated movies that worked but there are also animated movies that absolutely did not work. For me The Lord of Rings 2024 War of the Rhohirrim animated movie is a good example of a movie that felt amazing in concept, art, music, voice acting, etc. but that didn't work in story. The main character's goals didn't feel clear enough, the bond with the antagonist was not well developed enough to explain multiple character choices and the ending felt oddly hollow and empty. Some really amazing scenes but definitely not what I hoped it would be. Does anyone else have examples of animated movies with a really good idea but that somehow ended up really disappointing?

Just wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed and valued this animation lab with you all and Evan, it’s truly been a wonderful journey with you all and I have learned something from everyone, loved the different perspectives, ideas, everyone’s stories, worlds and awesome creativity. Such fun! It’s been a real gift. So glad to have been part of this awesome experience Cancel Save

Sarah, that immediately made me think of The Lorax. That story is just fantastic. I used to know it off by heart, I'd read it so many times to so many thousands of children in my peregrinations around the primary schools of Auckland and Waikato during my relief teaching days. I could read the whole book without looking at the text so I could keep the pictures facing the kids as they sat on the mat before me.

The text is just perfect. The characters are all so unique and alive. The world of the truffula trees (Those trees! Those trees! Those truffula trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze) is so perfectly drawn you can almost smell its "sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk"

The story structure is also perfect, the way it builds to that magnificent hold-your- breath moment of climax (when the last tree falls) and then winds down and concludes so beautifully, ending with a moment of genuine hope. Hope for the story characters and perhaps for our own whole world.

And of course it had something so important to say! The discussions it inspired in all those classrooms!

But still its most wonderful asset was its fabulous language. It brought out the best in my "Hamming-it-up" skills. I could get the worst-behaved class eating out of my hand just by reading that story to them.

The movie? Eucchh! A car-chase in the Lorax? Appropriate? NO.

The language was lost. The story shape was lost. The characters were mostly lost.

Way too much smash-bang and not enough heart and soul.

All they had to do was respect that perfect language, keep it in word perfect, perhaps flesh it out with musical interludes and be prepared to keep it shorter. It didn't need to be that long and it was just plain boring in the end. It didn't need that stupid human villain. The villain was already perfect in the form of the Once-ler himself. The growth of his so-recognizable character was superb, but almost lost in all the flash-bang-wallop.

Great point Tui!

I have greatly enjoyed this class as well. I hope I haven't talked or posted to much. I genuinely think everyone is doing great work and if any of these concepts eventually get made I promise to see them in any format I can (theatre, streaming, etc.)

If you learn well from seeing other's work analyzed with suggestions of improvements I came across the Scriptfella Youtube channel and free Masterclass. It looks like some good tips on screenwriting for free/ being on an e-mail list. There is a paid program as well but just the free content seems worthwhile.

https://youtu.be/qtvu4ZizP6s?si=rx6YVD60Kknk0baR

Totally agree The Lorax was poor execution of a great story. Most of the Dr. Seuss animated adaptations in recent years have been huge misfires (I have already set the bar low for the new Cat in the Hat to be released this year). I'm also going to throw in a movie that I had hopes for the concept but it just didn't land for me: In Your Dreams (Netflix). I always love the concept of characters who explore dream worlds, but this story just felt so...limited (when animation can literally do anything!). The movie hints at some interesting ideas and then doesn't follow through with them, including what could have been a frightening villain (the personification of nightmares) but then that character just sort of disappears and doesn't get utilized at all.

I want to echo the sense of appreciation both for this class and for all of you sharing your creativity and your wonderful stories. Sometimes it's hard work creating something beautiful, but being in a structured setting together helped me alot in writing "Arctic" in record time, at least for me. I'm sure I would have poked and prodded at it for months or maybe a year before I had a completed draft. So thank you all for your brilliance, creativity and persistence in creating new worlds and stories. I wish everyone the best of luck in bringing your work to the world. - John Tupper

From Scriptnotes some concepts I like are :

From Finding Nemo start with an an unsettled arguments/ testable statement "If you love someone set them free, then turn it into something like "No matter how much you want want to hold onto the person you love, sometimes you have to set them free, and then pair that with a scenario like "If you try hard enough you can do anything, even find a single fish in the ocean. Then you get the concept of a character who absolutes loves someone but is forced by the story to learn how to set them free while searching for a fish. what if both characters ARE fish?

Also from finding Nemo: at the beginning of the film your main character is in a state of acceptable imperfection. e.g. "Marlin can live with a resentful son, so long as he knows his son is safe. "I get it. Nemo resents me. He's angry at me. He feel's stifled by me. That's okay. He's alive. I can keep going this way. "This is Marlin's acceptable normal. This is what his character wants to get back to because it feels safe and acceptable to Marlin despite its imperfections and trade offs. Better than the pain of losing his wife and all his other children. The film then teaches him that can't work. If he actually loves his son, and wants his son to truly live, he has to allow his son to experience life including its risks. Even if his son is disabled and faces higher risks than other fish.

That concept of a character starting with a state of "Acceptable Imperfection" hit for me as to why many character's journeys work. The audience buys into the hero's journey more easily because we see the flaws in the character's original state of normal, the price of maintaining their trade-offs and imperfections. We want the hero to have a better reality than just acceptable imperfection.

The second piece that stood out to me was the description of four c's in the script. Are the events being driven by Causation (character decisions and actions (so causality + consequence)), Correlation (situations not directly due to characters but that provided reasonable opportunity and motivation for characters to act), Coincidence (The Spider biting Peter Parker out of everyone in that room and beginning his journey as Spider-Man), or Convenience (the writer needed something to happen so miraculously it happens, like the side kick has a swiss army of skills that all fit perfectly to the situation no matter how long the odds or a dues ex machina saving everyone at the last minute.). Audiences give writers a couple of coincidences and then start to really question the script. Most events should by driven by Causation, then Correlation, then coincidence and anything driven by convenience must be removed,.

Before our last class (did anyone get a link to sign up for a time? I tried the precious calendar link from our 1:1 class and it didn't work), I wanted to say how much I appreciated this class and reignited my drive to work on my project. I loved all the discussions and analyzing what makes an animated film's story/characters stand out. You've all been wonderful to chat with and learn from.

HI ALL !! I am sending sign ups links want to say that giving notes for the second of half of the scripts have been a challenge to find things that need work on. ! THAT IS A GOOD THING. I love this thread and this class and what you have all developed. Each of you should be so proud of yourselves.

Yay! I booked my one-on-one for Tuesday 11.15am NZ time, so no more getting up at 3.30am on Sunday for a 4am zoom meeting. Much as I've enjoyed the meetings and and the warmth of you all, I won't miss those early starts. I see the booking page I saw had "NZ time" in the corner so I presume I don't have to do any time conversions. (My Tuesday is your Monday)

Just spent three days wrestling with my little tuiscope web site. I had to rebuild the site definitions which got lost in a recent computer upgrade. The servers are across the Tasman and I got all tangled up in their server maintenance. Finally sorted it today. I really need to update my web site but can't afford to get sidetracked from my scripting right now.

Do you all have web sites? And do you build your own?

I was asked by Evan to share this. The strongest accent/ local dialect in Canada is found on the Island of Newfoundland (Province of Newfoundland and Labrador). (It is the part of Canada where the town of Gander is. If you have have seen the Musical "Come From Away", that is the town where many planes en route to New York were diverted on 9/11.)

A creator made this clip where he gave the seagull from Disney's A Little Mermaid a "Newfie" accent and speech pattern. Mary Brown's = a fried chicken shop, think something in between Kentucky Fried Chicken and Popeyes.

https://youtube.com/shorts/dD41FQZEkYc?si=eLChFO7tSd2FShcp

For comparison the original:

https://youtu.be/EB591qzrA1o?si=kwWT9_Z9BxtUjLNt

Amazing comparison! Both accents seem fairly foreign to me. You've made me wonder what accents I'd want my characters to have. What might a 20 million year old English-language accent sound like? Let's face it. humans did not exist then, let alone their languages. I guess if it was up to me, I'd say just stick with the accent of the country the story came from, which is Kiwi. That might be weird enough for most viewers.

Moana's American accent never sounded right to me as it was set in Polynesia with South Pacific and New Zealand cultural influences. I was very happy they used English accents for "101 Dalmatians". Disney got that right.

Have any others among you thought about what accents your characters might best suit?

If anyone is wondering about Evan's other class, the pitch/deck bible series class, it is also good. Here is a link to the pitch deck I made using Canva in that class + the level 2 extension for the class. My biggest issue was wrestling my concept down to fit into a reasonable pitch deck length, something that took about 8 attempts even with feedback. (Please note some decks also have "Why me" and "Why Now" pages, however Evan let me know these pages worked better for this particular concept.) If you are struggling to make a pitch deck/ refine a pitch deck I would recommend that Studio 32 class when finances allow.

https://canva.link/hqix1wq1lrx0f0q

Sarah, here's where my ignorance shows. I never heard of a "pitch-deck" until just now. (I guess I'm still stuck back there in the book world) I followed your link and saw yours with the cat-dragon. Is this something vital for pitching? It looks like the kind of graphical kind of thing I'd enjoy making though. A bible-series class does not sound like me however - I'm too much of a heathen for anything bible-related.

Once I get through my rip-it-down strip-scripting project I'll see what I can find out about it. if you know of any sites that explain it at beginner level I'd be interested to see them but don't worry I can do a google search.

OMG! I just checked out your whole pitch-deck and I definitely now want to see your series. I love that yacht - the bluenose schooner. What glorious boats they were back then.Have you had a lot to do with classic yachts?

To get a tv or movie made you need to "pitch" the idea to agents , studios, etc. Typically pitches are 1-2, 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes in length. The shortest are sometimes called elevator pitches. For the 5+ length a pitch deck is often used, especially with animation due to the visual element. Think Literary Cover letter to get an agent in pretty slide format to make studios interested. They are particularly useful if you don't have a book to adapt because studios need to know you have a fully thought out story, not just a vague concept of an idea.

https://www.finaldraft.com/blog/21-series-bibles-that-every-tv-screenwri...

I have not had interactions with the classic Yachts, but the Bluenose Schooner is part of Canadian heritage to the point it is on our ten cent (dime) coin. A replica of the Original BlueNose Schooner was made, the Bluenose II, and still sails out of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia as a tourist and marine education vessel. I hope one day to take a trip aboard it. The original Bluenose schooner was a fishing and racing vessel that was a sailing champion, I believe it retired with all wins in official international races. It was built in 1921 and was one of the last set of yachts to be sail powered verses having an engine. Bluenose is a nickname for people from the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia dating back to 1785. https://bluenose.novascotia.ca/namesake.

Thanks so much Sarah. Very useful info,

I did go to an awful lot of effort to make what I believe is called "teaser" for pitching purposes. It is a one minute animation designed to catch the interest of a film maker. John would die laughing at how long it took me. I first had to learn the previously unfamiliar Adobe software After Effects. I was only familiar before with Adobe Premiere Pro which has similarities. I got help from AI and so the teaser I ended up with is a combination of my own animation and AI animation. I paid for a soundtrack by Feraliza.

If I'd known about pitch-decks, I think I would have gone that way. That would be far more suitable to the graphical skills I do have, which have never included animation.

This is a video of the young Feraliza singing one of her songs way back before she did her tertiary music and sound tech degrees. I just loved her voice and her whole psyche even way back then. She is now touring with a rock band as their soundie. I set this song to one of my own videos filmed in The South Island.:

https://youtu.be/NDPqD6pBKVs

Very nice video Tui!