Animation

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

SECRET LEVEL

Once I watched this wonderful film called 'Kirikou and the Sorceress'. It is story of a boy, Kirikou who when born cuts his umbilical thread and starts speaking and walking immediately; he defeats a sorceress called Karaba who troubled the villagers with her magic. Kirikou not only defeats her by removing a poisoned thorn which made her a vamp but also brings her into human form and marries her.

It is a very layered film- about gender, politics, sex, violence but it resonated with me on deeper emotional and philosophical level. It is also a good a lesson on how to create cultural impact being rooted in your culture.

For Film, HEAVY METAL (1981), did it for me. Not for youngsters, when I saw it I remembered thinking, " If a studio can create this now, I can only imagine what the future of animation is going to be." Look where we are now! It lit the fire of my appreciation for animation. For TV, TREAUSRE ISLAND (1978), was really terrific in look and story. Very faithful to the book. It originated in Japan, and a friend of mine's dad gave him a VHS copy of it. He was a salesman for Ford and travelled a lot. We watched it and were blow away that Japanese animation could cover a classic book so well.

I've been a fan of Baki the Grappler for a while. I like the way it takes its time to interject a backstory as the situation is occurring. It's one of the few ways that you can tell a tournament fighting story, where there are multiple characters with their own arcs. Enter the Dragon and the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie both put all the character backstories at the beginning, but to do it as the story is going is just a different approach.

Ashley, great question — animation has such a unique ability to express emotional and psychological landscapes in ways live action often can’t.

Inside Out really shifted how I see storytelling because it visualizes inner emotional life in a deeply human and accessible way. It turns abstract psychology into something tangible and universal.

I also admire how Arcane demonstrates that animation can carry complex character arcs and mature thematic depth while remaining visually innovative.

Absolutely. Personally, people think I'm a kid when I watch an animated film. Like, "He's an idiot! What's he watching? Stupid stuff!" But I don't care. I see animation as a source of inspiration for creating my own manga. And besides, these days, all the kids are crazy about it. If you think animation is lame, I recommend you go see "GOAT." You'll change your mind.

Josiah Cosgrove I think it depends on the person and how much knowledge they have about the industry and what consumers like. I think for the average person it may seem silly and dumb but for those who are educated and understand the history of animation and where it is headed the statement becomes obsolete.

From my experience I've come across countless individual who simply aren't educated in animation and simply don't know any better.

animation is not a genre

Kevin Jackson Thanks, I appreciate it. It’s actually about animals living like modern humans, but grounded in real behavior and character-driven humor. Glad it stands out.

Oh my gosh, this is fantastic! Love the elements of dark humor and the rap battle influence - very creative! You should email our success team and see if there are any execs who’d be interested in this concept: successstage32.com

Thank you, Amanda Toney I really appreciate it! :)

Daniel Danitto thanks for sharing! I agree with Kevin Jackson I think it has chance within animation. I think it would be refreshing to see something different in the space.

Cyrus Sales , thank you very much, I really appreciate it. Glad it comes across as something different. That’s exactly what I’m aiming for - something more grounded and character-driven, not following a typical formula.

Not seeing anything

Hey Michael Dukumor ! Looks like you posted something but it's not showing on our end. You mind reposting with the content again, would love to see what the series is about.

Hi Alex, great to meeting you. I am also a 2D animator and writer. Are you using Moho? I recognise some of the brushes.

Alex Pinto pleasure to get connected! I highly recommend checking out the jobs section. People post jobs there and you may be able to find some work or others to collaborate with.

I'm all about 2D animation, with a strong preference for 80s to 2000s anime feel. If I could get Studio Madhouse to animate any of my projects, I'd be in Heaven.

Wow, Studio Madhouse is amazing Banafsheh Esmailzadeh I admire their anime style! I’m definitely going to binge more of their work; is there a specific project of theirs that inspires you most?

Same Dwayne Williams 2~ I love that they did CLAMP’s animes so Cardcaptor Sakura and Clover, and what I saw of X. Of course their work on Satoshi Kon’s stuff is also wonderful, like Millennium Actress, and Redline is one of my absolute favourites. Their work on NANA is also gorgeous. If I had to choose between them I’d say Redline is my favourite example. Every single frame is pure art.

Thanks for sharing those, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh I just checked out Redline, and it looks amazing! Definitely something I’d spend time diving into. I appreciate you putting me onto that. :D

You’re welcome, Dwayne Williams 2~ enjoy Redline!

Bob Harper Thanks for sharing! I'm in Texas but hopefully someone on here is able to take advantage of the opportunity.

I was checking on the website and it has some online courses, but I didn't get if it's going to have a virtual access or something, since I live in Chile.

Sunday's event is completely virtual.

I agree with your assessment on this situation. Most of the screenplays that I have written are inspired by adult animation or anime. But when I pitch it as an animation, the reader is turned off by the fact that I am pitching it that way, even though they are requesting animated projects. I believe they are looking for more adult comedy animation than action, fantasy, and science fiction.

I would say the pacific would be the next big theme, for animated series, I mean look at moana, if a company would seriously dive into the pacific communities and culture, I am sure new materials for new projects would be found alot

Malcolm Kewa The thing with Moana is that it's more of our tradition Western 3D Animation. Those are all in the same basket as Toy Story and Zootopia. Moana 2 cost $250 million to make and promote. That's a big budget, IP driven project that a studio would not take a risk on if it were to come from an up and comer.

The style of adult 2D animation that I'm referring to is more like Castlevania or Chainsaw man. The Chainsaw man movie was distributed over from Asia and costed $4.1 million to make. It made $100 million in the box office.

Thats what they are doing in the international market that the US market currently doesn't have a financial answer for, nor does it seen to want to take the risk and find out. I already have a commitment from an animation studio overseas that can do my animation for $3.5 million, but to find Western producers or investors to take the chance....hard pressed.

The global gross revenue for animation is getting ready to be a 900 billion dollar industry and the US is only pushing heavy IP-driven projects, which to me is a mistake. They need to find a way to fund smaller animation projects and develop a "western" anime culture.

Happy Caturday! Josiah Cosgrove I love it.. “The Feline Times” very nice!

I haven’t checked it out yet but i might be down to help with animating but i think id need at least like $300-$500 depending on how it goes and how much work im putting in if i suck and not contributing anything useful u wouldn’t have to pay me

Taylor Enzminger, this is a fully independent no-budget project. I can't pay anyone, I'm sorry. But someday, if the first couple episodes do good online and I make some money, I will start paying the animator, voice actors, and co-writer.

I found your synopsis very interesting! Josiah Cosgrove

Josiah, I need to mention the budget stuff. You don't have to worry about that and if you pitch well enough to the literary management, then the manager, and then meet the executives so that way you'll be able to write and not worry so much about the budget. Even if you don't have money to meet with the animators or concept artists, you have to take a professional method to meet up with those people just politely before you show them your art. Don't give up.

Achmad Wildan Until you can make the right connections, I would suggest producing this project as a self-published book on Amazon and/or creating animated shorts on YouTube. Creating it as an IP and building an audience will increase your opportunities.

Hey Achmad Wildan ,

It’s really impressive to see how productive and focused you are at just 17. Keep that momentum going, your dedication and mindset are sure to take you a long way.

Your series sounds super creative, and the “toy-ready” style for a global kids’ market is such a smart approach. It might also be worth reaching out to the Stage 32 Success Team to see how they can assist with connecting you to the right producers or managers. Excited to see where you take it!

I would like to read your pitch bible! Can I? You email it to me at kbstudios.josiah@gmail.com. I kinda want to see how you put together yours, you know, use it like a template to edit my series pitch bible with.

Hi I am teaching an animation class on stage 32! all about screenwriting development in animation for tv and film!