One more old post tonight about pitching animation. I'll add more after San Diego Comic Con. If you're absolutely thrilled by these and can't wait until next week, go to the archives - February 2010, and read the whole series of articles. BTW, I'll be on a panel about The Disney Afternoon along with Jymn Magon of Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Talespin fame, Rob Paulsen - the voice Steelbeak and many other Disney characters and Jim Cummings, the voice of Darkwing Duck. It should pop up on YouTube sometime after the con.
The characters you create are probably the key element of whether or not your show has longevity. The audience has to like them or love to hate them. Yet in the pitch, the most important thing is the concept, the "franchise," the "sit" of the sit-com.
Cartoon Network wants to develop an original show based on a pitch of mine. I think I came up with a group of main characters who are entertaining on their own and even funnier when working off each other. Yet, as I move through the development process, I could change every facet about those characters and still be true to the show because the concept is the meal and the characters are the seasonings.
A concept can be character based, like Neil Simon's THE ODD COUPLE, yet all the specifics of those characters can change as long as they remain polar opposites. The idea of a slob and an anally retentive guy sharing an apartment are great choices. Those traits are VISUAL: sloppy, trashy, unkempt vs. neat, clean and organized.
The traits can also be applied to all aspects of their personalities. One guy forgets appointments and anniversaries, scribbles thoughts on scraps of paper, eats month old leftovers while the other guy has his pantry alphabetized and arranged by height. But the same concept can be played out, and has been, with conservative and liberal, gay and straight, hero and villain, predator and prey. The choice of characters will affect how the concept is played out and the possible stories.
Possible stories. Just as you should describe characters in terms of their actions, gag types and situations they find themselves in, the story potential of your concept must suggest the same... without examples.
Many of you have heard the term, "logline." Before the internet and DVR menu options, people looked up what shows were on in a "TV Log." Under the name of the show would be a description of the episode condensed into a single line like, "Gilligan has trouble hiding Mary Ann's body." or "Phoebe marries Ross's monkey." It's more than a description; it's a promise of entertainment.
It's all right for an episode logline to raise questions. "OMG, Gilligan killed Mary Ann! How did that happen? How will he cover the smell?" Or maybe promise a storyline the audience has been waiting for, "Finally! The end to all that monkey tension." But a series logline does the opposite. Upon hearing it, you immediately see the potential for stories and what kind of stories they might be.
"Darkwing Duck fights crime as a dark avenger of the night while trying to raise an incorrigible daughter who refused to be left at home." As discussed previously, the juxtaposition of duck and dark avenger promises superhero spoof stories but it was the addition of the incorrigible daughter that sold it to Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney. It promises a family relationship at the heart of the series and the potential of exploring the sort of parent/child disagreements the audience is living through, played out on a superhero stage. That's the part that made the show "Disney."
Loglines can be mash ups like "Dawson's Creek meets Superhero Comics in 'Smallville," but it's more likely the went with "The stories of Superman as a teenager, when he was just discovering his powers and his place in the world.... with a really hot cast of twenty somethings." If you switch "hot twenty somethings" with "ducks" it's not all that different from Darkwing Duck. Instead of exploring parent/child relationships it has a teenager facing sometimes scary physical changes and wondering what he's supposed to do with his life. That promises stories that a wide audience can identify with. It keeps it from just being a geek hit.
You need to be able to boil your show down into just a couple of lines. Don't worry, you'll be able to use plenty of examples and details when you pitch a show. In fact, you may not even pitch your logline verbatim, but having one focuses you on the core of your show. Does the premise, lead to many stories or just a couple of great gags?
There are "lightning in a bottle" shows that don't fit neatly into any category and sometimes those are the biggest hits. I have no clue what the logline of SpongeBob Squarepants is. You could cobble one together after the fact but it wouldn't indicate how hilarious the result would be. Selling a show like that depends on your track record with the studio, the execs trust in you, your track record and the lucky star you were born under.
The rest of us have to slam our heads against keyboards until the brilliance leaks out. More musings and what pitching is like dead ahead. -- Tad
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