This might not be the best place to ask this but, right now I am in the very early stage of writing a script for an animated TV show. I do have a few problems though. I will try and explain the best that I can. I am going to use storyboards way more than a script itself. The script is the least of my problems. The bible is what really scares me. The concept of the TV show is a bit spread out. By that I mean there will be 4 seasons before the story actually begins. My intention is to make this a long running series. The only problem with that is in my bible I would have to write every episode for every season but only show my pilot teaser which will only be 15 minutes long (im guessing). I'm kind of stuck. Should I write the bible for the 1st season and only have an overview of everything else? Or should I go ahead and do everything. If I do submit my pilot would they ignore it if there is too much content? Please help me out I'm kind of new at this. I will elaborate a bit on the story itself. Basically the 1st season is about a person doing a bunch of stuff then ends up at some place. the 2nd season is the same thing but different person different stuff but same place. 3rd and 4th is repeat above sentence. after those 4 seasons are completed they all go on a journey together. That is 22 minutes a show at 25 shows a season times 4 seasons then i would have to continue on because that is almost a prologue of the main story. that's a lot of writing for only a "chance" it will even start.
This would be more appropriate in the General Writing forum, as it's not an actual piece of writing for review. *moved*
My opinion would be to run the first four seasons in parallel. You could either have the episodes switching between the four or you could have them all contained within each episode. The structure of the series would have to change to account for climax timings etc. but it would help to avoid loss of viewers when they don't like one character enough to keep watching simply for them. Having them separate would feel too much like the reverse of a spin-off (instead of 4 different series spawning from one, one comes out of four of them) In terms of submissions, I'd expect that having four seasons before it properly gets going would put off producers. It's doable if enough happens in the four seasons and they're a show in their own right but otherwise it will most likely put them off. Aside from that, I can't really say what I'd expect producers to think of it as I've not had any experience with them.
I'm lost! There are 25 twenty-two minutes shows per season and there are 4 seasons before the story begins - that equals 100 twenty-two minute shows be fore the story starts. How do you expect to hold the viewers interest for the first 100 shows?
sorry for posting in the wrong part of the forum the concept of my series is supposed to rival anime. i dont watch a lot of anime stuff but i know that it is popular. im trying to get the "key ingredients" that make up a good anime cartoon. for me i think it is pretty simple. character development is one main factor. (i know it is in every type of story) another is the fight scenes. usually the shows have like 300 + episodes and grow all the time. i am trying to be a bit different though. and at the start is to emphasize on the characters themselves but there are other factors that go with it. i should mention that this is a fantasy story and that each character is a different race. each race has certain properties that are completely different than all of the others. its kind of like someone growing up as a spoiled rich kid in hollywood versus a poor kid growing up in japan who has to put up with the yakuza. if i were to devote a season to each character basically growing up from birth you would know everything about them on a personal level and you would know what is going on in the storyline because you would know the politics and other events that take place leading up to the "we have to save the world" part. to Trilby It is basically buildup and anticipation. you wont know what is going to happen but you know something will. it also has to be good. i know i am being vague about it and i don't have much to show anyway. i am still trying to piece everything together. to Mist Walker i know i am doing it kind of weird. and i do realize if you do like the 1st season and right before everything "pops off" it suddenly ends and switches to another guy, your gonna be like WTF. i am preparing for it though. i will make sure that the scenarios are very different. i have 3 out of the 4 so far. if i do this all in 1 season or even have the 4 seasons parallel i would have to cram a lot in there. i will think of it a little more and see how else i can do this. thanks for your help guys
I suggest you consider a compromise between all of this, explore two characters from different ends of the same spectrum and have them interact in subtle but significant ways with each other.
i hope you're intending this for the uk, not the us, because it's virtually impossible to submit a new series or any scripts to us networks/studios unless you have a track record as a writer for tv or film and an agent with good connections in the industry... i understand it's more doable in the uk, but in the us, legal departments won't even allow unagented submissions to be opened, send them back immediately upon receipt... so, if you're in the us and not a known writer, your best way in is with a low-level entry job in the industry, that will allow you to eventually make some usable connections...
yea ive been researching online about it. from the looks of what ive been reading it seems impossible. but i figure that there are other options. i didnt think about outsourcing it to specific countries but i was thinking about the internet. they work with the same concepts. you get paid by ads. there is also the option for dvds. that would be the more expensive way to go but maybe the best way to go in the long run. some movies and shows are sleepers. take Family Guy for example. They got canceled cause no1 watched it. Now its back and its a hugely popular show. Clerks was a movie that did the same thing. it may be a long shot but i think there are enough talented people to "risk" making the project for a chance for it to become something. This project will be 3d animated. that means i will need a team of people to help make it. i believe if you have something good enough it will be noticed. there is a ton of crappy television and movies that these "known" writers and producers make. i dont see y i couldnt make something just as crappy. (hopefully better). thanks for the heads up though. the more perspectives the better.
