'Producing Animation' research

In-text: (Winder, 2011)

Your Bibliography: Winder, C. (2011). Producing Animation. 2nd ed. MA: Elsevier Inc.

'key items that affect an animated budget is:

-the projects purchase price

- the cost key creative talent attached to the property

- the type of story being told

- the choice of art direction, style, technique, complexity

- the format

- where the animation is being produced

-  and the delivery schedule.' p.14

'A low-budget traditional 2D show can start at $250,000 per an episode; a more high end animation prie-time show can reach over $1.5 million per an episode.' p.15

'completion bond' p.15

different types of animation producers; 'employee producers', 'entrepreneur producers', 'executive producer', 'producer', 'co-producer', 'line producer', 'creative producer', 'associate producer' ect. these are based on background and experience p.18

different roles of producers;

- 'the deal-maker.. finds financial resources, key players, production studios for a project...they have no creative input.' p.18

- 'the facilitator... has some artistic input and understanding but does none of the drawing or writing. their focus is budget, schedule and meeting the creative demands for the project.' p.18

- ' the creative ... have the ability to draw or write,.. in depth knowledge of story development... involved in the creative decision making, ... some responsibility for budget and schedule their emphasis is on the creative side.'p.18

- 'line producer handles time and money management. ' p.18

- 'executive producer... oversee the entire project from start to finish.. both a creative and operational point of view... involved in hiring,...development of the show,..input into project production plans, budgets and schedules... sometimes these type of producers fall in to the deal maker type. They are considered the show runner with in episodic television or creative visionary. They also fall into the creative, as they are involved into all stages. Pre-production, production and post production... input on marketing, air schedules, viewing order, and are ultimately responsible for delivering the project on schedule and on the agreed-upon level of quality.' p.19

- 'Associate producer..is strictly administrative. below the line producer due to lower level of experience... in charge of over seeing the shipment of material, coordinating the efforts of potentially 250 or more crew members... once each sequence is completed through the storyboarding/ pre-visualization process... the complexity is evaluated, with a few other team members, they estimate the cost and number of hours of each sequence, if the cost is acceptable it can go into production, if not they come up with cost cutting options... they have no involvement in development or post.' p.21

- 'The animation producer is the central person around  whom a production flows... They always know the status of production,.. when a production is in trouble they are the first identified responsible party... They should be able to lead,... communicator,... nurture of creativity... innovator...delegator...energizer...decision maker...ambassador.' p.25

' They key to to success in producing for television is being quick on your feet  and delivering fast.'p.55

'Key stages;

- spotting the idea

- defining the format and target audience

- identifying the buyer

- developing pitch materiel

- hiring representations

- Entering negations' p.57

'you need to know how to identify, package and ultimately sell  it to the appropriate buyer.' p.57

'Going down the original idea path requiresa strong conviction that the concept and characters are highly appealing and viable in the market place.' p.58

'coming up with a strong story that feels fresh and has a unique voice and compelling takes 

creativity and time.' p.61

'a key concept to keep in mind is that an original idea is a risky proposition for buyers, as it is untested... the idea must be promising enough for the buyer to be willing to take a chance and invest the resources to get it into development and production.' p.61

'market research is essential... familiarizing yourself with the type of shows that each studio has produced.' p.61

'Once you have identified a property it is important to determine its future format.. is it more suitable for a television series,  theatrical features, direct-to-dvd, webisodes, gaming, iphone/ipad application?' p.63

'In the television arena, the target audience markets are very defined and niche, based on the demographics of the viewers and network's brand... is it aimed at preschool, tween, teen, a prime time audience or is it best suited to adults only... for animated features the audience is normally much more broader, studios tend to include both adults and children... home entertainment is 

 also developed for a broad audience but its main focus is children.' p.64

'there are two different type of buyers...the first is a  group with a distribution arm, 

such as a network, cable company, or movie studio..

 typically it is advantageous to sell your property directly to one of these outlets, as the distribution and ancillary support ( licensing, marketing ect) are already in place.. although it may make more sense to sell your idea to an independent production house and partner.. as they are more accessible, can draw on their internal resources and experiences to develop and prepare your pitching to targeted buyers... it may also enough time for attention and allow it to create a franchise..

 it may also own animation facility that could actually produce and develop the project.' p. 66

titles to look for in buyers; creative executive, development executive, current executive and programming executive...  their goal is to identify new and one of a kind concepts to 

develop for the company. their success is based on getting projects greenlit, produced, and most important-turned into a hit.' p.66

'some studios require a fully fleshed script, others are more to a treatment and initial characters only.. tailor your pitch to address their needs. ' p.66 

'the best person to contact is the assistant to the executive.' p.67

'In general, having an open door policy allows the executive to listen to many pitches, therefore improving the probability of finding a hit, once he or she has found something of interest, it is their job to sell the property to their supervisor for development and production, the person they report to is typically the head of programming for the studio.. the person who has the ability to purchase or green light a project and put the funds behind it.'

Method; Developing pitch material, pitching and post-pitch.
'For t.v they want clear concept and a defined target audience from the start... be able to explain the series in a long line... what sets it apart from all the others in the market place... you need more than just the piolet episode.' p.69

'Pre pitch:
- Outline rules of the universe,
- describe tone using reference to well known stories
-Define the target audience
- Illustrate characters in their world
-Key story beats
-The main goal is to sell the idea.' p.69

'Pitching:
-Pitch should be under ten minutes for a series.
-Be short and to the point.' p.70

'Post Pitch:
You may be asked to re pitch to the supervisor and asked to send more material.' P.71

'Hiring a lawyer for pitching projects is important to stop misunderstandings.' P.71 

250,000USD =

192,393.51GBP

1 GBP = 1.29942 USD1 USD = 0.769574 GBP                               

US Dollar to British Pound Conversion(https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=250%2C000&From=USD&To=GBP