Submitting an Animated Series?

[Odyssey 5,716]

Cartoons have always been one of my favourite things. To me, I've found it fascinating to see many stories told from simple images, as well as how diverse many of these TV shows are. They could be satire, they could be fantasy, they could focus more on the plot or others focus on making you laugh. It's great to see the wide range to choose from and appreciate, but only a small amoint of cartoons make it onto TV.

 

Because of that, I'm also interested in pitching my own series. However, I am unsure on where to start. I have some knowledge on drawing and to a lesser extent writing, but otherwise I don't know the first step to submitting my own. This may not be the right place to ask, but what are the subjects and courses I need to learn before submitting? I'm always looking for subjects so thst I can plan prior, but I'm unsure which ones exactly.

 

Any answers will do, whether they're big or small. Thanks for reading.

[Melon Blitz 423]

The way distribution is now, just making the series on your own or making a team to work on it and publishing it yourself online can in a lot of ways be better than selling your IP to a large company. If you really want it to get picked up for TV, it'll be about connections and how well you can network with people more than anything (finding out who you have to talk to and whatnot) as well as having a well developed project.

 

I actually really like the True Tails project, a team of people just going out and making their own series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHwO77C66Ds

 

If you were to study anything particularly, other than animation in general, it would probably be storyboarding. Storyboard artists often have to draft their ideas of scenes from the script and pitch them to the directors and peers.

[DND 2,355]

I've done a lot of research on this subject! Cartooning happens to be one of my main occupational interests as well. Here's some really, really helpful articles on what to expect with pitching your series in an assortment of situations. It's really helped me so far.

 

- If you want to avoid some plausible embarrassment with a pitch or just a plain "dead-end idea" that will have a likely, unfortunate result you should totally consider referring to this:

 

http://chrisoatley.com/animation-pitch-pitfalls/

(This article more or less goes in to simplistic but crucial details of what a strong pitch should consist of)

 

- Instead of so much focus on common, cookie cutter negatives a pitch may have, this article describes in detail of what you should strive for and focus on in your pitch. It more or less recommends that you describe things as powerful, minimal, and concise as possible. 

 

http://lineboil.com/how-to-pitch-an-animated-tv-series/

 

- I would advise looking at least this one above all. Heather Kenyon is a Vice President of Project Development and also for Sales in Starz Animation. She was formally a senior director of development at Cartoon Network and has seen many pitches in her lifetime. In this video she likes to stick to a very important topic as to likely how a company takes pitches and generally evaluates them. The video is lengthy, but I recommend greatly hearing most of what she has to say.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaAaofcbe0Q

 

I hope these sources help out. Good luck with your ideas !