Wednesday, March 18, 2015

A cartoonist--found one!

My cat Chonie--or would be if she danced. Yes, she is
named underpants--long story.
After a couple of false starts--see below--I am working in tandem with Dennis McCabe--a very talented artist from Ohio who has done storyboards before.

His depictions of THE BEE-TWEENZZ--25 and 849 in Sgt Buzzy's brood--are fantastic.

To see more of his work, go to: http://dpatrickmccabe.wix.com/dmccabesketchart

We are planning to pitch the cartoon company in a few days.

I am even learning to Skype!

What fun. Fun actually was my original intention with all this--and it's fun again.

I am also signing up with a new thing called Edgee.com -- supposedly blog & Twitter combined. I don't tweet--so this will be an adventure.

Another one of those.

I figured since William Morris Endeavor said my scripts might be too edgy for the animation space--that Edgee was a sign.

I am big on signs.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

My fun little detour

OK--I have written the two feature-length animated scripts. I have product. I also had an option offer--but for various reasons, declined it. Months have passed.

The monster agency William Morris Endeavor did talk to me--and then would not talk to me. They said my story was "too edgy for the animation space." Hmpf.

So then I started with the Hollywood Screenwriting Directory, which lists production companies and whether they will entertain email inquiries--most are snippy like WME. Fear of lawsuits, don'tcha know.

I started in the A's--there are 5,000 companies. If they took emails, I checked them on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). If they had made a movie in 2015 and their fare seemed at least somewhat character and comedy oriented, I emailed or wrote a snail letter.

I got a few replies--one request for the scripts. Have not heard back.

But I also got a request from a BIG cartoon company to submit a storyboard for a 4-5 min cartoon.

I took two of the bee children of my bee detective, Sgt Buzzy--numbered 25 and 849--to be the stars of the little cartoon. I wrote a script. then, while I was at it, I outlined more than 30 other plots for 25 and 849. Planning for success!

A friend's son said he had done animation and would throw together the storyboards--numbered about 40 rough drawings (I can show examples).  He never did anything. Six weeks passed.

Then I finally found another cartoonist who claimed to have worked on the movie VEGGIE TALES and other known properties. I offered him a 50-50 split--let's see where we can get with this. He stalled from day one, he was sick, his family was sick, he had to go someplace, sorry he went back to the same place, etc. After seven weeks--and only two partially completed bees, I let him go. He lashed out--I had no talent and did not understand him. [Eyeroll]

Now, I am back on Craigs--people want in, offer test sketches, then nothing happens.

I have dated "creatives" in the day--I think it's better to date most of them than hire them.

This is making me cranky...

But I am not giving up. Thanks for listening. Cheaper than a shrink.

And--by the way--know any adventuresome cartoonists who can draw animals?