"A Cartoon Girl’s Secret Guide to Developing Kids’ Comedy Series That Sell!" by Rita Street

Rita Street & "Ruby Gloom"

Rita Street has just published a book on animation series development, titled: A Cartoon Girl's Secret Guide to Developing Kids' Comedy Series That Sell!

Executive Producer of Cartoon Network's "Hero:108", Founder of Women in Animation, and President of her own company 'Radar Cartoons', Rita has taken time out of her busy schedule to encapsulate over two decades of experience in the entertainment industry creating, pitching, and developing animated shows for children. Her book covers the process of series development from brainstorming to final pitch--including some very important, entertainment industry specific details that I have rarely seen in other sources outside of festival workshops: like the importance of 'Loglines'. Or the differences between a 'Sales/Pitch Bible' and a 'Production Bible' and where is each used and why. Or even lessons on etiquette when you've finally received that coveted pitch meeting (hint: one of the most important is "Do your research!" There's a lot more to it than that, but I'll let Rita explain that in Chapter 5).

From her website:

"During the last decade I’ve landed more than 1,200 pitch meetings with network and indie development execs. Of those 1,200 pitches I’ve sold a record 15 shows into development, four of which have come out of development and into production.

This is literally my brain-download on how to develop an animated comedy TV series for kids 6-11 years of age (think: “SpongeBob SquarePants”).

If you want to pitch a show that has real potential for a sale, follow these secret rules."

While her focus is on the kids market, a lot of the advice I've read so far can be adapted to developing an animated series for other age groups. Best of all, she is currently giving away a PDF version of her book for free--a great price for all you animation students! So don't wait, head over to her website and take advantage of her knowledge and experience to help develop your own animated series.

You can download her book from the following link.

* images are copyright Rita Street and used with permission.

Women Pioneers of Animated Film honored at Annecy

Well, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival has come and gone. As part of the focus on women animators, this year the festival bumpers created by the students at Gobelins l'ecole de l'image shone the much deserved spotlight on five women whose contributions to the art form helped pave the way for generations of women animators:

Mary Blair
An animator for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the Ub Iwerks studio before hiring on with Walt Disney, Mary Blair would lend her experienced eye to many classic films like Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Cinderella, and Peter Pan before working on the "It's a Small World" attraction (which would eventually end up at Disneyland).

Evelyn Lambart
Animator and technical director for the National Film Board of Canada, Lambart's career spanned thirty years at the NFB where she worked with Norman McLaren on films like Begone Dull Care and A Chairy Tale.


Lotte Reiniger
Creator of The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the oldest surviving animated feature (and arguably the first), animator Lotte Reiniger created over forty films and wrote several books on her silhouette animation technique.

Claire Parker
M.I.T. graduate, engineer, and animator, Claire Parker co-directed animated films like Night on Bald Mountain using the pinscreen animation technique co-created with her husband, Alexandre Alexieff.

Alison de Vere
Worthy of special note, British animator Alison de Vere was the first woman to win the Grand Prix at the Annecy festival (for her film Mr. Pascal, ex æquo).

Embroidermation - Nina Paley and Theodore Gray

Y'know, just when you think you've seen it all, someone comes up with another brilliant merger of a traditional medium and digital tools--in this case, using vector files as a template to create embroidered animation "cels".

Image from Nina Paley's Blog post: Embroidermation: Tree of Life

Seen below, Nina Paley and Theodore Gray used this technique to assemble a test animation based off of a shot that Nina animated for her "Tree of Life" sequence in the film Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet'.


Embroidermation: Tree of Life from Nina Paley on Vimeo.

Then, they went on to create another, complete, animated short using this technique and based on a children's song from the Jewish passover. You can view this animation below and learn more about the technique on Theodore's blog: "Theodore Gray".


And if you read all the way to the end of his blog post, Nina and Theodore have released the embroidery files that they used to create the animation frames.

Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" at the Detroit Institute of Arts

If you're in the Detroit area this Friday, June 5th, the Detroit Institute of Arts will be showing the animated feature film "The Prophet" based on the poetry of Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran.

The Prophet was produced by Salma Hayek and animated by Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), Bill Plympton (Idiots and Angels), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues) and Academy Award Winner Joan C. Gratz (Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase), among others.

This will be an outdoor screening, so bring a lawn chair or a blanket. Additionally, this is a free event! So there will be no charge to see the film.

Details on the screening can be seen on the DIA website. There is a Jazz performance at 7 p.m. followed by the screening at sundown--which they have listed at 9:30 p.m.




Hope to see some of you there. :)

Halas & Batchelor, 75 years young

As reported in the article "Halas and Batchelor - 75 Years Old today!" published by Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and written by Steve Henderson, today was the 75th anniversary* of the UK studio "Halas and Batchelor".

From the Skwigly article:

"To celebrate this anniversary of one of UK animation history’s most important studios, a new blog has been set up by Vivien Halas, manager of the Halas and Batchelor Collection, and Jez Stewart, animation curator at the BFI, that will chart the progression and selected highlights from the studio’s history over the next year."

The link to the new blog is here: halasbatchelor75.co.uk. However, be sure to take a moment and look over the rest of the article for more wonderful tidbits about the history of one of Britain's largest animation studios.

If you'd like to know more about Halas & Batchelor, there are many resources listed on the Halas & Batchelor Collection website. Two of my personal favorites are the mini documentaries published on YouTube by John and Joy's daughter Vivien Halas: "John Halas Remembered" (referenced in the Skwigly article),



and "Ode to Joy", which Vivien produced last year to commemorate what would have been her mother's 100th birthday.



You'll find these mini-documentaries as well as films produced by Halas & Batchelor on Vivien Halas' YouTube channel - the Halas & Batchelor Collection.

 *May 14, 2015