Make Dreams Happen...Yours and Others - Grant Writing Success
FADE IN:
Thanks for stopping back for this week's text-webisode. We're so glad you liked our debut launch.
We're thrilled to welcome back Joelle Sellner to the Got Toon-Game Scribe? interview chair for - PART TWO - a second look inside her exciting freelance animation, copywriting, game and comic book writing world.
She also has some great advice for newcomers. So grab your favorite beverage...
and comfy chair ...and enjoy!
GTGS - What should a successful animation script have?
Joelle: If it's comedy, the jokes need to be character-driven. In action, I try to focus on interesting set pieces for the fight scenes. All scripts need to have an emotional arc for the character. Kids need to care about the hero/protagonist or they'll stop watching.
GTGS: What kind of specs should newcomers write?
Joelle: Newcomers should
have one example of each, a comedy and an action spec. There's a lot of
preschool work, so a spec in that genre wouldn't hurt. Comedic shows will also
read live action sitcoms.
GTGS: What are a few common mistakes new writers
make?
Joelle: Sometimes new writers get very attached to their work and don't want to cut any of it. Scripts are 22 minutes or shorter - the network isn't going to extend the show to include that great action sequence you wrote.
If your story editor tells you to cut something, just cut it. Don't argue and don't sneak it back in thinking they won't notice. If it's really the best joke you've ever written, use it in your next script.
GTGS: What's the most
important part of the animation script?
Joelle: Getting the audience
to connect with the characters.
GTGS: How does writing for video games differ from
animation writing? How did you land that gig? What kind of spec did you show? What
specs do you present to a video game company?
Joelle: An animation script
has a specific format. In a 22-minute show you have two or three acts, act
breaks with cliffhangers and a resolution at the end. Game writing isn't that
structured.
When the player makes a decision, you have to write what happens in
each possible scenario. Some companies have you write using software designed
to handle this branching situation, other writers have to write in Excel.
The company I'm currently working for contacted me. I'm not sure whether they
already had my resume. I sent them an episode of another web show I wrote for
which was a good match for their demographic.
Since most game jobs I apply for
are action-oriented, I usually send out my Avengers episode or something with
good fight scenes. Some companies only want to see other examples of game
writing, and many will give you a writing test to see if your style matches
theirs.
(Ben 10 Omniverse Game)
GTGS: How did you
start writing for comic books? What is the best way to get started?
Joelle: I was very lucky. I had written for a show called Secret Saturdays on CartoonNetwork. A good friend of mine had been an editor at DC and got me in touch with some people he knew over there.
DC (DC Comics) was publishing a Cartoon Network comic
with stories from their shows, including Secret Saturdays. I sent in some
pitches and ended up writing two stories for them.
If you're not established as
a professional writer in another field, the best way to get in is to publish
your own comic. With the web, the barriers to entry are lower so if you put up
your own web comic and get a following, people will notice. You don't need a
lot of money, just enough to pay an artist if you can't draw.
GTGS: What inspired you to
write your feature screenplay, Flushing?
JOELLE: Flushing is loosely
based on what happened to me when I was sixteen and lost my mother. I had no
other family or guardian to go to, so it was a strange time for me and
something I always wanted to write about one day.
GTGS: Feel free to add any
final advice or words of encouragement to writers from neophytes to
professionals?
Joelle: Try to write something every day, whether someone's paying you for it or not.
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