How to write salable animation scripts for children’s programming, comic books, graphic novels, or video games

There are eight genres: children's programming, action/adventure, comedy/romantic comedy, horror, suspense/mystery, love story, drama/true life story, and science fiction. You can write scripts for graphic novels, comic books, video games, or animation for children's programming.

I'm starting with children's video programming because it's the most popular genre of the video script market. Children's programming is easiest to sell to and has specific needs.

The most important strategy for writing children's video scripts is to write from the general to the specific. Learning is emotional. To teach children and adults through video, knowledge must be gripping.

Writing gripping action and terse dialogue to stir the emotions while presenting likable characters is what makes a video script commercial. What readers mean by "good story structure" is saying it in as few words as possible, showing action visually, and moving it fast from crisis to crisis.

It's too abstract to describe the hero as shy. The script directs the hero to take a sudden interest in his shoes. I get at the universal by showing the concrete. Can you almost smell the waves and the salt of the sea or taste the brine in "The Old Man And The Sea?

2) WHY SHOULD I WRITE IN CARICATURE FOR KIDS?

If you want to teach a child with video, write in caricature. A video script teaches children and adults responsibility. Videos are used to train medical students. At Boston University's School of Medicine, a video disk allows students to handle real-life medical emergencies without real life consequences.

Companies that make computerized educational tools, also make videos that show actors performing in simulated emergency room scenarios. Such videos invite medical students to participate in the care of the patient.

These interactive videos are becoming popular for students from three to 90. What makes them successful is that the new decade of videos are interactive, and scripts are needed.

The choice the viewer makes in an interactive video determines what happens on-screen. Writing for interactive video technology is opening a whole new world for the freelance scriptwriter. A disk loads up with 50 alternative scenes to a drama, crisis, or situation. A viewer chooses a selection to determine which scenarios will be played out. Writing for children's video can be interactive or the old way, similar to feature films, television shows, and animation. How are the scripts planned and written?

3) HOW DO I PLAN A CHILDREN'S VIDEO SCRIPT?

Contexts define words for children. The child's mind between four and fourteen picks up 15 new words a day. As children watch videos, they set up categories and place new sounds, sights, textures, and words in those categories. They can imagine tastes and smells only inferred on the video tape.

Children don't want to see videos about birds. They want a script to form a category and tell them all about birds of prey. A child's attention span is only a few minutes long. Cartoons run 12 to 15 minutes with breaks in between.

To write for a child's limited resources and contexts, each scene needs to be short. A scene in an adult script runs an average of 2 to 3 pages (two to three minutes). A children's video scene runs half of that. An adult feature film contains approximately 55 scenes. A children's video script runs twice that for a two-hour feature, but most children's programming isn't feature films for children.

It's short takes, instructional, games, and 2,000-word stories on video that runs under eight minutes. Animation scripts average 12 to 15 minutes, two page per minute as opposed to a live-action video or feature film script that averages one page per minute.

The three most popular and fastest selling video genres for the nineties decade are children's, adventure/action, and comedy. Each year, the films that earn the most money target a genre, succeed, and are transferred to video tape for rentals and sales to the public. One year it's action/adventure comic book movies, another year it's children's films, another it's comedy.

4) HOW CAN I GROW WITH CHILDREN'S VIDEO?

To write for children, ask any five-year-old what makes him/her laugh. Children are most creative at five in a way every adult writer wishes he/she could emulate. Adults laugh at a higher octave of the same surprise element.

Children's comedies and adventure/action themes are most popular because they sell excitement and escape. These genres and themes are used to sell everything from toys to school instruction to games.

Any one of these genres can be combined as in romantic comedy which combines love story and comedy or drama/true life story, which can be one person's story of personal growth and change.

In addition to these genres for all ages, there are children's soft-core, zoo-babies animation, (Smurfs, Muppets), hard-core adventure/action animation, (Robocop, Ninja Turtles, X-Men), and children's programming which contains action, comedy, romance, science fiction, drama, suspense, or a children's-oriented love story such as Cinderella, Snow White, Mary Poppins, or The Sound Of Music.

In addition to fictional scripts, are the educational non-fiction videos for children's programming (Sesame Street to instructional videos for schools and home rental/sale.) Scripts are continuously needed for children's programming videos, children's drama, broadcast T.V., and animation.

First came the computer games for children, the interactive fiction software, then came the videos that include everything from children's games to instruction to entertainment fiction and non-fiction. There's video-assisted instruction (VAI) in the non-fiction category, and fictional adventures, animation, and games on tape in the entertainment/escape arena.

The television market for animation scripts includes animation scripts for commercials, infomercials, and non-broadcast instructional videos for children sold through catalogues, to schools, and through children's and toy stores. Children's video programming is the fastest-growing genre in original programming, comprising 25% of total home video sales.

Studies show children watch the same home video tape 30 to 50 times. Children's programming rents continuously, and children's video tapes are inexpensive. If you want to corner a market on writing for video, children's programming is the place to focus on for the nineties.

5) HOW DO I WRITE A VIDEO SCRIPT FOR CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING?

I have the best chance of selling a video script for childen if I focus on a two-hour feature film cornering the low-budget or ultra low-budget market. The producer I seek out will definitely transfer my script to video tape after filming it in 16mm or 35mm.

The film could be non-union, on a budget of $350,000. I plan to request the acceptable 2% of the budget as my fee.

Chances are the producer may offer me 1% of the budget as my fee, or a flat fee of anywhere from $1,500 to $7,500--with an average of $2,000 or $3,000 and 1% ownership of the film when and if the gross receipts exceed $200,000.

These are all reasonable non-union fees producers have offered to beginning script writers. I will hold out for 2% of the budget, if I can't get an agent or producer to pay me WGA union minimums (which is my ultimate goal).

When I write for children's video programming, I may choose any of the six genres that appear in films, such as comedy, adventure action, drama, or science fiction.

If adventure action and comedy fill most of the racks in the video store, it's logical that these two genres starring children are most likely to be sought after by producers looking for a children's script.

Chances are the adventure action script should be low budget, and comedy, still lower budget. I may even find an ultra-low budget children's video producer filming in super 8 film, enlarging, and transferring the film to video tape for sales, rentals, and distribution of children's programming world-wide.

What all these genres have in common is that the producers need a continuous supply of scripts. Some of these videos are large-studio, successful films that are transferred to tape for video rentals and sales.

Other videos are made by ultra low-budget producers and guerrilla filmmakers who do not hire writers from the Writer's Guild of America, the national union for screenwriters.

6) HOW CAN I PRE-SELL MY SCRIPT BEFORE I WRITE IT?

I can choose two routes. I can write union and reject the non-union producers who can't afford to pay writers union minimums. If I choose the union route, I can query a literary/talent agent in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, or New York, send my script, and hope that I'm important enough to warrant his/her taking me on as a client.

Or I can choose someone known to the agent to recommend me as a client. Most agents prefer to take a client writer recommended by someone established in the video or film industry known to the agent.

If I choose an agent willing to take me on even though nobody knows me and I live outside of Los Angeles, where most films are made for video distribution, that agent may choose to charge me a reading fee anywhere from $100 to $300 per script, more or less, depending upon the agent's price. I could loose that money if the agent reads my script, sends me a critique several pages long, and returns the script.

I could hire an entertainment attorney in Hollywood who deals with the film and video industry daily to send my script to big-name producers and actors/actresses for a fee.

At least these producers will hire through the Writer's Guild of American Union. If no agent wants me, and I'm sure my script is good, I can go this route. If I send the script myself to most union-affiliated producers, it will either be returned unread, or I'll be sent a release form from the studio. I can always ask the studio to send me a release form first. Only certain studios have release forms, usually animation studios.

If I choose to sell my video script to one of the low-budget independent producers for the standard, non-union two percent of the budget, I must select a genre that has the best chance of selling successfully. Next, I must select a producer most likely to film in that genre and transfer to video tape for distribution.

I select as my first script to write a children's comedy, low-budget, with some adventure/action, but pared to the bone in costs and no dangerous stunts. There could be computer-generated special effects of the kind that can be done at a low-cost to the producer, such as brief cuts of computer video games or visual simulations.

The excitement and escape value will be in the script, but the theme that moves my action forward is the comedy and story line or story structure. How do I write comedy--for children?

I have to make a decision. Will it be live action, or animation? More live action scripts are sold to low budget producers each day than animation scripts, so I'll save my animation idea about saving the environment for my second script. My queries and questions to low-budget producers and video software distributors revealed that an increasing number of producers are seeking children's comedies about the environment and family comedies about real estate.

7) WHAT THEMES IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING VIDEOS HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF SELLING TO A PRODUCER OR BEING FINANCED?

My decision is to focus on a children's video about saving the environment and focus my sub-plot on real estate. I will write about a likable, homeless family (with two children, age 8 and 11) who sleep in their van because both parents are down-on-their-luck and out of work. One day the van happens to park next to a house where a middle-class family of parents and children of the same age live.

The children wind up meeting one another, then the parents, then the conflict, and the comedy erupts, then the action, and finally the excitement and escape theme. One family decides to take an interest in the other family. The plot develops through the children or one child as the leading or best character(s).

It's all kept low-budget, one location, a fast-moving plot, easily understandable to children. The theme is entertainment, excitement, surprise, spontaneity, escape, and comedy. There's a wholesome message in the comedy about saving the environment, helping a homeless family with children get back on their feet, and enjoying the fun of being a child at play.

HOW DO I WRITE A CHILDREN'S COMEDY SCRIPT FOR VIDEO?

If you decide to write a comedy genre script, focus either on five, ten, or fifteen-minute skits for a particular comic and market the script to television and stand up comics through ads in the entertainment trade journals and newspapers. Or I can write a feature for the video rental or television movie-of-the-week market as a two-hour teleplay.

The first step in writing a comedy script for video is to consider that it's going to be lower budget than writing for a feature film. It's going to be verbal. Films are more visual. Videos are more verbal. It's more likely to star a female lead role if it's destined for video or television. The video comedy script will have less panorama and outdoor scenes, more indoor locations and shopping mall shots.

There will be less stunts and special effects, unless they can be generated on a computer. The script will have opposition from four antagonists hitting the lead character from four different points. I am going to start with a premise of one short sentence under fifteen words which I will pitch as my "high concept comedy script for video."

10) HOW DO I PITCH MY PREMISE IN MY ONE-PAGE SYNOPSIS?

An example of a premise pitch for "Star Trek" is the sentence: "'Star Trek' is 'Wagon Train' in space." I have 20 seconds to verbally pitch your premise in person to a producer.

Those first five seconds of the phone call with the commercial title and high concept premise is the selling point. Does the title make an impact in a few words? Titles sell in video the same as they do on book covers. "How To Be A Man's Woman" is more commercial than "Woman To Woman." "Guerrilla Marketing Video Strategies is more commercial than "How to Sell Your Script."

"Adapting Novels To Screenplays" is more commercial than "How To Write Adaptations From Stories." The secret is in using vivid verbs, dramatic nouns that excite, and keeping the action moving forward with as few words as possible that says it all. For example, "Blood fired from his fingertips" is more commercial than "He cut his fingers."

This short sentence will be the premise I'll pitch on the phone and in writing to producers, agents, and the media. What makes it "high concept" is that the theme or plot can be pitched in one short sentence.

HOW MANY WAYS CAN I PITCH A PREMISE?

The first sentence of my treatment is the premise. It tells the prospective producer or agent in 10 seconds or less what my comedy script will be about and how marketable it's potential is to the genre. Now that I chose a genre that's the most popular seller to video stores and the most likely choice of low-budget producers, my next step is to write a one-page synopsis. The same one sentence premise will be used to tell the media via a press kit why my script is so valuable and commercial.

The premise for the video script, "Dreamland, Nevada," reads, "How many human females were abducted and impregnated by UFO aliens last year?" The premise for the video script, "Playpen Hostages" begins, "The theatre of Ecological Terrorism erupts when environmental activists commit acts of terror around the world in the name of animal rights." Or consider when the title becomes the short premise for a video documentary script as in, "Fighting International Child Custody Disputes Around The World." Even these premises can be shortened.

A rule of thumb is to keep your premise pared down to a 10 to 15-word sentence. After you've pitched your premise for impact, tell the producer it's a high-concept script, which means it's plot can be summed up in one sentence.

WHAT DO I PUT IN EACH PARAGRAPH OF MY ONE-PAGE SYNOPSIS?

The one-page synopsis is a brief outline of my treatment. Before I write anything else of my treatment, I write a one-page synopsis consisting of five to six single spaced paragraphs with a space between each paragraph which tells the reader in sixty seconds everything that needs to be known about the successful marketability, the budget, the storyline, and the subplot of my video script.

As in the treatment, my first sentence is my premise. "Two Astronauts" is a comedy/suspense script for the video market about two women trying to get a mission flight specialist's job in the space program who uncover criminal activities. "Midnight Shift" is a comedy about an obnoxious radio talk show popshrink who teams up with a telephone company switchman to solve diplomatic crime between midnight and dawn.

The second paragraph of my one-page synopsis names my best character. This is my leading character, also known as the protagonist will be grow and change in the script to the point that the growth range can be measured. The more my best character grows, the tighter the story structure is.

When you have a premise and a one-page synopsis, the next step is to begin to draw a story board using thumb-nail sketches of the scenes and acts. It should look like a rough version of a comic book with panels for action and dialogue.

For the meantime, leave the dialogue out and draw the action scenes. Put in the dialogue last.

All the action is written first in a rough script. The dialogue goes in last after the "fishbone of the action" or structure of the story is visualized on a story board.

The producer will want to see the story board first. If the script is bought, the story board goes to the director who adds more depth to the scenes. (Study Spike LeeSpike Lee's storyboards where each scene is like a comic strip panel rough drawing.

WHAT GOES INTO THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF MY SYNOPSIS?

The first sentence is under 15 words, if possible. It contains the title of the video script, a description of what happens. For example, The (name of video script) is the last chance at new lives for four inner city juvenile delinquents." In the second sentence of your first paragraph synopsis, name the best character.

"It's Anne Joan Levine's last chance to prove her credibility to her punitive colleages." The third and last sentence of your first paragraph shows the possible outcome. "Anything can happen when the unholy four pit their personalities in a contest of wills against the system."

The third paragraph of your synopsis describes everything you want to know about the hero. Profile the behavior of your leading character in the style that the FBI uses to profile the behavior of a suspect. What kind of car is driven? What is the conflict in the character's life? Who are friendly and who is perceived as the enemy?

The fourth paragraph introduces the enemies and all the paranoia. In what ways are the opposite strong?

The fifth paragraph of the synopsis gives the plot and its highest crisis point, the fight between two opposite personality styles In a sentence describe how and why the hero chooses electronic proximity on the Internet and bodynets to communicate versus isolation in a wilderness, or any other plot you select. One of the best plots to pursue is the advance of virtual reality versus the retreat of those overloaded with information yet connected to the world in 3-D. Keep your paragraphs about three sentences long.

The sixth and final paragraph explains how the maturity of the hero. How will the hero ultimately learn who's in charge--the self or others? Who or what writes the hero's destiny?

Mention a few of the action scenes in a sentence such as "an action-packed thriller." How will it grab the audience?

The six paragraphs fills one page, single spaced typed, with a space between each paragraph. This is what the producer or agent will hear or read after the query letter.

IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITING FOR CHILDREN'S VIDEO AND WRITING FOR ADULT VIEWERS?

A child's eye picks up words in batches. Electronic proximity, a term used by MIT Laboratory scientists and authors such as Michael Dertouzos, (What Will Be) are deeply concerned about electronic proximity. Themes about global proximity on the Internet work well in children's programming. With bodynets and smart glasses, people are interested in hearing how they will communicate to computers through the clothing they wear, such as antennas imprinted on cloth. Use these themes to develop shows.

In a video script, the action defines a new word. Look at the popularity and omnipresence among children of the Ninja Turtle coined word, 'Cowabunga!' What new word can be coined that children nationwide will call out every chance they have? The child viewer must be able to predict the meaning of words by watching the action in the video.

Thinking like a child requires asking children what they think and feel. A child's response on a tape recorder makes excellent dialogue when pared down to 10-word sentences. Show everything in the universe happening because of the child or to please him or working the same way the child does.

To find dialogue for children's video characters, ask a five year old why does the sun shine? Ask a child under six why does the wind blow? A four-year old will say trees can pick up loose change with their twigs. This is excellent animation inspiration.

The average writer isn't able the access an elementary school classroom to interview children, but seeing a video through a child's eyes is possible. Babysitting a variety of 5 to 7 year-olds for a weekend is good research for writing children's video. If the video is there to show children their ideas are all wrong, the positive attraction of the tape could entertain, explain, and excite. Children's video shakes ideas out of kids.

To write a kiddie video script, take the child to a new universe and immediately fill it up with something more exciting and entertaining. Children, like adults, look for upbeat endings to make them feel good about themselves. Everyone grows toward what makes him do the spontaneous.

Is your script easy to understand. Does it make sense to a five-year old? Shaking up a kid's world never means crushing imagination, only enhancing it with entertainment, impact, and excitement. The same strategy applies to video scripts for adults. Only bring it up to the level of the average adult who wants entertainment with a twist. The adult wants to be taken to a time when everything was more positive, carried through a tunnel of conflict to re-enact the birthing process, and returned to the positive state having grown smarter.

HOW DO I WRITE CHILDREN'S ANIMATION VIDEO SCRIPTS?

Children's video requires writing in caricature to match the animator's caricature drawings in computer or cell animation. February is the month when most shows are picked up. Write for the future.

To pitch a story line, call the studios the month when they are pitching network shows. Back in the eighties, exceptions to the February pickup rule included shows like "The Smurfs" (Hanna Barbera) and "Fraggle Rock" (Marvel Studios), which got early pick-ups. When you write for children, remember that all today's fifth graders will be working at jobs in ten years from now that don't even have names yet.

You're selling total immersion when you write a script for virtual reality. Another alternative is to write for 3-D where there is presence, but not total immersion for the viewer. Avatars use 3-D or regular 2-D video, but unless you write for true virtual reality, you're not in total immersion. You're in presence.