October 2, 2007
Amongst all the other insanity, I have been busy trying to get the designs wrapped up for Side Show Christmas so that we can move the project forward for production this winter. Chris Steininger, has brought his distinct design vision to the universe of this show.
October 1, 2007
I have been working for the last two weeks on the development of a proposal for 4 animated commercials for SaskTel.
Here is some of the concept art (from the always amazing Jordan R) that we included in the package.
September 17, 2007
I am off to the Ottawa Television Animation conference tomorrow. I am quite excited about it this year, last year was my first time so it took a bit to figure out what was going on and then it was over. This year I am ready.
So far my meetings include Teletoon, CBC Kids, YTV, Cartoon Network, and Jetix Europe as well as other animation producers & executive producers. I had a lot of luck with the FastTrack, and have been able to get meetings with everyone who I would like to speak to.
My meetings are primarily focused around moving Side Show Christmas and Toby’s Canada forward, however I have been developing a new TV show for this conference that I am really excited to pitch to broadcasters for the first time.
Boxed Out is an adult, animated Situation Comedy, that Jeff Martel (A Fairy Tale Christmas, Side Show Christmas) and I have been developing / designing for the Detour Pilot Project or the Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Our focus has been on story, the creation of an original, unexpected, situation, universe and characters + a couple of juicy ideas for episodes.
Ideally we will get enough interest in this project to move forward in development, however it has been fun developing this idea as it is.
Boxed Out
Climbing back to the top of the heap has never been harder… or funnier
13 x 22 Animated Adult Situation Comedy
It’s like: Fat Actress meets Entourage set in an animated world where Cereal Box stars reign as the ultimate glitterati.
Logline: For ten years Donnie Delight was the biggest and brightest star in the world of Cereal Box Celebrities, until his career mysteriously landed in the toilet; now he’ll do anything to get back on top in the land of the rich, famous… and sleazy.
The community of Highland Falls lays claim to one thing: Breakfast Cereal… where it is the fuel of life. It’s a cereal town… manufacturing, marketing and the stars that hawk their cereals’ parade as the undisputed kings and queens.
Donnie Delight (a.k.a Donald Francis Kowalsky) was the toast of the town and the cream of the crop of all Cereal Box stars. Starting out as a rosy-cheekd kid, Donnie enjoyed the height of fame for ten years: his face plastered on his cereal box… Crunchy Sugar O Delights… bill boards, personal appearances, elaborate commercials that featured his multi-talented performances. He shone as the undisputed star, until one day… it ended: contract terminated; calls to the head of Nero Brand Cereals, Mr. Arnold Nero went unreturned; even his agent, tough as nails, Angela Demotrakas doesn’t have the time of day for her former favorite client. Broke, instant has-been, Donnie loses his mansion and all the trappings of fame (well… except his cell phone and its list of important people).
On his quest for a soft place to land, Donnie turns to him mom and dad: Marjorie and Frank Kowalsky but he discovers that they don’t have room in their empty nest and they’ve blown all the money he earned while he was a child star. Obsessed by her on-line shopping habit, Marjorie surfaces just long enough to tell her son to settle down and start a family. Meanwhile, Frank has become a Cereal Box Celebrity manager, with a stable of young impressionable clients ready and willing to do anything to break into the business.
Donnie ends on the doorstep of General Munch, a self-made Rastafarian pirate and long running cereal box celebrity. Munch lets Donnie string up a hammock in his house boat/party palace where Donnie begins his quest: restore his career while negotiating the twists, turns and outrageous characters like Snack, Crack and Crunch (long time, surly, unreasonable stars of their own cereal), Larry the Leapord (Donnie’s fitness guru and self-appointed life coach) and Cassandra Nero (the famous for being the famous daughter of rich and famous Arnold Nero and Donnie’s girlfriend for one night… before he fell from grace!).
Donnie remains fixed on getting back into the business and he’ll do anything to succeed: there is no one he won’t hustle for work, no public appearance too small, no dinner theater too shabby, no publicity stunt too outrageous, no angle too thin to be worked in Donnie Delight’s desperate climb back to the top of the Cereal Box world.
September 6, 2007
Here is a location design for Side Show Christmas. Keep up the good work Jordan!!
To get to the North Pole, Sandwell and his troop from The Most Unbelievable Show on Earth must bypass a couple of challenges. The Angry Elf Cavern is one of them.
August 8, 2007
I just bought my pass for the Ottawa Television Animation Conference in, you guessed it, Ottawa from the 19th to 20th of September.
I personally think that this event is probably one of the best events you can go to if you are interested in pitching shows to the major Canadian and US commissioning animation broadcasters. Last year Teletoon, CBC Kids, YTV, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and others were all in attendance and relatively accessible for meetings.
In addition to being significantly cheaper than Banff, Kids Screen, or markets like MIP, it is intimate setting with a very small group of animation focused broadcasters, producers and creators. There are many great panel discussions that allow you to see what trends are developing in the animation industry at a very high level. If, like myself, you are from somewhere out in woods like Saskatchewan, this information is absolutely invaluable.
I personally am on the lookout for new projects that I can get behind and help develop, so if you are going to be at the event, make sure to drop me a line.
July 29, 2007
June 19, 2007
I have been working on an “epic” 3 minute animated film for about the last year. It is a period piece that is adapted from a graphic novella called Seelenheil, and is set during WWII. It has been a very involved film to animate with intense subject matter and a wide range of characters and locations. Rick Stefanowski is producing and put together financing for the film from SaskFilm, the National Film Board of Canada (FAP), and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
The film is animated using hand drawn assets within Flash. It is at that exciting point of creation because right now the animation is finished, we are very close to locking the picture now, and all the colored backgrounds (we are going for a film noir / watercolor look) are starting to appear.
Here are a couple of shots from the show.
June 15, 2007
BWTVF - The best place to sex up your tv projects with a Canadian Broadcaster (and some internation ones too!)
Well, after a long dark deer dodging drive home with Anand Ramayya, a fellow Saskatoon Producer / Director, I am back at home, processing all that I saw and heard at the 2007 Banff World Television Festival.
Some of the highlights for the festival for me included having the whole shebang paid for through a CTV Western Canada Fellowship - (Thanks again CTV - you guys rock) - If you have some professional level producer / director experience and live somewhere to the west of Ontario, I highly recommend applying for this - just make sure that you have solid letters of recommendation from respected sources in the industry.
Also had the good fortune to room with Antonio (Tony) Hrynchuck and Anand Ramayya at the Fox’s Den on Beaver Street. This B&B was awesome. We were within staggering, perhaps even crawling distance of the St. James Gate and the Opening Night Party hosted by SaskFilm and SCN at the Rose and Crown. Plus it was a great place for us to hang together and de-stress from the rigors of the festival.
Personally my projects were very well received this year. In the past I have often left Banff feeling somewhat like I just got jilted at the High School dance. I am not quite ready to share my personal developments, however I am sure they will come out over the next couple of months as I get into formal agreements around them, however what I will do is share some insights to what the animation broadcasters in Canada are looking for.
Teletoon: I met with Michael Goldsmith, the new director of Original Content. He is great. They are really looking for original Canadian 1/2 hour dramady and 6-9 boys action / comedy that can play in their 4-6 pm after school block. They have expressed a willingness to look beyond pure animation and develop projects that are a hybrid of live action and animation.
Interestingly, Teletoon is also going to be starting a Pilot project for adult animation that targets those 18-25 year olds guys who watch the detour. They are looking for Satyrical, Edgy, Off The Wall shows. If you think you have the next Robot Chicken or Family Guy, they want to talk to you…….. but make sure to talk to me first so we can see if we can work on it together 
CBC Kids: I met with Kim Wilson, Creative Head, Children’s Programming. It was nice, she remembered me from the Ottawa Television Animation Conference - going to these things really does pay off over time. The big change at the CBC these days is that Children’s has their own pot of money from which they can develop projects. Our children’s projects used to compete with other projects in the TV Arts & Entertainment area which resulted in not many projects moving forward last year.
CBC is primarily looking for quality Canadian Pre-school programming that can play weekday mornings. Example of the shows that are working and they would like more of are Poko, Lunar Jim, and Pinky Dinky Do (That wacky story spinning rodent), however they are also interested in a clever comedy that also targets older children for the 7-8 am block. Also of interest big batches of short interstitials 40* 3-5 minute.
YTV / Corus: I met with Jamie Piekarz from YTV and Corus, and also had the chance to go to a YTV broadcaster briefing session. YTV is primarily looking for animated sit-coms (ala Being Ian) that can play during the Zone. Also of interest Action / Comedy / Adventure that can play during Crunch on Saturday Morning. Additionally they are looking for children’s reality programs like Prank Patrol. YTV has also expressed a great deal of interest in 1 minute animated shorts that can play on their web site YTV.com.
Some things to keep in mind when you are developing your shows for YTV. They are really interested in programming where children are the protagonists and drive the episodes. YTV wants to work with writers and producers who are willing to mine their characters and really find out who they are, and how they drive the stories before you pitch to them. They want you to do your homework before you come to them,
From the experience I had with my pitch, I can tell you that they are very much interested in internal Character descriptions that are speak to who there kids really are. What drives them, what motivates them.
That’s all I have to say for now, if you have questions about these channels watch them and try to think about where your idea can fit in to their schedule.
Next up on my travel agenda for meeting with broadcasters is the Ottawa Television Animation Conference.
May 22, 2007
The Side Show Christmas is a 1 hour Flash animated Christmas Special in development with Teletoon Canada and SCN. I am producing for Cheshire Smile Animation Inc. Ideally we are looking at production this Fall / Winter with the broadcast premier in 2008.
I have been working with Chris Steininger to develop the character designs for the show. Jeff Martel created Side Show Christmas and is currently writing the 2nd Draft of the screenplay. I pitched the show to Teletoon at 2006 Banff Television Festival and have been developing the show with them since then.
These are some of the characters Chris has conceived to date. The animation design phase of developing this project has been a challenging experience because in the beginning we conceived and pitched the story to our broadcasters without any artwork. We have have had to work with the Broadcaster to develop a style for the show which fits their vision. Needless to say, these have not been our first attempts.
