As we beef up our pitch for the animation project, decision was made to move forward and develop a short pilot in addition to a full blown trailer. This leads to a new challenge for the project — how can we best attract some fresh, up and coming writing talent to the project?.

In addition to looking out for writing that feels like it really matches the comic sensibilities of the project, decided to start posting an ad online. First place we decided to post on was Craigslist. Two reasons for this choice.

First, got to love the site’s refusal to sell out during the dot com boom and ability not to lose the organic feel that it had when it started up. Got to support that. Site is free for most everyone, except for some job and real estate postings in the largest markets.

The second reason is that during the Wonkette panel at SXSW I was unable to escape the captivating presence of Craig’s dome for over an hour.

That was like six months ago. Talk about the lasting power of subliminal suggestion.

Looking back over the journey of completing my first screenplay, I was thinking about what tools and experiences helped me complete the job.

During this review, was contemplating the years spent as an advertising copywriter and how they helped me grind out the kind of script I was trying to write.

(more…)

Received first feedback for the screenplay from a reader at Slamdance.

First the good stuff. The reader was thorough and gave some good overall opinions on how to improve the story.

Was happy that most all of the feedback was on “higher level” things like story and structure. No dings for basic things like format or layout or writing things you can’t see.

(more…)

Since we have both our copyright registration and trademark applications filed, decided it was time to go public and begin marketing our animation project — Diplocat.

(more…)

Completed the second draft of the screenplay recently and it was time again to seek out another pair of fresh eyes to help it along the way.

(more…)

Wanted to share a bit about applying for a trademark for the main character in our animated project. Used the Trademark Electronic Application System to file online.

Based on a first impression, would give the USPTO high marks for streamlining and automating this part of the application process so that the small business person can take this first step for a relatively reasonable fee of $325.

The animation project has a codename now — Project Furball.

(more…)

Yesterday we took another swing at finding a voice for the main character in our animation project. I took the lessons learned from earlier sessions and decided to share much more of what had been developed regarding the character’s look and bio.

(more…)

Last week we took the first swing at trying to put a voice to one of our animated characters. I contacted an old radio coworker and asked him if he was interested in giving it a shot. He was down for it so we booked some studio time.

(more…)

One of our projects in development is an animated series.

The characters were originally developed in 2D, but an opportunity to develop the project in 3D arose, so we took a leap of faith and started to develop a 3D version to see where it took us.

(more…)