Reader Question Today I want to answer a question that I’m approached about quite often… “I’ve written a picture book that I think would work well as an animated film. Where do I start?” First off, This article isn’t just for picture book authors. It includes plenty of useful tips for anyone with a screenplay to…
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How to Handle Difficult Feedback – Four Tips for Writers
I’ve got a great topic to discuss today: how to handle difficult feedback. I’ve had to deal with difficult feedback more times than I can remember. 😭 You too? There’s always the urge put the damn thing away and move on to something else until you feel braver, right? But what if you never feel brave enough? What…
Am I Writing a One-Off or a Series?
Question: I’ve written a story and I’d like to know, is it a one-off or could it be a series? I want to share a recent question that came up in a call with one of my clients. It relates to writing a series or a one-off. Children’s animation and picture books will be the focus…
How to Decide the Target Audience of your Cartoon Series
Reader Question Colin got in touch to ask “I have ideas around a children’s cartoon TV series. My question is: how do you work out the target age? I.e. 2-3 years or 4-5 years etc or can you write a generic script sample that covers 2-6 years?” Thanks for getting in touch, that’s a…
Developing a Kids’ Animation Series for TV [PART FIVE]
Our First Commission Followed by a Pandemic The last of a 5-part series where I take you behind the scenes of the most fulfilling experience of my writing life: developing a kids’ animation series for TV. In this installment, I’ll talk about how we nabbed our first TV commission for an animated Christmas Special. I’ll also…
Developing a Kids’ Animation Series for TV [PART THREE]
Pitching at Cartoon Forum The third of a 5-part series where I take you behind the scenes of the most fulfilling experience of my writing life: developing a kids’ animated TV series. In this instalment, I’ll tell you all about preparing for and pitching at Cartoon Forum – one of the biggest cartoon networking events in…
Developing a Kids’ Animation Series for TV [PART TWO]
Applying for Funding The second of a 5-part series where I take you behind the scenes of the most fulfilling experience of my writing life: developing a kids’ animated TV series. As I said in Part One this 6-year rollercoaster was filled with both success and failure. I hope my journey will be both interesting and…
Developing a Kids’ Animation Series for TV [PART ONE]
A Writer’s Journey This is the first of a 5-part series where I’ll share the ins and outs of one of the most fulfilling experiences of my writing life: developing a pre-school kids’ animation series for TV. This 6-year rollercoaster ultimately ended in failure, but there were some amazing successes along the way. So, after grappling…
15 Tips For Writing Children’s Animation
Thanks to a combination of luck and hard work, I’ve ended up working in animation, and I have to say I absolutely love it. It’s fun, it’s silly, and I get to make myself chuckle on a daily basis. What could be better than that?! If animation is a field you’re interested in, but don’t…