Potential Series Pilot

b15fliptop · Post by **b15fliptop** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:49 pm

This is a trailer for a pilot I made for a half-hour animated series called Sea of Idiots. If you could see the entire opening credits the name would make more sense. Anyhoo... the original idea was to try and shop this to networks, which has proven to be much more difficult than expected. We are now planning a series of 2 or 3 minute webisodes, the first of which is almost done. We have 3 more written, and several more ideas, so there should be new content fairly often.

I'd love to know what you guys think of the trailer!

http://vimeo.com/3232370

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:26 pm

Nice! And it made me curious about what the characters are like. Be sure to let us forum-dwellers know when you start your webisodes!

Hey, would you mind sharing what happened with the networks? What did you do, what did the networks say to you, and what did you learn? Also, which companies did you contact? I have an idea for a series that I've been tinkering on for a while, and I'd like to know what to expect once I finally get all my ducks in a row.

b15fliptop · Post by **b15fliptop** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:42 am

What happened with the networks.... very little, to be frank. We had strong connections to insiders at Cartoon Network, Mark Cuban's production company, and a talent agency owner who casts shows for CBS. Basically, they have all had the pilot for almost three months, and we haven't heard anything. Our guy at Cartoon Network (an editor) loved it, but his higher-ups haven't even watched it, as far as we know. The guy who owns the talent agency liked it, but doesn't know how he can help us.

Anyway, we got a little frustrated at first, and then just decided to tackle the internet and try to build a following online. Maybe that could lead to industry interest, maybe not. If not, there are several models for online success, so we're going to see how far we can take it on our own.

I'll definitely let the forum members know when the webisodes roll out. I do everything is ASP (except titles and a few effects that I do in Motion), so I feel a certain loyalty to ASP and it's users.

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:46 am

b15fliptop wrote:Anyway, we got a little frustrated at first, and then just decided to tackle the internet and try to build a following online.

That sounds like a good plan. Good luck with everything! Your art seems professional enough. If the story is as good, you should have some degree of success, I think.

Thanks for answering my questions.

realsnake · Post by **realsnake** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:51 am

looks interesting

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:13 pm

I'm wondering, what did you include in your packet? Did you send a completed script for the first episode? Did you include a few minutes of completed animation taken from the script, with voice actors, sound effects and everything? And, if so, how many minutes of animation did you send them (not counting the trailer)?

How did you learn what to send them in the first place?

Also, don't give up hope that the company bigwigs might finally get around to reviewing your idea. Me, I wouldn't give up hope for at least one year.

Or maybe six months...whichever came first.

b15fliptop · Post by **b15fliptop** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:30 pm

We sent a complete 22 minute episode on DVD. We actually have another episode fully scripted, detailed outlines for four more episodes, synopses for I think an additional fourteen episodes, and a show bible that describes all of the characters, the world that the show takes place in, etc.

So far, all they have asked for was the actual pilot, but we decided to do all the extra work based on some info we got online (there are samples of actual show bibles available online if you do a little googling) and a couple of books about writing for television. Writing Television Sitcoms by Evan S. Smith is an excellent book, that not only has some great writing tips, but detailed sections on how to get an agent, pitch a show, etc.

I'm not giving up on the networks, we (my partner and I) just decided that we didn't want to sit by passively and wait for something to happen. Building an online audience is just another way to show that we have thought this thing through beyond the episode that we produced.

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:56 pm

Thanks for the fast reply!

Whoa. A whole 22-minute episode!

I wonder how often people do that... I was under the impression that virtually nobody did that--that it takes too much time, money and resources.

Maybe the people you sent the DVDs to died from shock.

b15fliptop · Post by **b15fliptop** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:11 pm

Yeah, it definitely isn't the normal route, but we really wanted to show definitively what the show would be like. It was a LOT of work, too. It took six months full time to pull it off, including the voice acting, editing the dialog, writing the music, animating and editing on the visual end, etc.

Hopefully it wasn't all for naught!

realsnake · Post by **realsnake** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:31 pm

d-soldier · Post by **d-soldier** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:08 pm

Nice... it looks very professional. Looking forward to seeing more of this soon.