Concepts frowned on in the animation industry.

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Dee Zon of Yowsie

New member
Hi, first post here. :)

I just wanted to know if anyone had information on cartoon pitches that are generally considered taboo, things that studios don't want to touch or things that tend to bother animators. Something tells me that they're in flux, but I was curious as far as specifics.
 
I can think off a few ideas but I think the concept that has to do with God, the Devil, and all of that Biblical Angel/Demon stuff is not used often because it might be offensive or some other reason. I mean the cartoons I've seen don't use the words "Hell" or feature a "Satan" character(A good example is Him from the Powerpuff Girls, Him was suppose to be almost like Satan but they changed to make him the "ultimate evil")

I guess it because some parents don't want their kids to expose to the "devil".

Also I know they don't try to feature gay characters in most cartoons with the exception for the adult cartoons.
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Yet ambiguously gay characters are okay in cartoons regardless of who it's targeted towards.

I remember back on AWN.com, they gave people tips on pitching a show. A couple of the things you shouldn't do are:
  • Telling potential employers that your pitch is going to save their studio/network.
  • Pitch with lack of enthusiasm.
  • Get someone to pitch your series for you.
  • Pitch something is similar to another series they have (e.g. Foster's House for Abandoned Friends).
  • Pitch something that they wouldn't normally make (e.g. pitch an Adult Swim show to the Disney channel).
Hope that helps.
 
Those all seem like incredibly obvious points that anyone with a shred of brains would know enough to do. I mean, seriously? Have someone pitch the series for you? That just shows you're too lazy to do the work yourself. Lack of enthusiasm? Gee, if you can't even get excited about your own project, why should others be excited? Pitch something that they wouldn't normally make? No duh. They're not going to put a sitcom on CNN.
 
It depends on the audience you're aiming for. The majority of American animation is produced for children, so you should err on the side of caution if that's what you're looking to pitch. You've got soccer moms, advertisers, stockholders and licensees who will all push for non-controversial content.

As for gay characters... On the one side, we have Hasbro's "no gays" mandate written into the contract for the live action GI Joe movie. On the other, there are the subtle indications in the DC animated shows and Gargoyles. I think it's telling how Lexington is being handled, even in the comic book. His homosexuality is plausibly deniable because he did compete for Angela in the tv show and the comic implies a potential ss relationship with a character who lives in the UK. So under the cover of an long distance relationship and none of the forthrightness any of the straight characters get, they can probably drag it along under the cover of BFFs. But it's bound to change. Warner Brothers now has a family film franchise with at least one gay character in Dumbledore.

If you are interested in pitching a show with an openly gay character, I would wait to see how the next HP film does. Me, I'm going the comic book route for now. The first question I'd get pitching right now is "do they have to be gay or both guys?" And I'm waiting for both the fanbase and sales figures to show the market allows for it, before I start pitching my comic for tv.
 
Now, you see, I wanted to acutally do exactly this, give Disney a toned-down Apatow-like stab at real teenage life, that also evokes classic Termite Terrace style animation and writing. Of course, I'm only but a dreamer.
 
So, I guess Disney would never take a pitch on a movie/cartoon about a psychotic pre-teen that aims to takeover the world and that killed his own parents, would they? :sweat:
 
If you're not aware of whatever studio or network you're pitching to currently has in production, you run greater risk of pitching something they'd never produce. Learn the parameters of the studios you're pitching to, so you can adjust pitches and be prepared to compromise. Adult heroes will be requested made younger, predominately white casts diversified and if you must pitch Captain America to BET, go with Isiah Bradley and not Steve Rogers.
 
Forget executive pitches. More often than not you won't be able to get your idea past the approval stage. And if you do manage to get it past the approval stage, you're still subject to changes and restrictions.

If you really want to get your cartoon noticed, you're better making it a webtoon and cover costs through banner ads, promos, and subscriptions. At least with the Internet, you're not subject to restrictions and you have a good chance of getting your product noticed and have good (or bad) feedback.

Look at the Brothers Chaps for example. Homestarrunner.com is one of the, if not THE most popular webtoon online and is still going strong after 8 years. They didn't have to subject themselves to executive approval. They did their own thing and now they have legions of fans and fame because of it.
 
It's a little hard to say the studios should be avoided altogether. You may have the thing they're looking for at the time. I've seen it happen, but it's something I probably should keep under wraps for the time being. Said successful pitch is not yet on the air.

The real question is what you think may be of issue in your idea, Radio Clash. In terms of animation, I wouldn't be as concerned about the animators as much as the budget and studios you approach. It might not be practical on a tv animation budget. A studio might be more focused on near-theatrical quality and big name talent. And maybe you want that. I tend to think a concentrated production from a newcomer is probably easier to get picked up than a big, sprawling epic. You can always elaborate in later seasons too.
 
The animation industry will be deaf and blind to any concept that runs counter to the entertainment industry's politics: minority characters cannot be shown in a negative light unless they are counterbalanced by characters portrayed positively. In any competition between a male and female character, the female character must prevail. Wealth is a corrupting influence, while poverty is generally seen as spiritually uplifting. Left-wing political stances of dubious veracity (global warming, multiculturalism) are accepted uncritically as the "correct" way to think, while anything that challenges such beliefs (capitalism, patriotism) is usually the mindset of people who are misguided at best and evil at worst. Civilians never own guns, unless they are criminals.

Then there are those things that are taboo just because they imply something that could upset a young viewer: vampires are OK, just as long as you don't show them drinking blood. References to historical tragedies are forbidden if there is the possibility of survivors still being around (i.e.: you can mention the sinking of the Titanic, but not the Challenger explosion; the San Francisco Earthquake, but not Hurricane Katrina; Genghis Khan, but not Hitler)
 
Well for one thing it seems Disney has this attitude of "College is Taboo" and Nickelodeon follows the same logic (It seems you can't put cartoons into levels higher than their target group (for Disney this is 9-14 year olds, for Nick it's the same) but then Disney did something odd with Jake Long... for them High School is taboo and thus we probably won't see Jake going to high School any time soon, just like Kim Possible won't be going to college anytime soon.




How right you are. And in fact I seem to recall a couple things both Disney and Adult Swim did after the events of 9/11, the Columbia Shuttle Disaster, and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

For example after 9/11, Adult Swim refused to play one episode of Cowboy Bebop due to the fact they had a scene that was very similar to the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Then there's at least 2 episodes i know of in two different shows that weren't aired because of recent Tragedies (In Kim Possible's Monkey Ninjas in Space, they held off showing that episode for a full 3 months after the Columbia Shuttle failure, and just after January 2005 Disney Stopped Showing an Episode of The Legend of Tarzan (Called Tarzan and the New Wave) as the episode had an earthquake and subsequent Tsunami (Much like the Indian ocean event of December 2004).

So believe me if you try to pitch ideas to a show, make sure they're non-offensive, non generalistic that it could affect someone or someones, and above all, don't talk about college around the boys and girls at Disney... They hate the idea...(Except maybe in Live action Movies).

:coyote:
 
Maybe not carbon copies, but certainly pitches that are derivative of current hit wouldn't be in a disadvantaged situation (The three main networks have pumped out HOW many shows in the past few years featuring teens or pre-teens in the Peter Parker/X-Men/Powerpuff scenario, kids with quirks/hero status/superpowers?)

I'd love to see AWN's list of 5 things you SHOULD to for a pitch ("No 3. Design you show to be toyetic and easily merchandisable, and hey, maybe stick a puppy dog in there because the executive class LOVES puppy dogs.")
 
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