Thoughts after Pitching an Animated TV Show. Part 1.

BLOG - Animation Pitch

As promised, here are my first thoughts after having the opportunity to pitch an animated series.

This is not the first time I've pitched to television. The first time was a live action sitcom that I pitched to two of the cable networks. There was some interest but no bite, then an animated series to one of the educational networks. No bite or response there.

I can't tell you a whole lot about the current pitch itself because I expect to hear back from the producer with in the week.

Probably the most frustrating thing of the day was that I was late. Late by only a few minutes, but late all the same. The producer wasn't bothered by this, but it really shouldn't have happen. I'm prone to showing up places early, so this was really bothering me as I was stuck in snail crawling traffic. But I can't let that frustration get to me, admit it, apologize and move on. No excuses.

The next thing that came, as it should, was the casual chitchat. The producer was quite happy to show off how his office was starting to look better since they moved in. They even had their sign up since the last time I was there. We then ended up talking about the fly over of the Space Shuttle Endevour earlier in the day. One of those things that everyone was chatting about that day.  (I got to see it while it flew over Disneyland.) He also asked about how things had been with me since the last meeting. I told him about my part time job at the college's foundation and the scholarships they give out.

Let the producer guide the chat, it's his time and office, so when the moment is right he'll ask to know what you brought.

Based on what we had discussed during our first meeting I put together what I hoped would interest the producer. The first was a pitch for a complete animated comedy adventure series. That was followed up with two 'short subjects'.

I'll admit right here that I stumbled a bit in my transition between one pitch and another. But once I got past that things went smoothly.

When I was done with my three pitches the producer did mention that he had seen something similar to one of them before. Actually, he had seen it a lot, and he explained when he meant. I'm never one to ride the wave of what's currently 'hot'. Know that I won't be pitching any 'sparkly' vampires. The concept of my pitch, however, from what the producer had seen, had been on several people's minds. Sometimes that happens.

This wasn't a rejection, and he went on to say that after he read more of my pitch packet, if it had a unique enough hook there was still a change.

Sure I might be disappointed, but I did understand what he meant. I look forward to his thoughts.

He did react and know exactly what I was going after with one of the other pitches. So that was good.

The meeting was short, nice, and very friendly. Even if nothing further comes out of these pitches, it was a great learning experience. I now can put more notches into my animation development belt and work on the next one based on what I've learned here.

What comes next? More writing, more developing, and more meetings.

That last part for me is the hardest, the networking and getting to know more people to arrange such meetings, but over the last while I am improving with that as well.

This is all part of #Mission818 and things are going along very nicely.

Right now I'm contemplating if there is a way for me to pitch my novel "Revenge of the Masked Ghost" as a live action series. Now to find the right producers that would be interested in talking with me about it.

Thanks all for your support. Hope to tell you more when I hear back from the producer.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity

Wonder Con Anaheim, 2012

Had an enjoyable three-day weekend at WonderCon in Anaheim.

Got to see a lot of my fellow writers and creative people from comic books, animation, and novels. Went to a whole bunch of panels about working in different industries as a writer, learning how best to promote our work, and getting to see how some authors are promoting their books and themselves.

No matter how long I've been at this, there is ALWAYS something more to learn.

There were three panels on animation writing, each with their own special tone and subject. From selling a series, tales from the trenches, to what it takes to tell an action adventure story in animation.

The one on action was I think the most informative and I learned something from. Animation, like comic books, is a visual medium and the story must be told with the pictures. However, in comic books a single page of 1 to 8 panels of art can also be filled with dialog balloons and the reader and take his/her own time to read it. The same sequence in animation might only take seconds on the screen and only the most pertinent lines of dialog can be used. It needs to be cut down and much as possible, and the rest of the story must be in the artwork and animation.

Another panel was on how best to publicize your comic book. We did a lot of this last year when we were promoting the 10^th Anniversary of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY, but there is still more we should have done and perhaps in different ways. Again, being there was a learning experience.

We don't usually go to the Big Event panels, or the ones that are solely promoting a publisher's line of comics or TV shows, but a friend of ours is working on a major show as part of the new DC Nation block on Cartoon Network so we couldn't miss that. The fan response to GREEN LANTERN, YOUNG JUSTICE and the DC shorts was quite positive.

Other panels included a SPOTLIGHT on comic book writer Mark Waid who told us more of his plans for Digital Comics. Since Shannon and I have been doing a webcomic for 10 years, there is a lot to learn from him on this as well.

Another panel on the book WOMANOLOGY created by women creators, veterans and new. A worthwhile project, endeavored, and book, check it out.

There were also panels on gaming, both video and table top, which was more Shannon's thing as her own experience in both. She can tell you more about that.

[EDIT] We also had a great time at a panel on Voice Acting with some of the best actors currently working in the industry. I may write about this at another time.

You can find Shannon's view of Wonder Con here: http://t.co/tAg1nab9

Our final panel of the three days was on YOUNG ADULT novels, and there were 9 authors on the panel talking about their work, but done in a very enjoyable way that the question and answers weren't boring and cliché. Three of the authors got to announce that their books were at different stages heading towards Hollywood, the audience loved that though knew that anything could happen between now and then. We did see two very well produced trailers to promote a couple of the books. One of the books is already in production as a film. As both Shannon and I have our own novels out right now, it's really great to hear what others are going through.

Speaking of our own novels, both of us couldn't help but keep checking Amazon's Author Central and Smashword's Dashboard through out the convention to watch our sales rankings. Shannon had one of her novels up for free yesterday it was fun to watch it climb the charts to # 15 in Family Sagas. As for mine, CLOCKWORK GENIE is currently on sale for 99¢ so it was great to see it hope up the ranks a bit, and I was really pleased to see REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST get some sales even though I haven't been promoting this week. Maybe someone bought both, was it you?

Over all WonderCon was a relaxing weekend compared to our normal experience at ComicCon International in San Diego. Our only real problem was the heavy rain Saturday morning, which was a problem for everyone else as there wasn't enough parking for not only our own convention but also two others going on at the same time. A good thing we chose to take the bus down each day so didn't have to worry about any of it. Go OCTA.

I came home from the convention last night to find out that ParaYourNormal had posted an interview they did with me. You can read it here: http://bit.ly/FVmdBt If you read the interview, you'll also have a chance at winning a free copy of CLOCKWORK GENIE.  Read an excerpt of the story at the end of the interview.

You'll also find a link in the interview to BlogTalkRadio through which you'll be able to hear the ParaYour Normal crew interview me live this Wednesday (March 21^st). Here's that link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/parayournormal

So having a nice relaxing time at the convention with my fellow authors, I don't feel like this is March Madness. Of course once you all start buying my books that may change.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity

Read an E-Book Week

March 4 - to March 10th, 2011

is the 4th annual "Read an E-Book Week."

To help promoting the reading of ebooks (like that really needs that much more promotion) This week has been declared the official "Read an E-Book Week"

So to be a part of this, I am selling REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST at half off.

That's right, for 50% of the listed price you can discover how a family reacts to discovering that that one of their own is a masked vigilante, and upon his death what they must to bring forth the REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST.

Use this COUPON CODE to receive the 50% discount: REW50

Enjoy and tell your friends.

Find the book at my Author Page on Smashwords.

March 4 - to March 10th, 2011

Thank you all.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
Four Names of Professional Creativity

COVER ART - A peak under the mask.

REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST revealed.

Over the last year a lot of you stuck with me as I released chapter after chapter of my pulp mystery serial REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST.

With in the next week I will be releasing it as an eBook.

Before that happens, I wanted to let you get a preview of the cover art.

I painted it using Corel Painter, just as I did for CLOCKWORK GENIE.


Thank you all for the support. Hope you enjoy the art. I'll let you know when the book is released.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
Four Names of Professional Creativity

Ring Tones and Novel Writing

With CLOCKWORK GENIE already on virtual stands and book shelves, and REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST about to join it in the next few weeks, it's time to start working on another novel.

The next novel, which I am planning to do a pseudo-NANOWRIMO through the month of February, will be a Young Adult fantasy which I've had sitting on the shelf for several years and have decided now was the time to dust it off and make it ring.

Speaking of making the story ring, can someone explain to me the use and necessity of ring tones?

In my story a cellular phone plays an important roll (does anyone call them cell phones anymore, or are they all smart phones.)I've been thinking about what ring tones my lead teenager would program into her phone. The more I thought about it, I began to wonder what would be the point.

Why do people have ring tones? Why purchase a song to play when someone calls?

I have had a cell phone (three or four) over the last 15 years, and have always set them to silent or vibrate. Never saw a purpose to have the ringer on.

You want to know when someone is calling you, that's for certain, but how many of us like to hear when other peoples phones start ringing.

If we're fast enough, we usually can answer the phone just before the third ring, so why do people want to extend those rings by turning them into songs?

Have you ever noticed that when someone has a musical ring tone, the longer it plays the harder they have in shutting it off and it usually becomes a real embarrassment?

While in the movie theater there is always that slide that comes up repeatedly to remind you to turn off the your phones, or worse that audio clip where every sound in the theater is amplified with every possible phone or noise that could be made.

Recently the Muppets did a very nice version of this before their movie.

Why is this even something we have to think about any more? People's phones ringing loudly and long, in the theatre, middle of church, a business meeting, or dinner.

Yes, some can hear the buzzer of my phone. Usually when it vibrates through the table or desk. But it's usually low enough it doesn't bother anyone. But I do turn it off in the theater.

The other day I was watching a rerun episode of THE MENTALIST, and there was major mistake with the use of a cell phone. The lead of the show has just broken into someone's home. Only a few feet inside the house, his phone rings. His phone rings. This was not done for comic effect. You'd think that if you were going to break into a house and not want anyone to know you were there, you'd turn the phone off or have it on vibrate. The Folly Department can just as easily drop in a Buzzing sound as it does a ring tone. Other than receiving important information about the B Plot, the use of the phone in the house had no purpose. A woman nearly catches our lead in the house, but not because of the ring tone.

So my question is a serious one, and is research for my novel. How many people actually have audible ring tones? How many have simple ringers, and how many have longer songs?

I'm probably going to ask my teenage niece about this. She is a Young Adult after all.

My next question to her will probably be: Do you actually use your phone, or is it mostly used for texting and facebook? I don't want to write cliché teenagers in my story, but the phones have become an integral part of their lives.

I may have been rambling here, but in doing so I find that this is all very important to my novel. Not only are cell phones important to the story, but also so is being annoyed by the ring tones.

This has been great talking, thank you for all the help. I appreciate – RING RING – Excuse me, gotta go answer that.

(Oh, like you didn't see that joke coming from the start of this blog.)

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

Four Names of Professional Creativity.

Drawing upon a Ghost, a Masked Ghost.

I know this is Thursday night and I usually fill this space with one of my rambles about writing and about searching for work. This time I'm not going to talk a lot, but show you something.

Some of you know that on every other Tuesday I post a new chapter to my pulp novel serial REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST. Chapter 14 went up this week. Well, I wanted to take this opportunity to show off some of my skills beyond writing, and show you what the Masked Ghost looks like:


I illustrated this entirely in Painter, based on a photograph that I posed for.

Am hoping that it adds more of the pulp novel feel to the story. Looking forward to doing more.

Let me know what you think of it. Especially if you're a publisher needing artists. :)

Best,
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden
Four Names of Professional Creativity
As as Artists as wells as a Writer.

A Ramble of Glory

I can’t think of anything to put into my blog this week. At least certainly nothing worth a few hundred words that might be anyway interesting to you.

Just over three more weeks of my job at the community college, and the good news in that is that my hours have increased from 12 to 30 hours a week. Am still looking for something that I hope to start soon after, but having that extra pay.

A lot of work that I’m doing now is working on a database in Excell, it’s not as interesting as working on the Alumni News Letter (You can see a sample of my work here: http://conta.cc/g8gSPc), but I’m still blessed to have the job and the paycheck.

While I’m writing this, I’m finishing up the pencils of the latest page of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY. We’re currently in the middle of Issue 13 of the book. Or it would be if this were published as a book. But I also realized that if this were published as book, wishful thinking would put the Issue number somewhere around 114.

No, really. I mean it. This coming June marks the 10^th anniversary of the first appearance of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY. And if we had been continuously publishing since there we’d be reaching 120 issue come June.

Of course, it might not all be FGHOG, because I’d also be doing the supporting book TALES OF FLYING GLORY which would be stories about our heroine’s grandmother back in World War and other characters that have appeared in the background, been hinted at, and other who are still waiting to surprise you and us.

We’ve got a lot planning for Flying Glory and her rock bank of heroes, and I’m sure I’ll be writing about some of them here too.

On other story notes, when I began this job I told you had to stop putting out a new chapter of REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST each week, and now only put it out every other. I’ve found that works the best for me and probably will continue to do so even after this job is finish. In the next week or so I’m also hoping to put up some artwork based on my vigilante and his friends.

Began this by saying I couldn’t think of anything to write. Apparently I always have something to say. I’ll let you decide if it was interesting or not. Got to go send the penciled art off to my editor (co-writer and fiancee).

Night all.

A change in the weather, a change in the Deadline.

Hey, look, it’s Thursday evening and time for my weekly brain dump of a blog.

Thanks everyone who has been taking time out of your busy schedules to read my rambles. I really appreciate it.

This blog was always supposed to be about my writing and about my career. Sometimes, however, it became a place for me to vent and complain. I don’t want that to happen regularly.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my job search and how it hadn’t been going well, so I have been devoting a lot of my time to writing and drawing the webcomic FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY, my novel, my serial REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST, and this blog and pushing to keep a deadline for each one of them as if I was on a paid assignment.

It looks like my deadline schedule is about to change.

I have a job.

(I can hear you all cheering out there. No wait, that’s a cricket outside my office window.)

Yes, that’s true, I have a job. Or rather a short term, part-time job between now and this coming February, but it is a job.

I praise God for this job as I would any other.

Being a part time job of only twelve hours a week I should still have plenty of time to write. Hopefully I will find someone who will pay me to write, but I’m still going to write no matter what.

Which brings me to the shifting of my deadlines. I don’t want to really change anything, but know something has to give a little.

Each new page of the webcomic will still be posted on Sundays, and this blog should still be able to make its appearance each Thursday (as you can tell it doesn’t take much brain power). As much as I don’t want to, am going to post the serial every other week. Not only will it ease up my schedule, but I’ll be able to improve on the story.

I intend to post the next chapter this following Tuesday, and then two weeks later.

Thank you for your understand and support. It’s really been great to know that people are out there reading my stories. Know any publishers or producers you could point my way? (Seriously: Does anyone need an assistant for a couple days a week?)

Would love to hear from you either here in the comments section or at my Twitter account: Kevinpsb00

Thanks, have a great weekend.