This article describes the process of getting the green light to produce an animated cartoon series from scratch. I’m leaving out the fundraising details for the project as it’s a whole book in itself, but this should nevertheless give you a good idea of what it takes to produce an animated series.
1. Decide on a theme and basis for your cartoon series
2. Think of the different characters that would make up your cartoon series
3. Hire a good cartoon writer to develop a pilot script and set of synopses based on your theme and idea. You’ll also want me to describe your characters in detail and bring them to life. An experienced writer would know exactly what broadcasters are looking for and would deliver an ace. I will not advise you to do this yourself unless you are an experienced writer. I also wouldn’t recommend getting a writer who writes for TV dramas, as the genre is quite different.
4. Get a good design or animation house to design a set of characters for your cartoon series. Make sure these characters are cute, unique, likeable, and marketable, which means people will find them so cute that they’ll want to turn them into products. Alternatively, you can also go the edgy route, in which case the characters may look so cool that people just want to have them.
5. Compile the pilot script, synopsis, character designs, prop designs, and various illustrations and you’ll have what’s called a character bible.
6. With a character bible, you can approach an animation house and ask them to produce a teaser or pilot based on the series. A sneak peek is a short 3-5 minute example of how the cartoon series would likely unfold. A pilot episode is basically a sample episode of the series. For the pilot, never choose the first episode. Choose an episode in between because it will be more representative of what the cartoon series would normally look like. It would be best to hire an animation house that has done this before and make sure they explain their procedure to you.
7. From here, you can take two routes. The first route would be to approach a distribution company. The trailer or pilot would allow a distribution company to assess where it could sell its show and how marketable it is. They could gauge how confident they are in selling your program and whether they want to distribute it. If they decide they want to represent your cartoon, they will provide you with a distribution plan and revenue projection. You should not sign any contracts at this time because you cannot guarantee the production of the show yet. Instead, you must request a letter of interest from the dealer. With this letter of interest, you can approach investors to show them that a distributor would accept your program. It would be helpful if the dealer is known and reputable of course. This is an indication from an industry insider that your program is marketable. With investors on board, you can approach an animation company to ask them to produce your show.
8. The second route you can take is to go to an animation company or TV station to ask if they would be interested in producing your show. If your concept is really good and they need a show like yours, they might decide to take your concept and develop it. You could then negotiate a royalty for the use of your concept, or even be a producer or executive producer on board the production team. All this is negotiable. It’s also quite possible that you’ll approach an animation company or TV station with just your character’s bible without your teaser, or even without a full bible. It has happened before, but the success rate decreases drastically with the lack of every marketing tool.
