Sean Lawrence

  News & Updates From Our Master Cats Soul  Beat Sheet While 2020 certainly took a toll on our souls, one of  the  cinematic bright spots of  the  year was Pixar's  Soul ,  released to Disney+ on December 25th. The  animation studio's first film to feature an African-American protagonist is a sweet and powerful exploration of  the  measure of one music teacher's life... and on this week's blog, we bring you  the  beat sheet by Don Roff. READ MORE » Save   the   Cat ! ®   Storytelling Webinar with Jessica Brody   Sign Ups Still Open! Enroll Now to Get  the  First Two Recorded Sessions, and to Attend  the  Live Webinar with Q&A! Join us for new sessions of  the  record-breaking  Save   the   Cat !® Storytelling Masterclass, presented LIVE by  the  best-selling author of  Save   the   Cat ! Writes a Novel , Jessica Brod...

1.5 Discussion Board Choose one the following and post a 200 word response by Wednesday 11:59 EST. Respond to two other posts by Sunday 11:59 EST 1. One thing you can see from Wright’s discussion is that the production process is collaborative, complicated and expensive. However, you can create inexpensive animation programs and even series. A high cost production does not necessarily produce a satisfying, quality program. As a writer it is your job to know your audience and your budget and to work within these parameters to write effective scripts for these parameters. The writer is in a unique position to make the most of animation primarily by developing good characters, clever dialogue and interesting stories. One thing you must do as a writer is to give yourself sufficient time to know your characters and to develop good stories for these characters before the expensive production clock starts ticketing. Knowing what works in animation – movement, visual gags, exagg...

Character Development 1. Watch Keynote: Character Development 2. Read Ch. 5 in Wright 3. Questions to consider: a. Why is it important to develop characters into three-dimensional personalities? b. How does plot and action come from character? c. How does character arc help move the story forward? d. How do the main character’s flaws help create the final climatic scene in a script. e. Think about some of your own experiences: • most embarrassing moment • biggest fear • something funny that happened to you • your knowledge of subcultures and other worlds such as sports, workplace, other cultures, hobbies, etc How you can use some of your own experiences and translate them into experiences that develop your characters? 4. Understand the following concepts: a. Using character profiles to develop character b. Using your own experiences to develop your characters as well as observation and imagination c. Conflict and story come from characters 5. As ...

Goals: Writing for television animation and comics often means coming up with a number of story ideas that you can pitch to story editors and producers. These springboards are usually brief (but longer than a log line) and can be about everything from characters flaws, current ideas and situations, unusual locations, a theme, or an exciting visual. You would usually pitch three ideas (3) and then have several more one or two sentence ideas (sometimes called spitballs) that you can also pitch if your main springboards don’t hit. The goal of this assignment is to generate a number of exciting ideas that are fun, fresh and have potential for conflict, action, humor and the big climatic finish. Then, take one of these ideas and develop it into a one to two page premise. Instructions: Submit three springboards of 25-100 words each and a premise of one to two pages. These springboards must use the characters you developed in the Character Profile Assignment. You automaticall...

Week 1 Assignment 1 -- General Thesis Portfolio Elements ( Due: Sun, 03 Apr | Status: Not Completed )   Assignment 1: Submit General Thesis Portfolio Elements   The goal of this assignment is to gather and submit in one folder the General Thesis Portfolio Elements. These are projects from your previous classes. The Elements are listed below. Put these Elements in one folder and in the order they appear in the list. Label each file according to the title as it appears on the list.     Next week you will submit your Thesis Script or Project (see Specialization Requirements of the Thesis Portfolio Requirements in the References section of this course).   Instructions:   Submit General Thesis Portfolio in a zipped file to the assignment window.     Due Sunday Week 1 11:59 EST     CWMFA:  Final Thesis Portfolio Requirements     General Thesis Portfolio:  Element Checklist ...

What is a Log Line ?  Tips for  Writing Loglines A  logline  must have the following. – the protagonist. ... Don't use a character name. ... Use an adjective to give a little depth to that character. ... Clearly and quickly present the protagonist's main goal. ... Describe the Antagonist. ... Make sure your protagonist is pro-active. ... If you can, include stakes and/or a ticking time-bomb. ... Setup. 1. A logline must have the following –       the protagonist –       their goal –       the antagonist/antagonistic force 2. Don’t use a character name It has no intrinsic information and so is a useless word. Instead, tell us something about the character. – A sous-chef – An ex-superhero 3. Use an adjective to give a little depth to that character This is your chance to show some character. Beware of cliche, and also of the power of i...