Question: What about writing a spec script for an animated movie?

Got this email from Russell:

I know that studios such as Pixar make their movies in-house, but are there any animation studios that you know of that accept spec scripts for animated features? If I have a good idea for an animated movie, is it worth writing the screenplay or would it be waste of time and a hard sell because the process is entirely different than it is for live-action specs?

In the 'old days,' when there were essentially two studios with animation divisions -- Disney and Warner Bros. -- all the movie projects were pretty much determined in-house. IIRC, Disney used to have an annual meeting where their creative types would pitch and kick around various ideas for potential animation projects - but again, all done in-house.

Then other studios began to develop animated movies: 20th Century Fox, Sony, Walden Media, and most notably Dreamworks Animation.

As a result, the doors seemed to have opened a bit - but only just a bit for animation spec scripts. As I rattled through my memories, I could only come up with a couple of specs I thought I'd remembered got set up as animation projects. To check it out, I went to DoneDealPro.com and typed in "animation". It brought up a list of some 60 projects set up since 1999. If you're a member of DDP, you can go here to see the results.

Most of the projects are based on books, comic books, graphic novels, children's books, preexisting animation, either shorts or full-length movies. Only a handful derive from spec scripts or pitches. Here's that list:

There is "Master Mind" by writers Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simons, a comedy spec script that sold 4/3/2007. That evolved into the upcoming Dreamworks release Oobermind starring Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, and Jonah Hill. Here's an IMDB plot summary:

When super villain Oobermind (Ferrell) defeats his archrival Metro Man (Pitt), the world should be his oyster. But instead, Oobermind falls into total despair. It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him. So, he creates a new superhero rival, Titan (Hill). Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain, too.

Note: That project is now called Megamind.

There was a pitch called "Tortoise and Hippo" from writer Roger S.H. Schulman which sold to Walden Media on 9/15/2005:

An unlikely friendship forms between a cranky old tortoise in India and a baby hippo. The tortoise tolerates the baby hippo at first because it is a chick magnet, but then develops patriarchal feelings and takes the baby on a dangerous journey home to Africa.

That is supposedly still in development.

Interestingly Toy Story 3 got a jump-start from a spec script written by Jared Stern:

Stern developed a story idea for the long-in-the-works "TS3" on spec while a member of Disney's Feature Animation Writing Program. Several other writers also took a stab at "TS3," but Disney ultimately chose Stern's concept.

Though exact details of the script were being kept under close wraps, Stern's new take is expected to advance the "Toy Story" franchise by taking the characters on the road and out of Andy's room.

Technically a spec script, but definitely in-house. Of course, Disney and Pixar kissed-and-made-up with Pixar taking over development of TS3. Currently the writer with sole credit is Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine). The plot apparently still incorporates the concept of the toy characters going out on the road. That alone could lead to a credit arbitration.

The live-action / animated movie Enchanted began as a spec script from writer Bill Kelly:

"Enchanted" is about a wannabe-princess who's banished from the animated world of Andalasia to a place where there is no true love: real-life New York. There she has to rescue herself and find her true love.

Bill Kelly, who wrote the original spec script, is back on the project, which has undergone multiple rewrites over the past seven years. He will ready the script for a hoped-for September start. Pic will shoot in New York.

The original sale date was in 1997.

And that's it. 3 spec scripts in some 13 years, one of them an in-house project. There may be more that weren't covered by DoneDealPro.com. And there may have been live-action specs that evolved into animation projects. But clearly the odds are extremely long in selling a spec animation feature film.

Then again, the odds are long against any spec feature selling.

So bottom line, if you have what you think is an absolute killer story concept - distinctive yet commercial - and it will only work as animation, or animation and live-action, and you love the project, go ahead and write it. Even if it doesn't sell, it could be a great writing sample.

I know we have some GITS readers who work at Dreamworks Animation and Pixar. If you read this and have some additional insight or a varying perspective on the subject, please weigh in.