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PITCHING A CARTOON SHOW
By John Fountain

Let’s talk about pitching a cartoon show, shall we?

CHAPTER 1
PITCHING A SHOW: Why?

One of the things about animation that a lot of people find frustrating is that it often becomes a “nexus” where CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION and COMMERCE are uncomfortably merged.

This phenomenon can create a lot of challenges and struggles. Obviously, as with all things, sometimes the stars align just perfectly and it all happens with flawless precision, but those instances are VERY few and VERY far between.

This is why it is important to ask one’s self - before taking on a gamble where the odds are almost laughably stacked against you - “Why do I want to do this?”

The most common and knee-jerk answer is usually something along the lines of, “I’ve got this show idea!”

Now, before I start crumbling your world - let me say this: Good for you! Sincerely! Having creative thoughts is a wonderful thing…

...far too often, society pushes a narrative at us that we should either squelch our creative impulses entirely, (“Get a real job!”) OR let them rule our lives, (“Follow your dreams no matter what!”).

But when it comes to our inherent creativity, for most of us, the “sweet spot” is somewhere in between.
For instance: I really love to sing. Like… a LOT. But despite enjoying it on an extremely powerful level, I was never OBSESSED with it the way I am drawing/storytelling.

Consequently, I never honed it as a discipline - I merely enjoyed it the way most people do. I sing to Journey in my car and rap to ‘Baby got Back’ at karaoke, but that’s it.

I have no illusions that anyone will ever pay me to sing or that crowds of people will want to hear me sing or that I will record a hit single.

So should I stop singing?

Of course not.

And this applies to all creativity. If you have fun stories and ideas, for goodness sake - WRITE THEM DOWN! Share them! Join a club! START a club! Art is meant to be shared and enjoyed… it doesn’t mean you need to make a career out of it!

And as far as CARTOONS go - my GOODNESS, it has never been easier to be an independent animator! Software exists! YouTube exists! Tell your stories! Never stop!

But…

PITCHING your ideas to media outlets and commercial platforms is an ENTIRELY different animal.

So, again, I ask you: “Why?”

Again, your answer, “I’ve got this idea for a cartoon.”

Okay… but guess what? SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE!

When I went off to college, my two biggest influences were the newspaper comic strips ‘Bloom County’ and ‘Doonesbury.’ Consequently, when I discovered that there was a student-run newspaper, I decided to pitch the idea of me doing a comic strip (my main ambition at the time).

So I basically showed up, sat across from the editor in chief (whom I’m still friends with) and said, “I wanna do a comic strip!” I showed her my portfolio and she said, “These drawings are nice, but what are your stories about?”

Up to that point, most of my comics revolved around talking animals - I know… original, right? She, quite correctly, told me, “We’d love to have a daily strip, but it needs to be relatable to students.”

And there you have it… my first decision to SELL OUT!

I went home, banged out a few thoroughly awful-looking, unoriginal but marginally amusing little comic based around me and my friends. Naturally, being the only serious cartoonist within a hundred miles of that college, they accepted it out of sheer “Why not?” indifference.

My strip was a very obvious... um... 'homage' (rip-off) to Bloom County and Doonesbury, but for the seven years I was in college (yes, really) the strip ran - and it was popular by virtue of being the only game in town.

This gave me a false sense of accomplishment and when the time came for me to pitch to actual newspaper syndicates, I - quite appropriately - got my ass handed to me.

EVERY college newspaper from Kalamazoo to Timbuktu had a strip exactly like mine.

Now… was my strip funny? More or less. Were the characters decent? Absolutely - especially towards the end when I had been doing it for 7 years. But the fact still remained that I was telling a story that had already been told by a million others.

I had put absolutely all of my eggs into this ONE basket, and my hubris utterly bit me in the rump.

So, naturally, I did what every creative genius does:

I decided everyone was stupid.

And that’s what we will cover tomorrow.

But, for today, my point is that it’s a wonderful thing to follow your creative impulses and I wholeheartedly encourage it.

But when you take that next step towards showing this very deep and personal side of yourself to other people, you are volunteering a part of your soul and you should brace yourself for the very real possibility of the world looking at it and saying, “We hate this.”

Thanks for reading! Please give whatever feedback or input you have in the comments - and, please, PLEASE retweet, share, and tell your friends!

NEXT INSTALLMENT - How to convince the world that they’re wrong and you’re brilliant!

Until next time...

Zig-a-Zig AH, party people!

Today’s installment is sponsored by MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

A mishmash of hasty animation and dumb gags!
(I’m WORKING on it, okay?!)

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