Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1055975
DUCK TALES D I S N E Y GRAVITY FALLS D I S N E Y X D AVATA R : T HE L A S T A IR BE NDER N I C K E L O D E O N A M E R I C A N D A D ! F O X A N I M AT I O N THE SIMPSONS F O X A N I M AT I O N FUTUR AMA R O U G H D R A F T J O HN A O S HIM A 26 KEYFRAME F E AT U R E Arnold from Hey Arnold! alongside Family Guy's Stewie Griffin. Courtesy of Nickelodeon and Fox Animation/Family Guy "Adult animation calls for a rougher, relatively uglier, more gritty style," says Ben Gruber, a writer and producer with credits in both genres as well as in non- animation. "Children's animation, even if you're telling a dark story, you need to make it look like a storybook, more aesthetically pleasing." Gruber acknowledges that within animated shows, the rules change from show to show, from network to network, and certainly from age range to age range. In adult shows, you can put your characters in jeopardy. "For younger kids, a character can't be in danger of falling in a hole," Gruber gives an example. "In adult animation, you can have them fall in a hole and eat their own leg and people will think it's hilarious." When she submits a portfolio, Wyatt says she is conscious of the work she is trying to get. It's largely a common sense procedure. "I have a lot of everything so I don't get stuck with one style," she says. "Back when I didn't have so many credits, it made a difference. There is a difference between adult shows and children's shows both in terms of style and content. So I'm not going to post some of my raunchy Rick and Morty scenes next to Hey Arnold. That would be weird." "Going from adult to kids is not too hard, but going back can be difficult," agrees Gruber. "Technically I'm very experienced but if I want to go write for The Simpsons, they're going to really want to give me the once-over, have me submit a bunch of scripts and make sure they think I can do it." Spec scripts can take up to three weeks to write. Though this practice has become an industry standard the WGA West and TAG have advocated for members to curb free writing. Now in its 30th season, the Matt Groening-created Simpsons has served as a launching pad for (and in some cases has provided years of steady employment) to dozens of artists who have gone on to work on diverse shows. The same is true for long-running Fox series like Family Guy and the Seth McFarlane stable of programs. While