Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
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26 KEYFRAME And would you happen to have a Mexican movie that you'd want to make?" He took the exact movie he'd pitched seven years earlier, and "I just ripped off the first page and wrote a new date, put it back on." This time the response was different, ultimately paving the way for Book of Life, his first full-length film. The difference between pitching a movie and pitching for television, Gutiérrez explains, is that with a movie, the focus is on the three-act structure. "So when you pitch your story you have to hit those big moments. What is the movie about? What do the main characters want that they can't get? And how does the movie resolve?" he says. Adding, if you don't have answers to those questions or if you give "topsy-turvy answers" then you're in trouble. He also explains that it can be a lengthy process — if you're successful in a pitch, then you get to pitch to that person's boss and so you proceed up the chain of command. No one is going to say yes, we will make it. Rather, they will say, yes, we're prepared to spend a small amount of money to see if this is worth it. Gutiérrez says to assess notes and make sure they make sense. "A lot of time they might be testing to see how collaborative you're going to be," he says. For example, they might even throw a bad note on purpose to see how you'll react. "They don't want you to say yes to everything — but don't want a jerk who's not going to want be collaborative," he says. The best advice he's ever been given is that when you hear an idea in the room — you should take your emotion and yourself out of it and try to really consider if it makes your show better. Even though it's difficult, he tries to look at every note as an opportunity to improve his work. "So as much as I want to punch the wall, smash my computer when I hear a bad note, I say, okay, this is an opportunity to make it even better," he adds. "I wish someone had told me that rejection makes you stronger. Because I took it really personally at first and it really hurt. But it's part of the process." CRAIG McCRACKEN Connect with the audience. Craig McCracken, award-winning creator of shows such as The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and Wander Over Yonder, had an experience early on with his first pitch that subsequently influenced his process. It was for the first Powerpuff short for Cartoon Network back when it was the Warner Cartoon Program. Craig was invited to a focus test of the seven- minute short. "I was in this focus test with this group of 11-year-old boys and they watched my pilot and they hated it," he says. "They really said, 'This is the worst cartoon that's ever been made, whoever made it should be fired!'" McCracken took the response to heart and tried to understand why they were so frustrated and angry. He did some soul searching and thought about how to communicate his idea better to a younger audience. "I basically redesigned the The Powerpuff Girls. I gave them fingers, I made them look like real kids. I just thought they were too weird," he adds. But then he got a call from Mike Lazzo of Cartoon Network who advised him against his changes: "You've got to read who you're pitching to and get the right response from them." F E AT U R E