Coming up with a pilot.

notdeadyetproducti
Oct 8, 2020
4 min read

Updated: Oct 8, 2020

Coming up with a pilot can honestly be daunting. Where do you start? HOW do you start? And honestly, saving up $$$ is my best advice. I saved up about $3k before I truly was able to "start". But that didn't mean while I was saving I wasn't already starting the project. When I had come up for the short premise of T.H.O.T. it was a crude drafting of here are these characters I want to use, in this setting.

Character Concepts are fun, but also a double edge sword.

There's nothing like making a character. Making your protagonist and antagonists can be grand when designing. But in the end while we want to make the characters stand out, one needs to remember to make them 'simple' enough for animating. This is something I tend to muddle up since I love to make outfits. But one thing one needs to always remember is,can I animate this?

Design the characters and move on. The designs will perfect themselves over time. But design a few drafts and step away to let them breath. They WILL evolve. Besides, the important part is the script. You can always come back to change their designs.

Getting to the Script.

Script Tips:

1 page = 1 min
Action shots are interesting but are more $$ and take more time.
Character Dialogue can be interesting, but keep it short.
Keep it in the time frame of 8-10 mins MAX.
The Pilot should explain the world, and your main characters, with a hint of what is to come in the series.
GET. TO. THE. POINT.

Scripts can be updated and changed almost until the animatic is completed. Even then the script can adjust from your Actor's performances.

(Storyboard by: Yohann Auroux)

(Roughs by: E. D. MeadArt ) For my pilot I cam up with a simple plot, to introduce the boy wonder himbo, Rufus Abel. While he is not bright, and quite oblivious, he has the best intentions to make a difference. Placing him on a crime filled planet, he bumps into a few criminals along the way, and finds not everything is as black and white as it seems. He meets the character of Psy Lu, a low-time criminal that is used to working on his own, but seems drawn to Rufus' good-natured intentions. Even if Rufus does rile him up.

Choosing the "Right" Voices

I had met Burn (voice of the Protagonist Rufus) at a convention and through Twitch. I had seen his performance and I was inspired by him when creating Rufus. When I had things in place I had asked Burn if I could use his talents to play Rufus. So Rufus was the simple one to cast. Psy on the other hand had a former voice actor before Eddy filled in the role beautifully. Having paid the former actor for Psy, he had given me the lines at a hefty sum of money. But I had noticed a problem. The Dynamic between his performance and Burn's lacked. It felt more like they were talking AT one another and not TO one another. With a heavy heart because of cost, I tried to bite the bullet and ignore it and continue forth. It wasn't until I showed off the animatic with the lines to a viewing party and the feedback notes were all the same. The Dynamic of Psy and Rufus -- Lacked. Psy didn't seem like he was really there. So I had to pick up a few extra shifts to gain up the same sum of money, before I went to Eddy. Eddy I had met through Twitter, and saw he was a talented freelance voice actor, much like Burn. I just had a feeling about him. And he eagerly accepted the role. And it was the best decision for the pilot. Because the dynamic between Psy and Rufus can be heard.

Storyboarding it all out.

Now this was tricky but also rather simple. I had happen to luck out. I was in need of a storyboard artist one that I could trust and could get things done quickly and effectively. That's when Yohann Auroux found me. I had asked around on twitter search the hashtags. I couldn't find anyone available back in Feb. I happened to make a tweet to my mutuals asking them if they knew anyone that was available for a paid gig. I was looking for a team. And Yohann stepped up. https://yohann-auroux.tumblr.com/ A very Talented artist who had worked on many projects. Him and I shared many emails back and forth, before he expressed a lot of interest in T.H.O.T. Hearing that I was paying for this project out of my pocket he gave me a discount. And I was grateful. He finished all the boards I thumbnailed out in 4 Days. An 8 min pilot in 4 Days. To say this man is brilliant is to say the least.

Finding Animators

I still find this one tricky, I had to search many places, but once again I found many via Twitter. Some of my strongest animators I approached and a few found my email and hit me up. I placed them all on a discord server so that I can keep an eye on them and their progress and if they have any questions. They've been amazing with what they are coming up with as you can see on the WIP tab. The animation team, I found is still the trickiest. Because they are all paid in different ways. Either by completed second, or by the hour. When we negotiated prices I asked them for their demo-reels and for their rates. Later when I continue this project there will be a better planned budget. I was curious what they saw their worth was and for what I got in return for their pricing, many I can agree on. There are a handful, that I feel I lost money and time on. Because instructions were not listened to, the shot was a mess, things were rushed, or they just were not as responsive. However those are such a small few, to the amount of hard workers on my crew. The morale is high on our server. Everyone is supportive and one another's personal cheerleaders. It is nice to see. ------ Now when I hired on each team member I did explain that I was paying out of pocket so there would be job delays because I want to make sure they are all paid. They all appreciated being told upfront. I couldn't ask for a better crew.