Animation : Is Stage 32 right for animation pitching? by Andria Besancon

I have pitched my animation here. Not all the pitching sessions are specific. There are general pitching sessions. I tend to look at what the particular evaluator has worked on to determine if they are right for my project before pitching. Have they worked with animation before, are they looking for animation? Have they ever produced for a company that has done animation? Maybe they have never worked with animation but they have worked with the genre my animation is in.

I've mainly seen live-action Pitch Sessions, @Andria Besancon, but Stage 32 brings in industry pros who accept Animation pitches. Some of the industry pros on Stage 32 accept live-action and Animation pitches.

Hi Andria Besancon , we do have executives who are interested in animation and specialize in animation. Reach out to Emily at success@stage32.com and she can help curate a list for you to watch out for on the Pitch Session page!

Niki H Oh thank you so much I appreciate it.

Kevin Jackson Ph awesome I was worried because I seen so many pitch sessions specifically say NO ANIMATION PITCHES

Maurice Vaughan Ok I guess I need to look harder, thank you.

Check out this pith session happening tomorrow. Notice they accept animation

https://www.stage32.com/happy-writers/pitch-sessions/Pitch-Brandon-Gale-...

Hi @Andria! Great question! We're definitely okay with animation but it depends on the executive - and also there are lots of demographics within animation, so that plays a role as well. Keep an eye out for pitch sessions (there are notifications when they're added) as we add new ones all the time!

If you don't want to wait, we always have animation execs available for consultations :)

I'm not sure there is a "right place" for pitching animation. Many/most? of the large studios don't even take pitches, and rather develop their content internally. Please, anyone, correct me if I'm wrong, but Disney, for example, is mostly mining its existing intellectual property. PIXAR has its brain trust, and is internally developing its own new story and directing talent. Stage 32 does, from time to time offer execs, or former execs, who specialize in animation, and they can be encouraging, and offer good notes on your pitch, though it's hard to say if any of them can carry the animation ball to the finish line of a meeting or sale. Stage 32 has resources for helping you structure and hone your 2-page, or 8 minute pitch, i.e. writer's room, and on-line pitching guide, and a few classes. These seem to be aimed at pitching features, which is great, but it not so much series, which may be a more realistic possibility for sale, but not easily fitted into a 2-page pitch. Overall I look at pitching via Stage 32 as an opportunity to have others in the animation world hear about my stories, whether or not they want to run with them. After all, we are story tellers in the end, aren't we?

You're welcome, Andria Besancon.

Emily J Hi, Thank you for this information. How do I use the consultation for animation execs?

John F Tupper Yes, I think you are right. Its very internal. I know that there are production studios that create the series for the Streaming services that take pitches like Titmouse, Skybound is doing Invincible for Amazon. Netflix was taking on all the scripts they could until they had too many and dropped and canceled a bunch of material which is why the animation industry is kind of on hold right now and artist jobs have slowed down. And most most studios right now are only interested in IP. Ill search more for execs/producers that are open to animation. Thank you.

It's generally good to get feedback from folks who are not your best friends, and are interested in making stories the best they can be. I have only booked one stage 32 exec for a detailed script read and while the comments were helpful they were more incremental than transformative. They prompted me to once again re-read my script and make some improvements. The writer's room pitch practice was helpful in that it helped me structure and tighten up my written pitch, which has gotten extremely good comments, though no script reads for that script. The good comments included other suggestions which further help me improve the pitch etc. So, I think the message is persistence and continuous improvement which, with luck, may win the day.