Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

UK Screenwriter Launches Pixar-Style Brain Trust

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Aug 29, 2011, 12:43

Stephen Marsh, a UK screenwriter and copywriter, uses Pixar-inspired development process to produce a new short film, "Corners."

(Kent, United Kingdom) Stephen Marsh, a British web content copywriter and screenwriter, announced a new project designed to mimic the story development techniques made famous by animation studios worldwide. By opening up the process of writing an animated film script to the community, Marsh hopes to get the valuable feedback and resources that he needs to make his vision a reality.

"I had an idea for an animation," says Marsh, "And it’s really my love-letter to the great animation storytellers. But I’m acutely aware that it’s an expensive, time-consuming business. That’s why companies like Disney and Pixar scrutinise their stories at every level – it helps to guarantee that the product is basically good, before anybody spends too much money. For this new idea, ‘Corners’, I’m appealing to the community of other writers and animation fans to throw their feedback at the script before it’s even written."

"Corners" comes from an idea about the fate of traditional hand-drawn characters, and the grudge that they might hold against the CGI characters that have stolen the limelight. In this short film, the wealthy CGI characters make a generous donation to the hand-drawn community – corners on streets, introducing a third dimension into their two dimensional lives. Currently, this idea exists as an outline that is available for the community to read online, and Marsh intends to make every stage of development as transparent as possible.

“It’s very early days for the project,” says Marsh, “and that’s probably what I think is so exciting about this whole thing. I intend to document every stage of the process and I’m hoping that people are inspired to get involved in new ways, with sketches, music, or just their feedback. Of course, everybody who posts a comment and becomes part of our Corners ‘Brain Trust’ will be credited on-screen if the project makes it to any kind of finished stage!”

By demystifying the development process and giving writers and animation fans alike an insight into the process of making an animated short, Stephen Marsh hopes to inspire the community to make Corners a short film of their own.

 

Resources:

http://stephenmarsh.org.uk/