Idea for Future Project - Needs Advice

[linthenerd]

Hi, all,

It's long been a dream of mine to have a hand in creating an extension to a series I grew up with: Shakespeare the Animated Tales. I was in touch with the original producer over the summer, who has moved on to other educational projects and is not interested in continuing the series, but encouraged me to make a go of it.

I'm motivated to research what it would take to make 6-12 episodes. Each episode would be animated in a style that best illustrates the tone of the text, and would run about 25 minutes long. I'd hope to have them voiced by professional actors and have not yet considered the best option for distribution.

I'm trying to research how much time would be estimated to complete each episode, how much an animator could expect to be paid for such a project, and any advice on the best way to distribute the work. Hopefully in coming months I'll have enough information to start a Kickstarter or Indiegogo fundraiser to make it happen.

Thank you for your time, and any advice you can offer.

[Charles]

When a discussion topic is posted in the Business Forum it could take some time to get cleared. It's used mostly for notices and announcements. Next time feel free to use General Discussion and the topic will be immediately published.

Animation budgets are all over the place. Very wide range depending on what you're looking to do. Flash or CG or traditional plus the style of the show and music, sound, design, pre production, storyboards, post production... There's a lot to consider.

My advice is forget about 25 minute shows. That's a huge gigantic and daunting endeavor that will cost you a fortune and take way too much time. Better to adapt the project to something like 3 minute episodes. You'll get it done way faster and with far less expense. Plus with what's happening with content today short shorts are the way to go.

Develop your project around what you can realistically raise through crowdfunding. You need to get a degree of development done first plus have pledge rewards lined up as far as what you'll be offering.

Some people are producing animation through the cloud from what I hear. You can get good deals on animation internationally. Lots of talented artists all over the world. Budget something around what you can realistically achieve. Otherwise I would say shoot for a target goal potentially into the millions for as much as 150 minutes of animation which is longer than a feature film.

For your reference basic union scale rate in LA is currently around $1600 a week.

Good luck I hope this works out for you!