Writing & Showrunning for Animated Series: The US Model with Tony Gama-Lobo

Course Profile

Screen Ireland is delighted to offer a three-day writers' room programme with showrunner and writer Tony Gama-Lobo facilitated by Des Doyle.

Best known as the Emmy-nominated longtime co-executive producer of Fox’s hit animated series King of the Hill, Tony is a veteran writer-producer-showrunner of nearly 20 years for shows such as IFC’s Out There, TruTV’s comedy I’m Sorry (starring Andrea Savage), Nickelodeon’s revival of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, as well as pilots for all major outlets. Most recently he was executive producer/showrunner of the Emmy-nominated series Santiago of the Seas as well as co-writer of Netflix animated features Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Casagrandes, as well as the live action Paramount+ feature A Loudhouse Halloween.

This is a three-day in-person event for 12 writers and a 90-minute talk for industry.

Schedule

Monday, 8th January 2024

• What makes a story an animated series?
• Story & character development for animation
• Pitching an animated series with existing successful series deck/art
• Scripting an animated show - key differences to how a drama script is formatted with side by side breakdown of one scene of produced script & completed animated scene as aired from 2 different series

Tuesday, 9th January 2024

• In depth discussion on the role of the showrunner in the production process of an animated series and the production requirements - working with directors, voice cast and delivery timelines - common production challenges.
• Writing & producing animation for streamers and linear networks - different requirements?

Rewrite exercise for the room

The room will read through 1/2 scenes of a produced scene from an existing show and under Tony's guidance rewrite the scene to see what improvements/changes the room can generate.

Wednesday, 10th January 2024

• All selected writers must have a 1 page pitch for an animated series before the room begins. Taking what they have learnt from days one and two, they then have an opportunity to rewrite or edit their pitch for an in-room, in-person presentation to Tony on day 3.
• Each writer will get feedback from Tony and then we’ll open feedback to the other writers in the room. This pitching session will allow 30 minutes for each writer.

Industry Talk with Tony Gama-Lobo

As part of this course, Screen Ireland is also delighted to present an in-person industry talk with Tony with a Q&A session taking place on the evening of Wednesday, 10th January 2024. This session is open to animation students, producers, directors and creatives, and is free of charge to attend.

This industry talk is no longer accepting registrations.

Participant Profile

This course is suitable for writers with an interest in developing/writing for animation. Priority will be given to writers with produced animation credits.

Application Procedure

This course is no longer accepting applications.

For any technical queries, please contact skills.info@screenireland.ie

Screen Ireland skills opportunities are open to all regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. If you require supports, please let us know in advance so we can put these in place to assist your learning.