Goals and Dreams: How to Write For Animation

Precisely 3 years ago, in February of 2010, I put a marking in my journal of my newer or newest career goal I would dedicate myself to working toward. I set out to achieve the impossible. My goal was inspired by Japanese animated serials from the early era of anime especially, from shows like Gundam and Dragonball Z. 

I wanted to fill a void not currently being filled. Why is there no Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam head writer and creator) of American produced animation and animated action shows in America. "Where is the action? Where is the WAR and militant ballistics?? Where are the martial arts?! Where is the drama, suspense, and dramatic storytelling!!!? Huh!!!??? Where are the big sweeping epic sagas of American animation, like what Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Generator Rex are both doing now? There wasn't nearly as much of that on TV when I wrote that journal entry three years ago. That void can still be felt to this day. It's not the most popular thing in the world to take a more sophisticated design, and cinematic-dramatic storytelling approach to animation the way Yoshiyuki Tominino, THE animation pioneer did with his scripts and novels. But I figured, since I do have this level of literary productivity and power over my words, I may as well use it for good, and not abuse it for evil (i.e. most comedy and comedic cartoons of the modern era). 

In that resolution to pursue the dramatic and intense visuals in my scripts and screenwriting, I could literally feel the Builder and Visionary in my consciousness coming to life.

Then a few years later after a lot of hard work, step No. 1 was complete in that plan. I wrote the first draft of my first 22-page spec script. The first ever written by me. I was incredibly happy with it. In nearly every way, that script manifested and personified the ideals I believed in about animation storytelling and production, in a way I had been longtime failing at in comics and sequential art. That might change, but for now I'm far superior at writing over art. I'm aware of that now. I may be a pretty good artist, a first class designer, and good illustrator and sequential artist, but I'm a Great American Writer. And nothing in me would doubt that proclamation for a second. My confidence in my abilities seems to come from how productive I am at doing something. The more often I draw or write, the more comfortable and confident I  become with it.