Month: March 2010

Animation continues to become more and more of a global business, not just in finding an international audience but also behind the scenes.  Production companies from various companies team up to launch new shows more often, or so it seems.  People wanting to work in animation must also be flexible and go where the jobs are, though this may not necessarily mean leaving their home country.  One such case in point is animation writers.

To illustrate the challenges of working on a global scale, I called upon the expertise of Larry DiTillio.  Larry’s extensive credits include work as a writer on HE-MAN (both the original and 21^st century incarnations), developer and story editor of HE-MAN’s companion series SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER, but specifically for this interview we focused on his multi-year experience as Co-Story Editor for TRANSFORMERS: BEAST WARS, for which the animation was produced by Mainframe Productions in Canada while he lived in the United States.  I started out asking how Larry, as a United States writer, got work on a Canadian-produced show.

“Chris Brough, one of the heads of Mainframe called my agent and asked if Bob Forward and I would develop and story edit the BEAST WARS show,” he explained. “For those who don’t know it, BEAST WARS was a revival of the TRANSFORMERS series based on the Hasbro toy line. Bob and I had worked together at Filmation when I first broke into the animation business there and we both had the same agent at the time.”   He pointed out that “[f]rankly, neither one of us was too eager to do the show since neither of us were great TRANSFORMERS fans,” then added, “[b]ut we agreed to meet with Chris since we both have a policy of not turning our nose up at anything until we learn more about it. We discovered we really liked Chris and we became excited over the prospect of creating a CGI show, a type of animation that was not as prevalent at the time. The truly awesome salary he was offering us further helped this, much more than either of us had ever made story-editing animation shows. So we signed on and wound up doing 3 seasons of BEAST WARS, a hit almost from its very first showing.”

This first question caused me to wonder if this would be a typical route for a writer in one country to get hired on a show made elsewhere.  I asked Larry for his take, to which he replied: “The answer to that is yes and no. It is a typical route for writers like Bob and myself who have lots of credits and lots of story-editing experience. In fact when we asked why Chris wanted us for the series he replied that Mainframe had done another CGI show that looked great but was weak on story. Since we had a reputation for good storytelling he was eager to have us.”  Larry clarified that he and Bob did not function as a writing team; they developed the show together but wrote and edited scripts separately.  Returning to summarize the question, he felt that how he and Bob got the BEAST WARS job is “a typical route for an experienced writer, but not for a novice.”

As to other avenues for writers or story editors to get hooked up to foreign shows, Larry began by saying, “Well to reiterate, the best avenue is experience. Foreign producers are not looking to America for budding talents; they have plenty of those in their own countries. What they are looking for are writers who know a lot about their craft and about the American entertainment industry, usually with an eye to expanding their market to America. This is what got me a job working for Gaumont in France, a year or so after BEAST WARS was done. They hired me not only for my credentials as a writer but for my viewpoint on how a show produced in France with French sensibilities would work in America. This job also came to me through my agent who had worked with the producer before.

“As for other avenues, my best advice is to find foreign companies with offices in America and try to get meetings with them. I have a friend who works in the comic book field and on a recent trip to Los Angeles he met with several foreign producers working in that area. The same can be done in media, many foreign companies have offices (usually in L.A. or New York) and these companies are often more amenable to meeting with writers than the corporate giants running the American industry. Some research is required to find these companies and you can start with the trade papers, VARIETY and the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. They run lists each week of what is being produced where in both film and television, often with contact numbers. You can then call and inquire as to what these companies might be looking for. If you do not have a lot of credits in the business then you must have some really good samples of your work and by samples I do NOT mean prose, poetry, plays etc. If you want to work in film or television, then have a full script to show.  Be honest (i.e. don’t pad your resume with fictional jobs or jobs that have no relation to the industry) and be practical. A foreign producer who has a history of producing period dramas is not going to be impressed by a horror movie and vice versa.  Study the company and get as much info as you can on them. I did this when Mainframe asked me to work for them, as I did when Gaumont made their offer.”

“Well I really don’t consider Canada a ‘foreign’ country,” Larry replied when I asked if it was challenging to work with producers in another country. “They speak the same language we do, share most of our values and interests and aren’t all that different from industry folks in the United States. France on the other hand was a constant challenge, not only because of language differences but also because of vast differences in how they approach the work process.”

Larry told me that travel was “absolutely” required and typical when he worked on BEAST WARS.  “Bob and I would travel to Vancouver a few times each year for meetings and to acquaint ourselves with the technology used in the show and the numerous people who contributed to it. And yes it is absolutely typical. It is impossible to story-edit a show well without such visits.  I also went to Paris when I was working with Gaumont and had that show gone ahead I would have been over there at least 3 times a year. In the same manner both the Canadian and French producers often came to the United States to meet with me.”  As to whether or not any of the other United States writers they worked with had to make travel commitments, “Nope. It is definitely not typical for a freelance writer to journey to another country. First of all it’s not necessary, the story-editor handles all the interaction between the writer of an episode and the production staff. Second of all it’s not cheap to ferry a writer to another country and since foreign companies often work with much smaller budgets they are not going to squander money on someone who’s writing a single episode or two. “

When I asked him if he specifically enjoyed anything about the international interaction, Larry replied, “Absolutely.  First there is the invaluable experience of visiting other countries, visits that might not otherwise be possible for a struggling writer. Secondly there is the benefit of working with people who think outside the ‘Hollywood’ box and thus are often more open to new and fresh ideas. Many of the things we did on BEAST WARS would simply not have been possible had we been working in the States. Third, there is the opportunity to pick up smatterings of new languages (e.g. my rather child-like high school French got considerably better after a week in Paris) and be exposed to the cultures and mores of other nations thus moving beyond the stereotypes we Americans often hold about foreign countries. And last, but certainly not least, foreign companies often have much more respect for writers, something most of us are not used to in the American industry.  I was treated royally in both Canada and France and have many fond memories of both.”

Given his long career history, I asked Larry if he felt that the advent of technology such as email makes it easier to work with writers and producers across the globe.  “Only a moron could answer this question no!” came the response.   “As an older writer, I remember working on a typewriter and being forced to actually drive to a studio to deliver a script (at the cost of several hours of the working day).  Now I can deliver the script by e-mail or fax the minute I finish it.  Likewise I need not trek across the landscape to have story meetings or get notes as I once used to. And obviously, I could never have been hired to work on shows overseas without this capability. Add scriptwriting programs that take all the formatting drudgery out of writing and the power of the Internet for research and communications and you realize we are living in a wondrous era for writers.”

Earlier on, Larry mentioned that production companies from other countries tended to seek out experienced writers.  Still, I wanted his opinion on whether or not a writer just starting out should concentrate on finding work in their home country or not be afraid to seek out global opportunities.  “Honestly I would have to say stick to your own country because as I already mentioned most foreign companies are looking for experienced writers, not people looking to break in. At the same time I think new writers should certainly be open to all opportunities and given the increasingly incestuous nature of the American industry, it might actually be easier to hook up with a foreign company.”

I closed asking Larry if he had any other pearls of wisdom to share.  “After 30 years in this crazed business I am just beginning to get a little wisdom but I am not certain it is of the pearl variety. Nevertheless I’ll make three comments and then spare you any further rambling. The first ‘faux pearl’ is: Resist the temptation to follow trends in the entertainment industry. It might make some commercial sense to write what the industry ‘seems’ to be buying but you’ll get a lot further by writing what YOU want to see, rather than what you think some executive might buy. The very best writers in our business got there by following their own passions and enthusiasms not by endlessly copying others. Second: It takes four things to be a writer – talent, desire, persistence and luck and of those four, it’s the last two that will probably have the most impact on your career.  Third: Learn to listen. Sounds simple, but it isn’t. Writers are sensitive souls and it is not easy to handle the constant rejection and change required by the scriptwriting profession. To do so you have to learn to collaborate and it will be much easier if you practice what Buddhist philosophy calls compassionate or deep listening.  This means when another person talks give them your full and undivided attention. Do not muddy your thoughts with what you are going to say in response but really take in what the other person is telling you and respond only when you’ve got it all.  That’s it. Aloha!”

Aloha to you too, Larry.

(originally released at Digital Media FX)

Christy Marx’s credits in animation range over twenty years and include writing for television, direct-to-video, and computer/console games.  She’s also served as a story editor for numerous series, and received the Animation Writing Award from the Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America in 2000, given “for a writer’s overall body of work, and for contributions to the field of animation writing.”  This article focuses specifically on writing for animated computer and console games.

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First off, it’s important to establish if there is any difference in writing a script for the screen versus writing a game script, though both are animated.  I asked Christy to clarify this, and she replied, “Nowadays it seems that animation has taken over for the ‘scenes’ in games, after the industry had a fling using live actors and sets.  However, that could always come around again in popularity.  The useful things to know, then, are the fundamentals of writing any script.  If you study tv scripts, film scripts and animation scripts, you will have the basic tools you need.”

Christy goes on to explain her personal approach. “I consult with the game company as to whether they want a live-action style script with only master shots, or an animation-style script with the writer effectively doing the advance work of a storyboard artist by calling out every single shot.  If the company has an artist with strong skills in storyboarding, I feel it’s better to let a visual person bring that skill to the script.  If they want you to give more guidance to the artist, then you should do an animation-style script.  What this requires of you as a writer, however, is a very strong visual imagination in which you can see the animation shots in your head in order to call them out in the script.”  She says this advice relates to “writing ‘cut scenes’ or ‘cinematics’, which are chunks of story where the player is fed the scene during which he has no control over the game.  Gameplay stops, the scene plays, the game continues.”

Many games also include elements of dialogue, which are integral to gameplay.  When asked what goes into fashioning what characters speak, Christy said, “writing dialogue is a whole different issue.  Most companies will have a writing or editing tool for you to use.   You need to be technically proficient enough to learn and use such tools.  But that’s usually easy.”

There are a lot of terms bandied about, such as level designer or game designer.  Level designer is in fact a programming job.  Christy reminded we should be aware of the differences, as these terms are not interchangeable.  In fact, a game designer may not even be the person doing the writing.  For the sake of this article, I’m narrowing down the definition to “game writer” and asked Christy to define what the difference between “game designer” and “game writer” could be, if the game designer is not actually writing the game.

“Nowadays, what I see under the job listings for ‘game designer’ is somebody that can do everything from management to programming to art.  I think such requirements are unrealistic, personally.  My definition of a game designer would be the person who brings the vision to the game, who can guide it on a management level, and who can come up with the storyline, characters, world-building, puzzles, strategies, etc. However, rarely do I ever see companies looking for a designer with genuine writing skills.  They seem to be more interested in the technical skills.  Back-asswards, if you ask me. 

“But nobody’s asking me.  So under this new set of rules, a game writer would be brought in later in the development process when many components are already created and set by the designer and creative team, such as the world, setting, look and feel, characters, etc.  The writer might be asked to come up with story, or evaluate the story, or do some additional world-building, or biographies for the characters, or maybe nothing more than writing dialogue.  I’ve done all sorts of variations on these things.”

Christy expanded into writing computer games in the early 1990s, during a slump period in the animation business.  That brought her to Sierra On-Line in the Yosemite area (which since moved to Washington State and acquired by Havas, now under the Universal Vivendi umbrella), where the company eagerly pursued writers with Hollywood knowledge.  Christy created two acclaimed PC games for them: CONQUESTS OF CAMELOT and CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW, featuring the adventures of King Arthur and Robin Hood, respectively.  More recently, Christy took her first foray into console games with THE LEGEND OF ALON D’AR for Stormfront Studios, published by UbiSoft, and designed for the PlayStation 2.  I wondered what the differences were between designing a PC adventure to designing a console game.

“The one big, overwhelming and significant difference is that the console games I worked on were completely linear, while PC games are expected to be as non-linear as possible. There are technical differences, of course, in terms of interface, how many characters you can have on the screen, etc.  But those are only marginally relevant to the writing.”

She then shared some of her own industry observations.  “I don’t know whether the consoles game designs I saw represent the way all console games are designed, but if so, I would say they have put themselves in a linear straitjacket.  Don’t get me wrong; I love being able to tell a linear story.  But there is no technical reason on earth why a console game can’t be a non-linear, exploratory game like a PC game.  The only restrictor is what the game designers have decided is the mindset of the console game player.  But since that’s all they feed to the players, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As for current PC games, they suffer from a lack of story sense and a lack of good writing.   Nobody’s making great adventure games any more.”

When asked to paint a picture of the general process a game writer goes through, Christy responded: “There is no one process.  It will vary depending upon the needs of the company and the project.  With the LEGEND OF ALON D’AR, they needed just about everything done from the storyline to the world-building to character-building.  In that case, they showed me the visual designs and left the rest up to me (which they and the client had to approve, of course). On another project, they already had all the visuals designed and knew what their basic story was.  I was brought in to rewrite the story to a professional level, and do a lot of work on building the character backgrounds.  In that case, all I needed to see was their existing written material and their sketches of the characters.”  She also had an experience where “they only wanted me to write an opening movie, but to do that I had to read, absorb and understand much of their game design, but I never got to see a single visual. Each project has its own process.”

A game writer generally does not remain involved with a project as it proceeds to the rendering stages and beyond.  I asked her if she ever got these kinds of opportunities.

“Only back when I was the designer/director/writer on my first two games with Sierra On-Line.  I did get to spend a fair amount of time being involved with ALON D’AR, but at a distance, since I didn’t live near the company. I loved being the designer on my games.  I loved working with my teams, with the programmers and artists and composer and QA to bring it all together.  It was immensely satisfying.”

From my perspective as an outsider, it seemed to me that it would be tougher to break into console writing in today’s market, despite the booming growth of the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, so I posed the question to Christy.  Here are her thoughts on the subject: “Yes, I think it’s gotten very tough for the freelancer.   If I were willing to move to a major city and go to work full-time as an employee, I could have had any number of jobs by now.  I’m just not interested in doing that.”  Christy further elaborated by saying what she felt was needed to break in as a freelance game writer.  “To get purely freelance writing jobs on a game seems to require that you be a big name writer in an associated field, such as TV writing, film writing, or be a sf or fantasy novelist.   Even then, the jobs are scarce.  Companies still don’t seem to understand the need to use professional writers to do their writing.  They wouldn’t dream of letting a game out the door with amateur graphics or amateur programming, but they think nothing of using amateur writing.”

If you’re serious about breaking into computer or console game writing, Christy first emphasized that “[o]ne prerequisite that always remains the same, no matter what you want to do in games, is that the companies want people who know the field. You must educate yourself and be able to convince a prospective employer that you know a lot about games, that you have a lot of experience playing games, and that you are highly enthusiastic about games.”

When asked if it was better to specialize in writing strictly for computer and console games, or become familiarized with writing for various animation forms, she replied, “[i]f your primary goal is to be a writer who also happens to write for games, you need to choose some field of writing and become an established professional. It could be film, animation, comic books, novels or whatever. Then you would have the means to approach whatever game company interests you, present your resume and try to get writing work. If your primary interest is in becoming a game designer, you need to find an entry-level position and work your way up.”  As far as appropriate positions to pursue for finding that door into a game company for a non-artist, “[t]hey simply don’t have entry-level positions for writers, at least not that I tend to see. You might get really lucky and find a job writing technical manuals, but I don’t see that as a good position to work up to game designer. I’ve heard the opinion that breaking in as a QA tester (Quality Assurance — play testers) and working up the ranks is a valid route. I can’t comment on that, though it strikes me as a tough way to go and a big jump from heading a QA dept. to being a game designer. Still, it’s a possibility, if not a strong one.”  She adds, “[t]here are management jobs also, of course, such as producers and project managers, but those are rarely creative jobs. You’ll see for yourself what those entail by reading up on the job listings for those positions.”

Christy also emphasizes a long-standing tradition exists for programmers to also be designers, which she finds “problematic” as  “programmers rarely have the skills to be good writers and game design suffers without a good writer involved. If you possess both talents, you’re in a strong position to become a designer.”

There are four major areas for employment in the computer and console industry within the United States — Seattle, Washington; the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles, California; and Austin, Texas.  Though don’t be surprised to find companies in places like Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego, and North Carolina.  Christy’s advice on how to choose a locale is simply this: “If you have a definite preference for where you want to live, concentrate on companies in that area. But if you’re willing to be flexible, you might find you have a better chance breaking into companies located outside the four big regions.”

(originally appeared at Digital Media FX)