A lot of growth in animated features in 2003 seems to be in the direct-to-video sector, so I decided to connect with Len Uhley, an accomplished animation writer whose credits include several animated direct-to-video features, and find out the realities of this aspect of the business. Len was a double Emmy Award nominee in 2003 as a member of the teams for two Warner Bros. Animation series, Static Shock and Ozzy & Drix. In addition, one of Len’s episodes for Ozzy & Drix, “Where There’s Smoke,” won a Prism Award from the Entertainment Industry Council. Besides his work on the direct-to-video projects discussed in this article, Len Uhley has written and/or edited eighty television episodes for Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, DIC, Mike Young Productions, Film Roman, MGM, Saban, Viacom and Renaissance Pictures.
When I asked Len how he first got involved with writing animation for direct-to-video releases, he admitted it was “through dumb luck, timing, and knowing somebody. In this case, I have to thank Ralph Sanchez, with whom I had worked when we were both on the writing staff at Walt Disney TV Animation. Ralph later became a creative executive and held a position at Universal Cartoon Studios. Through him, I got a chance to do some series development there, most notably on a version of the Archie Comics characters. In the course of that, I met Suzi Peterson, who is the Senior VP for Original Programming at Universal Home Video and Family Entertainment. Suzi was responsible for the wildly successful Land Before Time home video features, and they were looking to do sequels to An American Tail as well. She said to me, ‘If you come up with an idea that we like, it’s yours.’ I did, they did, and it was.” He felt his prior credits vital to getting these assignments since he “had been a staff writer and story editor at Walt Disney TV Animation. So I had a lot of ‘funny animal’ experience by the time I did the American Tail and Land Before Time projects.”
I wondered how much input he got on the storylines for An American Tail and Land Before Time, since they were already existing franchises. “Each assignment was different. An American Tail III (Treasure of Manhattan Island) was based on my original pitch. The first version of An American Tail IV was by another writer. However, the folks at Universal decided to take it in a different direction and asked me to rework it. I used a few elements from the previous approach — a mouse-world newspaper setting, for example — but it went from being a caper film to a kind of a horror film for kids (Mystery of the Night Monster). Eventually I ended up with the screenplay credit.” His Land Before Time experience worked a little differently. “Land Before Time VII (The Stone of Cold Fire) was an amalgam of a couple of premises I pitched. Fortunately, Suzi Peterson and her associate Patti Jackson have great story sense, in addition to being very supportive of their writers. So their input at every stage was superb.”
The length of a direct to video script varies. “It’s a case-by-case basis,” says Len. “Some of the animated theatrical screenplays I’ve read (e.g., Antz) were quite short, 80-90 range, very much a reading-draft/master-scene approach. The scripts I did for Land Before Time and An American Tail were in the 110-120 range. Long-form scripts for DIC are 140+, because they really want everything called out shot-for-shot.”
Many people view the animation theatrical market is next to impossible to break into, unless you have pre-established relationships with the studios, I wanted to see if Len thought that the direct-to-video market was equally difficult to break into or not. ‘Actually, I think that both are ‘next to impossible.’ Granted, the established animation studios still do a few new home video projects that are very profitable for them.” He went on to mention a few examples. “Warners Animation turns out the Batman and Scooby-Doo films. Disney does sequels to their various properties and promotes them as if they are theatrical releases. Universal is still doing Land Before Time, which, as franchises go, is up there with Star Trek. Artisan has released Mattel’s Barbie CG films, which I assume make everyone piles of money. Then there are the folks at Veggie Tales, who produce such wonderful, funny stuff. But otherwise, the market is very tight.” Len continued by pointing out that if you “walk into a local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video… I’d be surprised if you saw a lot of new product that’s not based on pre-existing properties. The studios say, why risk spending tons of money on something new and original? They can make more money selling titles from their library, and that costs them almost nothing.”
“I can’t say that my experience is typical,” Len said when asked what he enjoyed most about his direct-to-video projects. “Maybe somebody else has had a terrible time of it. Still, I’ve developed Home Video projects at Universal, DreamWorks and DIC, and in every case, I worked for really sharp people, which made the experience very pleasant. Another nice thing about doing direct-to-video is that, for better or worse, whatever you write basically ends up on the screen.. That’s less often the case in series television, where there are story editors and producers whose job it is to revise your script before it’s recorded.
“Let’s see, what else. The studios generally spend a little more on the animation, so you end up with a product that looks good. Also, because there is no Network Standard and Practices Department, there is less concern about being offensive or controversial, or worrying about liability issues (imitable behavior and so forth). You’re left to exercise your own taste and judgment. And, lastly, while nobody gets rich doing these, the pay is somewhat better than you see in Saturday Morning TV, especially lately.”
I asked if he had any advice for someone hoping to hone their skills to write direct-to-video releases for animation. “Well, as they say, if it were easy, more people would be doing it,” he replied. “First, get an agent, because for some reason, that proves you’re a professional. Learn to write in a lot of different genres. If all you do is pre-school, try writing an action piece. I started out at Disney writing for talking bears and ducks, but once I went freelance, I ended up working on a bunch of superhero shows. You need to have samples in a variety of genres, particularly in the half-hour format.”
“However,” Len added, “I’d suggest against writing a spec animation feature. People will read a live action spec for an animation assignment, but usually not vice-versa. Read the trades and watch the video shelves to see who’s releasing product that matches your sensibilities. Then have your agent (see, I told you it was important) contact them and see if they’re taking pitches. Daily Variety has a sister publication, Video Business, which is a terrific resource for anyone interested in the DVD market, both live action and animated. And again, write as much and as often as you can. Preferably for money.”
Thank you for your opinion and insights, Len.