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Quick update …

Jon and I are finally starting to formulate ideas loosely strung around a core concept.  I’ve started writing down little scenes as they come to me; I’m using those to get an idea of various characters and how they will act/interact in a range of situations – this is probably a completely back-to-front way of doing things but it’s a start and it works for me because it allows me to work visually; I can literally see the animation in my head as I write. This has pros and cons though, because when I can’t absolutely visualise something I falter.

We are continuing to analyse various TV shows too, which is a slow process. We need to consider how involved our analysis needs to be, but regardless, I think immersing ourselves in shows this way is invaluable. It makes us stop and think about everything from a writing and production point of view and it keeps our minds open to new possibilities. We’re both aware of the pitfalls of over analysing, but all we can do is keep an eye on that.

I’ve often read that you should analyse a range of books/shows/films, both ones you love and ones you hate, so that’s what we plan to do here. Interestingly, I seem to be drawing more inspiration from a show aimed at older kids that I wasn’t initially keen on (I like it now), than others that are aimed at the target demographic we initially settled upon  – I think we have some leeway with the demographic too; part of this process is about finding out what our style is and what age group we want to write for.

We hope to use Fountain, which is a Markdown-like syntax for screenplays, but our chosen writing app, Ulysses, doesn’t support it natively and doesn’t look likely to in the foreseeable future, but I don’t want to get too lost in the tech – again it’s about finding that balance. Currently we are like two very wobbly amateur tight-rope walkers just setting out without a net – the balance is wrong – it’s learn quickly or die. Overly dramatic much?