JEFFREY
SCOTT INTERVIEW: WRITING ABOUT THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY
By Shannon Muir
Originally
published at this site
***
Jeffrey Scott is a second generation animation
writer. Jeffrey described to me how he
got his start when his father “was a story editor at Hanna-Barbera. At
that time they actually had ‘assistant’ story editors. Well, my dad's
assistant had some upset with H-B and quit. I was the only person my
father could think of to replace him. So I started as an assistant story
editor on Dynomutt: Dog Wonder.
My dad would tell me to write a premise. I said, ‘What's a premise?"’
And he'd show me. Then he'd tell me to turn it into an outline. I
said, ‘What's an outline?’ And he showed
me. So I was blessed with a six month apprenticeship from a top story
editor who, as my father, cared that I learned my craft well. Then my dad
sold a series (The Robonic Stooges)
and I took his place as story editor of Super
Friends. The rest is toon history” and launched Jeffrey Scott’s
career.
Next I wondered what motivated him to start
writing about how the business worked in articles and book. “One of the things I learned long ago was
that an artist had to be a businessman to survive. So about six years ago
I contacted the editor of Animation Magazine (Sarah Baisley at that time), and
had lunch with her. I told her that her magazine was great, but that it
never mentioned anything about writing, which was (and is!) one of the most
important elements of good animation.”
At that time, he “volunteered to write a column on the subject and
she happily agreed. I didn't do this just for philanthropic reasons, I
had a business motive as well. I knew that with a circulation of 25,000 I
would be getting free publicity each time my articles appeared. It not
only increased my recognition in the industry, but several studios have
contacted me as a direct result of their having read an article.”
I asked what Jeffrey enjoyed covering about
writing, being a writer himself. “I've
enjoyed writing all of the articles. Most of my Animation Magazine
articles have been about the technical side of animation writing, including how
to get ideas, how to develop a story, how to sell your work, the essentials of
a bible, how to pitch, how to get an agent. Actually, all of my Animation
Magazine articles can be found on my website at www.jeffreyscott.tv. These articles were
the basis of my book, which expanded on all of these topics and filled in the
blanks.” The move to put together the
book was motivated by the fact that “[d]uring the course of my entire
career I had been jotting down notes and putting them in my file, knowing that
one day I was going to write a book. It's my personal belief that anyone
who knows the technology of a subject has a duty to ensure that the next
generation knows what he/she knows so they can build on it and improve the
product. Keeping usable data to oneself is a bit selfish. Many
people are afraid to tell others how they succeeded for fear that it will
increase the competition and they might somehow lose something. I don't
believe that. On the contrary, I believe that by helping others to
survive you only help yourself. Finally, after years of jotting down
notes, and having written over a dozen Animation Magazine columns, I found
myself with little work to do one spring and decided it was time to write the
book. It was a lot of fun to connect the dots between my columns and turn
it into a complete picture of the professional animation writing business.”
As to the responses he’s received to his book: “I've
been thrilled to hear people's thoughts about the book. Everyone that has
contacted me has told me how much they've enjoyed it, both technically and as
an enjoyable read. I really put my heart into the book, and apparently
that comes across to readers. One person just wrote and told me that she
gave the book to her 15-year-old son after she read it. He read it and
was so inspired he's now writing a cartoon script. That's quite
heartwarming. In fact, my true goal for the book is that it gets
discovered by some public school administrator who realizes that it could be
very effectively used to motivate kids to write. Which would you rather
write, a dry essay on the Puritans or an exciting cartoon script?”
When asked if Jeffrey felt more people should be
writing about the animation industry, he responded that “[t]he industry is
changing pretty quickly now, especially with the advent of computer animation,
and it would be nice if the literature kept up with new trends. But I'm
not aware of a dearth of books in the field. Hopefully my book, How to
Write for Animation, filled in the hole with regard to professional
animation writing.” He felt that someone
should consider writing about the animation industry “[w]hen they have
something helpful to say,” and in fact admits he’s “not a big fan of ‘armchair
experts’ writing about subjects with which they have little experience.
It's quite honorable for a busy professional to take the time to communicate
his or her valuable experience. But it seems a bit self-indulgent to
me for someone who knows little about a subject to give their ‘opinions’
about it.” As to someone wanting to
pursue writing about animation, Jeffrey admits that “I must be honest here and
say that I have trouble with the concept of someone wanting ‘to pursue writing
about animation’. If you're a professional, then by all means write up
the experience that you found worked well so that others can use it. But
if someone just wants to write about subjects they don't really know, they
should write fiction, not non-fiction. So the answer to your question is,
if you want to write about some aspect of animation then spend a good 10 or 20
years doing it before you write about it.”
Speaking of someone who goes out and interviews others to compile that
collective experiences, Jeffrey indicated that “[i]f someone is solely
interviewing professionals and compiling their practical experience into an
article or book, then it really wouldn’t matter how much experience they had in
the industry, provided they were a good writer and could communicate the
material. This would be a valuable service. On the other hand, if an interview is interjecting
their own views and evaluating the material, it would seem to me to be more
appropriate if they had a good deal of animation experience so they could
effectively and intelligently make an evaluation” of the business.
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