Firefly- The Animated Series

POSTED BY: Mangolo
UPDATED: Friday, February 2, 2007 15:08
VIEWED: 35432
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MAL4PREZ

Friday, January 12, 2007 9:52 PM

My feeling is this: Joss would likely only get behind this if there was truly no hope of continuing the `verse in any other way. (Besides the comics, which are completely unsatisfying. IMHO, they don't count.)

So, the question I'm seeing here is: if it was animation or nothing, what would I take? Duh!!

Obviously I'd vastly prefer a return to the live action TV series, or the big screen, but if I can't have either of those I'll take the cartoon. Who knows, if it's successful, it could be a bridge to getting our live series back (probably not what you want to hear, mangolo. Sorry!)

However, I do think you'll have a hard time wrestling the rights away from the f**ks at fox. Even if you manage to get Joss and the actors on board. Have you looked into this problem at all?

Keep us posted!

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

MANGOLO

Monday, January 15, 2007 12:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:
My feeling is this: Joss would likely only get behind this if there was truly no hope of continuing the `verse in any other way. (Besides the comics, which are completely unsatisfying. IMHO, they don't count.)

So, the question I'm seeing here is: if it was animation or nothing, what would I take? Duh!!

Obviously I'd vastly prefer a return to the live action TV series, or the big screen, but if I can't have either of those I'll take the cartoon. Who knows, if it's successful, it could be a bridge to getting our live series back (probably not what you want to hear, mangolo. Sorry!)

However, I do think you'll have a hard time wrestling the rights away from the f**ks at fox. Even if you manage to get Joss and the actors on board. Have you looked into this problem at all?

Keep us posted!

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

We might be able to skirt Fox' rights depending on how those rights are recorded. We know Fox would get all over us on broadcast television, but maybe they'd slide us in at night, if not we wouldl be releasing it in multiple formats for download and on DVD. Remember if we had the green light today, you wouldn't see anything for about 2 years. By that time downloads will be much more common and we are betting, even dominant, in the sci-fi genre.

We did a rough work up on budget. Our episodes would run less than half of what the live action episodes ran at. The problem is we are not sure we can capture half the Firefly market with animation. Our preliminary market survery shows at least 65% of diehard fans would definitely watch the show. We think that in the general Firefly audience, these numbers might be considerably less.

Your thoughts?

MICJWELCH

Monday, January 15, 2007 4:25 AM

I really think anybody here who says that they wouldn't like it would probably watch it anyway. If people don't think that emotions can be portrayed properly in animation, they should look at Toy Story (also written by Joss Whedon). They're toys. And we love them.

I take it your animation style is actually similar to Titan AE (more Joss Whedon, actually).

I would LOVE to see this in an animated series. I've suggested this once before, actually, but we don't often get anyone reading these posts that can do it.

"We may experience some slight turbulence, and then... explode."

MANGOLO

Monday, January 15, 2007 8:46 AM

I posted this on another Firefly board:

I do want to be clear - this is not going to be a cartoon in any sense of the word. There will be no cartoony look. Here is a sample of the look from "strange frame" our current project. This is not artwork - this is the actual animation ready head. (Yes, we know it looks like Morgan Freeman)

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Monday, January 15, 2007 9:27 AM

I'd love to see this. In fact, since 'Batman' has now been updated to a heavy tech kids show, I think there's a real opening for a more adult cartoon series. Anyone else remember that Batman animated series in the late nineties? The one that was very cool and gothic looking?

I know that 'Gargoyles' had a huge adult fanbase too.

Short answer - yes. Definately yes. Go for it!

Graphics available at www.desktophippie.com

ANNIE

Monday, January 15, 2007 11:49 AM

With the same cast and characters? I am most definitely in. I would even run right out and buy direct-to-dvd anything FF related.

Sex and violence on the big screen, where it belongs.

DONCOAT

Monday, January 15, 2007 2:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mangolo:
We did a rough work up on budget. Our episodes would run less than half of what the live action episodes ran at. The problem is we are not sure we can capture half the Firefly market with animation. Our preliminary market survery shows at least 65% of diehard fans would definitely watch the show. We think that in the general Firefly audience, these numbers might be considerably less.

Your thoughts?

I think this is a significant concern.

One issue that any on-demand distibution scheme is up against is the fact that it's, well, on demand. That is, no one is likely to find it unless they're looking for it. That works fine for the diehards like us. Goodness knows we're looking!

But how will that work for the casual viewer, those four million or so who tuned in to the Firefly broadcasts during its first run? For many of those folks, the show has long since drifted out of their awareness. The lack of a big audience for Serenity was an indication of that.

I don't know what the answer is, but I'll venture to say that a marketing campaign will have to be part of it. So you should plan (and budget for) some kind of advertising blitz -- perhaps 15 second spots during whatever popular SF shows are on the air then, plus online ads that show up in search engines when people specify that sort of material.

That could get expensive quickly, so it should be part of the calculations right from the start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

CORNCOBB

Monday, January 15, 2007 2:53 PM

You've got my support. Joss writing and the original cast voicing the characters? Sounds shiney

"Gorramit Mal... I've forgotten my line."

MANGOLO

Monday, January 15, 2007 6:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DonCoat:
Quote:
Originally posted by Mangolo:
We did a rough work up on budget. Our episodes would run less than half of what the live action episodes ran at. The problem is we are not sure we can capture half the Firefly market with animation. Our preliminary market survery shows at least 65% of diehard fans would definitely watch the show. We think that in the general Firefly audience, these numbers might be considerably less.

Your thoughts?
I think this is a significant concern.

One issue that any on-demand distibution scheme is up against is the fact that it's, well, on demand. That is, no one is likely to find it unless they're looking for it. That works fine for the diehards like us. Goodness knows we're looking!

But how will that work for the casual viewer, those four million or so who tuned in to the Firefly broadcasts during its first run? For many of those folks, the show has long since drifted out of their awareness. The lack of a big audience for Serenity was an indication of that.

I don't know what the answer is, but I'll venture to say that a marketing campaign will have to be part of it. So you should plan (and budget for) some kind of advertising blitz -- perhaps 15 second spots during whatever popular SF shows are on the air then, plus online ads that show up in search engines when people specify that sort of material.

That could get expensive quickly, so it should be part of the calculations right from the start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

We are working on it. We have a lot of experience with web marketing. We have been contracted by Universal and others for such work and have garnered millions of hits for these entities. No worries there.

>

MANGOLO

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 7:38 AM

I'm posting this response from another Firefly forum just FYI:

Thanks for the kudos. We are humble animators who love our jobs.

As for the production question - regardless of live action or animation - pre-production and production happens completely before a season begins, usually only post and the last couple of episodes of a show are produced during the actual season.

As far as the format, if this starts looking like we have a solid market, we will approach Joss. We'd only do this if he himself wrote the opening episode and him or his team would write the series. Once we have negotiated that (and which of our arms and legs Joss wants as far as ownership), we'd take the package to FOX and/or SCI-FI and others to see if they are willing to foot the bill and in what form. If none bite, we'd go it alone. I think first season would be 4-6 episodes available for download, pay per view, DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD DVD. We'd roll the income straight into the second season.

Honestly, we are not in this to make a bunch of money. We live in Hawaii and are doing well just working on our projects here, but we'd really love the opportunity to work with Joss, learn from him and further our style of animation. We also have an outreach program for disadvantaged kids to intern with our company. A regular show would allow us to expand that program and help even more young talented kids from the surrounding economically depressed areas.

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