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Animated Musing By Mary Bredin
How Many Hats Does a Development Professional Wear?
I
am often asked what it means to develop a TV show. We all know what the goal is to be able to pitch an amazing story about characters that are real. To bring your listeners on that journey so everyone who hears the pitch understands it, sees it, feels it, loves it and says, “Yes, please make it!” But, how do you get there? Perhaps the best way to describe it is to say that developing shows for children is about wearing lots of different hats, and knowing which hat to wear when! Once you have a good concept, then you’ll need to put on these hats on: A Writer’s Hat (A Panama hat, perhaps?) I spend lots of time reading people’s ideas and then writing suggestions and other ideas.
Show creators may be writers, but not always. There are lots of discussions, tweaking and noodling — always trying to find the words to best describe the idiosyncrasies of characters and the heart in each idea while always being conscious of the ownership of the work. Director (I reach for a baseball cap). Often there is no director at an early stage of either a book or a creator’s concept idea, so you need to make sure there is some clarity in what is going on and how the show is working. (Is it too static? Does it have too much action?) I loved directing theater years ago and some of these skills come back. The more you can make the pitch feel like the show has already been made, as if you’re just describing your favorite show, then you actually have a better
chance that it will get made. A great pitch can also help find a great director. Inner Child a.k.a. the Audience (a folded paper hat). This is a challenging hat to keep on and to make sure it fits well: What does that four- or eight-year old really think and how do you find the words to express what they feel? It is one of my favorite hats to wear because fifth grade really was a great time for me. Comedian (a clown hat may be too much, but you need something colorful). Perhaps more than anything, every show really needs a sense of humor. If you are not conveying a sense of play, then maybe it’s not working. Finding fun and light moments through characters is a great element for any age group. Humor does connect … But, does it connect
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june|july 22
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