ANIMATION SCRIPTWRITING

Meet Jonathon E. Stewart, get oriented in the course structure, and preview the assignments and final project ahead.

• Meet your instructor
• Course structure
• Assignments and final project overview
• Q&A
• Icebreaker exercise

Explore how animation scriptwriting differs from live-action, then learn the formatting conventions and terminology used in the medium.

• Live-action vs animation scriptwriting
• Case study: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse vs No Way Home, plus The Wild Robot
• Standard animation script formatting
• Demo: Formatting an animation script
• Conforms

Learn to write vivid, artist-ready descriptions for storyboard artists, using sensory language and settings that support the story.

• Role of the storyboard artist
• Vivid descriptions for artists
• Dynamic settings that support the story
• Sensory language in descriptions
• Action as description
• Workshop: Character bio built from a visual design sketch

Assignment 1: The Concept
One page: your original animated concept and logline, showing why the story has to be animated.

Adapt character development techniques to animation, using visual quirks and voice considerations to build characters that read on the page.

• Character development for animation
• Visual quirks and unique features
• Character voice for voice actors
• Characterisation through visual detail

Discover how to write for voice performance, from vocal range and accents to dialogue that carries subtext, humour and emotion.

• Voice acting nuance and range
• Snappy, memorable dialogue
• Subtext in dialogue

Assignment 2: Character Package
Your protagonist, antagonist and up to three supporting characters, each with a want, need, visual identity and voice note, plus your format declaration.

Design memorable animated worlds with their own rules and magic, and learn how genre shapes a world's visual design.

• Designing animated worlds
• Magic and rules of the world
• Animation-specific world-building elements
• Case study: Encanto, The Mitchells vs the Machines, Monster House

Learn to convey history and emotion through set dressing, colour and light, letting settings carry story without over-describing them.

• History through visual detail
• Setting driving character and story
• Avoiding over-detailed descriptions
• Workshop: Adding mood to a flat setting description

Assignment 3: Tentpoles
Your world document covering setting, rules and visual logic, plus seven load-bearing story beats from opening image to ending.

Analyse how animation handles comedy and drama differently to live-action, and learn to deploy or subvert genre tropes with confidence.

• Comedy and drama tropes in animation
• Animation-specific genre strengths
• Emotional depth and dramatic tension
• Subverting expectations
• Writing for different age demographics

Master visual pacing and script formatting to build comedic beats and dramatic pauses without relying on dialogue alone.

• Visual pacing
• Formatting for comedic beats and pauses
• Scene length and structure
• Demo: Building a beat sheet

Assignment 4: Outline
The full sequence outline of your script, with act breaks marked and the emotional function of every sequence defined.

Build character arcs and backstory that hold across episodes, and learn to weave exposition and subplots into a season-wide narrative.

• Character arcs across episodes
• Natural exposition
• Ongoing subplots and continuity
• Balancing episodic and season-wide stories

Apply sequence-by-sequence structure to feature-length stories, pacing longer narratives and building towards a satisfying climax.

• Scope and scale of features
• Sequence-by-sequence structure
• Pacing for longer narratives
• Building a satisfying climax

Assignment 5: Act One
Feature: your first act, roughly 20-25 pages. Pilot: your cold open through the first act break.

Learn to work within a creative team, communicate ideas across departments and manage feedback, deadlines and multiple projects.

• Creative team dynamics
• Cross-department communication
• Time management and prioritisation
• Creative problem-solving

Learn to communicate your vision to the team, understand an artist's needs and limitations, and adapt to feedback and creative direction.

• Communicating vision to the team
• Artists' needs and limitations
• Adapting to feedback

Assignment 6: Act Two
Feature: all of act two, building to your midpoint reversal. Pilot: your second act through the lowest point.

Develop strong pitches for animation concepts, from concise loglines and hooks to tailoring your pitch for the right audience.

• Building strong animation pitches
• What studios and networks look for
• Tailoring pitches to different audiences
• Visual aids in a pitch

Map out the animation industry landscape and learn how writers actually get hired, network and build a lasting career.

• Animation industry landscape
• Professional networking
• Interview tips

Final Project: Completed Draft
A front-to-back completed draft of your original animated script, pilot or feature, plus your full pitch plan: logline, hook and pitch document.

Get a clear-eyed look at where AI genuinely helps a working writer, where it falls short, and how guilds and studios treat AI-assisted work.

• AI tools for writers
• AI ethics
• AI, guilds and unions
• Open Q&A