Many of the “scripts” I write are for characters that I myself draw, since I feel my ideas would be executed if they were animated. I imagine animation that is heavily anime inspired like Legend of Korra, or Boondocks. I prefer a more late teen to adult demographic for the types of stories I wish to tell. Do any of you feel that there is a huge difference between a script for a live action movie, and an animated one?
Animation : Animated shows. by Jayden Jeanmarie
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Hey, Jayden Jeanmarie. I've written my animated scripts like my live-action ones.
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Jayden Jeanmarie I think there’s definitely overlap, but animation lets you push visuals and actions in ways live action can’t, especially in styles like Legend of Korra or Boondocks. Timing, pacing, and visual storytelling become more important since everything is drawn, but character arcs and dialogue are still key. The main difference is thinking visually from the start.
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Honestly, there is no real difference. I was always told there was. I was told that an animation may work out to 0.5 minutes per page, because you have to describe more, but that's not really true. I recommend you download scripts from your favourite anime, read them and compare.
What I find is that in scripts that have heavy world building and a lot of elaborate action that needs to be described, they will have more description lines while animations that are teen/adult and play out more like live action will have no difference.
However, I would still say this is not true, because most cartoony or heavy world building stories, tend to rely on the storyboard for those visuals.
I know some studios will have their own rules, like using angle brackets for sound effects <BOOM> but I do not find that consistent across the board.
Final advice is, write like live action.
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The writer-artist combination is a powerful starting point since your visual instincts are already baked into the storytelling, and the mature anime-influenced lane you're describing has real appetite right now. What do you find is the bigger challenge — does knowing exactly how your characters look help the writing, or does it sometimes box you in creatively?
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Jayden - great question. There is some overlap as discussed, but one thing to keep in mind with Animated scripts: if it is fantasy there needs to be the rules of the world depicted. There needs to be a reason for why x is x and why y is why. Your world plays a huge factor visually as well.
Sam Rivera I don’t need to know exactly what the character will look like, but it does help to have an idea at least when it comes to ethnicity. I’m a very visual person, so even if I don’t have a character drawn on paper, I have an idea of what a character will look like regardless. Thank you for the question.