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Your Future Nostalgia. Today. | ||
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| September 2, 2010 |
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Interview by Philip N. Zeman, Editor-in-Chief Part 2: "Skyjammers"Part 2 deals with another of Bob's current projects, this time an unsold computer animated television series entitled "Skyjammers". You can see the promo Bob created at http://www.skyjammers.tv Philip N. Zeman: Let's move on to another current project of yours, one that I'm particularly interested in (for reasons that may be obvious to many ASM readers): "Skyjammers". If you had to sum up the plotline in, say, three sentences or less, what would you say? Bob Forward: Pirates in the sky. In fact the original title was "Sky Pirates" -- until Sept. 11th. :( Phil: Describe some of the characters and storylines that are involved in "Skyjammers". BF: The concept is fairly simple -- a princess and a pirate team up to become freedom fighters in a fantasy world ruled by tyranny. But because the setting is so wild -- floating landscapes and magic -- and the main characters have very different agendas, the overall story arc can be very dramatic while still being played out in a series of episodes that work individually on their own. The two leads are Rakarus -- a young pirate captain who originally owned the "Jolly Roger" (the ship) and Trilliann -- a fugitive princess who wins the ship from him in a poker game. Since she can't operate the ship by herself and the crew is still loyal to Rak, they must now be co-captains. But they squabble a lot. :) Phil: What led you to title the series "Skyjammers"? What other titles were discussed and ultimately discarded? BF: See above. We were just finishing the animation when the World Trade Center was hit. All of a sudden "Sky Pirates" seemed impolitic. So we kicked around things like "Cloud Corsairs" but ultimately took "Windjammers" and "Sky" and created "Skyjammers." Phil: Obviously, "Skyjammers" is computer generated. Who produced the footage we see on the website? BF: Mainly five animators from Foundation Imaging. Joe Lawson, Marie Winnard, Sean Jackson, Pete Evans and Rowsby. They had just finished "Dan Dare" and I was able to hire them for the project (which they very kindly did at a reduced rate.) No one worked on spec except my sister, myself, and Frank Becker (who did the music.) Phil: Other than the promo we see on the website, has there been any other footage rendered? BF: Some of the shots were longer and were trimmed down, but that's it. The promo was storyboarded and timed, so there would be a minimum of wasted effort. Phil: We see clips of voice actors on the site; who's involved? BF: No voice actors. I didn't want to use voices for the promo -- I wanted to show we could carry the concept just with music and animation, and do it in one minute. But since I was paying for the models, I got to choose what they looked like. And since Justin Knowles (who built the main leads) worked better from real people, I had Rak designed to look like my older son Max, and Trill was modeled after Karly Williams, a seventeen-year-old cutie who lives next door. Phil: Like "Agent 12", this is a project that you dreamed up, with the help of your family. How long has this idea been in your head? BF: About 10 years. Actually, it was my sister Eve who originally thought it up; she was helping out on an animated series before she went off to write fantasy novels (She has two published so far -- Villains By Necessity and Animist.) We worked out a concept and showed it to Judy Price at CBS, but at the time it was considered just too expensive to produce. But as I moved into CGI and began to see what it was capable of, I realized that "Skyjammers" could actually be done in CG. Because the whole concept was something I'd always just plain wanted to see -- if only for a moment -- I decided to go ahead with funding a promo. Even if the one minute was all that ever happened, it would be worth it. Phil: Last we had talked, you were trying to shop "Skyjammers" around to networks and/or companies. What's the current state of the project? BF: We're still talking to people -- and nervously watching [Disney's] Treasure Planet. The funny thing is, I actually worked on Treasure Planet years ago, and tried to work some of the "Skyjammers" concepts into it because -- as I said -- it was something I wanted to see visualized. So if it ends up biting me in the butt, I have only myself to blame. <grin> Phil: Unlike some of your other television work, "Skyjammers" is not guaranteed to be shown on television other than the one in your own living room. What sort of pitfalls does the uncertainty of such a project bring? Does it also bring some freedoms by not having to worry about pleasing anyone but yourself? BF: It is, quite simply, a gamble. Unfortunately, it is a gamble that has to be taken in the industry. The days when a writer could sell a show based on two pages and some artwork are long over. These days even a promo is a bare minimum. Many people have to fund an entire sample episode. The belief among the executives is: "If you are not willing to spend your own time and money on this project, then why should I be interested?" And they're right. But it makes it hard on someone who doesn't have studio finances behind them to get something made. Phil: What's involved in selling a TV show like this? Can you give our readers a glimpse into some behind-the-scenes information that they normally don't see or think about? BF: It's a lot worse than it used to be. Shows have gotten very expensive and very few of them make a profit. You can't just go sell a show any more -- you have to find overseas partners and swing a toy deal and even then you'll barely break even. Like every writer or animator, I always though the industry was suffering because of "greedy producers." Then I became one and started looking at the numbers -- and it's insane that anyone even stays in the business. Most producers are finding they can't make any money at all. The reasons are many and varied, but the simplest reason is that the audience has gotten so segmented. There are lots more shows and only a certain number of kids to go around. This means fewer actual eyeballs per show, which means less advertising money, which means the show has to be a major hit (or done really cheap or both) just to stay in the black. Add to that the problem of the shows getting tamer and "safer" and your target audience soon gets bored. Especially when they can [play as a criminal] on their PCs with "Grand Theft Auto 3." :) Phil: What's the next step for "Skyjammers"? If it's still being shopped around, is there anything that we as fans can do to help the process, or is it up to the whims of networks and companies? BF: Right now "Skyjammers" is running into the current "wisdom" that "kids don't like CG." This is based on the poor performance of "Max Steel" and "Action Man." God forbid the executives admit that the shows were lame. They'd rather blame the medium. I'll be the first to admit that CG (especially mocap [motion-capture] CG) has problems. It tends to be slow and it tends to be stiff. These were things we actually were trying to address in "Skyjammers." We'd come up with some stylistic choices that allowed more anime expressions and had developed a production method that made for more decisive movements (as you see in the promo.) But these take a little more time to do right, and time equals money. Nonetheless, the techniques are viable and they will happen, whether in "Skyjammers" or some other medium.
Still, if anyone likes, they could write a letter to David McDermott (who
is a really nice guy, by the way) at Phil: If ABC Family or another company were to come to you tomorrow and say, "We love the show, we want to show a 13-episode season" how soon could "Skyjammers" be on the air? BF: Faster than anything else. The promo was expensive (it ended up costing me about a quarter of my salary for the year) but that is because CGI is expensive to get running. Characters and vehicles and landscapes all have to be built and "boned" (made animatable.) But this means that we now HAVE all the assets and they are ready to roll. We could easily get it finished in six months. Phil: Do you already have an entire 13-episode season (or more) mapped out in your head? BF: More or less. It's a mistake to get too detailed early -- any client will want changes and they will affect the storyline so you have to keep things loose. Phil: Would you hire other writers for the show, or would you want to keep this one "in the family"? BF: I always like to have other writers who will bring in fresh ideas. The story editor just tries to keep it all consistant. Phil: If, ultimately, it isn't picked up by a company to be shown on television, what are the chances of any direct-to-video episodes or longer "movies"? BF: Always a possibility! In fact the industry seems to be trending that way -- which could really open things up creatively. Here's hoping! 1: Agent 12 | 2: Skyjammers | 3: Past Projects and the 80's TV Resurgence | 4: Other Questions ASM would like to again thank Bob Forward for taking the time to answer our questions. For more information about "Agent 12", check out http://www.detonationfilms.com. For more information about "Skyjammers", head to http://www.skyjammers.tv. For more information about Bob Forward, you can view his official site at http://www.bobforward.com.
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