Mar 31, 2021

How to Get Your Short Made in Major US Studios: 5 Tips from Studio Executives

What makes for a good animated short in the U.S. studio system- How does a project get greenlit, and what can the studio do with it afterward-

This was the subject of a panel discussion at Kidscreen Summit's recent virtual edition. The event brought together three executives - Carl Reed, Asalle Tanha, and David Wiebe - to discuss the production of shorts and their adaptation into long-form content, like series.

Reed is president of Lion Forge Animation, the studio behind Matthew Cherry's Oscar-winning short Hair Love, released by Sony Pictures Animation, which is now being adapted into the HBO Max series Young Love. Tanha is director of development at Cartoon Network, where shorts often spawn series, Diego Molano's Victor and Valentino being one example. Wiebe is svp, current series at Dreamworks Animation, which produces both standalone shorts and franchise spin-offs.

Below, we've summarized five tips given in the discussion. Of course, studios' priorities and practices differ in many ways, so the relevance of the advice will vary from company to company.

Images at top, left to right: “Hair Love,” “Victor and Valentino,” “Spirit Riding Free” short