Viacom-owned cable and satellite TV network Nickelodeon has announced an open call for its 2015 global Animated Shorts Program, open worldwide. They’ll be taking pitches between 1st February – 31st March 2015.
They’ve also announced an expansion to their Writing Program, opening it up to applications from across the globe.
Ideas and pitches will be accepted from a wide pool of creative talent from all quarters including artists, designers, writers, directors and comedians. Creators will be provided with the necessary artistic and production support teams to help them complete their fully animated short.
Shorts must be original, humor-based and character-driven. All animation styles are encouraged from 2D, digital 2D, stop motion, CG or mixed media. Final pitches should be two minutes in length, and in the form of a rough storyboard.
Chris Savino’s ‘The Loud House’
This is the fourth year for the program, and the network’s development team will continue to oversee domestic and international pitches for the Nickelodeon and Nick preschool audience. Last year, it yielded its first 13-episode series greenlight with Chris Savino’s The Loud House, which will premiere in 2016.
Past select animated shorts will also be presented on the Short Toons section on Nick.com (and, presumably, on nick.co.uk) and the Nick App.
Nickelodeon has also announced it’s expanding its Nickelodeon Writing Program, now in its 15th year, to include a contender who lives outside the United States among the four finalists for the first time. The program receives more than 1,400 applications each year and the four newcomers will join an alumni group of 44.
While in the Program, writers receive hands-on experience writing spec scripts and pitching story ideas in both live action and animated television. They also meet series creators, story editors and showrunners, as well as work in writers’ rooms, attend pitches, records, show tapings and more.
This year’s program will be modified to a six-month length, with one selected participant spending the first three months in London with the international production and development team, followed by six weeks in the writers’ room in LA. The participant is then paired with an animator for the remainder of the program back in London.
• Full program guidelines for the Animated Shorst Program are available at www.nickshortspitches.com
• For details of the Writing Program visit http://nickanimationstudio.com/writing-program
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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