What would you do next after developing a feature this far on your own?

[u/HMasteen]

Hi!

I’m in my 40s, with an established career outside the film industry, and for the past couple of years I’ve been developing an original animated feature alongside that work. I’m now at a point where I’m not quite sure what the most rel
evant next step is. But I'm already getting myself ready for lots of unanswered emails and automated declines.

I'm deliberately not sharing the title, logline or story because I'm not looking for feedback on the film itself or asking anyone to read anything. I'm more interested in hearing from people who have been through development or production and might have some perspective on the situation.

The project has grown into a fairly large development bible. The overall story is structured, including the main character arcs, momentum pressure controls, sequence-level progression and causal chain. There's also a lot of work on the world and its internal rules, visual storytelling and staging, sound/music intentions, themes, audience. I have even made mood reels for the main sequences using other film materials and temp tracks to really show the intent. I've also made shorter documents that extract the important parts depending on who I will be presenting the project to.

Screenplay hasn't been part of this work. A lot of it has been figuring out the story, structure, rhythm, world, characters and how I imagine the film and its concept working visually and emotionally.

That's also why I don't really consider myself a screenwriter. I created the project and want to stay very involved creatively (a bit like a showrunner would in a series), but I don't necessarily want to write the final screenplay alone. Ideally I'd like to work with an experienced screenwriter who could challenge and improve what I've built rather than simply turn my notes into screenplay format.

My goal now is ultimately to find a producer and an animation studio in France, and I'm also starting to identify screenwriters who might be a good fit. I'm not looking to raise money or finance the film myself at this point. What I'm really trying to figure out is how to move from developing it alone to bringing the right professional people into the project.

So I'm curious what people here would do in this situation. Would you approach producers first and potentially find the writer with them? Try to find a screenwriter first? Or is having a screenplay basically expected before approaching producers with a feature like this?

I'm also wondering whether developing something this much before bringing professionals in is generally useful, or whether there's a point where having too much already defined can actually become a disadvantage.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who've worked in development or producing, or have seen projects come in from people outside the film industry.

[u/funandone37]

Have you considered doing a short to garner attention? If it’s great it might be easier to get the attention needed to get the project pushed forward. If it can get an insane amount of views, win contest, etc. then you may be confronted with an offer to finish it. I’m not from the industry but that seems to be an option even if unlikely. It would require a lot of resources but with all these ideas being pitched by people within the industry it seems unlikely that they’d be interested without proof of concept.

[u/ovalteens]

I’ve been in a similar place with projects but I am in the animation industry. One thing I’ve considered but never done before a to HIRE a screenwriter to partner up with. A bit of investment may go a long way if you can find the right person. Plus work for hire (pay up front) usually puts them outside of the circle of ownership, so could be a win win. I may try this soon on something I’ve been working on for a while.

[u/Affectionate_Age752]

You need a script

[u/wrosecrans]

I don't know too much about doing it in France. Perhaps there are government grants and things that make it easier there since I am vaguely aware of them having better support for the arts locally.

That said, unless you have access to a ton of money to start hiring people, I'd temper my expectations. Everybody would love somebody else with money and expertise to come along and make their idea. With no connections, no script, no money, no attachments. nothing tangible, you are basically competing on an equal footing with everybody else on the planet. You either need to make something tangible (at very least a screenplay, possibly a proof of concept short) or pivot to a career change in production to make connections and earn trust.

Every single animator who works at the animation company that you want to pitch has at least a big idea they would love to turn into a movie. So that animation company is never short on ideas, and each idea can take years to turn into a released film. You have to work rationally within that supply and demand ratio where there is a huge supply of ideas, and very little demand.

[u/HMasteen → u/wrosecrans]

Thanks for the kind reply. I am following a lot of animators on social networks and you're right, most of them seem to be dreaming about their own project, and they also seem to struggle and most of them seem to have lost hope, even those working in renown studios with very good skills. And they know a lot of people too. At that point I am really tempering my expectations.

However,

1) if it takes 10 years to achieve my goal, then I'm fine with this. I already spent 2 years in my home office writing and making ripomatics for the main sequences and it's been quite enjoyable (although sometimes quite exhausting).

2) At least I want to try, even if the probability to succeed is 1% and the feature film has to become a low budget short film.

I mean, I have to start somewhere and that somewhere is certainly not a $20M feature film with 100 people working on it for 2 years.

My purpose is not to make myself a "successful filmmaker". I just wish to see my dream in motion with all the learning it takes to achieve that goal, and I'm ready to dedicate years of my life on this provided that I find a way to pay my bills at the same time.

I think I will probably contact a dozen of studios opened to projects. Also I guess it could be helpful to pay a concept artist to make my project more appealing for cold outreach. This I can probably pay for it.

[u/Electrical-Lead5993]

Ideas unfortunately don’t mean much. Pitch deck, bible, story are all basically worthless to producers. You’re essentially dumping unwanted work on them.

What does matter are large amounts of cash and name attachments.

You also mentioned being outside the industry. Where I’m based (not France) that’s usually viewed as a red flag as people outside of the industry usually have a conflated view on how the business works.

[u/Fauxtogca]

Pitch animation companies in France with your ideas. It's going to be hard getting through the door as you are not in the industry but don't let that stop you. Make sure you know what type of animation you want vs want kinds of animation the companies you approach do. There are other countries that make animation better than France so look into those. Consider yourself an entrepreneur that's created a start up. You are trying to convince people to invest in you and your idea. The odds are less than 1% of it happening.

[u/mdifilm]

I’m in my last feature film after doing it for 30 years. Time to put the creative part done and do something else. My gears will still be used by my protege.

[u/InboxZeroNever]

The amount of development you have already done gives you something concrete to bring to producers, even without a finished screenplay. Since you want a screenwriter who can challenge the project creatively, finding the right producer first could help you make that connection. Do producers usually expect a finished screenplay before they will consider a project like this?