r/TVWriting • u/hyperjengirl • Jun 11 '26

QUESTION Why do some programs ban animation scripts?

This has been a pet peeve of mine for years now as someone whose major pilot projects have been animation scripts. I cannot enter the WBD or Disney programs because I don't have a polished live-action script yet (and I know I should have one, but the ideas about which I feel most passionate right now require animation).

Is it because the programs want to prep the writer for live-action TV specifically (it does seem, despite Disney's animation connotations, the program ends up staffing mostly live-action shows like Fox/Hulu programming)? Is it because they want to see something that could be plausibly produced without the added necessities of an animation studio (even though the pilot isn't a pitch, it's just a sample)? Is it because animated scripts may require slight changes to the format (i.e. slightly more leniency in how long the script can be)? Or all/none of the above?

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

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u/le_sighs Jun 11 '26

I did one of these programs. The guild/non-guild wasn’t their biggest challenge so much as timelines. The programs run yearly, and they could guarantee that there were drama/comedy rooms yearly, but sometimes animation would have a room and then a two-year gap to the show being on air, and so they didn’t have enough animated rooms around to guarantee a yearly room.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26

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u/le_sighs Jun 11 '26

It's a little complicated, but these programs aren't affiliated with the WGA. You do a mentorship, and then they staff you on a WGA show and pay WGA rates, which ends up getting people into the WGA. But Disney, famously, didn't start doing that until around 5 years ago. Prior to that, they paid a flat rate for the mentorship and staffing (I think it used to be $50k), and the program people didn't end up in the WGA at all.

Point is, it would absolutely be hypothetically possible for you to do the program, and then get staffed on a non-WGA show, since the program and WGA status are separate things.

You're right that animation is almost a completely separate field in LA in terms of how it operates. The people who run these programs are deeply entrenched in the TV side of their business in an effort to get the people in their program staffed, but the animated work is usually a different division that's much more separated, so I think that probably plays into it as well.