FIRE BEAR screenplay completed

Thank you to everyone who helped workshop FIRE BEAR, my feature animation screenplay about a bear who fights forest fires. Hearing it read by actors in front of a live audience and getting positive feedback from the actors and audience is a great process for generating a polished screenplay on the first or second draft. It also helped motivate me to finish the screenplay faster.

This week my fabulous agent Karl Sanger is sending FIRE BEAR out as requested material to many animation studios. Several people in ScreenplayLab have asked me lately, does your agent get you good contacts? That's not really his job. It's his role to submit promptly (to strike while the iron is hot), to be my advocate, and to negotiate deals for me. An agent should be too busy booking his clients to be cold-calling. For example, Karl booked two dozen of his agency's actors just in one movie this week. Many artists have a manager to beat the bushes for them, but I do that myself. I like calling.

Writing a feature comedy musical animation screenplay seems hard, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Animation screenplays are rarely written on spec. They're hard to sell because of the big budget. Budgets of $60M to $120M are common in feature animation. For example, the budget for THE INCREDIBLES was $92M according to IMDBpro. Pixar and Disney are reading FIRE BEAR as a writing sample. They don't buy spec animation screenplays because they prefer to hire writers to develop ideas that the studio has.

It was DreamWorks Animation creative executive Karen Foster who first encouraged me to write for animation, for which I'm grateful. Many of you have met Karen and know how kind she is from when she came to speak to us at ScreenplayLab. She's currently very busy working on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, the Cressida Cowell children's book that DreamWorks Animation is making into a movie for 2009 release.

ScreenplayLab has so many great people helping each other. Often I'm busy finding ways to help you, but today I'm putting a call out for me. In the next paragraph is a description of FIRE BEAR. If you have a contact, an executive you know would love to read a charming animation screenplay, please let me know. I'm interested in opportunities as a writer, producer, or creative exec.

FIRE BEAR feature animation comedy screenplay by Robin Rowe. Coming of age story of the outcast Black Bear Fango, who finds redemption fighting forest fires. Very funny and moving, misunderstood bad boy hero, sassy mockingbird sidekick, road trip, buddy picture, cinematic...intended to appeal to audiences that like SHREK. Speaks to the heroism of firefighters and forest rangers, the importance of family, friends and community, and with a subtext on overcoming prejudice. Works for kids and adults.

Thank you for all your help and support!