Bugs Bunny! Mickey Mouse! Bambi! Yogi Bear! Fred Flintstone! Spiderman! Sponge Bob! Brian and Stewie! Many of the most indelible and enduring characters in the history of film and television have been animated. So it was with much anticipation that the kid in each of us curled up with a script, as we would with a comic book, to read this year’s entries to Written By’s Sixth Annual Unproduced Scripts Issue.

Buoyed by the escalating success of the five preceding Unproduced Scripts issues, Written By asked the Writers Guild membership to submit its best, unsold animated work, be it feature film, television pilot, standard cartoon episode, or whatever. Once again, the titles and authors’ names were concealed from us.

The range of imagination was startling. The script genres ranged from 10-minute understated anime expressionism to a full-blown two-hour musical adaptation of a literary classic and just about everything in between. Almost no genre was overlooked. There were film noir copper cappers, Westerns and historical fiction. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was reimagined into the age-old animosity between canine and feline. Even Hamlet got a reworking.

Each and every script was read in its entirety. All were evaluated for story, characterization, and dialogue. In addition, each was analyzed, with an eye toward the project’s target audience. Finally, we had to ask the two most crucial questions of all: Did the script stand up as a viable entity unto itself; and, did the writer use animation advantageously, given the nature and tone of the script? The final-say triumvirate of Editor in Chief Richard Stayton, Managing Editor Christina McBride, and Associate Editor Johnny Meeks selected the six scripts highlighted in this issue.

The annual Unproduced Scripts Issue serves to spotlight the incredible range of talent that exists among the WGAW membership. The animated output alone could fill timeslots for both primetime and daytime television. The feature film contributions were equally production-worthy. This year’s issue is further proof that it is certainly not the vision and talent of the screenwriter that keep a script out of production.

—Our Anonymous Animation Readers

Zooing Time (The Full Screenplay .pdf) by Michael Mullin

Nightbirds (The Full Screenplay .pdf) by Steve Lloyd Hayes

Rover + Juliet (The Full Screenplay .pdf) by Steven Wolfson & Jed Wallace

Leo & the Fizzwig (The Full Screenplay .pdf) by Sam Bobrick & Julie Stein

Merc & the Space Invaders (The Full Screenplay .pdf) by Jacqueline Feather & David Seidler

Sock Hop (The Complete Screenplay .pdf) by Adam Pava