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Post by tidus on Sept 30, 2008 23:25:49 GMT -5
ah so thats why your facebook status was that, now that makes sense.
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Post by charlotte on Nov 2, 2008 13:59:34 GMT -5
Just peeking in to remind all the US citizens on RS.net to VOTE on Tuesday!!! Don't just talk about it. DO IT! Please and thank you.
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Post by ninjanaco on Nov 24, 2008 12:54:28 GMT -5
Ah, so you do still come here!
Since you've been involved in the making of Ben 10:Alien Force, I have to ask: why does Ben shout the name of the alien he transforms into? He didn't do that as a kid...
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Post by charlotte on Nov 24, 2008 18:07:16 GMT -5
Hey there, NinjaNaco hates postmodernism Good question. It's just a branding thing. You know how it is. Lotsa boys' action cartoons do this. ("Pikachu, I choose you!") And as with those many other shows in history, CN probably just wanted to be sure that all the viewers 6-11 out there watching B10AF learned who all Ben's new aliens were... so they can buy all the toys, er, I mean get more enjoyment out of the show. Yeah. The real question is why they didn't do it on the old show. (?) Speaking of B10AF toys/consumer products (were we? ): In addition to writing on the 3rd season now of the TV series, I've also been writing the collectible trading cards that come in the toy packages, the DC Comics, the Leap Frog interactive graphic novel, and some of the new video games that'll be out next year! ;D Yeah, baybee, I'm all about the B10AF-ness.
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Post by slicknickshady on Nov 24, 2008 21:49:10 GMT -5
Speaking of B10AF toys/consumer products (were we? ): In addition to writing on the 3rd season now of the TV series, I've also been writing the collectible trading cards that come in the toy packages, the DC Comics, the Leap Frog interactive graphic novel, and some of the new video games that'll be out next year! ;D Yeah, baybee, I'm all about the B10AF-ness. What episodes have you wrote for that show? I don't watch the show but I see it when I go to comcasts free on demand screen under kids entertainment (They really should update the kim possible episodes). I'll look to see if any of the episodes you wrote are available for free to view. Nice gig on the trading cards. I still enjoy Nursery Crimes everytime i see it. It has to be my second favorite 11 minute episode next to Sick Day. I think the writing is a little better in Nursery Crimes then Sick Day but the Kim/Ron fan in me just loves how Ron staying with the Possibles. ;D It's too bad that the baby here wasnt Ron though.... but if it was the following in the place of that one it probably would not have gotten by Disneys sensors.
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Post by charlotte on Dec 4, 2008 16:32:54 GMT -5
Just peeking in to pimp the brand spankin' newly spiffified website of Dwayne McDuffie, in case any of his fans hang out here: www.dwaynemcduffie.com/
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Post by charlotte on Dec 17, 2008 17:13:39 GMT -5
Just peeking in again to wish everyone here MERRY HAPPINESS this holiday season! Looking forward to chatting online with you in the New Year. Peace.
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Post by Blue on Jan 2, 2009 14:39:59 GMT -5
Hey Charlotte! Remember me? If it's okay with you, I added you as a friend on facebook. =-]
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Post by Donne on Jan 3, 2009 11:15:09 GMT -5
How is it to be a professional writer? Any tips for people starting out? And how in the world do you write an episode in-- what? A couple weeks?
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Post by charlotte on Jan 14, 2009 20:07:03 GMT -5
Well, Donteatacowman (Great name, BTW! Hee hee!), it was my childhood dream to be a professional writer, particularly of children's television, so I am very literally living the dream. It's pretty darn cool, I won't lie to you. I pinch myself every day: Is this really my life?? Awesome! If I had known THIS was going to be my adult life, I would've been a helluva lot more relaxed as a kid! Heh. In reality, though, making your living at any kind of self-employed freelance work, writing or otherwise, requires a great amount of patience, self-confidence/self-motivation, and financial planning. People with "day jobs" have structure and steady paychecks and health insurance and pensions. When you're self-employed, you have to set up and pay for all that kind of stuff yourself or go without. And you have no guarantees from week to week that you'll ever work again! Every job could be your last (if you're one of the lucky few who ever even gets a writing job in the first place), so you can never really plan ahead. And even when you are working, you have to be constantly trolling for more work! Because you WILL be unemployed soon enough. Guaranteed. It is the circle of freelance life. Once you are finished doing the job, the job is over! So it takes a certain personality to be able to live and work like this, in this constant state of employment flux. I have many friends who say they could never do it, that they prefer the structure and security of their day jobs. There's a level of stress and unpredictability to freelance work that not everybody can live with. And that's not even counting the stress of actually having to DO the work when you get it! Heh. The writing itself is a whole separate ballgame. You're taking a big risk going into the arts as a profession. There's a reason they call it "starving artists" not "starving accountants." But if you're one of the few who actually get to do what you love for a living (whatever that profession is), there's nothing like it. If you are seriously interested in becoming a television writer, I suggest looking into the ABC Screenwriting Fellowship. Other studios have screenwriting fellowships too, but this one seems to be the most highly regarded. And yes, they are open to applicants from all walks of life, all ages, with or without previous professional writing experience. Also, ABC Fellowship alum/awesome professional writer, Jane Espenson, had been offering daily advice for aspiring applicants on her blog for the past few years. She just recently stopped, but you should go back and read all her previous blog entries for invaluable insight and assistance into how to write a spec script to submit to the ABC Fellowship. As for your question about how long it takes to write an episode: No, not a couple of weeks. (That would be heaven!) More like a few days, up to a week. Depends on the show and how fast they need it. And there are usually multiple drafts, with notes from the various Powers That Be in between, so the whole process from your initial story pitch to your final draft script can take up to a month (or less... or more... depending on the circumstances), with a lot of stops and starts along the way. You aren't writing the whole time, all day every day. You are given deadlines for each step, each draft, and waiting for notes in between. "Hurry up and wait" is the expression people use in Hollywood. You do a lot of waiting around... and then suddenly they need you to hurry up and get it done! ;D Great questions. Keep 'em coming! ETA: Here's a link: www.abctalentdevelopment.com/programs_writers.htm
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Post by Donne on Jan 15, 2009 11:26:07 GMT -5
Well, Donteatacowman (Great name, BTW! Hee hee!) Thanks! ;D My parents are both self-employed, so I kind of know what you mean. I realize that involves a lot of risk-taking. Do you have time for a regular, part-time job on the side, or does writing/searching for a writing job take up your entire work day? It does sound great to do what you love. May I ask how you began your professional writing career? Thank you! I'm really busy right now-- too much for this at the moment, anyway, I think -- since I'm still in school, but this sounds great. I really wish I could, but I'm exploring my options as well. Writing fanfiction and regular fiction, playing around with music, acting a bit... I guess none of my main creative interests would really make for a steady day job. ^^; Amazing! It still takes me a month to write a 12,000-word story-- but that is on my own time, not someone else's. Does it take a lot of self-discipline? How in the world do you do that!?! Does everyone get around a table and shoot out ideas, or are you working mainly on your own? How much do you collaborate with the actors, if at all? Do they get a say in the dialogue? *points above* You brought this upon yourself... Thank you very much! ;D
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Post by charlotte on Jan 28, 2009 0:12:37 GMT -5
If you don't mind my laziness, I'll just cut and paste my official agency bio here that best summarizes my work history:
After graduating with a BA in Cinema-Television/Production from the University of Southern California, Charlotte took a staff position at Fox Kids Network and worked her way up from lowly Fox Kids Club assistant to only slightly-less-lowly Junior Producer to Writer/Producer in the On-Air Promotions department. Her Fox Kids Bartcasting campaign, featuring Bart Simpson taking over the network, marked the first time Fox Kids was ever nominated for a Promax International Gold Medallion Award and was also the network’s first-ever win!
Charlotte and her friends pooled their minimal resources and even less spare time to make the short film Troops, a parody of Cops set in the Star Wars’ universe, which, thanks to the internet, became a world-wide sensation!
Since leaving Fox Kids, Charlotte has been a freelance Writer/Producer. She created on-air promos for such network clients as Disney Channel, FX, ABC Family, Toon Disney, Kids WB and SoapNet; produced project sales reels for Film Roman, Hasbro, and Robin Williams & Barry Levinson; and developed new TV series for Hasbro and Warner Brothers Animation, including one with the creator of Dreamworks’ cg feature, Over The Hedge.
Charlotte story edited and wrote most of the first two seasons of Duel Masters for Cartoon Network; wrote the fun facts throughout the “pop-up” editions of Disney Channel Original Movies including High School Musical; and has written episodes of a wide variety of animated TV series including but not limited to: Ben 10: Alien Force, Fairly Oddparents, Kim Possible, Transformers Cybertron, Super Hero Squad, Storm Hawks, Geronimo Stilton, the Emmy-winning educational Tutenstein, the new George of the Jungle, and the new Care Bears, both the TV series as well as a direct-to-DVD movie.
Her books include Cry of the Wolf in the Avalon: Web of Magic series for Scholastic and four in the Sonic X series for Penguin. She has been a Contributing Editor for the pop culture national magazine, Geek Monthly; is a featured essayist in Smart Pop’s book about the Gilmore Girls; wrote the upcoming Ben 10: Alien Force interactive graphic novel for Leap Frog; continues to write the Ben 10: Alien Force segments of the “CN Action Pack” comic book series for DC Comics; as well as multiple Ben 10: Alien Force video games for all the major gaming platforms.
In her free time, Charlotte likes to hike on the Great Wall of China, search for the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, dig for dinosaur bones in the Badlands of Alberta, yodel in the Bavarian Alps, sail on tall ships through the Bermuda Triangle, hitch rides on mail delivery planes to the Arctic Circle, and climb Mt. Fuji in Japan despite the giant irradiated reptiles imprisoned within by well-meaning-but-misguided scientists in the 1950’s.
If you are an industry pro who is interested in paying Charlotte to make up ridiculous things for your cartoon characters to say and do, The Gotham Group in LA lives for getting calls from people who want to give Charlotte money.
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Dr. Megabyte
Green Badger
When I first got on the "Information Super-Highway", it was just a quiet country lane
Posts: 179
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Post by Dr. Megabyte on Jan 28, 2009 16:33:41 GMT -5
Wow, I mean it makes me want to hire you .. and i will if I am ever the producer of a kids show ;-)
Do you submit script on spec, are you hired to write a script or both?
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Post by charlotte on Jan 29, 2009 23:43:39 GMT -5
Although many people do break in that way, I've personally never had to write a script on spec. I've been fortunate enough to have always gotten paid for every script I've ever written.
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Post by Donne on Jan 31, 2009 16:09:10 GMT -5
Wow, Care Bears, too? What's it like? ;D
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Post by charlotte on Feb 16, 2009 18:35:39 GMT -5
They're bears. They care. Get used to it! ;D The Care Bears' TV show has been on the air in the US for a year and a half now. My DVD movie will probably be out later this year or next. To further the KP connection, my boss on Care Bears? One mister Thomas Hart!
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Post by Donne on Feb 17, 2009 22:13:36 GMT -5
They're bears. They care. Get used to it! ;D The Care Bears' TV show has been on the air in the US for a year and a half now. My DVD movie will probably be out later this year or next. To further the KP connection, my boss on Care Bears? One mister Thomas Hart! Awesome! Favorite show/movie on which you've worked so far? 'Sokay, you don't have to say KP. ;D
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Post by charlotte on Feb 18, 2009 21:06:42 GMT -5
Heh. Well, KP was my definite favorite at the time, because I had been such a colossal fan of the show--since even before it aired--how tremendously cool to eventually be invited to write on it??? The very definition of dream come true. For that same reason, I'm going to have to say that my very favorite writing job of all time now is Fairly Oddparents. I've been a big ol' shameless Fairly Odd fangirl for years, and I'm still pinching myself that I actually got to write one! Hard to believe it really happened. Sometimes my life is just too surreal to be true.
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Post by Donne on Feb 19, 2009 22:33:09 GMT -5
Heh. Well, KP was my definite favorite at the time, because I had been such a colossal fan of the show--since even before it aired--how tremendously cool to eventually be invited to write on it??? The very definition of dream come true. For that same reason, I'm going to have to say that my very favorite writing job of all time now is Fairly Oddparents. I've been a big ol' shameless Fairly Odd fangirl for years, and I'm still pinching myself that I actually got to write one! Hard to believe it really happened. Sometimes my life is just too surreal to be true. I used to love that show! I might watch it more often if it was on our channels, just like KP, but... What episode(s)?
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Post by charlotte on Feb 28, 2009 20:50:35 GMT -5
New. Just written a couple months ago. Being animated. I'll post here when there's an airdate (next year?)
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