Writing for Comic Books and Animated Cartoons

An Interview with Comic Book and Animation Writer Adam Beechen

Mar 5, 2009

Comic book and television writer Adam Beechen talks about the differences between comic book writing and writing for animated cartoons.

Adam Beechen knows comic books and animation. As a freelance writer, he’s written scripts for many animated cartoon series including Ben 10: Alien Force, Teen Titans, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. When he’s not writing for animated shows, Beechen is writing comic books– he’s penned scripts for Robin, Countdown to Adventure, and a Batgirl miniseries.

Suite 101 interviewed Beechen at the 2009 Phoenix Comicon where he spoke about writing for comic books and animated cartoons. The following is an edited version of his responses.

Suite 101: What’s the difference between writing for an animated cartoon and comic book writing?

Beechen: The pacing is different – in a television show we have commercials to deal with, so we have act breaks. We try and go out on a high note to make sure people come back after the cereal and toy commercials.

In comic books your goal is to keep people turning pages – so comic book writers want to have a little moment of excitement at the bottom of each page.

Also, when you’re writing for television, it’s more collaborative in the sense that there are more people – there’s the story editor, director, character designer etc. When you’re writing a comic book, you’re usually working with just one or two artists.

Suite 101: Is there any difference in the way the scripts are formatted?

Beechen: In television scripts, you do what’s called “directing on the page” – you call out specific shots, writing “Closeup on Ben Tennyson’s face: He’s shocked! Pull back to show... etc.”

In a comic book script, you’re describing storyboards. You’re writing, “Page One: Panel One, Batman stands silhouetted against the moonlight. Page One: Panel Two, Batman swings from the rooftops and kicks the Joker.” You’re describing individual moments as opposed to the flow. At least that’s the way I write comics – other writers may write them more like film scripts.

Suite 101: As a freelancer, how much freedom do you have when writing for an animated cartoon?

Beechen: That’s a great question. As a freelancer, your job is to make the story editor’s job – your supervisor’s job – as easy as possible.

I learned that the hard way. I’d finished the outline for a script and it got approved by the network and story editor. Then I went home and thought, “There’s a better way to do this.” So I typed up this other stuff, the story editor got it back, and said, “This is not what I signed off on. The other story worked. It was approved. You changing it means we have to go through all that again.”

So your job is to make sure once the story editor gets your draft, he has to change as little as possible. You get your marching orders, you do it, you turn it in.

Suite 101: Are there opportunities for freelancers to pitch their ideas?

Beechen: I’ve worked on shows where coming up with story ideas is collaborative – Ben 10: Alien Force is like that. Dwayne McDuffie, the story editor; Glen Murakami, the producer; and the writer will sit in a room for an afternoon and bang out the story.

Sometimes a story idea comes from a freelancer’s pitch. With Ben 10, I pitched five or six ideas. Dwayne liked a nugget of one of them – it turned into something completely different, but that’s where we started from. On some shows, story editors have lots of ideas and farm them out. On other shows they need help coming up with ideas.

So from a story editor’s point of view, it’s more collaborative because you’re working with a writer. From a freelancer’s point of view, you take what you’re given unless you’re asked for more.

The copyright of the article Writing for Comic Books and Animated Cartoons in Animated Films is owned by Michael Jung. Permission to republish Writing for Comic Books and Animated Cartoons in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.