animate! tv  Proposal Pack 2007

animate! tv 2007 
animate! has commissioned 84 projects since 1990, selected from an annual UK-wide call for submissions, and has acquired an international reputation for supporting innovation, experimentation and diversity in animation. The commissions are broadcast by Channel 4 and have gained critical and popular success at international festivals and achieved television sales around the world. 

animate! tv is commissioning its seventeenth annual slate of personal projects for television, with running times of up to 6 minutes, and production budgets between £5,000 and £20,000. To be eligible you must be an artist or animator with experience of experimental practice in film or digital media, and based in the UK. 

Submissions must be postmarked no later than Friday 27 April 2007 

Before you start on your proposal, please review the archive of previous animate! tv commissions at www.animateonline.org. We also recommend The animate! Book, published by LUX (www.lux.org.uk) with essays that explore the vibrant discourses around the animate! project, and a DVD of 10 animate!  commissioned films. 

animate! tv commissions are funded by Channel 4 and Arts Council England. 

new ideas 
animate! explores the relationship between art and animation and the place of animation and its concepts in contemporary art practice. animate! tv commissions risk taking and experimental animation for television. We are looking for original projects by visual artists and animators that develop the possibilities of animation techniques, and that explore and challenge the idea of what ‘animation’ is. 

We seek to explode the traditional preconceptions of what animation is and could be, and see animation as not exclusively driven by frame-by-frame process but by wider notions of synthesis. We are, for example,  excited by image re-presentation through spatial or timeline manipulation. We want to support innovative content and ‘agenda’ as well as new forms and processes. 

Celluloid, tape and digital technologies are all acceptable, in pure or hybrid form. 

eligibility 
We welcome proposals from artists who have worked in film and digital media, established animators and emergent talent. Collaborations with other artists, photographers, illustrators, writers, composers and sound designers are encouraged. 

Submission is open to residents of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Students in full-time education during the life of the production or graduating this summer are not eligible. We welcome proposals from all sections of the community. 

animate! tv does not fund development, co-production with other broadcasters or distribution, and does not commission work made specifically for children, cartoon character based stories, series, pilots, feature films, educational films, community art projects, multiscreen, web or gallery work.

defining your proposal 
Your main opportunity to explain the work you want to make is in a formal treatment, and this is a creative exercise in itself. You need to give the selection panel a strong sense of what the film will be, and why and how you want to make it. 

The treatment must be no longer than one side of a single A4 sheet. Try to crystallise within the first three sentences your main idea and the themes you are exploring. 

Your treatment should cover: 

• the subject/idea – what it is and what it is about 
• structure/form – the sequence of events, the shape, rhythm, pace, feel 
• visuals – look, style, treatments 
• sound – music, dialogue, voice-over, effects, atmosphere 
• technique(s) – how the film will be realised and the processes involved 
• audience – how the film will relate to and communicate with its audience 

You must provide a production schedule, an estimated budget total, a showreel of relevant previous work and a completed Proposal Form. 

If appropriate, you can also send us a storyboard and script, and/or other visual material related to the proposal. Visual reference can play an important role in conveying a sense of your proposal. 

production schedule 
Projects will be commissioned in June 2007. You must be ready to go into production in July 2007, and be able to complete by August 2008 at the latest. We need an outline production schedule giving approximate dates for the production stages you intend to use, from pre-production through to delivery. It is essential to indicate other work you will be involved in during the production period, stating the time you will commit to your animate! tv project. 

production budget 
We are offering production funding from £5,000 up to a maximum of £20,000, including fee. At this stage we do not require a full budget, but you must include an estimated budget total (to the nearest £1,000) in the Proposal Form. If you are shortlisted we will ask you to send us a full budget – we will not be able to present your proposal to the selection panel without a detailed costing for the project. Your budget total should cover fees for all contributors/performers and clearances of incorporated copyright material. You can include a payment for your own production work (animation, editing, etc) and an artist’s fee of up to 20% of production costs. 

To calculate your estimated budget figure now, or to draw up your detailed budget if you are shortlisted later, you will find it useful to download the Budget Guide sheet on www.animateonline.org. 

Please do not include general contingency; do not include VAT if you are VAT-registered. 

animate! will revise the budgets of commissioned projects, and will give advice on rights clearance and other matters relating to the production and potential transmission and exhibition of the film. 

submitting your proposal 
Please read this Pack carefully before planning and drafting your proposal. 

Send us the following: 
• treatment – not more than one side of A4, minimum font size 10pt 
• full or sample storyboard, if appropriate – 6 or 8 frames (16:9 ratio) per A4 page 
• script and additional artwork (16:9 ratio), if appropriate – A4 paper, not mounted 
• production schedule 
• completed and signed Proposal Form, including estimated budget total 
• examples of previous work, on DVD

Please note that we will not return submission materials or DVDs.

Post the complete submission to: 

animate! tv 
c/o Arts Council England
14 Great Peter Street
London SW1P 3NQ

NB this is a postal address – not the animate! office. Arts Council England cannot answer animate! enquiries. You may deliver your application by hand up to 5pm on 27 April 2007.
 
Your package must be postmarked no later than Friday 27 April 2007.
 
No exceptions. No fax applications. No email applications. DVDs and all other support materials must be included in this same package. animate! cannot be held responsible for applications lost or delayed in the mail. 

enquiries 
email: animatetv@mac.com
phone: 07982 552 740 

selection 
We will acknowledge your submission by email. All proposals will be treated in confidence. 

Your submission will be assessed for: 
• creativity and originality of the proposal 
• artistic and technical quality of the examples of previous work submitted 
• likelihood that the project can be realised within your estimated schedule and budget 
• suitability for a television audience 

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted and required to supply a detailed production budget before they can be considered further. Shortlisted proposals will be considered by a selection panel comprising  representatives of animate!, Channel 4, and independent specialists. animate!’s decisions are final and we cannot enter into any communication about unsuccessful proposals. 

commissioning schedule 
Deadline for submissions 
postmarked no later than Friday 27 April 2007 
Commissions announced 
15 June 2007 
Production started 
before end of July 2007 
Completion deadline 
up to August 2008

notes about putting together your submission
• mark everything you send with your name and the title of your proposal 
• clearly type, write or draw in black on one side of A4 only – the Proposal Form can be reformatted on your own computer so long as all sections are completed in the given order on a single side of A4 – minimum font size 10pt. 
• joint submissions should nominate one person as contact/address 
• include your CV and synopsis only in the spaces on the Proposal Form 
• note that storyboards and other support materials which are not A4 photocopier-friendly will not be circulated and are unlikely to be seen by the selection panel 
• please paper-clip or use plastic sleeves – do not staple or bind 
• do not send originals – papers, artwork, photos & storyboards will not be returned 
• your support reel should include examples of previous work that relate to your project and which demonstrate the potential to realise your project 
• clearly indicate your own role in the production of any collaborative work 
• plastic DVD cases can shatter in the post – please use a paper or soft plastic sleeve 

the deal 
We are offering production funding from £5,000 up to a maximum of £20,000. 
Films must have a running time of up to 6 minutes, be made in the UK, and be suitable for a television audience. Screen aspect ratio must be 16:9 widescreen. 
Proposals must be ready to go into production and not be waiting for co-production finance. 
Selected projects will be contracted by the end of July 2007. 
The maximum production schedule for projects is 13 months overall, with completion and delivery by August 2008 at the latest. We encourage shorter schedules and early delivery to help maximise press and publicity coverage. 
Budgets will be subject to revision before an offer of production funding. 
Production funds will be payable in instalments and subject to approval of work-in-progress at editorial meetings. 
Each commissioned artist will be responsible for the direction and production of their project but may need to engage or hire specialist skills, facilities or producer. They will be expected to make clear contractual arrangements with anyone engaged or commissioned by them to contribute to their projects, and to arrange licences and make payment for the incorporation of any copyright material. animate! will provide advice on production needs and agreements, rights clearances and broadcast technicalities. 
ownership, UK broadcast, distribution and internet 
Artists retain copyright and ownership of their work. However: 

• Channel 4 will have the exclusive right to make two free transmissions of each film on free tv in the UK (including simultaneous online transmissions) within five years from the date of technical acceptance, the right to make further transmissions of each film on the digital channel More4 subject to a small additional payment, and the non-exclusive right to include a clip of each film on Channel 4’s website. 
• animate! will have the non-exclusive rights to include the films on an animate! information and resource website, for streaming or downloading, and to use the films to promote animate! at festivals and other venues, for educational purposes, and as part of an annual touring programme. 
• Each work will have custom space on an animate! website with a unique and permanent URL address, ensuring a long and highly visible international profile. Each artist will collaborate with animate! to populate this space with rich and varied production and background materials as an exemplar resource. 
• animate! may arrange for any film to be included non-exclusively on a retail animate! compilation DVD. 
• LUX (www.lux.org.uk) will have non-exclusive worldwide distribution rights in the films. 
• DigiBeta copies of all films will be deposited with the BFI Archive. 
• All films will carry a short animate! opening ident (supplied) and include an  acknowledgement of Arts Council England, Channel 4 and animate! in their end credits and on all printed/promotional material. 

proposal form

Please read the full Proposal Pack before filling in this form.
You can reformat the form on your own computer but we want this information in this order on one side of A4, minimum font size 10pt.
Paper-clip your papers – do not staple, bind or use a folder.

Name						Phone

Address	

email						Website

Curriculum Vitae
Specify training, summarise work and other relevant experience

Proposal title
Main production tools and/or processes

Anticipated running time	Estimated budget total

Other financial assistance
Has this proposal been sent to another funding scheme or body? If so, which, when, and what was the decision?

Has this project received any offers of financial support or help in kind? If so, give summary details

Synopsis
Summarise your proposal in up to 40 words

Key collaborators (if any)

Support VHS, CD-ROM or DVD
What have you sent, and how does it relate to your proposal?

Signature		Date

Submission checklist:
Required	_   completed proposal form	_   treatment
	_   production schedule	_   DVD 
Optional	_   full or sample storyboard	_   script or other text
	_   additional artwork	_  other .................................