The Inanna-verse.

As I complete the pilot for my TV script, which is projected for an Animated series, fellow students and alumni from my screenwriting classes have been eager to see character designs for the cast of the series. I think they have concluded that I, myself, am an artist. Technically that is true.  I went through four years of art classes at one of the most competitive high schools in the field.  I also went on to study film in college.  In graduate school, among the many things I studied was what was at the time called “electronic graphics.”  Today, it is commonly referred to as CGI. The sad fact is:  I have been out of practice with sketching, painting, illustrating, and animating for several decades - never mind years.  My artistic skills have atrophied rather than evolved. However, one could argue I have found salvation in the form of AI image generators.  It has been seen by trained artists as a threat to their profession, which is a concern I do take...

  A one panel sketch for my series Babylon Beyond!

  It took me a few days, but by goddess, I did it! I'm taking a class entitled "TV Animation Lab."  The name explains itself.  The objective is to write a pitch for an animated series for television. During the first class, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do.  I have several ideas for feature length animated films, but television?  This was a new challenge. Or maybe not.  Maybe not so much. For years, I have been struggling to make a fantasy epic about a certain Sumerian goddess.  I wrote many drafts of the script.  I even had a reading live on stage, and it was received well.  The actors enjoyed performing the roles.  I was encouraged to go further. The problem was the logline, or the pitch. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to encapsulate the story into one sentence.  There were so many characters, so many locations, so much story.  I was completely baffled.  If you stopped me in the street and ask...

When I was four years old, I honestly believed I was Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse was my hero.  He had his own theme song.  Other heroes had catchphrases or leitmotifs, but Mighty Mouse had a full blown theme song. We're not worrying at all, We're just listening for his call... HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY! That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way! Yes sir, when there is a wrong to right, Mighty Mouse will join the fight! On the sea, or on the land, He has the situation well in hand! On my way to nursery school, I would try to leave the house with a red towel trailing from my neck.   My mom would gently remove it despite my pouting and shoo me away to school. Other kids would pretend to be other superheroes, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, The Flash.  I would proudly say, "I'M MIGHTY MOUSE!"  The other kids would groan, roll their eyes, and leave me alone. That didn't matter to me.  Mighty Mouse protected the downtrodden mice (I didn't kn...