Skyscraper – an animated adventure for the whole family

New York, New York.

PitchFamily fare à la Don Bluth. An American Tail meets Finding Nemo in the Art Deco-Style of the 1930s.

Synopsis: New York, 1930. Skyscrapers reach for the sky when a squirrel family adopts a baby harrier named Scrap. They don’t know that Scrap will turn their life upside down. In the end Scrap has to face his fears to safe his two families. Skyscraper an adventure for the whole family full of suspense, adventure and fascist guinea pigs.

When a squirrel family in Central Park adopts an abandoned, baby harrier named Scrap, they expect challenges – harriers, after all, are known for eating squirrels. However, the family’s biggest challenge comes when, through a twist of fate, Scrap and his brother Skip find themselves separated in the big city searching for their mother, and it’s up to Scrap to bring them back together and learn how to fly in the process.

This is the premise of “Skyscraper”, an animated adventure for the whole family full of excitement, humor and fascist guinea pigs. “Skyscraper” received a rating of 8 on the online version of „The Black List“ with comments like „universally funny – perfect for a family film“ or it has potential to be a great animated feature for family audiences worldwide“. “Skyscraper” was also favorably reviewed by John August and Craig Mazin on their „Scriptnotes Podcast“.

We started working on “Skyscraper” a few years ago. We talked about the idea of writing a feature length screenplay and animation seemed like a natural fit. We went through several versions of the story before we settled on what we now call Skyscraper. The basic premise never changed though but the more we refined the plot and the characters the closer we came to what “Skyscraper” is really about.

In 2012 we were finally happy enough to share the “Skyscraper” with the world. We sent the screenplay out to competitions and the Blacklist and got some great and encouraging feedback from producers. In the last year we took that feedback to heart and reworked “Skyscraper” into a new “better than ever” 80 page version. Reviewers on the Blacklist had this to say about “Skyscraper”:

The script takes the reader on a fun ride filled with laughter and lots of heart. The theme of acceptance is carefully woven throughout as Scrap must come to terms with who he his and who he isn’t. The best aspect of the script by far is the wacky, yet sweet collection of characters. From Linus, the terrified Lizard, to Fluffy, the leader of the crazed guinea pigs, and even Piers, Scrap’s pseudo-sensei, each characters has its own unique voice and their role in the script has been carefully thought out. The entertaining and tense action scenes would have any kid and adult seating on the edge of their seat. Overall, this script would make for a great animated film. (…) The script definitely has a Madagascar vibe, and could potentially spawn a couple of sequels. It could absolutely attract A-list talent needed to secure its high budget.

This is an endearing script with a well-constructed plot and likeable characters. The humor is universally funny – perfect for a family film. The sequences in the second act are well thought out and keep the plot moving toward the action packed third act, with the library sequence featuring Piers being especially engaging. With a family friendly plot that’s funny for all ages, this seems like a script that could attract a wide, mainstream family audience as an animated film.

 

The current draft of “Skyscraper” is 73 pages long.

If you are interested and would like to read “Skyscraper”, drop us a line and we’ll send it to you. 

We are currently in the process of sending “Skyscraper” out to production companies and are proud that “Skyscraper” was nominated for the German Animation Screenplay Award at the ITFS 2018

Saber Rider & the Star Sheriffs – The Screenplay

Pitch Joss Whedon’s „The Avengers“ meets „Battlestar Galactica“ and turns into „Pacific Rim in Space“. Or in short: „Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs“ on the big screen!

Synopsis: The new Colonies are under attack. But from who?Is it King jarred or are the rumors that and old enemy has returned? Who or what is RAMROD and why is everyone after him? „Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs“ tells the story of a group of  special loners who are drawn into a war where RAMROD is their only hope for survival.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

Stallion power on!

San Diego Comic Con 2012, Hilton Bayfront, at the bar after a long day of nerdgasm….what could possibly go wrong?

We were thinking about the great day we just had and discussed the sci-fi movie we decided to write. We talked about the characters, the action, the excitement and we caught ourselves referencing the same old TV show over and over again. A few drinks later we were ready to admit what we both had known about two hours ago. We knew what really wanted to do. So we scraped our generic sci-fi idea and started work on a live action version of “Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs”. 

We loved that show when we were kids and even though we know that it is a long shot we tried to write the best possible movie version we could think of.  It was our goal to write something completely different than Skyscraper and we think we succeeded.

“Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs” tells the exciting story of a group of individuals who have to work together to fight an enemy who is willing to do anything to win. The new colonies are under attack but who is responsible? Is it King Jarred with his army or has an old enemy returned to finish what he started over 25 years ago?

But there’s more. Who or what is RAMROD and why is everyone after him? Can RAMROD really tip the scale in the war?

“Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs” is an action packed and no holds barred thrill ride that tries to stay true to the original show without being a slave to its shortcomings. We focused on the original storyline from the series and made it movie worthy. The stakes are higher and the action is bigger. We are certain that fans of the series and new viewers alike can enjoy “Saber Rider”.

We received some good feedback from the Blacklist and we spent a couple of weeks rewriting and polishing the screenplay. We made some adjustments to the characters and are quite happy with the current version. The Blacklist reviewers had this to Say about “Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs”:

The world is colossal from the spaceships to the alien planets to the vision of the cities truly making the setting feel like an epic space opera. The opening immediately captures a similar scope and vibe as the opening of the original Star Wars where battleships combat all over the place. Much like STAR WARS, there is a western undertone to the story including Saber Rider and his robotic horse Steed that gives the script another fun little twist on the genre. Saber’s team is also a group of unlikely candidates who constantly seem to come into conflict with each other. Saber and Colt have an immediate distaste for the other especially with the generational gap yet they are after the same goal forcing them to work together. Fireball is another character who is led by his ego putting him at odds with the others yet his driving skillset often comes in handy. April is the final piece of the team who is the key for bringing together Ramrod. Together they somehow end up working together to save the galaxy. On the surface, story is relatively clean and simple setting up both the universal stakes and conflicts. There are some fun action sequences including an epic showdown in the third act between the battling factions.

This action-packed sci-fi comedy entertains from start to finish, delightfully building tension and suspense as SABER RIDER investigates a perpetrator and the mystery unfolds into a much bigger plan orchestrated by an enemy of the colonies. Well-laid from the outset, the writing skillfully uses kids being taught history on a school field trip to introduce the key plot points, characters and motivations that exist in the project’s world. And the project is indeed set in an incredible world- a futuristic set of colonies that has created a defense force to ward off enemies and that feels part western, part futuristic like LONE RANGER meets PACIFIC RIM. Its visuals are captivating with spaceships, racecars, a mechanical horse that fights in space and numerous other unique and eye-catching settings, props and characters. The writing does a great job of developing the script’s spectacular supporting characters. Feisty FIREBALL and renegade bounty hunter COLT add depth and dimension to the script’s world thanks to their own unique backgrounds that contrast with the personalities of the Star Sheriffs to create brilliant comedic chemistry; also, the supporting characters add complexity, intrigue and unexpected obstacles to an otherwise simple, good guy versus bad guys plot.

 

The current draft of “Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs” is 113 pages long.

If you are interested and would like to read “Saber Rider & the Star Sheriffs”, drop us a line and we’ll send it to you. 

(c) “Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs” is based on upon the animated television series produced by Studio Pierrot and World Events Productions.