Someone who tried to pitch a show to Crunchyroll was told no, and she blames surface level diversity

[Jman]

The “joys” of social media and dirty laundry airing.  
 

Short version - Crunchyroll considers pitches based on diversity poison now thanks to a certain show that will not be mentioned and this animator was told to pound sand with her pitch.  She is arguing that years of shows sold solely on diversity had hit the inevitable course correction, with a lot of pitches laughed out of boardrooms the second the word “diverse” is mentioned. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Jman

[Mortir]

Idk looks good I would watch it. Kinda reminds me of The Legends Of Kora design. What was wrong with that?

[PokeNirvash]

When will they learn? Pitch the show based on its own intrinsic merits, save the "look at how diverse we are" bullshit for after it goes into production.

[HardcoreHunter]

So Crunchy said we want shows that are story driven, and not solely marketed for their diversity as their primary selling point... Why is this being pinned as a bad thing? 

1 hour ago, Mortir said:

Idk looks good I would watch it. Kinda reminds me of The Legends Of Kora design. What was wrong with that?

She pitched the show as Black gurls doing black things, and well this character she's black, and her friend is black, and her other friend is also brown but it's anime so she could be black but is also lgbtq+ etc.   The idea was that you would watch this show not because of it's story, but because of it's representation. It's banking on you being so starved for representation in media that you'll tune in just to see your race or sexual preference represented. Crunchy had bad backlash on that so they've decided that shows should be story driven; and she went off because they actually expect her to be a competent writer or some shit. 

[Mortir]

Is there a trailer of it? Just because it has a diverse cast doesn't mean iy doesn't have a good story. I'm not sure why they would think that.

[Jman]

20 minutes ago, HardcoreHunter said:

So Crunchy said we want shows that are story driven, and not solely marketed for their diversity as their primary selling point... Why is this being pinned as a bad thing? 

S

Because the well has been poisoned by pink haired Karen’s who saw their shows get greenlit only for all the merchandise to be tossed in discount bins and cost the company a fortune.

[HardcoreHunter]

15 minutes ago, Mortir said:

Is there a trailer of it? Just because it has a diverse cast doesn't mean iy doesn't have a good story. I'm not sure why they would think that.

I'm reading through the pdf bible now. I'm not too far into it but I'm where the expy for Zuko has to grow and come to terms with his "insecurity". So pretty much imagine if Zuko was in the closet and getting beat up by girls. Also the series is kicked off by their black friend being stolen by slavers. They didn't say what race the slavers were but I have a hunch they're not going to have dark skin. Also the main girl has no powers, but is so powerful that everyone else has to use their powers to keep her in check....That is badly written. Also the bible is using terms like Tsundere...I know crunchy does anime but does this board of directors know weeb speak?  

Right now it's kinda difficult to read. She doesn't indent anything and often forgets to space some words. This is supposed to be the bible; also a lot of terms are repetitively used again and again. The formatting alone I wouldn't have passed high school English with what she's doing. Oh and I got to the part where it reveals that the white girls dad in that poster is the one who sold the MC's sister out to the slavers, so yeah white villainy and the daughter helping to get the sister back as reparation. Why does he do this? It doesn't say. Why did he reveal this to her? It doesn't say. A lot of the elements just seem to be torn from Avatar. Like in season 1 when Aang had flashbacks. That is pretty much all the MC does for the first 6 episodes is have flashbacks to her sister being taken. So that wouldn't get repetitive at all. Also they have to find a wise turtle to guide them; kinda feels like the turtle lion.  To top it off the one studio which I've never heard of that endorsed this show as "the next Avatar the last airbender" only has like 2 followers. So was clearly a friend making an account to endorse this. 

Also here is her self assessment 
"I have watched every genre so that I could have a clear grasp of recurring storytelling themes. From researching via textbooks, video essays, along with my own analysis of other cartoons, I believe that Astur’s Rebellion does not fall short with its competitors in the slightest".

So really this is like me saying that I'm fully capable of creating a series simply for the fact that I have consumed a considerable amount of media. Truth be told it's not the worst pitch that I've heard form crunchy, but at the same time it isn't original at all. It's you watched Avatar and maybe a few other mainstream anime; and made a clone with your OC.  It's not a bad starting point if you were doing this as a fanfic. Though she's acting like she's an established creator and just got snubbed. She has nothing under her belt in terms of credits and is pulling a race card when they didn't give her a show. 

[HardcoreHunter]

Also this concept art for cities is giving me stolen vibes. It doesn't match her artstyle at all for characters or scenery. Also I'm positive much of this is concept art from Oblivion/Skyrim and the DnD books. The church I believe is concept from the knights of nine DLC for oblivion, and the wraith was concept art from what the inside of an Oblivion gate may look like. Then they have the skyrim fjord with dragons reach or high rock on the top of the mountain. Some I think were just straight photographs that she placed a sketch filter over they look very familiar. But looking at her flash characters and backgrounds I can tell that this isn't in line with her art style right off the bat. So she put stolen work in her bible and is passing it off as her own. 

[Jman]

Even if she is a talentless hack, the idea that CR is rejecting Avatar clones on sight is still big news.  And to be honest, fairly welcome.  Avatar clones have worn out their welcome years ago.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Jman

[mochi]

I replied to her....basically said as politely as possible that it was kinda foolish that she belived this would get her show picked up when anyone currently in the business makes it very clear that pitching a show this way will DEFINITELY make them reject your pitch

[HardcoreHunter]

8 minutes ago, Jman said:

Even if she is a talentless hack, the idea that CR is rejecting Avatar clones on sight is still big news.  And to be honest, fairly welcome.  Avatar clones have worn out their welcome years ago.

It amazes me that crunchy even heard out her pitch with no credit to her name. The plots I come up with for jokes probably would have had more of a chance of getting on than an avatar clone. One I remember was a comedy sol about delinquents, but they grew up and became teachers. I remember having a super long name for it as a joke about how long anime show names were, but the short name was Yankee-Sensei. Other one was an isekai where a guys friend dies via truck kun. He still has the hots for his friends big sis, goes to meet up with her, truck-kun comes for him. Big sis knew this would happen and springs a trap causing truck kun to wreck. They hold the driver hostage and he takes them to a goddess he works for, who is then beaten up by the big sis until she explains what is happening. She sent her little bro to fight a demon lord. Except his request was to become a girl. Also instead of slaying demons he is just laying them, and the world is now worse, so she was going to isekai his friend to correct her mistake,. The big sis then continues to beat up the goddess and says they're bringing her with them.  I forget what I even named that one though, but I remember people on the /a/ come up with an anime idea thread liked it. 

Point being if you're going to emulate something that exists do something new with it at least. I mean hell Avatar with dark skinned characters isn't even a new idea. 

[The1gairon]

I go watch a show for the story, themes, messages, humor, action, and animation/cinematography.  Not for how the main characters look.

[Ginguy]

Get woke. Go broke.

[Daos]

So basically she thinks that all the earlier forced diversity for crap like High Guardian Spice has kind of... poisoned the well for good stories that are more organically diverse.

She might have a point. Still doesn't mean her show would have been good though.

[Chapinator_X]

I can get behind the conspiracy that HGS was a fake show created by AT&T to prevent female animators from pitching original animation to them.

By having the first promo material for their first woman-helmed series be for an ugly flash cartoon with diversity as its sole selling point, they can use the angry public reception as their evidence that anything women make will share that same reception and be discouraged to give it the green light. 

And since little to nothing has been announced of HGS since the one animation frame that was shown during the Tower of God showcase, there’s nothing that could debunk my theory that the show was never meant to exist as anything beyond a lighting rod intended to sow discord among prospective animators looking to submit their ideas to CR.

So much good Asturs R34 will now go unmade. Just one of many fuckups that AT&T has underneath their belt. 

[naraku360]

21 hours ago, Jman said:

The “joys” of social media and dirty laundry airing.  
 

Short version - Crunchyroll considers pitches based on diversity poison now thanks to a certain show that will not be mentioned and this animator was told to pound sand with her pitch.  She is arguing that years of shows sold solely on diversity had hit the inevitable course correction, with a lot of pitches laughed out of boardrooms the second the word “diverse” is mentioned. 

Calling BS on this having anything to do with diversity.

The art looks too much like Korra. They even go so far as to have the primary title in very similar font to Avatar's and have the name be 3 letters off with all common letters being in roughly the same position. The outfit looks so close to Korra's that at first glance I thought it was Korra.

I wouldn't take it because I wouldn't want to get sued. Them telling her to try again in a month tells me something else is up and she just wanted to cry about sjws.

Speaking of which, isn't it funny that she said

and Jman immediately went to Crunchyroll? As if that one show he's had some petty hateboner for the last 5 years over is the only show with diversity that the halfwit knuckle-draggers who throw tantrums at the thought of a majority poc, female, and/or lgbt cast have ever unleashed their pathetic incel rage at.

Edited August 23, 2020 by naraku360

[Jman]

43 minutes ago, naraku360 said:

Calling BS on this having anything to do with diversity.

The art looks too much like Korra. They even go so far as to have the primary title in very similar font to Avatar's and have the name be 3 letters off with all common letters being in roughly the same position. The outfit looks so close to Korra's that at first glance I thought it was Korra.

I wouldn't take it because I wouldn't want to get sued. Them telling her to try again in a month tells me something else is up and she just wanted to cry about sjws.

Speaking of which, isn't it funny that she said

and Jman immediately went to Crunchyroll? As if that one show he's had some petty hateboner for the last 5 years over is the only show with diversity that the halfwit knuckle-draggers who throw tantrums at the thought of a majority poc, female, and/or lgbt cast have ever unleashed their pathetic incel rage at.

She all but said it when she mentioned the trailer.  Maybe this is a false flag operation and the woman is just some neck beard in Minnesota lying about cast lists.  I’d laugh.

[Ginguy]

The cast looks like a Korra ripoff and the backgrounds look like they ripped off WH40k terrain models.

Be original and your show might get picked up.

 

[naraku360]

19 minutes ago, Ginguy said:

The cast looks like a Korra ripoff and the backgrounds look like they ripped off WH40k terrain models.

Be original and your show might get picked up.

 

I like how you downvoted me for effectively saying the same thing you are.

[naraku360]

46 minutes ago, Jman said:

She all but said it when she mentioned the trailer.  Maybe this is a false flag operation and the woman is just some neck beard in Minnesota lying about cast lists.  I’d laugh.

I highly doubt Crunchyroll would say, "Your show has too many black people and women. Come back in a month for another go!"

Somehow "That looks far too much like existing properties, so do some redesigns and we can take another look in a month," seems significantly more likely.

Especially given, with my untrained eye [having continued to put off watching any Avatar for like a decade], I legit thought it WAS Korra on first glance at the artwork. It seriously took half a minute to realize it said "Astur's" and not "Avatar".

This reeks of copyright risk and nothing beyond a Twitter rant to infer diversity had anything to do with it, and that loses any credence at the "SJW" drop. I don't trust a single person who makes a public show over nefarious SJWs, especially in 2020. Virtual guarantee it's a grift at that point.

Edited August 23, 2020 by naraku360

[Distinct Lunatic]

56 minutes ago, Ginguy said:

The cast looks like a Korra ripoff and the backgrounds look like they ripped off WH40k terrain models.

Be original and your show might get picked up.

 

Only thing I can say in defense of the backgrounds is they could have been placeholders, and if the show was picked up and were given more resources those things would have been replaced with original models.

[MasqueradeOverture]

Avatar clones need to gtfoh.

8 hours ago, Ginguy said:

Get woke. Go broke.

You need to gtfoh.

[Ginguy]

Much edge

 

[MasqueradeOverture]

Uneven

[naraku360]

3 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

Avatar clones need to gtfoh.

You need to gtfoh.

Oh shit. It just occurred to me that when I mentioned a lack of creativity it was in regard to copyright risks of having artwork nigh indistinguishable from a highly acclaimed existing prpperty, wherein @Ginguy's "be original" comment was about not copying people by including black female leads.

[EmpressAngel]

Guys, go easy on Jingo. "Get woke go broke" is all he can type from memory while he spends his waking hours jacking off to Fox News and sobbing inconsolably at seeing a black person on his screen.

[naraku360]

38 minutes ago, EmpressAngel said:

Guys, go easy on Jingo. "Get woke go broke" is all he can type from memory while he spends his waking hours jacking off to Fox News and sobbing inconsolably at seeing a black person on his screen.

[Hidden]

*sips tea*

[MasqueradeOverture]

19 minutes ago, naraku360 said:

Funny, I got a Cthulhu 2020 shirt on right now.

[Distinct Lunatic]

I swear the people on this site are like piranhas.

[naraku360]

Just now, Distinct Lunatic said:

I swear the people on this site are like piranhas.

I was hangry. 😬

[Distinct Lunatic]

40 minutes ago, naraku360 said:

I was hangry. 😬

Go to your room

[Daos]

22 hours ago, Chapinator-800 said:

I can get behind the conspiracy that HGS was a fake show created by AT&T to prevent female animators from pitching original animation to them.

By having the first promo material for their first woman-helmed series be for an ugly flash cartoon with diversity as its sole selling point, they can use the angry public reception as their evidence that anything women make will share that same reception and be discouraged to give it the green light. 

And since little to nothing has been announced of HGS since the one animation frame that was shown during the Tower of God showcase, there’s nothing that could debunk my theory that the show was never meant to exist as anything beyond a lighting rod intended to sow discord among prospective animators looking to submit their ideas to CR.

So much good Asturs R34 will now go unmade. Just one of many fuckups that AT&T has underneath their belt. 

I kind of want to see this show and its more attractive Korra now.

[Chapinator_X]

11 minutes ago, Daos said:

I kind of want to see this show and its more attractive Korra now.

It does look like psuedo-Avatar, but these character designs are leagues better than some of the other clones just by not giving wonky blue/green eyes to most of the cast. Also, Asturs’ Fire Nation ladies 👌

[Jman]

Well after she salted the earth like she did her pilot is dead on arrival.

I think there’s something to be said about surface level diversity and how it drowns out actual minority creators, but if this means Crunchyroll throws all the Avatar clone pitches in the garbage and green lights Cannon God Exaxxion, I won’t complain.

[Jman]

Update!

Keep making it obvious you’re putting Crunchyroll on blast lady.  And then wonder why the Avatar clones get cancelled for My Wife Is a Demon Queen.

So Crunchyroll were the ones that are declaring Avatar clones and “diversity” poison if she is to be believed (and many people suspect she may not be being totally honest).  So after Onyx Equinox flops we won’t see shows like it ever again.

I made my mandatory Exaxxion reference, but imagine a new age where these Avatar clones are rejected on sight in favor of original stuff or adaptations of things that should have gotten anime’s by now.  

[Hidden]

korean webtoons!

😮

[Mortir]

8 hours ago, Jman said:

Exaxxion

Evangelion?

[MasqueradeOverture]

30 minutes ago, Mortir said:

Evangelion?

Yes but with aliens and a 16 year old with a Tommy Lee dick railing a 14 year-old girl who looks 8.

[Jman]

Sonoda’s artistic choices aside, it’s a story about propaganda and the news cycle influencing people.  Which makes it extremely relevant.