Going the Indie Route

Not the normal route for developing an animated feature.

... Four years ago, Scott Sava wrote a full-length screenplay for “Animal Crackers,” which is the story of a family who inherits a rundown circus and a magical box of animal crackers that changes characters into the animals they have eaten.

He was unsuccessful in shopping the story and often told he was “just a comic book guy,” so Sava secured the funding from a studio in Spain that he had worked with for 10 years, to make a short film. ...

Sava has since received offers from every major studio including Warner Bros., Disney, DreamWorks and Sony, who are all interested in distributing the film. He and his producing partners have yet to make a final decision.

“But we have the financing,” Sava said, “so we can make the movie." ... Sava will co-direct the film with animator/director Tony Brancroft ... while he’s co-written the most recent draft with Dean Lorey (”Arrested Development”). ...

The feature will be produced in Spain, and released in 2016. It's tough for independent animated features to get traction in the marketplace, but you never know. Sooner or later, an indie could turn into a hit. So it might as well be this one.