Ever since “American Idol” aimed to find America’s best undiscovered singing talent back in 2002, the world has seen more than its fair share of competition based talent shows. We’ve got shows that cover dancing, tattoos, make-up artistry, cooking, baking, think there’s one about forging weapons in there… point is, there’s a lot.
One field that hasn’t been tapped yet for this field of programming is the realm of animation, but Skybound is looking to change that.
If the name Skybound doesn’t resonate with you, then maybe the name of its founder will- Robert Kirkman. If you don’t know his name then you at least know some of what he’s worked on, most notably being the co-creator of “The Walking Dead” comic and the creator of “Invincible.” He also serves as the executive producer for the latter’s animated adaptation on Amazon Prime Video. Given that Skybound is also one of the production companies behind “Invincible,” it makes sense that they’d be in the market for not just promoting animated projects, but also promoting up and coming animators.
The yet to be named project coincides with Skybound’s opening of an unscripted programming division. Doesn’t hurt that animation is a big industry that tends to court success with its broad demographic appeal with “Inside Out 2” just becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time with $1.462 BILLION. (It has also just become the 13th highest-grossing film of all time.)
There’s also the allure of the low-budget requirements of reality competition shows. It’s amazing how much money you can save when you don’t really have any writers or actors to pay. It would be interesting to see how much these potential artists will have to work with in terms of resources when they see will become the next… top animator, or whatever title they’re given.
Are we going to be working entirely in CG, are we going to see traditional animation, different styles that pull from Japan? There are a lot of ways this competition can go. We look forward to providing more details as the upcoming show fleshes itself out.
