Animation scripts have fundamentally different requirements than live-action. The action
must be drawable or buildable. The dialogue must be performable by voice actors in a
booth. The visual storytelling must be specific enough for storyboard artists to execute
without guessing. This skill checks for all of it.

## Key Points

- "Sarah feels a wave of regret" — How does this look? What does the animator draw?
- "He remembers his childhood" — Unless followed by a visual (flashback, expression), this
- "Sarah feels regret" becomes "Sarah's shoulders drop. She looks away."
- "He remembers" becomes "He stares at the old photograph on the wall."
- "They fight" — What kind of fight? Physical comedy? Martial arts? Slapstick?
- "The city is beautiful" — What specifically does the storyboard artist draw?
- "An exciting chase sequence" — Stage the chase beat by beat
- "Funny business with the hat" — What specifically happens with the hat?
- "Comedy ensues" — This is not direction. Stage the gag.
- "A hilarious chase" — Beat-by-beat: who does what, what goes wrong, what is the
- No time for B-stories. Single throughline only.
- Inciting incident must arrive within the first minute (first page).

## Quick Example

```
Act 1 (pp. 1-5):   Setup, inciting incident by p. 1-2, complication by p. 5
Act Break:          Cliffhanger or dramatic question
Act 2 (pp. 6-11):  Escalation, crisis at p. 9, resolution by p. 11
```

```
Act 1 (pp. 1-7):   Setup, inciting incident by p. 3, first complication by p. 7
Act 2 (pp. 8-15):  Escalation, midpoint reversal at p. 11-12, crisis by p. 15
Act 3 (pp. 16-22): Climax, resolution, button/tag
```

Animation Script Checker

Animation scripts have fundamentally different requirements than live-action. The action must be drawable or buildable. The dialogue must be performable by voice actors in a booth. The visual storytelling must be specific enough for storyboard artists to execute without guessing. This skill checks for all of it.

When to Use

Use when the user submits an animated screenplay or asks to "check my animation script", "review my cartoon", "audit my animated pilot", "check my Pixar-style script", "review my anime script", or when the declared format is ANIM-A, ANIM-K, ANIM-F, STOP, or CG.

Format Detection

Determine which animation sub-format applies:

Sub-Format	Abbrev	Length	Examples
Kids Animated Series	ANIM-K	11/22 min/ep	Bluey, Gravity Falls, Avatar
Adult Animated Series	ANIM-A	22-24 min/ep	Rick and Morty, Arcane, Bojack
Animated Feature Film	ANIM-F	75-100 pages	Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks
Stop-Motion Film	STOP	75-95 pages	Laika, Aardman
CG Animated Film	CG	75-100 pages	Fully CG features/shorts
Anime-Influenced	ANIME	22-24 min/ep	Western anime-style
Preschool	PRE	7-11 min/ep	Peppa Pig, Daniel Tiger

Check 1: Visual Stageability

Every action line must describe something that can be drawn, modeled, or puppeted.

What to Flag

Unfilmable internal states:

• "Sarah feels a wave of regret" — How does this look? What does the animator draw?
• "He remembers his childhood" — Unless followed by a visual (flashback, expression), this is unstageble

Fix: Translate every internal state to a visible behavior.

• "Sarah feels regret" becomes "Sarah's shoulders drop. She looks away."
• "He remembers" becomes "He stares at the old photograph on the wall."

Physically impossible staging: Live-action habits like "leans against doorframe" require specific posing in animation. Flag action exceeding the medium's capabilities.

Vague visual direction:

• "They fight" — What kind of fight? Physical comedy? Martial arts? Slapstick?
• "The city is beautiful" — What specifically does the storyboard artist draw?
• "An exciting chase sequence" — Stage the chase beat by beat

Fix: Every visual beat needs enough specificity for a storyboard artist to draw a thumbnail without asking questions.

Medium-Specific Limits

Know each medium's constraints: 2D excels at fluid exaggeration but cannot do photorealism. CG has camera freedom but fluid simulation is expensive. Stop-motion has tactile texture but cannot do seamless morphing or large crowds. Flag action that exceeds the medium's capabilities without story justification.

Check 2: Dialogue for Voice Performance

Animation dialogue is recorded in a booth, usually with actors reading alone. The script must support this specific performance context.

What to Flag

Flag live-action habits: overlapping conversations (voice actors record separately), dialogue tied to physical interaction timing, mumbling/trailing off (hard to lip-sync). Flag excessive density: animation has fewer words per page than live-action; speeches over 4-5 lines need visual interruption. Flag missing performance direction: voice actors need brief emotional context parentheticals (sarcastic), (whispering), (mock-serious).

Check 3: Visual Gag Specificity

Comedy in animation lives in the visuals. Gags must be staged precisely enough that a storyboard artist can execute them.

What to Flag

Vague comedy direction:

• "Funny business with the hat" — What specifically happens with the hat?
• "Comedy ensues" — This is not direction. Stage the gag.
• "A hilarious chase" — Beat-by-beat: who does what, what goes wrong, what is the escalation, what is the punchline?

Every gag must have three drawable beats minimum: setup, escalation, payoff. The payoff should be visual, not verbal. Each gag must serve the scene (character or plot), not exist as disconnected filler.

Check 4: Age-Appropriate Content

Preschool (PRE, ages 2-5): No deception/betrayal-based conflict, no unresolved peril, age-appropriate vocabulary, prosocial messaging required, fully self-contained episodes, no sarcasm or irony.

Kids (ANIM-K, ages 6-11): Mild peril and competition acceptable, no graphic violence or sustained terror, comprehensible villain motivations, humor not based on cruelty, mild serialization acceptable.

Adult (ANIM-A, ages 16+): Content restrictions are format/network-specific. Check whether adult content serves the story or is gratuitous. Tone must match the show's established identity. Avoid generic "adult animation" defaults (random violence, shock).

Check 5: Act Structure for Episode Length

11-Minute Episode (Standard ANIM-K)

Act 1 (pp. 1-5):   Setup, inciting incident by p. 1-2, complication by p. 5
Act Break:          Cliffhanger or dramatic question
Act 2 (pp. 6-11):  Escalation, crisis at p. 9, resolution by p. 11

• No time for B-stories. Single throughline only.
• Inciting incident must arrive within the first minute (first page).
• Resolution cannot introduce new information — everything needed must be established.

22-Minute Episode (ANIM-A, ANIM-K)

Act 1 (pp. 1-7):   Setup, inciting incident by p. 3, first complication by p. 7
Act 2 (pp. 8-15):  Escalation, midpoint reversal at p. 11-12, crisis by p. 15
Act 3 (pp. 16-22): Climax, resolution, button/tag

• Room for one B-story that connects thematically to A-story.
• Midpoint reversal is critical — the episode must shift at the halfway mark.
• Cold open optional but standard for most current shows.

Animated Feature (75-100 pages)

• Standard 3-act structure applies (see act-structure-mapper)
• Animation-specific: sequences are often organized as "set pieces" — extended visual sequences built around a location or challenge
• A feature typically has 6-8 major sequences, each 10-15 pages

Output Format

Present findings in tables per check: Stageability (Scene | Line | Issue | Fix), Dialogue (Scene | Character | Issue | Fix), Visual Gags (Scene | Description | Issue | Fix), Age-Appropriateness (Scene | Content | Concern | Severity), and Structure (act analysis with targets vs actuals). End with a summary count per category.

Anti-Patterns

• Applying live-action standards. Animation has different pacing, different dialogue density, and different action conventions. Do not flag animation-specific techniques (smash cuts, impossible physics, fourth-wall breaks) as errors unless they violate the show's established rules.
• Over-restricting kids content. Kids animation can include conflict, stakes, and emotional weight. The threshold is age-appropriateness, not absence of tension.
• Ignoring the specific show's voice. A Rick and Morty script has different rules than a Bluey script. If the user identifies a target show, calibrate checks to that show's conventions.
• Demanding storyboard-level detail. The script should be specific enough to stage but not so detailed that it constrains the storyboard artist's creativity. Flag vagueness, not brevity.