StoriesByPhil.com
Animation Screenwriter
Animated feature films for audiences who love adventure, humor, and stories with heart.
One of the great pleasures of being an animation screenwriter is that almost anything is possible. Dragons can become unlikely best friends, animals can run entire cities, and an ordinary family road trip can turn into a battle to save humanity. But beneath all that are characters we care about and stories that make us laugh, worry, and occasionally reach for a tissue.
That's the kind of storytelling screenwriter Phil Parker loves. He specializes in PG and PG-13 family adventures that combine humor, action, and heart, entertaining younger audiences without talking down to them and giving adults plenty to enjoy along the way.
Phil's experience includes commissioned writing for animated film and television, alongside original live-action family adventure screenplays. It's a combination that brings an understanding of both animation's limitless possibilities and the storytelling fundamentals that make an adventure worth watching.
Feedback on
CHASING BIGFOOT
“This is a highly entertaining and character-driven comedy… The dialogue is sharp, witty, and engaging, giving the script a strong sense of identity from the very beginning.”
- From the former Head of Development at an international animation studio with deals at DreamWorks, Netflix, and Apple TV+
From Animated Movie Idea
To Screenplay
Not every animated movie begins with a finished story. Sometimes a filmmaker has a world they want to explore, characters they love, or a concept they believe could become something special. What they don't yet have is a feature film.
That's where the screenwriting process begins.
Phil works with filmmakers, producers, and creators to discover the story within their ideas. That might mean developing an initial concept into a feature-film treatment, expanding an existing outline into a screenplay, or reworking a draft that isn't quite delivering on its promise.
Every project presents different challenges. The work is about identifying what makes the idea distinctive, exploring its dramatic possibilities, and building a story that sustains an audience's interest from beginning to end.
One such assignment began with just three pages of ideas and a handful of character sketches. It became CATSAWAY, an animated feature-film project developed for Emirati filmmaker Fadel AlMheiri.
'CATSAWAY'
treatment by Phil Parker
BREAKING NEWS!
CATSAWAY animated film project bought
by Image Nation Abu Dhabi
' Secret Life of Pets
meets
'Bad Guys'
Client Review from...
FADEL ALMHEIRI, Director/Producer
Tent Pictures Productions
“My idea for 'Catsaway' would NEVER have happened without the assistance of Phil. The story is perfectly constructed, with compelling characterizations and appealing plot. I am very grateful to work with him and still continue to do so. Thank you for running such a fine business. Great work!”
Animation Screenwriting Experience
CATSAWAY: Developing an Animated Feature
Emirati filmmaker Fadel AlMheiri approached Phil with a rough three-page concept and character sketches, proposing an animated family adventure about stray cats in Abu Dhabi called CATSAWAY.
Satisfied Phil was the right screenwriter, Fadel commissioned him to develop his idea into a 30-page feature-film treatment, expanding the original material into a structured story with developed characters and dramatic stakes.
The result?
Image Nation Abu Dhabi bought the project and joined Tent Pictures as a co-production partner
CATSAWAY demonstrates how Phil can collaborate with a filmmaker to transform an early-stage animated movie concept into a more fully developed feature-film project.
CATSAWAY PRE-PRODUCTION
CATSAWAY
Catsaway
Catsaway
Catsaway: Trailer Storyboard 2
“Catsaway Exhibition - Into The Cats’ Home!” at #thelab
Animation Screenwriting Experience
CAPTAIN KHALFAN: An Animated Television Pilot Episode
A successful collaboration can lead to another creative challenge.
Following their successful work together on CATSAWAY, Fadel AlMheiri commissioned Phil for a second animation project, this time as an animation scriptwriter for CAPTAIN KHALFAN, an established Middle Eastern cartoon property.
Unlike CATSAWAY, this assignment involved writing for an existing animated world and its characters. The pilot was developed as a speculative script intended to be pitched to the property's intellectual property holder.
The result was an action-packed police comedy featuring an investigation into a jewelry-store robbery, an airborne pursuit involving police jetpacks, and the kind of escalating visual absurdity that animation makes possible.
The result?
CAPTAIN KHALFAN was well-received by the original artist and IP holder and is currently in development.
'CAPTAIN KHALFAN'
animtated TV pilot by Phil Parker
WRITTEN FOR CLIENT
' Inspector Gadget'
meets
'Pink Panther'
Ready to hire
an animation screenwriter?
Want to see your idea for an animated movie on the big screen? It all starts with a great screenplay. And for that, you need a professional scriptwriter.
Contact Phil Parker for a free chat today.