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SCREENWRITER FOR HIRE
CAPTAIN KHALFAN
Writing an Animated TV Pilot for an Established Middle Eastern IP
Writing for established characters presents a different challenge from creating them from scratch. A screenwriter needs to bring something new to the story while preserving the characters, relationships, and qualities that made the original property work.
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Emirati filmmaker Fadel AlMheiri commissioned scriptwriter Phil Parker to write a spec animated TV pilot for CAPTAIN KHALFAN, an established Middle Eastern cartoon property. The script would form part of AlMheiri's pitch to the IP holder.
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The assignment followed Phil and Fadel's collaboration on the animated feature CATSAWAY and presented a new challenge: create an original adventure for characters and a fictional world that already belonged to an audience.
Project Details
CAPTAIN KHALFAN
FORMAT: Animated TV pilot
GENRE: Children's animation/action/adventure/mystery
SETTING: United Arab Emirates
BASED ON: CAPTAIN KHALFAN
SCRIPTWRITER: Phil Parker
PURPOSE: Spec pilot/Director's Pitch
LOGLINE: When a valuable pearl necklace disappears from a local jewellery store, Captain Khalfan and his team take the case. But catching the culprit will require more than ordinary police work. This time, they'll need jet packs.
CAPTAIN KHALFAN
Director's
Feedback
FADEL ALMHEIRI, Director
TENT PICTURES PRODUCTIONS
"The IP holder of CAPTAIN KHALFAN is very pleased with the animated TV pilot script you've written. Thank you! It's now under consideration for funding."
Writing a TV Pilot for
Established Characters
Writing a TV pilot based on existing characters presents a different challenge from creating an original series. The characters, relationships, and story world already exist, and the people who created them may have very clear ideas about what does and doesn't belong in their world.
A scriptwriter first needs to understand what makes the original property work. Which character relationships drive the comedy or drama? What are the rules of the fictional world? What tone does the audience expect? And which qualities make the characters recognizable in the first place?
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The challenge is then to create something new without losing what made the property distinctive. A successful script should introduce fresh situations, conflicts, and adventures while still feeling as though these characters could only behave as they do.
CAPTAIN KHALFAN presented exactly that challenge. Emirati filmmaker Fadel AlMheiri commissioned Phil Parker to write an original spec pilot that could demonstrate his vision for the established cartoon property to its IP holder.
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Rather than reinventing CAPTAIN KHALFAN, Parker developed a new case for its familiar characters to solve, building the story around their established personalities, relationships and comic dynamics.
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The ultimate test wasn't whether the scriptwriter could make the characters his own. It was whether the people who already knew and understood those characters could recognize them in the new story.
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That was the challenge behind Phil's CAPTAIN KHALFAN pilot script.
Have a Story or Existing IP to Adapt?
Already have characters, a story world, a book, a comic, or another original property you'd like to develop for television? Phil Parker works with creators and rights holders to develop existing material into TV scripts while respecting the characters and qualities that made the original idea distinctive.
Share a few details via the Contact Form, and Phil will reach out as soon as possible. Prefer direct email? No problem. Send your inquiry to storiesbyphil@gmail.com.
All serious project inquiries receive a response.
