7 Idea Productions

[Amalia Antill]

Foundedin February 1989 as GRAFx Studios by Phil Vischer, the company was renamed as Big Idea Productions in August 1993 and it released its first direct-to-video VeggieTales program in December. In 2002, Big Idea adapted the Biblical story of Jonah for its first theatrical feature film, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, which was co-produced with FHE Pictures. Its second theatrical film, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, was co-produced with Starz Animation and released in 2008.

From 1999 to 2004, headquarters of Big Idea Entertainment was in Lombard, Illinois, a suburb outside of Chicago.[1] After Big Idea Entertainment declared bankruptcy in 2003 and the company was sold to Classic Media, headquarters was moved in 2004 to Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb outside of Nashville.[2] In 2012, DreamWorks Animation purchased Classic Media.[3] In 2013, DreamWorks began to oversee productions of Big Idea Entertainment and launched the Netflix series VeggieTales in the House. After production of VeggieTales in the House's sequel series entitled VeggieTales in the City wrapped in 2017, DreamWorks sold the Franklin headquarters to Kingdom Story Company.[4] Big Idea continues to operate as an in-name-only subsidiary of DreamWorks Animation, with Universal Pictures recently giving TBN a license to make The VeggieTales Show.[5][non-primary source needed]

Big Idea was founded in February 1989 under the name GRAFx Studios by Phil Vischer to create graphics in television commercials.[6] In 1991, Vischer created a 12-second short film called Mr. Cuke's Screen Test. This short inspired him and Mike Nawrocki to create VeggieTales, with Nawrocki coming up with the name. Vischer thought the name "GRAFx" no longer suited a company about to create children's videos, so he renamed it as Big Idea Productions, Inc. on August 6, 1993.[6] The company released its first video, Where's God When I'm S-Scared? in December of the same year.

Rapidly running out of office space, Big Idea relocated to the Chicago suburbs in 1997 with the purchase of the DuPage Theater in Lombard, Illinois.[7] However, renovation delays, unforeseen building conditions, and lengthy zoning battles resulted. In the interim, the company was guided by Lombard Village officials to rent space at the Yorktown Center, a local mall.

On September 2, 2003, Big Idea declared bankruptcy after encountering management and financial issues and a lawsuit by HIT Entertainment in 2001. By the end of the year, it was auctioned off to Classic Media for $19.3 million.[8][9][10] After its purchase, the company relocated to Nashville in 2004.

Big Idea partnered with Toronto-based Starz Animation to produce its second theatrical feature film, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, which was released on January 11, 2008 by Universal Pictures.[11]

In April 2009, Entertainment Rights fell into voluntary administration and sold its UK- and US-based subsidiaries, including Big Idea and its parent company, Classic Media, to Boomerang Media.[12] As of 2011 Big Idea, Inc. has been repackaged officially as Big Idea Entertainment, LLC. In July 2012, Big Idea's parent company, Classic Media, was acquired by DreamWorks Animation and began trading as DreamWorks Classics.

On July 3, 2018, Vischer confirmed that Big Idea's offices in Franklin were shut down. While marketing employees continued to work for Big Idea during this time, DreamWorks sold the Franklin, Tennessee studio in late 2017.[16]

In 2018, NBCUniversal licensed the properties of the studio to The Trinity Broadcasting Network. They launched the production of a new series entitled The VeggieTales Show in 2019 through a collaboration between NBCUniversal and Trilogy Animation Group. Vischer confirmed on Twitter that he and Nawrocki were both returning to work as head writers for the new series.[17][non-primary source needed] The company reverted back to its original name Big Idea Productions, LLC. On June 29, 2021, Phil Vischer announced that he and Mike Nawrocki were no longer working on VeggieTales due to pay disputes and creative differences, consequently bringing the end of Big Idea Entertainment after the production The VeggieTales Show was completed.[18]

VeggieTales is a series of children's animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables and conveying moral themes based on Christianity, spliced with joking references to pop culture and current events. VeggieTales was created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, who also provide many of the voices. VeggieTales has also been released as books, games, and many other branded items such as toys and clothing. Additionally, the series has been adapted for television broadcast on Qubo (where it aired from September 9, 2006, to September 5, 2009)[19] and on Netflix where DreamWorks Animation Television produced two series, VeggieTales in the House[20] (which ran from November 26, 2014, to September 23, 2016) and VeggieTales in the City (which ran from February 24 to September 15, 2017).

If one has come up with an anime manuscript, where or who should you write to if you want to know if the idea is of interest and actually could become something? Or would it be made as a manga first?

First of all, I doubt they'd look at any scripts not written in Japanese. Second of all, I'm rather doubtful you'd have much success simply pitching an idea to a studio as a person outside the industry. There are, however, many venues to get an idea made into an anime, eventually, but these venues require the person who came up with the idea to produce something.

I'm of course talking about creating some sort of light novel, manga, or comic on your own. These things don't even need to be backed by any sort of publishing company. Japan has thriving communities for posting this sort of original creative works online, such as Pixiv. There are quite a few shows now that started life this way: Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii and Rise of a Shield Hero, to name a couple.

If Japan's TV industry is anything like America's, they are mostly disinterested in ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen and can be made or broken by their execution. They are much more interested in some sort of proof of concept that the idea will be successful.

As for preventing changes to your idea, you'd have to make sure to put that in any sort of contract you sign to give them permission to use your work. I would guess that would be extremely difficult to pull off unless your work is proven and popular, such that you have enough power by popularity that your idea is good without changes. I feel like worrying about this though is putting the cart before the horse.

An article on Anime News Network titled "How do I get my idea made into an anime?" should be a good read, at least for me it is, which does not pull any punches on delivering the reality of the anime industry in general. This gave me a general idea of how things really work. Before worrying about whether your ideas will be changed or not, you should worry about whether or not you can even pitch it to studios or something.

The article above mainly revolves on one point: nobody cares about your ideas. This might be quite rude or something for you but according to the author, who is the founder of Anime News Network, ideas are abundant in the industry. It is a business, so what they care about is what the public wants, so if your idea doesn't fit the current trend, then it will most likely not see the light of day.

These are the three main things you should worry about. Of course, as stated in the other answer, you can post your original work online in order to gain audience and popularity. But, you should understand that it is not as easy as you think. So, before worrying about whether you need to make it manga first or whether your original idea won't be changed, try to worry on how to make anime studios see that your idea is worth even becoming an anime at all.

I agree with Kai and W. Are's answers and while their answers outline why you should not get your hopes up, I'd like to highlight a few examples of animes that show that this isn't necessarily impossible.

As a second method, I'll bring up Neo Yokio, an anime that was harshly criticized but shows another possibility: Netflix. Netflix has been investing a lot of money into not just getting animes on its platform, but producing them as well. This one was created by the lead singer of a band, but I'd like to think that Netflix could open up the possibility of Western people getting more involved with Japanese studios.

Finally, you can make your manga and hope it takes off. As Kai mentioned, they have hundreds, probably thousands of ideas they can consider. Outside of being in the industry (and having shown success), the only real way to get your ideas turned into an anime is by your idea being a success beforehand.

Some examples in this last category include Radiant, Howl's Moving Castle, and Tales from Earthsea. Do note, however, that in the case of the Earthsea, it was changed enough, for Earthsea's author to not really consider it her story anymore.

This brings us to Radiant. This is a comic that takes a lot of inspiration from manga and thanks to the artist of One Punch Man, it got picked to become a part of the Euromanga Collection. A safe assumption may be that this became an anime thanks to having presumed success in Japan.

I think what this all shows is that it's not about having a good idea, but like W. Are said, giving the studio a reason for them to make it in the first place. And as my examples show, this reason could be you being a person of large influence, getting the right connections or your idea having success in its medium (whether a comic, novel, or perhaps some game).

Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea Productions, explains how he turned a bunch of God loving vegetables into one of the hottest commodities around. Let's face itthese legumes are cute! Really cute! Rick DeMott reports.

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