Hi everyone , I’m Charmane, a writer and screenwriter new to this corner of Stage 32. Most of my work lives in live-action storytelling, but I’ve recently fallen in love with animation’s creative freedom and wanted to join the discussion here.
I originally wrote The Great Casino Turkey Chase as a short live-action Christmas comedy, but after the reaction it’s had (and a few friends insisting they’re the butcher in the raincoat), I’m now exploring an animated version.
The story:
It’s Christmas Eve at the dazzling Gold Fortune Casino. A runaway turkey bursts through the doors, sending feathers flying, slot machines spinning, and gamblers cheering as chaos unfolds. When the turkey lands on a roulette wheel and wins the jackpot, the bird becomes a Christmas legend—cocktail in wing, Santa hat slightly tilted.
I’m envisioning something madcap and festive, maybe in the visual spirit of Zootopia meets The Lego Movie—bright, fast, absurd, but with real heart.
I’d love to hear your thoughts:
• Would this premise work best in 2D, 3D, or stop-motion?
• What animation techniques capture comedic timing and chaos best?
• Any short films or studios that balance slapstick with heart like this?
Thanks in advance for any insights. I’m gathering ideas for a proof-of-concept teaser—and who knows, maybe this turkey will actually fly.
— Charmane Wedderburn
1 person likes this
Jackie Tarascio Actually, yes. I am planning to add previows scenes to add more important context, with that people should unerstand better the character of Kevin and how and why he interacts that way...
Expand commentJackie Tarascio Actually, yes. I am planning to add previows scenes to add more important context, with that people should unerstand better the character of Kevin and how and why he interacts that way with the world. Thank you for the comment by the way, I really appreciate these kind of observations since it helps me to know and choose better what scenes do next.
2 people like this
Kevin Jackson Thank you, more than a finished job it's more of a concept test. I'm not a director at all, all I know is from the movies I've watched, despite that I wanted to test emotion, rithm and s...
Expand commentKevin Jackson Thank you, more than a finished job it's more of a concept test. I'm not a director at all, all I know is from the movies I've watched, despite that I wanted to test emotion, rithm and show how certain moments should feel. I have very limited resources, nithing more than free to use stock sounds and music borrowed from other movies, so I tried to do my literal best to convey the point of the film.
In the future I'll add more scene to keep testing and obtaining more material for a pitch bible, since I want to present this to someone who can help me take it to a real project. The script is fully finished too, so I'm just trying to breath a little more life to it.
1 person likes this
Looks like a lot of work, are you at all inspired by the Iron Giant? Who is the boy, who would play him if you could cast someone or find a voice for the character? Who would play the robot?
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Terence Daniels It was actually a lot of work, I haven't thought of acting jet, since the point of this is to just test how the events I wrote on the script actually work. I used music borrowed from o...
Expand commentTerence Daniels It was actually a lot of work, I haven't thought of acting jet, since the point of this is to just test how the events I wrote on the script actually work. I used music borrowed from other movies and I used free stock sound effects. I did what I could with the few materials I had at hand.
And funnily enough I was inspired by Terminator 2, when I was a child I loved the relation between Jhon Conor and the T-800 and I imagine the robot having a deep voice like the T-800 too.
Thanks for watching by the way.
1 person likes this
Sylvia Melanson Thank you really. I did my best with the drawing. I'm not very good at drawing I had to teach myself to draw propperly to do this. But I'm glad you liked it.