Eric Calderon

Actually I would say the best execution of this is when the development and plot progression match the intended theme. This can be hard to achieve without being either too obvious or too vague. But if that mission is clear, then the character development and their goals should ultimately lead the audience to the moral discussion of the piece. For example, all of the development and plot for Rocky adds up to a theme of something like 'Can a man endure?' or more simply 'does he have what it takes to win?'

Note that most major distributors and financiers are not very open to unsolicited materials sent from non-represented individuals. I, myself, don't allow anyone to pitch me an unpublished idea even for a consultation, without first having a 'submission release form' signed. Also, remember that many buyers sit within certain genres. So, best to do your research before even contacting them. Finally, a way to 'soft pitch' in a social setting in the hopes of getting a follow-up is to just state the genre of your idea without giving away anything specific. For example, 'Hey I've got a fun 6-11 comedy with animals and a space ship.' or 'I'd love to show you a social/emotional learning show for the 4-7 bridge audience based around geography.'

Depending on how complex your story is and how sophisticated your audience may be, I personally prefer moral questions over moral statements. I just think it leads to more interesting non-patronising stories. For example, 'Can a man endure when everything he's been taught is a lie?' is more interesting to me than 'A man can endure so long as he believes in himself.'

My advice for outlines are to not do them on a Mac or PC. Use note cards and make sure you write irreducible singular ideas and moments with a thick black sharpie. How you organize is up to you. But what's worked for me are: Characters, Themes, Locations, & Plot Points. My last screenplay was about 400 notecards, of which I threw away about 175. But I didn't open Word or Final Draft until I had spatially organized for weeks on corkboards and on the floor and didn't commit to 'writing' until I had pitched it around to several trusted (and antagonistic) colleagues!

Richard, I think you might be talking about THEME, which is stated below. I actually agree with this article's definition of premise. But I would go further to say that what is more typical televison and film vernacular is LOGLINE. Many would think of this is as kind of a premise. But, it's actually a pretty strict format - kind of like a Haiku for Hollywood. It is: Inciting Incident + Protagonist + Action + Antagonist. So for example (taken from: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/write-compelling-logline-examples/) Silence of the Lambs is: "In order to catch a killer who skins his victims, a young FBI Cadet must seek help from an incarcerated and maniuplative killer."

A common adage in the animation feature film world is 'the difference between a $30 million dollar animated movie and a $100 million dollar animated movie is that the $100 million dollar one was made 3 times.' What a lot of that means is that a truly ground-breaking, incredible, emotional, and impactful movie has to be refined over-and-over again to be truly great. This means lots and lots of animatics, lots of lots of throwing away and starting again, and then a few sudden epiphanies that change everything (and unfortunately make you have to restart what you thought was done).