Fwd: MLP Feature Script -- 1st Draft for Review

My Little Pony draft just in in from Stephen Davis.





---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Davis, Stephen <Stephen.Davis@hasbro.com>

Date: Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 1:46 PM

Subject: MLP Feature Script -- 1st Draft for Review

To: Bob Osher <bob_osher@spe.sony.com>, Hannah Minghella <Hannah_minghella@spe.sony.com>, "mrkouyate@spanimation.com" <mrkouyate@spanimation.com>







Hey Team SONY:

We're pleased to send you the first draft of the MY LITTLE PONY ANIMATED FEATURE. Looking forward to setting some time to sit down and discuss. To move the discussion forward, I thought we would also send some of our overall thoughts in advance of our conversation that highlight what we think is working and what we want to dive into deeper in subsequent drafts.

WHAT'S WORKING

Clear voicing of characters: Meghan has done a nice job with the characters and created a setting that fans of the show have come to know and expect. The most valuable thing she brings is the legitimacy that makes this story FEEL like a My Little Pony story Setting up an existing mythology that also works for a new audience: Although we feel we can work to make this aspect even stronger, we feel that this script does lay out a story that a new audience can jump into and does a good job of establishing our core cast and what they are about right off the bat. Clear understandable straightforward journey: The basic plot is a great backbone to build from. It's a simple quest with a clear goal at the end. Promise of big iconic set pieces: We need to dive in and plus these, but as a jumping off point we have some great new creatures and opportunity for some exciting action sequences. The baseline for a strong emotional arc to the story: Again, we can dive deeper, but Twilight stepping out on her own to prove that she can accomplish something her mentor thinks she isn't ready for is ripe emotional territory. Creates a "bigger than the TV show" story in size and scope: The framework here is very sold, but we can obviously supersize it even more to blow out the Pony-verse for the big screen. Works as a musical: Although we feel some of the musical numbers need to be shifted around for pacing and emotional reasons, the story works really well as a musical and uses the songs to establish story, drive plot and dive into deeper character moments.

AREAS FOR MORE EXPLORATION

Deeper dive into emotional stakes and character moments: We think the moments are there and the emotional story tracks but our biggest overall note is that we want to really dive in and make the moments much deeper, take the time to build out some of the relationships and really push to make Twilights emotional growth as clear and strong as possible. Humor: We think the character's inherent personalities are bringing a light and fun tone to the story, but think we can push some aspects, characters, etc to mine much more comedy. Villain arc/motivation: We don't think Cosmos is quite there yet as the villain. His motivation is unclear and his personality could use a pass to make him truly stand out. Entrypoint for new audience: We think the script tracks for a new audience and they won't be lost, but with the number of characters with existing relationships and the backstory of alicorns, etc., we can work harder to make this feel even more stand alone without sacrificing all of the fun the fans will be expecting.

Obviously we have tons of other thoughts as well and we can't wait to sit down and spend time talking about pink and purple ponies with you :-) But thought this would be a good base to start from. ENJOY!

Stephen Davis | President

Hasbro Studi

Attachments:

studios[1][719].png (7513 Bytes)

hasbro logo[5][719].png (4906 Bytes)

MLP Movie 1st Draft 3_16.pdf (196577 Bytes)