"Do you want frights with that" - Logline and Premise

Logline/ Elevator pitch

A high school student has more to worry about at his new job than just flipping burgers, as the night brings with it an onslaught of new customers of the… supernatural variety.

Premise

“Do you want frights with that?” Follows a college student named Charlie who is desperate for work, too bad for him the only place that is hiring is the shabby old diner at the edge of town. After being hired on the spot and given a year-long contract that can’t be backed out of, he is placed as the only staff member on all the night shifts. When he starts his shift he soon discovers that the diner is very different by night, as sun down brings with it a new selection of customers… of the supernatural variety. Thankfully most of these diners are friendly and are just here for some greasy food rather than to eat his face, but every bunch has its bad eggs. To help him though all this is Kayla, his insomniac best friend who is always there to draw a motivational image, lend a sarcastic comment or just eat a tonne of burgers… Well maybe that’s not so helpful but the company is always appreciated. Together they try to ensure that the customers are satisfied and night runs smoothly so everything is in order come sunrise- otherwise, he will face the owner’s wrath.

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Genre wise the show would be comedy and action. The series would be episodic, focusing on different plots every episode rather than follow a bigger overall story arc. A typical episode would either focus on a situation related to the diner such as supernatural forces interfering with Charlie’s work or to something caused by a character such as one losing control of themselves and the others needing to stop them.     

There are 9 main characters including the protagonist, and storylines can vary by following any one of them.

Charlie: Protagonist – A 17-year-old high school student studying physics who is in desperate need of money to help out his family.  

Kayla: Charlie’s Best Friend – An art student at the same high school who often spends her early mornings with Charlie on his shift at the diner on account of her insomnia and unquenchable hunger for burgers.

Loreta: Diner owner – Joint Owner & Manager of the diner whose true love is avoiding work, bossing others around and money. She is sick of night shift workers disappearing on her and has a no nonsense attitude in response to these ridiculous claims of ghosts and monsters.

Mr Zhao: Janitor – He is truly the G.I Joe of janitors, his work is his life and he enjoys every second of it. In the past he was open to working any hours he was required but after a fateful night shift he’s now a superstitious mess and refuses to work when the sun isn’t up.

Ava: Charlie’s younger sister –  One of the sweetest 6-year olds to ever exist, no adults are immune to her cuteness. Adventurous, curious and without fear she will fight anyone that messes with her family.

Drew: Zombie co-worker – An ex fry-cook at the diner who died a year back by choking on a burger whilst on shift. He now returns to his former work place to resume his job every night but is the opposite to a hindrance as his cooking skills are to die for, too bad his vocabulary is now limited to just the word “Burger”.

Mangus: Skeleton/ Regular customer – A Scotsman through and through, Mangus is one of the loudest, grumpiest and most patriotic people you’ll ever meet. Due to just being bones food doesn’t interest him, drinks on the other hand are what attract him to the diner most nights and luckily for Charlie every drink doesn’t require a floor clean up due to the bagpipes lodged in his ribcage that acts as a sort of stomach/ hilarious noise maker at the worst of times. 

Delano: Vampire/ Regular customer – One of the most energetic customers known for his flare for the dramatic and who runs on a constant sugar high due to his addiction to red slushies (which no one minds as they seem to quench his natural thirst for blood). He’s desperately trying to stay hip and with the times which is pretty hard for a centuries old vampire but that certainly won’t stop him from trying even if his ways are a bit dated.   

Rivet: Werebear/ Regular customer – The criminal biker gang leader with a heart of gold, well sort of, who follows a code to only target those who deserve their wrath. At first glance she is pure intimidation but with mother bear instincts so strong her gang has to stop her from trying to adopt every child she sees. At least Charlie feels at ease knowing that the 6-foot-tall wall of muscle that turns into a huge bear on full moons is on his side.

The show is set in an isolated town in America and the show will feature many different locations around this town, but the main ones being: The Diner, Charlie’s house and the woods surrounding the diner. 

The show is suitable for all ages but specifically is aimed at an audience of 7-15 year olds, and will consist of 20-minute episodes as I prefer longer shows as you can fit more detail into them and focus on multiple storylines at a time. Out of the different broadcasters, Cartoon Network is the channel I think my show would be best suited for as it’s targeted towards 7-15-year olds too, which is an older demographic than most of the other channels aim for. Most of the shows I was inspired by also aired on cartoon network such as: Courage the cowardly dog, Over the garden wall, The marvellous misadventures of Flapjack and Villainous. The show would be fully animated without using any real-world assets and would be complete digital 2D. 

TV show Research (AND218)

TV show research

When starting this project, I wanted my TV show to be aimed at older children rather than pre-schoolers as that allows for more complex storytelling and content that is less learning focused so I looked up the target audience for each of our broadcaster options. I found that Milkshake and Cbeebies are primarily aimed at kids under 6 and 7, Cbbc has a target audience of 6-12-year old and finally both Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network are aimed at older kids with their audiences being 6-17 and 7-15, because of all of this my options were narrowed down to the last two broadcasters. First, I looked at Nickelodeon on account of it’s higher age range as my two main characters in my idea are both 17, so those watching could relate to teens of the same age. Looking into what Nickelodeon is currently airing deterred me slightly as they are currently only showing 5 animated shows at this time with all their other current programming being life action series. It seems as if they are beginning to move away from cartoons, which is a shame as the channel has aired some great original cartoons in the past such as: Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, Fairly odd parents, Avatar the last airbender and Legend of Korra. Next looking at cartoon network they are currently airing 9 original animated programs and 8 acquired ones with no live action series at all. In the past they have aired original shows such as: Ed Edd and Eddy, Courage the cowardly dog, Samurai Jack, Codename kids next door and the Marvellous misadventures of Flapjack. Personally, I watched cartoon network more as I was growing up and am familiar with a lot more of their programs and therefore most of my inspirations and similar shows are from that channel, therefore I believe Cartoon Network is the best place for my show.  

Next, I looked up what appeals to the target audience and also what adults look for in a show that they will allow their kids to watch. Most animated shows aimed at kids are action orientated and always comedy based or at least have occasional humour in them. They normally don’t focus on large complex story lines over the series and usually stick to simple stories that span one episode. Characters in kids shows have to be relatable or fun to watch, also having the ability to sell merchandise doesn’t hurt. Some parents can be very strict with what they allow their kids to watch, this is mainly related towards younger children but can still be relevant with ages for my target audience. Parents look for shows that promote positive messages and provide their kids with good role models and representation as well as the lack of any negative attributes such as language or graphic violence.   

  

Some existing shows that are similar to mine include: Courage the cowardly dog, Gravity falls and over the garden wall. All of these shows include the protagonists encountering monsters, mysteries or oddities and all have comedy, action and some creepy scenes too. Courage the Cowardly dog is about a dog that lives on an isolated farm with his two owners but he has to deal with creepy happenings and creatures that harass him and his found family. This show revolves around the supernatural and how the main characters react to it and is known for its occasional surreal and creepy visuals and many people remember being scared by this show when they watched it as a kid. Next is Gravity Falls, which is a show about two kids who move to this small town for the summer which turns out to be a hotspot for weirdness and mystery. The protagonists encounter a number of different creatures and monsters all the way from demons to gnomes. The series revolves around solving the mysteries of the strange town and documenting all the weirdness that goes on and lives in it. Finally, we have Over the Garden wall which was a mini series about two brothers trying to find their way home through a strange forest. The brothers encounter a number of odd individuals and monsters as they journey through this other-worldly forest, some being friendly whilst others are hostile. The show gives off a pretty creepy and isolated vibe throughout the whole series and feels quite mature too as it’s not really focused on humour. My idea relates to these shows in ways such as; the supernatural and monster elements, the mix of humour and creepiness, the isolation of the main location and small town, the wooded locations and the mixture of ways in which the protagonists react and deal with the odd and supernatural occurrences.

Some other shows I have drawn inspiration from include: The grim adventures of Billy and Mandy, The Marvellous misadventures of Flapjack, Villainous and Trollhunters. Mainly a mixture of their humour, characters and bizarre story lines and visuals. As my idea shares similarities and draws inspiration from these shows, most of which aired on Cartoon Network, I feel that my show would also fit in nicely on this channel.

"Do you want FRIGHTS with that?" Moodboards

The Diner and surrounding area-

Charlie-

Kayla and Ava-

Loreta, Mr Zhao and Drew-

Mangus, Delano and Rivet-

Do you want Frights with that - Character Development

I felt that I needed one more supernatural and female character so I brainstormed what supernatural creature she could be and narrowed it down to a ghost or werewolf. In the end I chose a werewolf and created this buff biker chick.

I gave her a tough biker outfit and chose the name "Rivet"

I then played around with her look and hairstyle

Some designs for her wolf form

I later changed her from a werewolf to a werebear as I wasn't keen on the wolf designs and thought a bear was cooler

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I then refined the designs of my other supernatural characters

 I deiced to give Delano an altered version of the hairstyle I first tried with Rivet

TV show idea- "Do you want FRIGHTS with that" (AND218)

After not liking any of my old concepts I began to brainstorm for a new TV show idea.

I began to play around with the ideas of a show following a pirate crew or a travelling circus but finally thought up the concept of a teen working in a fast food restaurant plagued by the supernatural.

I initially planned to call the show "Do you want fries with that?" but after some help came up with the current name of "Do you want FRIGHTS with that?" 

Next I began to create characters and plan out their personalities and roles in the show.

Top left is the show's protagonist, a teen named Charlie who is always tired due to working the night shifts at the restaurant. Top right is the show's other main character, an artist and insomniac named Kayla who is Charlie's best friend who hangs out with him when he works the night shift. Bottom left is the restaurant's janitor, Mr Zhao, who is very superstitious and a paranoid mess, and he refuses to work in the restaurant after dark. Bottom right is Loreta, the restaurant owner/manager who has a no nonsense attitude when it comes to running her business.

I then went on to create some supernatural characters and brainstorm some possible plots/ other characters and draft the logline.

Top left is Drew, a zombie with a limited vocabulary and ex night shift employee at the restaurant, every night his rouses from his grave to come and work his shift just like normal. Top right is Mangus, a very patriotic skeleton with some bagpipes lodged in his rib cage who is a regular customer at the restaurant. 

 Left here is Delano, a vampire addicted to red slushies and lover of the nightlife, also one of the regulars to the restaurant. On the Right is Ava, Charlie's little sister who he occasionally has to babysit whilst on his shift, no adults are immune to her cuteness.  

 After i'd designed characters I went on to design locations in my show.

The main locations I designed here are Charlie's house and the restaurant which I changed to the "Pit Stop Diner". I also wrote down some other possible locations I could have in the show such as shops around town, the college, and the locations in the woods surrounding the diner.

Dead end ideas Moodboards (AND218)

Still unsure with my initial ideas I produced mood boards for each of them to try and help to develop my concepts further.

Photography witch-

 Space Market-

 Monster Town-

 Grandma's place-

 Supernatural Zoo-

After putting all of these together I realised I still wasn't happy with any of them (even struggling to finish the last two) and was still struggling to expand my concepts into any actual ideas so I decided to ditch them all and start brainstorming anew.