ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a cross-section of animated projects that used preexisting source material as their jumping-off point. Along with preexisting scripts for unproduced projects, numerous other sources that can serve as a springboard can include short stories, essays, articles, and biographical nonfiction. Narrative children’s fiction, ordinarily having been adapted from shorter stories, as the medium of picture books dictates, can very well stand on its own when adapted to animation, at least in terms of the narration and dialog. The fleshing out of the story is largely down to carefully considered visualization, expanding the universe of the story rather than convoluting it with needless detail. In truth, it is something of a rarity for directors, animators, and/or producers to be responsible for the story on top of everything else they have to deal with. A major motivator for laying out a solid production plan came with bringing on other animators and delegating tasks.
