How the Bible Eater Became the Pepper Boy - Or, How to Turn Bad Ideas Into Good Ideas
Not every animation idea makes it to production. Far from it! I’m sure there have been countless cartoons that you have never seen nor heard of, only because they never made it beyond the confines of the originating brain.
But just because an idea isn’t good enough for production doesn’t mean it can’t be produced anyway. It may need to be changed, altered, or fixed in some way, and in this article, I’m going to give you a backstory that demonstrates this concept in action.
It all started in 1926. A 12-year-old boy from Georgia attracted the attention of a local newspaper by literally eating his family’s bible, leaving nothing except the leather covers and the page where the family record was kept. But all the scriptures were devoured!
Here’s the original news article, courtesy of weirduniverse.net
12-Year-Old Boy Eats Up The Family Bible
MOULTRIE, Ga., Jan. 8 —(AP)— Devouring the Bible in the literal meaning of the expression, so upset the digestive apparatus of Mellzo McCoy, 12-year-old Colquette county boy, that he developed symptoms similar to acute appendicitis.
This was learned today when a local physician, who was consulted by the father of Mellzo, reported that his patient was recovering rapidly from the effects of his scriptural diet.
Mellzo gratified his appetite secretly, the physician stated, and his appetite for the scriptures was not learned until the illness developed. The physician said the youth readily admitted having eaten the pages of the Bible.
Only the two covers and one or two pages on which the family record was kept, remained of the family Bible when Mellzo became ill.
Mack McCoy, father of the boy, said he did not know of his son's appetite for paper, although he knew the boy had been eating dirt.
I thought this story was incredibly bizarre, so much so that I knew I wanted to make an animated bumper out of it. I thought making such a bumper, and then writing in the YouTube description that it was based on a true story, would make a hit with my audience.
But admittedly, I was so blind-sighted by the prospect of creating something based on a weird but true tale that I did not consider the highly controversial nature of the subject matter, nor that it might potentially upset people.
I had decided on making it a photography-based animation involving the face of a live model, (the same technique used in Angela Anaconda,) and I contacted a friend whose son was about Mellzo’s age. She subtly declined.
But when I looked for photographers with child models on Fiverr, I apparently alienated one of them. Here’s what she said:
“I'm. uncomfortable with the subject matter sorry!”
Rick Sims, the guy who does punk songs for my animations, had zero problems with the subject matter, however, and he wrote and recorded a thirteen second song based on the news article.
“Mellzo McCoy
Was a 12-year-old boy
Whose family bible he ate!
Ain’t God great?”
So I had the music, but there were no photographers willing to provide any visuals.
And the whole project was at a standstill, that is, until I was having dinner with my housemate one night. I told her about the project, and her initial reaction was shock. Then she proceeded to explain to me, as calmly as she could, that there are religious people who would easily be offended at such a concept.
Then I realized what a fool I was… she was right!
But how was I going to reconcile with the fact that I already spent $160 on the song?? I took some time to think about it, and I realized that the music was good even if the lyrics were not so good. And the concept seemed okay except for the fact that it was a bible being eaten.
So I pivoted.
For an extra $30, Mr Sims removed the vocals from the song, and as he did so, I contemplated the alternative “shock food.” A hot pepper!
So this was how I took an offensive concept and made it palatable.
(For the rest of the story, please stay tuned for my forthcoming blog entry: My Latest Animation Presented a New and Unique Set of Challenges, which will be published on July 18.)
So what can we learn from this? If your concept is unproduceable, be it because it’s offensive, it’s uninteresting, it’s expensive, or whatever else have you, then here are a few steps you can take to ensure you have a winner:
Step 1: Tell a friend about your concept.
Sometimes the outside perspective of a trusted friend is all you need. They’ll be able to tell you what they like, what they don’t like, and whether or not you should keep at it or go in a different direction. If the latter, then you move on to…
Step 2: Spin straw into gold.
Like Rumpelstiltskin, you too can spin straw into gold. Not literally, but when it comes to making good concepts out of bad ones, there’s always that hidden kernel of gold that is waiting to be brought to the surface. But it takes looking beyond the bad. For example, in my above story, I knew the newspaper article was weird, not so much because Mellzo ate a bible specifically, but because what he ate attracted attention. So I doubled down on that.
Step 3: Build on the good.
If you can find what’s good about your concept, and you have eliminated what’s bad, then you have something to develop further. In the case of the above story, if the bible was what made it bad, then what else could Mellzo eat that would be bizarre and fun to watch? The hot pepper idea was what came to me more easily, based on personal experiences I’ve had with habanero peppers.
So there you have it. Just because you can’t produce an idea doesn’t mean you can’t go in a different direction. All it takes is a little creative problem solving.
Have you ever had to change course on an idea that you had? Are you glad you did? What was the original idea, and what changes did you make? Sound off in the comments!
‘Till next time…