How Pony is Formed: Production and Business Thread

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How Pony is Formed: Production and Business Thread

Postby Nissl (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:40 pm

(Deleted long thread intro for readability). I'll try to keep this first post updated with major news.

Season 4 Production
Meghan McCarthy, M.A. Larson, Dave Polsky, Amy Keating Rogers, and Corey Powell are confirmed returning for S4.
Charlotte Fullerton is back on the show for one episode of S4. The episode was co-written with Betsy McGowan, and they worked on it through August 2012.
Natasha Levinger was hired as a writer for season 4 in March 2012.
Josh Haber worked as a writer on season 4.
Scott Sonnenberg is a new writer for S4.
Ed Valentine is a new writer for S4.
M.A. Larson is off the show working on a book series and movie.
Cindy Morrow is off the show for (most of?) S4, confirmed at Las Pegasus Unicon.
Co-director James "Wootie" Wootton is off the show, having been promoted to head director on Packages From Planet X. Storyboard supervisor "Big Jim" Miller is replacing him, and in turn being replaced by story artist Timothy Packford.
Animation director @BaloneyBrony is off the show, having been promoted to director on Pound Puppies.
Storyboard artist Raven Molissee is off the show, leaving for the US.
Rich Arons has joined the show as timing director; Flash shows don't usually have a timing director, so nobody is quite sure what this means.

Additional Staff Moves
Character designer Rebecca Dart left DHX for Slap Happy Cartoons following completion of designs for S4.

Business Information
MLP sales grew by 50% globally in 2012, and triple digits internationally.
MLP merchandise sales have increased for at least 9 quarters straight, dating back to 2Q11.
Upcoming quarterly business calls: October 21

Ratings Information
Latest ratings release
Last edited by Nissl on Sat Jul 27, 2013 11:34 pm, edited 32 times in total.
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Postby Bumble-B (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:44 pm

Thank yer kindly for the compilation of info :twasnothin:
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Postby Durandal (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:48 pm

I glanced at this thread title and thought of "how is babby formed?" :gotcha:

Also I didn't know that the Hub is literally the old Discovery Kids channel. I guess I never put 2 and 2 together.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:17 pm

On the DHX side of things, storyboard artist Raven Molissee is leaving Vancouver to USA. That most likely means her involvement with FiM is over, her last episode being the upcoming one.

I think season 4 will be the first season that exists soley because of the show's popularity. My understanding is that 65 episodes was always planned from the beginning. Season 3 of "Pound Puppies" will have 26 episodes (season 2 only had 13), which will bring the total to 65, and quite frankly I don't think that show will last beyond that.
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Postby Nissl (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:30 pm

Speaking of which, episode animation director @BaloneyBrony (directed at least 306, 309, 312) is also moving off the show, having taken a promotion to director on Pound Puppies.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:17 pm

Tara Strong and Andrea Libman have both stated that McCarthy has come to them as recently as May 2012, asking them if there's any episode premise they'd like to see for their characters.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:19 pm

EquestriaGuy wrote:Tara Strong and Andrea Libman have both stated that McCarthy has come to them as recently as May 2012, asking them if there's any episode premise they'd like to see for their characters.

I wonder if we'll start seeing episodes with Strong and Libman getting "Story by" credits.
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Postby Discord (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:25 pm

EquestriaGuy wrote:Tara Strong and Andrea Libman have both stated that McCarthy has come to them as recently as May 2012, asking them if there's any episode premise they'd like to see for their characters.


Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. :squintyjack: It could be good to get some VA ideas, but I hope that doesn't mean they're running out.

Then again, if a 15 year old can come up with a solid story concept.. :pinkieshrug:
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Postby Corpy (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:40 pm

Good work, Nissl

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Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. :squintyjack: It could be good to get some VA ideas, but I hope that doesn't mean they're running out.

Then again, if a 15 year old can come up with a solid story concept.. :pinkieshrug:

Oh, the rules of the entertainment industry...
DO NOT read fanfics.
DO accept story ideas from 15-year-olds.
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Postby Frith (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:47 pm

I don't know how accurate LinkedIn is but apparently Daniel Ingram no longer works for Hasbro studios.

But I don't know anything about the creation of animation series so I don't know what that all means.
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Postby Perrydotto (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:55 pm

Frith wrote:I don't know how accurate LinkedIn is but apparently Daniel Ingram no longer works for MLP.


Where does it say that? It states he worked on the series in seasons 1-3, and season 4 has only gotten budgeted so far. Aside from the fact that Hasbro is spending money on it, we know VERY few things about season 4, and even less are confirmed. I wouldn't worry just because his LinkedIn profile doesn't mention season 4.
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Postby Swift (?) » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:56 pm

Technically, it looks like Meghan still came up with the basic, core concept for the Discord episode:

Teddy Antonio wrote:I live in LA and submitted promises to Hasbro in 2011. Meghan got ahold of them and I got a spot in season 3. During a conference call, Meghan told me this idea: "Fluttershy and Discord are roommates." And the whole thing evolved into the episode it is now.


But he also says he worked on the premise and outline, so I assume he expanded it from there into the "reform Discord" idea. :pinkieshrug:

Edit: Then again, I assume that's supposed to be "submitted premises to Hasbro", so... maybe the idea did come from one of his originally submitted premises...? Or they just liked his other, unrelated premises enough to hire him on? Not sure. :rariwhat:

Edit 2: From the phrasing, I'm gonna assume the latter, since it really makes it sounds like it's Meghan's own idea.
Last edited by Swift on Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby ComradeCosmobot (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:00 am

Swift wrote:Technically, it looks like Meghan still came up with the basic, core concept for the Discord episode:



But he also says he worked on the premise and outline, so I assume he expanded it from there into the "reform Discord" idea. :pinkieshrug:


And if you take a look at the outline and so on, you see that the closest he might have gotten is "Fluttershy reforms Discord". There's practically nothing in the final product which resembles his outline (or at least the part of it that I saw)
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Postby Nissl (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:05 am

Perrydotto wrote:It states he worked on the series in seasons 1-3, and season 4 has only gotten budgeted so far.


Well, with what we know about the production schedule, the S4 scripts have been done for several months and they need to have the audio for the big songs in place before going into animation, which is happening soon (whereas the bgm that Anderson does is the last thing to be added). Of course, LinkedIn displays whatever you write, so this could just be the way he's presenting things (and/or a deliberate attempt to avoid accidentally confirming S4.) I think LinkedIn tends to have problems if you display multiple jobs as "-present", and few days ago he was tweeting with Thiessen and McCarthy, so I'm hopeful he's still involved with the show.
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Postby Rarietty (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:41 am

I don't see why Daniel would just accept a job working as both the composer and songwriter on Littlest Pet Shop and just leave after 1 or 2 seasons (I guess season 2's in production for that currently).

But yeah, just because something doesn't say [insert year/season here]-present and instead says season 1-3 or 2010-2013, it doesn't mean that he just left in 2013 or season 3. That's all he can confirm right now, I guess. Besides, the profile doesn't seem very recently updated. For one, it says "Martha Speaks-season 4 to commence in late 2011". :rariwhat: So for all we know, the profile could have been last updated in 2011 before season 4 was a possibility and when Daniel knew he was working with Hasbro until 2013 as he needed to do season 3 of MLP/Littlest Pet Shop/the newest season of Pound Puppies.
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Postby Highbrow Dash (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:09 am

Oh no don't let Tara come up with an episode premise :ohgawd:
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Postby Durandal (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:22 am

"The Day Twilight Lost Her Swag"
Story by Tara Strong
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Postby Robotzor (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:31 am

Poaching...as the success continues, studios and groups with more cash to throw around will pull the beloved team away. I wonder if success can inevitably be the show's downfall. Wild speculation of course, but still...
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:32 am

If season 4 does have 26 episodes, this would bring the series total to 91 episodes.

I wonder if they can make it to the 100 episode mark. Hmm... :awesomedash:
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Postby Nissl (?) » Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:34 am

Robotzor wrote:As the success continues, studios and groups with more cash to throw around will pull the beloved team away. I wonder if success can inevitably be the show's downfall.


Well, on the writing side, Rogers left the show for a promotion on Care Bears. Larson hasn't left, but he did sell a screenplay from his new book to Reese Witherspoon's production company, which is something to keep an eye on.

I'm not sure it's as easy to break up the production team, but we're already seeing some dilution of experienced talent via promotion as DHX Vancouver gets hired to do more projects. Since pony has started, they've picked up Pound Puppies, LPS, and now a new Disney series. Hopefully the new people they're hiring will come close to filling in the gaps left behind, but we'll just have to see.
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Postby Nissl (?) » Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:13 pm

Corey Powell looks to be off the show for S4 according to her LinkedIn. It would seem that she also moved over to Care Bears.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:24 pm

Nissl wrote:Corey Powell looks to be off the show for S4 according to her LinkedIn. It would seem that she also moved over to Care Bears.

Actually, it looks like she started on Ponies the same time as the Care Bears, although the episodes he wrote for the latter aired first. It looks like she left "Ponies" to work on "Littlest Pet Shop".
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Postby Nissl (?) » Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:27 pm

Which is weird, because Larson managed to put in some spot episodes on LPS in between seasons of pony. I haven't seen her explicitly confirm that these 2 episodes are all we're getting (just went through her whole Twitter history and didn't find anything), so I guess I can keep my fingers crossed that she's in the same boat and she's just being cautious about updating her LinkedIn. I'l go ahead and put it in the OP anyway so people can conveniently check for updates.
Last edited by Nissl on Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:30 pm

I think MLP S3 was written right before LPS, even though both aired at the same time.

Corey Powell's debut episodes for both shows premiered on the same day ("Sleepless in Ponyville" for FiM and "Mean Isn't Your Color" for LPS both aired on December 8, 2012)
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Postby InC (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:40 am

Well, great news, it looks like Corey Powell just updated her profile, and here is what it says now:
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What was the ending date, previously? I'm guessing her profile might just have been out of date, and that she is back for S4, if only for the latter half of the assumed 26 episodes.
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Postby londonarbuckle (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:47 am

Or it could mean she's back for a possible season five, since I think writing for season four is done (although maybe the back half of the season's episodes haven't been written yet?)

Anyway, yay.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:34 pm

That's awesome! :)

I guess she's no longer on "The Littlest Pet Shop", since it shows she left last November; it was previously listed as "present".
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Postby Frith (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:05 pm

That's great news!

IMO she has been clearly the best writer in S3.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:10 pm

I don't think they'd be writing S5 yet. Animation for S4 hasn't even started yet, or perhaps is just now getting off the ground. This is definitely a good sign she is writing on S4.
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Postby Perrydotto (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:12 pm

Hooray for Powell! :awesomedash: This is great news.
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Postby Adelor Lyon (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:49 pm

I'm not sure where to post this since I don't think it's spoiler-material, but the girl who runs Regretsy isn't going to be updating the site anymore. Her name's April Winchell, and she says she has a "leading role" in My Little Pony. She's a voice actor and a writer, and she hasn't specified at all whether she's writing, producing, or voice acting, so it's all up in the air right now. I searched this forum for her last name and only came up with her husband's name a few times, and nothing related to the show.

EDIT: The below two are totally right, she didn't say she's working on MLP at all. She simply used it for context. This is why I don't do reporting. :v:
Last edited by Adelor Lyon on Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:58 pm

Adelor Lyon wrote:I'm not sure where to post this since I don't think it's spoiler-material, but the girl who runs Regretsy isn't going to be updating the site anymore. Her name's April Winchell, and she says she has a "leading role" in My Little Pony. She's a voice actor and a writer, and she hasn't specified at all whether she's writing, producing, or voice acting, so it's all up in the air right now. I searched this forum for her last name and only came up with her husband's name a few times, and nothing related to the show.

I like how close she's holding her cards. :smirk:


She has a leading role in a Faust show.
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Postby Frith (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:04 pm

Adelor Lyon wrote:I'm not sure where to post this since I don't think it's spoiler-material, but the girl who runs Regretsy isn't going to be updating the site anymore. Her name's April Winchell, and she says she has a "leading role" in My Little Pony. She's a voice actor and a writer, and she hasn't specified at all whether she's writing, producing, or voice acting, so it's all up in the air right now. I searched this forum for her last name and only came up with her husband's name a few times, and nothing related to the show.

I like how close she's holding her cards. :smirk:

She has a role in Wander Over Yonder, so I think that she meant that.
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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:40 pm

Yeah, she's probably talking about the Disney show. She was just listing "Pony" as an example of Lauren's past work.

April Winchell is the daughter of Paul Winchell, for what its worth.
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Postby Big Boss (?) » Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:40 pm

I wouldn't mind April having a role in Ponies, though. She's got quite the set of pipes.

April is the daughter of the late, great Paul Winchell, who most people here might know as Dick Dastardly and the inventor of the first mechanical artificial heart.

EDIT: Damnit, Mr. Big! :rage:
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Postby Jyu (?) » Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:00 am

Just to let you know Top Draw Animation's production page is back up. Although there's nothing new from what I see.

EDIT: I just cheeked it again a minute ago, and it seems all of the shows including MLP have disappeared except for three other shows which I've heard nothing about.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:01 pm

Image

Image

I posted this earlier, but soft deleted it when he tweeted minutes later that he mistyped and meant something else, but how do you mistype "@mylittlepony" when you meant MTA? So i'm gonna restore the post because it deserves consideration that maybe he realized he wasn't supposed to talk about S4 info, and was just covering his ass. I've been told in the past that MLP info is more closely guarded than the info for other shows, like Pound Puppies.
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Postby EquestriaGuy (?) » Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:41 am

Image

1. Is season 4 13 or 26 episodes?
2. Whatis the 66x1?
3. Will Derpy return in season 4?
4. How are you so awesome at this?

Let the speculation begin.

My guess is 3 and 4.
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Postby Discord (?) » Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:49 am

Unfortunately, you are probably right about that.

Though that Derpy question should probably be modified to "Will she be returned in a significant fashion"? (Not another speaking, but will they go back to making silent jokes with her?) Since she has apparently been spotted a couple of times in S3, but they just haven't been very noticeable and it's a lot more "Where's Waldo?" than ever before.
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Postby Wayoshi (?) » Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:23 am

I agree re: Lee Tockar. That smells like something, and honestly they have to get going soon on all this. We are already looking at an even longer poniless stretch than the last.
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