Background

It’s February. You know what that means… Christmas is 10 months away! It’s never too early to start planning, and here at Tongal we leave the tree and lights up all year round.  With the Christmas spirit in mind, we want to hear your best Concepts for an 22-minute animated Christmas special. We’re looking for memorable BRAND NEW characters and ORIGINAL stories that will become instant classics!  


Your characters should be memorable for their tales of overcoming adversity much like the classics Rankin/Bass’s Rudolph or Frosty, Chuck Jones’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas!  Also consider how to reinvent this age-old genre in the vein of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Stories should be universal and appeal specifically to children and families - and wholly your own creation (no existing characters or properties please!)


Put on your Santa hat, grab a cup of nog, and get in the spirit of creating the next animated Christmas special for everyone to enjoy!


Objectives

The primary objective is to create a 22-minute animated standalone Christmas special.


Is there a beloved Christmas story you’ve been dying to tell? We’d love to hear it!  Do you have a unique Christmas character you’ve been wanting to bring to life? We’d love to see it!  


Your Concept submission should include a 500-word Concept that summarizes your Christmas special in addition to Character Design artwork that conveys a sense of the look and feel of the piece.  You may also choose to include an animation test, pitch video, or storyboards, but these are all optional.  Remember, your Pitch should be fully original and we’ll accept ANY form of animation.


--Target Audience:

 

--Executional Mandatories:


--Optional Materials:


--Tone:

Details

This Project will be worth a total of $2,000 and consists of 1 phase: a Concept Phase. Be sure to read the following information carefully as well as the Official Rules.

 

PHASE 1: CONCEPT – Tell us your Concept for an original animated Christmas special in 500 characters or less.  As always, Concepts should be clever and engaging.  You’re also required to include Character Design artwork in your Concept Submission.

The winning Concept creators will receive $1,000 each.


--Referral: Any Tongal member who refers one of the winning Video creators in this Project using the Tongal “Invite Friends” functionality will receive a referral fee equal to 5% of the amount won. That’s a potential the sum total of $50 in bonus cash just for telling all of your talented friends about this Project! Check out more about our Referral Program in FAQ.


--Ownership & Participation: Winners will be consulted in good faith during any subsequent steps beyond ideation, and will be entitled to a portion of net profits upon any sale of the concept or any other deliverables incorporating the concept. Tongal will retain the rights of non-winners for a 6-month period starting from the date of submission. After that, all rights will revert back to the creators of non-winning entries.


Requirements


1. Unless provided otherwise, all work must be your own original creation and free of any copyrighted material. You shall provide detailed information of your work regarding the source, the creator and background information as requested by Tongal.

 

2. In the event you utilize any third party materials, such as music provided by a third-party music provider not provided by Tongal, you must obtain full written license and consent from the owner of such third party materials and provide such license and consent forms to Tongal.

 

3. BY SUBMITTING A VIDEO ENTRY, YOUR SUBMISSION IMMEDIATELY BECOMES THE SOLE PROPERTY OF TONGAL OR ITS ASSIGNEES – SEE OFFICIAL RULES FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT OWNERSHIP OF ENTRIES. YOU MAY NOT PUBLICLY SHARE OR PUBLISH YOUR SUBMISSION IN ANY MANNER AND YOU MAY NOT POST OR UPLOAD YOUR SUBMISSION TO ANY WEBSITE OR VIDEO HOSTING SITE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE OR VIMEO), WITHOUT THE PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF TONGAL.  FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION OF YOUR ENTRY IN THE PROJECT.

 

4. Submissions cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Sponsor.

 

5. Submissions must not portray Sponsor in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Sponsor.

 

6. By submitting to this project, you acknowledge that your work may become subject to public voting on the Tongal site. Public voting may be used to help the project sponsor determine the final rank order.

 

7. Videos must be in the English language or subtitled.

 

8. Limit 5 submissions per member, per Phase.

 

9. You must be at least thirteen (13) years or older to enter.


10. In the event that fewer than 30 Concepts are received, the Sponsor reserves the right to repost the contest for up to fourteen (14) days at their discretion.


11. In addition to the judging criteria stated in the OFFICIAL RULES, Concepts will also be evaluated on their ability to be potentially executed in the future.


12. Winners must submit the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment.


13. See OFFICIAL RULES for additional contest information, terms and conditions. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between these requirements and the Official Rules, the terms and conditions of these requirements shall prevail.