Developing “The Zoo” For WBFA in the 90s: 1 Feb 2025

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Development drawings for “The Zoo”

Back in the late 1990s I had the privilege of doing some early development work for a Warner Bros Feature Animation feature film provisionally titled “The Zoo”.

The Zoo never made it to production, but the experience was a fascinating dive into the creative process of a major studio – and also
a lesson in the unpredictable nature of the industry.

The Zoo
The concept behind The Zoo was a prison break-out story, an animated adventure-comedy set in a decaying urban zoo from which the animals were desperate to escape.  Their leader was “Poole”, a young orangutan who would find a way to steal the keys to the animals’ cages and lead the breakout.

Story Challenges

One of the challenges of the story was – what kind of zoo should it be? A nice zoo? A bad zoo? If it’s a bad zoo – did we want to show cruelty to animals? If it’s a nice zoo – then why did they want to leave?
Another problem was how to make the hero look as handsome as the director wanted.  He was after James Dean – but orangutans don’t look much like James Dean.
Chicken Run
Eventually it turned out that Aardman Animation was making “Chicken Run” – another prison breakout story – and WB cancelled the project.

 

Visual Development
As part of the development team, my role was to help shape the tone and style of the project. This included early character designs, storyboards, and a lot of story meetings.  We explored the animals’ personalities and tried to figure out how to make them appealing and watchable.

Studio Talent
One of the highlights was collaborating with talented artists and writers. Among these were Fred Kline, John Ramirez and many others who brought a wealth of creativity to the project.

Development Hell

Working on The Zoo was the first time I came across the expression “Development Hell“. This is the idea that a project that can go in infinite different directions ends up going in none at all.

Unfortunately, like many projects in Hollywood, The Zoo faced hurdles that it couldn’t overcome.  Even great ideas don’t always find their way to the screen.
 

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