Proposal

Writing Sample

S.L.O.P. - Super League of Pigs

Illustrations by Todd Aaron Smith
Story by Troy Schmidt

ONE LINE DESCRIPTION
S.L.O.P. is a comic book action team of five pigs who go on incredible adventures and battle evil villains to clean up messes all around the world.

STORY OVERVIEW
S.L.O.P. stands for the Super League of Pigs, a Mission Impossible like organization made up of five little piggies. They receive their assignments from the mysterious Mr. Big, a silhouetted pig who informs them of their next task. Their job: to clean up messes around the world since man isn't doing such a good job at it.

Our five pigs interact with people, but no one seems to mind that they are pigs. They go anywhere, do anything a human does. They talk, laugh, sing, walk on their hind legs when going on an adventure. And they love to eat, especially garbage. Hey, c'mon, what did you expect from pigs. At least they're doing their part to clean up messy landfills!

Each story begins and ends with our friends lounging in the pen on Farmer G's farm, a laid back, country bumpkin who has no idea what hides underneath their mud bath-an elaborate surveillance system that monitors activities all over the world.

Their adventures take them every where: in jets, under the ocean, to the moon, in the deepest jungle, sports stadiums, around the world, in concert, in the military, to the North Pole, Latin America, the big city, wherever they need to go.

By the end of each story, we understand our role to keep this world God gave us clean and healthy.

CHARACTER OVERVIEW
Luther - Our leader. Luther has authority, rallying the troops and making assignments. He's the strategist and commander. He never panics and always knows there's a way out. Luther knows what to do and who can do it best. He has earned the respect of the other four. Luther has a secret no one else knows…he hates trash and likes to eat healthy.

Calvin - Our simple, farm-bred, home spun, gee-whiz, golly-gee pig. Filled with all kinds of down home wisdom, but himself not the smartest "ear on the corn" (his words), Cal is Goober, Gomer, Gump and Glen Campbell all thrown into one. Can be seen strumming the guitar and singing off-key country songs he wrote himself (they're not very good). Cal loves a good "yeeeehooggg!" and is eternally optimistic and upbeat. Calvin wears a cap and is always found with a piece of straw in his mouth. Calvin is the mechanic and driver. Calvin yawns at the thought of something going 150 miles per hour. He doesn't even start to get interested until 200 mph.

Josie - Our beautiful, adventurous female pig. She's a tom-pig, perfectly comfortable being around boys. She's one of the guys, but still very feminine when she needs to be. She's got the charm and the drive. No patience with talking. She's a doer. While the others awe at the mountainous task before them, Josie is already climbing. Her impulsiveness gets her and the others in trouble.

Newton - Our bumbling-but brilliant-scientist who can make anything out of anything at anytime. Now whether it will work exactly as planned is a different story. Don't ask how he developed it, because he'll tell you and you won't understand. While Newton can build a rocket ship, finding the keys to it is a different story. This makes him both Gilligan and the Professor in one! Newton prefers to stay at home and work in his Farm Laboratory. Jet planes and all terrain vehicles were meant to be built, not ridden on, according to him. He's the biggest scaredy cat of the bunch. He wears a scientist coat, pocket protector and thick eyeglasses.

Max - The quiet, mysterious, danger-seeker, Steve McQueen, James Dean, Blues Brother Elwood type. Max wears sunglasses and a long black jacket, with a toothpick in his mouth. He stays silent and goes along on every trip-never griping, never protesting. He will always do the thing no one else will do. He's full of surprises and can produce a number of weapons from his coat. Max is our code breaker and safe cracker. His whole life is a secret. Communicates by producing cards from his pocket with his words on them. How does he print those up?

TAKE AWAY VALUE
To educate children on the need to take care and protect the earth. According to Genesis 1:26-31, this earth has been given to us by God and it's our job to manage it well.

FORMAT
70 page mini-book/comic book for ages 6-12. Over 2,700 words.

UNIQUENESS

• A mini-book/comic book format along the lines of "Captain Underpants."
  
• The stories vaguely mirror biblical stories such as Noah and the flood, David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, putting them in a more contemporary setting.
  
• The illustrations in the book will engage the young reader, creating a fun and light-hearted appeal to the story.
  
• Some messages about the environment from Christians who normally aren't associated with such matters.
  
• Pigs trying to clean up the earth? Who ever heard of such a thing?

COMPETING PRODUCTS
There is very little Christian based material that focuses on the environment and our Genesis 1:28 responsibility.

SERIES POTENTIAL

The style and approach of this book project would be perfect for a series of titles, such as:

The Flood of Dr. Sludge - Dr. Sludge threatens to flood the world with disgusting factory sludge. Our heroes must rescue the animals and stop the pollution from destroying the world.

The Attack of Joe-liath - Newton builds a polite servant robot named Joe but when it grows to an incredible size and tries to clean up the city (messing up real bad), only our scaredy scientist can stop it. It's Pig versus Giant Machine.

The Snare of the Sea Monster - A mysterious sea monster terrorizes ships in the sea, but when Josie disobeys orders, she finds herself in the belly of this beast. Josie feels sorry for her actions, then discovers this is no ordinary monster.

The Plagues of Toxic Guy - Toxic Guy unleashes his deadly plagues which cause all kinds of gross side effects: sneezing, coughing, hair balls, ear fungus, hoof and mouth disease, swine flu, you name. The pigs must not only fight him, but a serious cold.

The excitement and fun of the series easily lends itself to animated videos.

TARGET AUDIENCE
Children, ages 6-10.

MARKETING
As for the first title in the series, Christian leaders such as Rick Warren, Joel Hunter (Northland Community Church, Orlando Florida), Ted Bassett (Salvation Army) have come out in favor of environmental issues with the Evangelical Climate Initiative.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Troy Schmidt began writing animation in Los Angeles in 1985 (Dennis the Menace, Heathcliff, Flintstone Kids). In 1992, he moved to Orlando to write for The Mickey Mouse Club, on staff for three seasons. Since then Troy wrote for three Disney parades on ABC (Easter and Christmas), a Disney Animal Kingdom show and for the Hard Rock Café website as the Managing Content Editor. Most recently he adapted a Max Lucado children's book, Hermie The Common Caterpillar, into a video, then created and wrote the future installments for Mr. Lucado and Tommy Nelson. He recently directed two hours worth of video on a Bible based CD/ROM entitled iLumina Gold, traveling to Israel and following the footsteps of Jesus. In 2004, Troy was the Creative Consultant on a Nickelodeon game show called "Splat."

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
Buzby and the Grumble Bees - Picture book (2007)
To Share or Nut to Share -Board book (2006)
Hermie's Fruitcake Christmas - Picture book and board book (2005)
The Straight Path - Hermie board book (2005)
The Race of Fear - Hermie board book (2005)
Buzby, the Misbehaving Bee - Picture book and board book (2005)
The 12 Bugs of Christmas - Picture book and board book (2004)
Webster, the Scaredy Spider - Picture book and board book (2004)
He Did It All for You - Compiled the writings of author Max Lucado (2004)
Flo the Lyin' Fly - Picture book and board book (2003)
The Flood of Lies - Hermie board book (2003)
Stuck in a Stinky Den - Hermie board book (2003)
The Caterpillars of Ha-Ha - Hermie board book (2003)
Hermie and the Big Bully Croaker - Hermie board book (2003)
Rock, Roll and Run - Hermie board book (2003)

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Todd Aaron Smith both writes and illustrates all of his children's books currently being sold in stores across the country and on many internet web sites. His newest and finest work to date is Riley O'Smiley, published by Tommy Nelson with a release date of September 2006. The Scarecrow and the Spider, also published by Tommy Nelson and released in August 2005, went to #2 on the CBA best-seller list. Todd's other credits include the Cow Adventure Series published by Baker Book House and the Higby the Monkey series published by Barbour Publishing. Two more of Todd's books, Cow on the Tracks and Cow in the Dark also appeared on the CBA best-seller list. Todd also received the CBA Impact award for the marketing art that he created for the Cow series.
Before writing and illustrating children's books, Todd worked as a professional animator. His credits include Spiderman for the Fox Kids Network, the Keebler Elves, the Raid bugs, Tony the Tiger, Pokemon, the Avengers, Godzilla for Fox Kids, and many others. One of Todd's television commercials debuted during the 1999 Superbowl and won a national award for best animated commercial of the year.
Todd is also a freelance penciller for Archie Comics Publications, Inc. He has drawn most of the characters for production, including Archie, Jughead, and Betty & Veronica for comic book publication.
Possibly the most interesting thing about Todd is that through years of extensive research, he has been able to trace his family tree back hundreds and hundreds of years. A distant cousin of Todd's is Walt Disney, and Todd's family tree includes Lisa di Antonio Maria di Noldo Gherardini-Giocondo, the woman who modeled for Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous portrait, the Mona Lisa.
Todd has been married to his wife, Veronica, since 1994. Together they have two children, Josie and Andy. They live near Joplin, Missouri.

OTHER BOOKS BY THE ILLUSTRATOR
Riley O'Smiley
The Scarecrow and the Spider
Cow Makes a Difference
Cow in the Dark
Cow on the Tracks
Cow Under the Big Top
Cow in the Rain
Cow Goes for a Ride
Higby the Average Monkey
Higby Throws a Fit

© Troy Schmidt, 2006