Project Gilroy (lost Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2007)

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ProjectGilroyPoster.jpg

The teaser poster created by Shannon Tindle for the Project Gilroy pilot.

Status: Lost

Project Gilroy was a project that was pitched to Cartoon Network in the mid 2000s by television writers and story artists Shannon Tindle, Shane Prigmore, and Andy Schuhler.[1][2] A pilot for the project was produced throughout 2006 and finished in 2007, and screened at the Cartoon Network Studios on August 24th of that year.[3][4] The pilot would not be greenlit and a full series would not enter production.

History

The first image of Project Gilroy ever teased, released onto Shannon Tindle's blog on September 8th, 2006.[1]

Project Gilroy was first pitched to Cartoon Network sometime in the mid 2000s by creators Shannon Tindle, Shane Prigmore, and Andy Schuhler, evidenced by the project being quoted as "3.5 years in the making" by the time the pilot was finished in late 2007.[3][4] The Project Gilroy name would be filed for a trademark by Cartoon Network on July 17th, 2006.[5] According to Shane Prigmore:

"Our goal was to bring some feature sensibilities to an animated TV show in story, tone, pace, and visual language. Oh, and to make it entertaining as hell. We just wanted to make something that we would have an absolute ball working on."[4]

The project would be first teased to the public with various blog posts by creators Shannon Tindle and Shane Prigmore throughout 2006 and 2007. These blog posts often had accompanying stills, info, and updates about the project's ongoing development and eventual completion.[1][2][3][4][6][7][8][9][10][11] On August 23rd, 2007, the pilot was announced to be complete on both blogs, with the corresponding posters stating that the finished pilot would be shown on August 24th at 2:30 PM in the main conference room of Cartoon Network Studios.[3][4]

The second teaser poster created by Shane Prigmore for the Project Gilroy pilot.

The full 22-minute pilot was presented in two halves, with the first half being presented as a fleshed-out animatic, while the second half was presented in full color due to budget reasons.[4]

Despite a completed pilot being completed and presented, Cartoon Network would not greenlight the Project Gilroy pilot and production on a full series would not begin. According to a comment on a Cartoon Brew article about another rejected Cartoon Network pilot titled Spang Ho, the Project Gilroy pilot was not picked up because it did not test well with Cartoon Network staff and executives, causing any plans of a full series to be scrapped.[12]

Premise

Project Gilroy is likely named after the town of Gilroy, California, mostly known for its harvesting of garlic crops and garlic festival.[13] The character on the various posters and development material is supposed to mirror a garlic clove, likely to function as an antagonist.

Not much is known about the exact premise and plot details of the Project Gilroy project and corresponding pilot. Various characters are shown in the available images, such as a kid with a raccoon tail named Ricky, an eagle named Rosie, and two spies named Phelps and Perkins respectively.[6][8][2][10]

The concept art and stills regularly show a piece of farmland that Ricky lives on, likely in the town of Gilroy, California,[9][11] a local elementary school,[11] as well as a tent.[1][7] The stills also features supernatural and science elements, with various alien-like monsters (the most common being the aforementioned garlic-like creature), test tubes, and a UFO being present.

Availability

The Project Gilroy pilot was only shown once at the Cartoon Network Studios on August 24th, 2007.[3] Due to the project never being greenlit for a full series, the pitch pilot has not been seen since its first and only showing and remains inaccessible and lost to the general public.

Many images of the pilot (both concept art/storyboards and full color images) are available on the blogs of Shannon Tindle and Shane Prigmore. Two posters made by Tindle and Prigmore to advertise the pilot's showing at Cartoon Network Studios are also available on the blogs.[3][4]

Gallery

Concept Storyboards

Full-Color Images

See Also

Anthology Series

Bumpers and Interstitials

Pilots

Live-Action

Other Cartoon Network Series

External Link

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Shannon Tindle's first blog post about Project Gilroy on September 8th, 2006. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Shane Prigmore's first blog post about Project Gilroy on September 8th, 2006. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Shannon Tindle's blog post about the completion of the Project Gilroy pilot on August 23rd, 2007. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Shane Prigmore's blog post about the completion of the Project Gilroy pilot on August 23rd, 2007. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  5. Trademarkia page for Cartoon Network's trademark of the Project Gilroy name. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  6. 6.0 6.1 Shannon Tindle's blog post featuring two Project Gilroy characters on June 23rd, 2006. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  7. 7.0 7.1 Shannon Tindle's blog post featuring another Project Gilroy still on September 21st, 2006. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  8. 8.0 8.1 Shannon Tindle's blog post featuring more Project Gilroy stills on August 28th, 2007. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  9. 9.0 9.1 Shannon Tindle's blog post featuring more Project Gilroy stills on September 6th, 2007. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  10. 10.0 10.1 Shane Prigmore's blog post featuring more Project Gilroy stills on August 28th, 2007. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Shane Prigmore's blog post featuring more Project Gilroy stills on September 6th, 2007. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  12. Cartoon Brew comment mentioning Project Gilroy and its rejection. Retrieved 30 Mar '22
  13. The official website of Gilroy, California. Retrieved 30 Mar '22