HK: If they do bring in art to their pitch, do you have any preference whether it's on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, or a cocktail napkin?

JH: It doesn't concern me. It certainly wouldn't bother me if they Xeroxed that napkin onto an 8 1/2 x 11 leave behind just so I don't lose anything. That way I can put the whole package together in one paperclip and be done with it. I would prefer the artwork to be on 8 1/2 x 11 for those reasons. If you have a big board, what am I going to do with that board? Where am I going to store it? And if I have to return it to you, that's just a further hassle. Having it all so that I can pass it along to the next person to take a look makes it much more convenient if it's in one package. It doesn't have to be bound professionally. A staple in the corner is fine. They don't need to go to the extra effort to get a three-ring binder or spiral bound. Some people have even come in with book binding! Chances are I'm going to have to rip that up to Xerox it for everybody who needs to get a copy. A staple is just as convenient.

HK: So there's a whole production process that people need to be aware of.

JH: Exactly. The thing is you really appreciate it when they go through that extra effort, but it's just not necessary. For me and for us here, the idea is king. Presentation is secondary. Sure it gives you some extra bonus points if it looks nice and it's spelled correctly, but if you came in with Pokemon on one piece of paper with no artwork, we would still look at it very seriously.

The most important thing is the story, characters and relationship. The other thing that is very important for hopeful creators is to pay attention and study where they're going. Try to watch what's on their air. Understand what their basic philosophy is and don't come in with something that's totally inappropriate for my target audience and demographic. By watching our air you can get a strong sense of the direction that we're headed and the types of series that might be of interest to us. But then, you can also do some additional homework and find out what the target audience is and what the demographic is. If you've got an agent, that agent can certainly do some preliminary checking as well, as to what the needs are as far as genre, and whether we are looking for live-action or only animation.

Heather Kenyon is editor in chief of Animation World Network.