Editing Batman: The Animated Series (section)

===Development===
In 1990, following the success of the ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures|Tiny Toons]]'' series, Warner Bros. Animation president Jean MacCurdy announced to the animation team that Warner wanted to develop several of its licenses, including Batman.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last1=Huls |first1=Alexander |last2=Perkins |first2=Will |date=June 6, 2017 |title=Batman: The Animated Series |url=https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/batman-the-animated-series/ |access-date=December 20, 2024 |website=[[Art of the Title]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":522">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/live/dZLpDvQ6vFI?si=aIfJCWD1LRyW5UwO |title=Batman The Animated Series {{!}} The Heart of Batman Documentary Livestream {{!}} Warner Bros. Entertainment |date=June 17, 2020 |last=Warner Bros. |first=Entertainment |type=Video |language=en |access-date=December 21, 2024 |via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> Following this news, [[Bruce Timm]] was tasked with designing Batman, and [[Eric Radomski]] was assigned to design the sets.<ref name=":4" /> Radomski, who knew Batman primarily from the [[Batman (TV series)|1966 series]] and the [[Batman (1989 film)|1989 Tim Burton]] film, was particularly inspired by the latter.<ref name=":522"/> At the request of Jean MacCurdy, Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, who had never worked together before, produced a silent short film called ''[[The Dark Knight's First Night]]'' in about six weeks to pitch the series to [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]. They decided to draw inspiration from the 1940 ''[[Superman (1940s animated film series)|Superman]]'' series and received assistance from the studio [[Lightbox|Lightbox Animation]]. Fox greenlit the project before they saw the short, but this led to Timm and Radomski taking charge of the project, despite having no prior experience producing a series.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":522"/> Since the series had no writers at this stage, MacCurdy recruited [[Alan Burnett]], who was considering leaving animation due to his frustration with the restrictions imposed by the [[Broadcast Standards and Practices]] department. It was the short film, along with MacCurdy's assertion that the series would feature guns and fighting, that convinced Burnett to participate. At the time, animated series were generally not very diverse, being mainly aimed at children and constrained by numerous restrictions, especially concerning violence.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":522"/> The production had to navigate these censorship guidelines; although weapons could be shown and characters could shoot, the series was not allowed to depict bullet holes or show characters dying, for example.<ref name=":522"/>

Unlike most other animated series, the artists, directors, and writers worked closely together to ensure effective communication. Each writer received a "scripture bible" written by Bruce Timm, along with writers [[Paul Dini]] and [[Mitch Brian]], to outline the overall vision of the series and its characters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The World's Finest - Batman: The Animated Series |url=https://dcanimated.com//WF/batman/btas/backstage/wbible/ |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=dcanimated.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 13, 2017 |title=Check out the entire Batman: The Animated Series writer's bible full of details and concept art. |url=https://geektyrant.com/news/check-out-the-entire-batman-the-animated-series-writers-bible-full-of-details-and-concept-art |access-date=January 18, 2025 |website=GeekTyrant |language=en-US}}</ref>