in 1990, ralph bakshi decided that it was time to make another animated film. according to bakshi, "i made 1,500 bucks in 10 years of painting; i thought it would be nice to pick up a piece of change. so i called my lawyer, who was still speaking to me because no one ever leaves hollywood, and asked him where i should go to sell a movie." bakshi pitched "cool world" to paramount pictures (where bakshi had worked as the final head of the studio's animation division) as an animated horror film. the concept of the film involved a cartoon and live action human having sex and conceiving a hybrid child who visits the real world to murder the father who abandoned her. bakshi states that paramount pictures "bought the idea in ten seconds".