Friday, October 19, 2007

24 Hours in the life of a former art student

It takes place at Happy Harbor tomorrow, starting at 10 AM. If previous 24 hour comics are anything to go by, I'll be pretty much completely off the grid for the weekend and probably actively ignoring the grid for a good portion of the next week. You can call or e-mail, but don't expect an answer until Monday the 29th or later (you might get one earlier, but don't expect it. That way you'll be pleasantly surprised.)

Moved all the stuff needed to ensure being stuck in a confined space with thirty other people while trying to create a 24 page comic story on the fly is as comfortable as possible--comfy office chair, drawing table, slippers. Also several gallons of latex paint, a variety of brushes and pens, and twelve large pieces of poster board.

Making a 24 Hour Comic takes me back to the best times of my art college days, when I and my studiomates would stay up all night painting like madmen. The other three books I've done have been pen and ink--this one's going to be different, to say the least. The plan is to glue pages of tomorrow's Edmonton Sun to the poster board, paint out non-photographic details and photographic ones I don't like, and build a comic around the images remaining. There's all sorts of artsy philosophical meaning I could claim for doing it that way, but mostly...it's an excuse to act like an art student again.

In an effort to not start out from a position of weakness, I had the insomnia traditionally reserved for the night before a 24 hour comic attempt LAST night. Hopefully, this means I'll get some decent shuteye tonight. If I don't...yuck.

Previous HH 24-Hour Comic events have capped out at sixteen participants. This one is looking to have around thirty. Come midnight tomorrow, we are gonna smell Baaaad...

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MY SO-CALLED CAREER - UPDATE

The Spooky Kids: Yen Press rejected the book for much the same reason as Scholastic--too dark. Artist and Publishing Manager getting a little edgy about it being too graphic for a North American audience. I'm waiting to hear back from the dozen other editors who're looking at it before making that call. Publishing Manager is looking into possible European publishers.

Done To Death: With a writers strike looming in H'wood, the Multimedia Manager is looking to get this as packaged as possible so it's ready to pitch as soon as the strike's over. An actor who'd be PERFECT for Andy is looking at the book. They're trying to find a screenwriter who'll add to the package. Meanwhile, Publishing Manager is getting ready to take the book out to a few comic publishers, as well as some smaller traditional horror publishers looking to catch the graphic novel wave.

Unnamed Spec Pilot: Multimedia Manager's talking with a packaging agent today. I have no idea what that means. Spec was sent to showrunner last week, haven't heard of a response, if any.

BadBoy: Publishing Manager thinks this is an easier sell to the North American market than the Spookies. John Keane's got nine sequential pages done. I need to retool/rework previous outlines intended for various media to come up with a synopsis for a story that works as a single volume but doesn't eliminate the hook, so the possibility for sequels is available. This is going to be tough.

The Night Beat: I'm seriously considering pitching this at Zeros 2 Heroes, just to see what would happen. Need to read the submission agreement first to make sure there's no "once you submit, you're ours" clause like there is with Zuda.

Unnamed spec screenplay: Supposedly getting notes for this soon. Multimedia Manager wants to get it polished and ready to pitch as soon as strike is over.

Ersatz: Had a Very Good Artist interested, but he couldn't find the time, at least not for the next year. Sigh.

The Kids spec screenplay: Still picking away at a first draft. Taking a long time, this one, but I've been distracted.

The Holiday Men: Pure Spec and thhe 24 Hour Comic event at HH are taking their toll on Nick's output, but the scripts for the first two episodes are in and they are a Metric Buttload of Fun. Seen Nick's first page inked, and he's really bringing his A-game to the project. That boy's come a long way from his old ACCA minicomics.

Threads: I haven't read the document yet, but it sounds like all rights to the piece have been returned to Scott O. Brown and myself. Once that's confirmed, we'll consider our next move for it. But getting it back is potentially huge in ways that go beyond Scott and myself. This is one of the top ten best scripts I've ever written, in my book (would've been top five a few weeks back, but The Holiday Men knocked it out. If I ever calm down and look at THM rationally, it may get back in there), so getting it back is A Good Thing.

I'm probably forgetting something.

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I'VE GOT NEW SLIPPERS

That is all.

A

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