Let's pretend for a moment that due to your involvement on Z2H you and your story get discovered. You are going to be the next big thing. Problem is, in this scenario, you are given a choice between two deals. And due to complicated legal and ethical problems too numerous to figure out here you must choose between the two. And no copping out by taking one and saying you could always sell another idea later.
There are absolutely no guarantees of any work in the field ever coming your way beyond this one great idea of yours, and, in fact, your agent has informed you that it seems certain this is your one shot.
So what do you choose?
A big comics book company is offering you eight plus years to work on, write and develop your story into an ongoing comic. This will require you to write every month for the greater part of the next decade a monthly title, up to issue #100, Guaranteed, locked in, rock solid with no risk to flagging sales or any other factor. You will need to work with an editor, obviously, but beyond that the story and creative direction are all yours.
The other choice is to abandon any hope of turning your story into a comic and allowing it to be made into a big budget blockbuster film. You will not have anywhere near total control, far from it in fact, though the studio will want to see one screenplay draft from you which they may or may not use, and you will have three vetoes on choice of director.
The pay, in both cases is identical, and will be paid out the same way, monthly over the eight plus years.
Not in any way accurate or reflective of the real world, I realize, but then this is imagination land.
The question is: what do you choose?
Do you want to write comics or do you want to see your work on the silver screen?
I know, I know, you want both.
You can't have it.
Choose.
Now.
And defend your choice!
Comments
06:52 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
Agreed. It isn't a question, but interestingly it isn't always the same answer. For me, it would depend on the property.
For Blake Undying for example, I would leap at the 100 issues. I have a lot of plot laid out and story arcs that would stretch over years, with character development that I'd hate to lose in the adaptation to the silver screen. (An HBO series though...)
The Hollow Men might actually work better as a movie, with big budget action sequences, special effects and what-not.
No Good Deed... I think I'll wait till I'm offered the musical.
07:11 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
For me, I'd go with movie.
That's right, I'm a sell-out.
I don't think I'd have the patience to stick with a book 100 issues, honestly. Nor would I have a story that would need 100 issues (except for possibly two). Most of what I do is mini-series, so it would be a little absurd.
Besides, getting your work turned into film pretty much guarantees that you'll no longer have to worry about trying to find somewhere to be published, and could possibly give you that 100 issues deal afterwards with a different project.
07:12 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
100 issues - no second guesses. There is something to be said for being able to hold a property in your hand and flip through it, finish it and then eagerly opening the next issue to see what happens. The characters voices exist in your head, but in a movie they are given to you the reader.
Plus how cool would it be to go into a Comic Book Store and see an area dedicated to your creation. Awesome.
07:30 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
Great question, and a tough one. I guess it depends on the property you have, but I think I'd have to go with the hundred issues. it'd be a lot more work, but comic fans are die-hards, where as the movie going public has no dedication to any specific brand really.
09:21 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
I think I might have to go with Movie Deal. (But not if Kurt Russel isn't starring. You KNOW that when you think Johnny Isn't, you think Kurt Russel). What if I run out of ideas? I'd rather have quality, successful movies than 47 god-awful comics. Or not.
12:27 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
Can't I take the middle road and settle for 4 or 5 seasons on TV?
12:45 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
For me this is a no-brainer. I would take 100 issues in a heart beat. If my method of payment is unchanged, nor is the actual pay out, and it's my only shot? then what I want more than anything is creative control. My ideas are things I hold dear, and I've already experienced in the past what it feels like to have some of your work "reinterpreted". If the movie isn't even technically "mine", then there's no question that I won't be needed ever again. In 100 issues, I have time to grow, so I just might have a chance to beat the odds and get to make more, even if it's just another set of issues.
13:11 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
As others have said, it would truly depend on the property. The first Mind Crimes story arc would make a killer movie, IMHO, but I have so many ideas for where to take the concept next that it is indeed a no-brainer: I'd take the 100 issues. However, for Worlds Apart I'd be very tempted to choose the big budget movie.
Ultimately, though, I like Will's choice the best. Especially since as creator/exec-prod/showrunner on my own series, I'd instruct the art department to create comic books (rather than normal storyboards) for each episode, heehee.
22:48 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
Seeing as I now have two Dream Comics, either of which I'd be happy to work on exclusively forever (THE TOKEN GOBLIN or THE HOLIDAY MEN), and a Dream Hobby I haven't been able to properly enjoy for the last ten years (painting), I'd have to go with the movie, on the grounds that a screenplay draft's a hell of a lot less work than six issues of any comic I've ever written.
Which means, while I may never sell anything again, I've got 94 issues' worth of time to do...whatever I want, really. It'd probably be about half sleeping, a quarter working on one of my Dream Comics, and a quarter working on other stuff, be it other comic or story ideas, or painting, or any of a number of other things I'd like to do if I had the time (of course, I could always use it to get some extra sleep...)
And any agent who told me I only had one shot wouldn't be my agent much longer. Then again, if she honestly believed that, she probably wouldn't be my agent in the first place.
01:19 Thu Jul 24th, 2008
Hmmm...Depends on the property. There are ideas I would love to take the Andrew Foley route. There are ideas that keeping complete creative control(for equal momnies) would def be the important weigh in. There are ideas that would make a nice 4 season long TV show(as per Will's write in idea). Alas, this is only a hypothetical because in reality the two deals would def be dif and would weigh into the equation. As well in modern day cross medium product if you had a successful movie getting the comic book deal would be a sinch. And if you had a successful comic a movie deal would be probable. So hopefully when my ship comes in I won't have to choose. I can have it all. TOP OF THE WORLD, MA...muhwahahahahahah
01:54 Thu Jul 24th, 2008
I'd take the movie deal and hope my draft was awesome enough to use otherwise I'd suck it up and figure they'd bring in a far more talented screenwritier.
I'm going on the assumption that more people would see my movie than read the comic. I'd like to positively effect as many people as I could with what I write and I don't think my numbers would even come close in the comic world.
Thinking about what you could gain from doing a movie over a comic is also a cop out. Making a movie would open a lot of doors but so would writing outstanding comics.
11:17 Thu Jul 24th, 2008
Tough. A real question.
I think I'd go with the movie deal. Reasons why:
- You can always get your title cancelled because of flagging sales;
- The movie is one hell of a big chunk of work, and then it's done;
- Considering there is no established mythos to my property, I don't really mind what a studio does with it;
- Nothing stops me from working on another comic property after (say, Hept-Seshet, one that does have potential for 100 issues).
Tough question, but when you compare some things, I have to go with the movie deal. Besides, life doesn't stop there.... does it?
13:28 Thu Jul 24th, 2008
As a family man, I would have to choose the one with the biggest paycheck - creative control be damned. It would be irresponsible to just chase my dreams and walk away from an opportunity that could finance braces and college funds and so on.
That would mean the movie deal, I suppose. If they took my idea and made something stupid, I would just have to go and think up another idea. I can do that. Would I feel bad? Hell no. I would feel great as I paid my mortgage and my VISA bill and sent my kids to band camp...
20:44 Thu Jul 24th, 2008
I think I'd go movie... I've been extremely happy with the magic that the artists working on Rip Current have brought to the mix. It would be amazing to get that same magic kind of happening on a movie. Plus, tie-ins, merchandising, even though this isn't a 'reality' question, the fact is anyone owning the property will try to get everything they can for it if they're investing millions to make the flick.
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RPulfer
05:55 Wed Jul 23rd, 2008
That's no question.
100 issues.
In 100 issues you can lay a foundation on the pathos and mythos of your character much more effectively than you could on film. Plus, 100 issues could also mean 10 or so graphic novels, which would also put you in the bookstores as well as the comic shops.