Not sure where the last couple of weeks have gone. I’ve finished a draft of a feature script, which is now with the director, had some promising talks about short film scripts, and started two new comic projects, pulling my ideas and notes together into something hopefully cohesive and compelling. All early days, but hopefully in the coming weeks I’ll be able to share more details as they develop.
So, with everything ticking along nicely, I thought I would point you towards…
Corey Brotherson’s site, where he’s posted an amazing preview of Butterflies and Moths, written by his good self and watercoloured by Jen Gyllblad. I’ve been lucky enough to read the full script, it’s dark, thought provoking stuff, and I can’t wait to see how Jen approaches the later chapters in watercolour.
Cy Dethan has posted a preview of The Ragged Man over on his blog. Neil Van Antwerpen’s artwork, Peter-David Douglass colours and Nic Wilkinson’s lettering look superb, and there’s also a link to an interview on SciFi Pulse radio.
I’m late to or maybe from the party, but Happy New Year all.
Last year, as the cliché goes, was a real rollercoaster for all aspects of my life but overall the ride was a great one. Hindsight can be both a blessing and a curse, especially for a Cancerian who clings to the past, and I’m not sure weighing up the year as good or bad is positively constructive. As long as I learn from my mistakes and keep pushing the things I did right, I’ll be happy.
This year has been tough for me emotionally, coming to terms with the death of my grandparents, who raised me. I just didn’t have the capacity to deal with it all and my full time job was the area that I choose to cut out. It has given me the space and time to come to terms with their deaths and brought me closer to my parents.
Insomnia Publications signed up two sci-fi graphic novels, first was The Ionmonger’s Daughter, the second Sun Moon. Script work on both is very advanced. Ionmonger’s Daughter is finished. Well, as finished as a script can ever be, as it is bound to change, will be tweaked to work with the final art. Sun Moon is well underway.
Sadly, Larry Watts has had to drop out of working on The Ionmonger’s Daughter. Financial commitments have meant he has had to, and quite rightly, put his family first before the project. So the year begins with the hunt to find not one but two artists.
A short film, Not Yet, I wrote with the director, Tito Sacchi, made it into a number of film festivals through the year. More importantly, Tito and I have continued to work together on our feature idea. Our aim this year is to produce a trailer/short film, with which we can attract funding for the film.
Outside of writing, the big news is that Vicky and I are now homeowners together. It is the main reason for the tardiness of blog updates of late. Who would have thought house hunting, buying and moving would be so utterly time consuming and stressful? We’re settled in now, if not unpacked, and have begun decorating. For someone who has lived in the beige world of rental accommodation for years, I’ve finally been released with any colour paint I can imagine. Vicky though, isn’t keen on orange.
As for the year ahead? I’ve spent the last week or so fleshing out the personal projects I would like to work on and the goals I’d like to achieve. There is the continued development of the two graphic novels with Insomnia and the feature with Tito. Additionally, there are two more graphic novels, a second feature film, radio drama and a novel, all of which I would like to explore. All of these projects sit happily in the sci-fi and horror genres, covering areas from archaeology to werewolves and genesis to nuclear war. Not sure yet why werewolves are at the other end of my scale to archaeology, but who knows hey?
Alongside my personal projects, attending conventions and festivals, both comic and film, is one of my main goals this year. I follow a great network of artists, directors, writers and other creators on twitter, but 140 chars. is no substitute for meeting face to face. So, less of being the recluse buried in my work and more of… well, of… not being the recluse buried in my work.
Finding an agent is another. Not sure if that should be a goal itself? It’s something I can’t technically make happen, but I can expand and refine my portfolio, research where and to whom to present it, and do so. If it is good enough and the works catch someone’s interest, who knows. My goal is to try and keep trying.
There are other minor goals, ones which I have direct control over, such as taking a film script editing course, revamping mattgibbs.net, keeping my CV up to date, and, last but not least, posting more blog entries.
There is a lot to do there. Prioritising, scheduling and keeping focus on projects will be important, but hopefully I won’t be too blinkered to miss opportunities while trying to make them.
Not Yet is being screened at the 2009 Palm Springs ShortFest on Friday, June 26, as part of Tales of the Unexpected. Working with everyone on this film was an absolute pleasure and I’m really glad that it now starting to hit the festival circuit. This also means I have my first credit on IMDB.
I’ve finished a complete draft of the Ionmonger’s Daughter. There is still a long way to go yet, and collaborating with Larry is suggesting new ideas and ways of presenting the story, but I’m pleased with how it is coming together. The draft is now with my editor and a couple of trusted writing friends for their critique.
It has been an interesting journey so far, hopefully one that will do justice to the themes of honour, obsession and war. Finding a way to keep the protagonist in charge of her destiny opposed to becoming just a victim of her circumstances has proved to be the hardest balancing act. It has already taken a lot of planning, plus writing and rewriting to work out how to pull this off.
So, what next? Well, I’m going to step away from the Ionmonger’s Daughter for at least a couple of weeks if not more, apart from collaborating with Larry. In the meantime I’m going to be working on a feature film script with Tito, which was born out of a short film script we had been working on together. A bitter-sweet ghost story, we’ve boiled down all the elements we liked and have mixed them back together with many new ideas and elements to create a new story. In the coming few weeks I’ll be putting these together and writing a first draft. In the background, I’ve also got another graphic novel pitch and horror film script to work on.
And now to plug another Insomnia graphic novel…
Burke And Hare Writer: Martin Conaghan Artist: Will Pickering Letters: Paul McLaren Cover: Rian Hughes Foreword: Alan Grant
Over a 12 month period from 1827-1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland, two Irishmen by the names of William Burke and William Hare murdered 16 people and disposed of their bodies to the eminent dissectionist Dr Robert Knox at 10 Surgeon’s Square. Delve into the murky, misquoted history of Scotland’s most notorious serial killers with a research-based graphic novel that unwravels a ghoulish story of medicine, murder and money.
