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This panel was held on Thursday afternoon at San Diego. The
moderator of the panel was Ross LaManna, best known for
being the screenwriter of the hit movie Rush Hour and has a new
novel out called Acid Test. The other participants were from
various aspects of the entertainment industry. Russell Binder of
AniManagement is a Hollywood deal doer who has sold more
than 200 TV shows and 10 feature films. Todd Smith of Todd
Smith Entertainment, is a guy who puts talent together, creates a
dream team of creators, and sells their properties to producers.
Two actors were on the panel; Russell Wong, who has had
parts in movies such as Joy Luck Club, and Romeo Must Die
and Brent Spiner, best known for his role as Data in Star Trek:
The Next Generation. Rounding out the panel was Shannon
Denton, comics creator, animator, and movie/TV storyboard
artist.
Denton discussed why doing comics was fun. He explained that
comics is the only medium where the creative process is entirely
your own, and that in animation, there are too many people
involved for it to be a personal endeavor. Dentons latest comic
project, Markus Fang, which he is doing in conjunction with
LaManna and Wong, is designed to fill the hole for the midrange
ages in childrens comics. Each issue is going to be a little
morality play, and it features a lot of action. Markus Fang is an
Asian American, who is a martial arts and technology expert.
The comic is set in the near future, and will feature a lot of fun
gadgets that will appeal to kids, like flying cars.
LaManna and Spiner are also doing a comic and a possible TV
show together. The TV show is conceived of as a half hour adult
dark comedy about failure. The main character is an out of work
actor who was once wildly popular as Cy the Cyborg on a SF
series TV show. The main character moves back to his original
apartment in Hollywood, Highland Gardens, and tries to start his
career over. Spiner joked, "Its not autobiographical at all,
folks!" The comic and the television show are designed to
complement each other.
Ideally, to get ones comic made into another project, several
things need to be in place. Its very helpful to have about 3
comics to take into the suits at the studio. One wants to have a
great character, a story that makes sense and is emotionally
captivating. The comic is the jumping off point, and it helps the
suits to visualize the character and the story. One needs a writer,
preferably a screenwriter with a history of success, to wrote a 3-
10 page treatment of the comic story. One not only needs a
screenwriter, one also needs an agent to do the business deal
making.
When the agent, the screenwriter and the comic creator are in
place, one has to decide what producers to go see. The agent is
going to know who the hot producers are, and generally selects
about 8 to take the project to. The appointments are made, the
presentations are done, and the campaign begins (its apparently
like a war, here.) The producer gets 24 hours to read the
project, and to take it to the studio, and to let the studio have
about 72 hours to get back to the agent with a proposition. If the
studio makes an offer, the creators have about a couple of hours
to make a decision about the deal. There may be several
propositions out there to consider at the same time. The creators
want to pick the best producer and studio for the project. One
looks for the best fiscal deal, but also one wants the deal that
offers the most enthusiasm and respect for the project.
After the deal is made, the project goes into development.
Depending on the enthusiasm and the popularity of the producer,
and money being available, a project can languish in what is
called "Development Hell" for years and never get made by that
studio. Usually a project is optioned for a limited time frame, and
if the project option runs out without getting made, the creators
start all over again.
All of the panelists agreed that after being in the entertainment
business for years, and after having many projects that never get
made, that doing a comic book was worthwhile to have
something tangible as a result of all the hard work that they do.
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