#i drew the first one for the team arc creators program!

[patchworkpoison]

couple o jackos

[aprilpillkington]

We’ve all become aware of new netflix show, and more so,...

We’ve all become aware of new netflix show, and more so, we’ve all most likely invested hours drew into the world of one TV show or another that comprises the steaming system’s extensive collection of material. With 75 million yearly customers, Netflix is a television powerhouse, house to some of the most high profile shows in presence. It is every television show maker’s dream to see their show sizzle in the houses of countless individuals throughout the world, and there is really no location preferred to make this take place than through Netflix … but getting this done is an exceptionally uphill struggle. How do you make it happen? It starts with the concept. You are going to need something pretty damn special, as the tv world has actually never been richer in imagination than it is today. But fresh ideas are out there, and if you believe you’ve got a good one then hang on to it firmly. You are going to have to flesh out your idea in detail, familiarizing yourself with all of the things your show would encompass, from characters to setting to style to plot. Getting your potential show out there does not mean you need to write a whole series worth of content, often you need only a terrific, well-thought out idea to hook the right people who can get you where you wish to go.

But, typically, you as the author will require to develop a coherent script for, at the very least, the pilot episode of your show. TV Production companies are rarely interested in an “concept”, as everybody has concepts. If you have the ability to swing into action and put your idea into a developed, thoughtful script, ideally a number of episodes, you are a lot more likely to catch the eye of a production business. These individuals wish to see that you have actually considered your concept and have adequate product to turn it into a possibly long-lasting television show. You are then going to want to contact a manufacturer or agent that finest matches the direction you see your show heading in. You should do comprehensive research to figure out which production companies and studios would be a great fit, who specifically you ought to get in touch with, how they like to be queried (email, fax, mail, and so on) and what exactly they are looking for in regards to material (comedy, drama, sci-fi, and so on) The absolute finest case situation is to pitch in person, if you can manage to find a connection to a producer or somehow handle to organize an in person conference– it is the simplest way to passionately pitch your show, and you will be there to be particular absolutely nothing is misunderstood and the agent/producer is clear on your ideas and visions. There are a variety of concerns you should definitely have the ability to respond to about your show prior to heading into a pitch. These include: How are your main characters and your characters’ world unique? How are these fantastic, intricate, conflicted, multi-layered, maybe flawed characters ones that the audience is able to end up being emotionally bought? Why do we care and why do we require to tell this story? What’s the tone of the show? Have the ability to compare to a netflix or movie if possible. Season one primary character arcs. An overview of the first season plot. How is this series sustainable over 100 episodes? (this is the golden mark to reach, because it’s where prod co’s can syndicate out the series; if you can’t show a minimum of a shred of wish to make 100 eps, it’s barely worth thinking about doing). How is this show various than shows of the same category that are on the air now? Specificity is essential. Who are your dream writers/directors/cast? (nearly every single tv show on the air has multiple writers/directors– so pick a few who are dealing with shows right now and think they ’d do well composing your show). Now, if you’ve got an agent/producer, preferably one who has ties with Netflix already, you are on track to getting your show on to Netflix’s radar. Your kind of representation will help in preparing your task to be pitched to the network. If this is successful, you will be able to sell your show to Netflix for a talked about sum of cash, along with work out a contract for an order number of episodes and payment as per the regards to the agreement. From there, it can take any amount of time to get your new netflix show up onto the TV screen, if it even makes it to that point. The TV industry is extremely unpredictable, with shows being picked up, produced and completely made only to be cancelled at the last moment.

How To Pitch A Show To Netflix?

Step 1: Think Up the Show. “Residue” began life as a concept in Harrison’s head. … Step 2: Financing the Show. The actual story covered by the very first 3 episodes of “Residue” is really various from Harrison’s preliminary strategy. … Step 3: Make the Show. … Step 4: Get the Show to Netflix. … Step 5: Make More of the Show(?). There are no set actions to creating a show and successfully getting it into the most sought-after streaming service. Numerous creators have actually taken various paths, as a great deal of it depends on connections/chance encounters, and what works for some people will not work for the other. It is very important to devote whatever you need to producing your show if this is something you really want to do, and following your gut and instinct in terms of picking a next action is exceptionally important. However, hopefully by following these steps you will give yourself the best possible possibility to make your tv-show deserving concept a truth. While the spring of 2015 has been controlled by Netflix releasing high profile series after high profile series, “House of Cards,” “Bloodline” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” aren’t the only new shows offered now for streaming. “ Residue,” created by John Harrison, premiered the other day on Netflix with 3 45 minute-long episodes. The genre series, starring “Game of Thrones” notables Natalie Tena and Iwan Rheon, tracks the aftermath of a devastating surge on the city of London and the government conspiracy that might be hiding the fact. (Netflix users might anticipate to see it as a recommended pick if they have actually enjoyed a great deal of “The X-Files” or other category programs.).

Via both phone and e-mail, Indiewire got a detailed breakdown of how “Residue’s” very first season arrived on the streaming giant, and what might take place next with the series. Step 1: Think Up the Show “ Residue” started life as an idea in Harrison’s head. He then brought it to manufacturer Charlotte Walls after a favorable experience working with her on the scary movie, “Clive Barker’s Book of Blood.” “ When [’ Book of Blood’] was ended up and launched, I went back to [Walls] and said, ‘Look, I have another concept that I truly want to do and I’m bringing it to you first because I would love to work with you people,’” he stated. And Harrison had a huge amount of product for the concept. “The thing I had actually visualized was quite a long story. The film that I was pitching them was essentially the start of the mythology, and with success we would have the opportunity to do more, so television sounded truly amazing to me, given how it has actually developed over the past numerous years– the novelization of television. Also, many of the networks are really getting creatively engaged with category product, which was not constantly real in the early 2000s and going back.” Step 2: Financing the Show The real story covered by the first three episodes of “Residue” is very different from Harrison’s preliminary plan. After optioning and establishing the product, manufacturer Charlotte Walls pertained to Harrison with the concept– and more notably, the cash– for a task that would function, in Harrison’s words, as “a proof-of-concept pilot.” “ Whenever someone states they have loan for production, you need to take it!” he said. According to Walls, “Residue” found its financing by means of International Pictures 4, Screen Yorkshire and Green Screen Studios. Due to the fact that a few of the money came from the UK, Harrison didn’t direct– they needed to make sure a certain percentage of the team was British. “We employed a really young gifted British director [Alex Garcia Lopez], who I had a great collaborative relationship with,” he said. “ [Lopez] is so key to the task, which brings his signature style. He was the hook for Iwan Rheon, who he worked with on 'Misfits,’” Walls stated. “ If we get to the next group and I’m able to compose them all and get them written before we get to production,” Harrison said, “Then it would be easier for me to drop back into the director’s chair.” Action 3: Make the Show sizzle

How do you bring on board understood players like Tena and Rheon? Harrison associated that to the script, along with its unconventional nature. “I think the combination of the product and the innovative group drew in all the talent. I believe everybody understood that we had fantastic ambitions for this also, so they wanted to get on board.” Those aspirations consisted of a non-traditional approach to the production, which caused a the project becoming both a netflix series and a film. “When we got it into post-production our supplier, Material Media, had a look at it and stated, 'Let’s … go straight to television,’” Harrison said. “So I wrote some extra scenes so we could pull, into these very first three episodes, a few of the larger conspiracy styles. We shot those and re-edited them into the 3 hours that are now airing on Netflix.”

“’ Residue’ is rather pioneering because it is genuinely multi-format,” Walls stated. “We scripted, shot and cut the project as a motion picture, which was released theatrically in the UK on March 20, 2015 on a minimal release. Whilst we were in post-production, we evaluated the product and decided to develop the three-parter as well, which was then offered to Netflix in this format particularly.” Step 4: Get the Show to Netflix How did that occur? Well, when “Residue” was completed in its newfound type as a television show, distributor Material Media brought the show to the October 2014 MIPCON, a trade show kept in Cannes that functions as a market for worldwide television. They likewise ensured that Netflix got an opportunity to see it in advance. “ That really began the sales pitch,” Harrison stated. “We had a number of entities who were interested in it, but Netflix wished to take it off the table.” The show is now offered for streaming in English-language territories; a global launch will present over the course of the year. In the meantime … Action 5: Make More of the Show(?). It’s actually just the start of the story, according to Walls. “’ Residue’ Season 1 is really an extended pilot and ought to be thought of that way,” she stated. “Netflix do not necessarily do the Amazon-style pilot season. However 'Residue’ is actually more in that design where these first three chapters are live before the existence of a full season.”.

How do I send something to Netflix?

Step 1– Improve Your Pitch For Netflix. Due to the fact that nearly every filmmaker dreams of getting a Netflix deal, there is an abundant supply of content. … Step 2– Discover An Aggregator or Distributor. … Step 3– Get An Action. Therefore the plan is to work towards a 10-episode 2nd season, and Netflix currently has the special alternative on it. Walls did clarify that since 10 episodes is a bigger dedication, there would have to be modifications. “Any full season would always be more standard in its financing as the general spending plan would be so much higher,” Walls said. “Netflix would be at the center of that financing plan from day one, for this reason the choice.”.

But independent funding has some benefits, and Harrison was happy with the experience: “It’s a great thing for someone like me, since creatively I’m solutioning to my partners as opposed needing to deal with a regular network structure. We made this without any disturbance from studios or networks. We were with the studio! That, to me, was really great.”

Four months after it was announced that Netflix would be investing CDN$ 500 million in original productions in Canada over a 5-year period, Netflix’s now previous VP of Content, Elizabeth Bradley, took the stage at Prime-time show in Ottawa to talk about how manufacturers can get their shows on the platform. It’s been 5 years because the commissioning of the very first Netflix Original series, Home of Cards, which had a spending plan of $100 million for 26 episodes. With its dependence on data that led to the show’s creation and promotion, Home of Cards marked a turning point in the way programs was made. Prior to the Canadian Netflix offer being announced, a variety of Canadian manufacturers had already had successful partnerships with Netflix. Some took the kind of extra windows for productions at first produced broadcasters while others were complete partnerships on Netflix Originals. To the latter category belong Travelers, Frontier, Alias Grace and the Anne of Green Gablesadaptation understood simply as Anne (when broadcast on CBC) or Anne with an E on Netflix. What is Netflix looking for?

When asked what Netflix is searching for in regards to category, Elizabeth Bradley replied “Whatever.”. Whether it’s sci-fi, a thriller, drama or funny or even a remake of Anne of Green Gables, she stated the key concerns writers and producers need to ask themselves are these: Why is it exciting? Why is it various? Bradley noted that once Netflix believes in the producer’s vision, the other pieces are secondary. “The package of directors and actors isn’t important to us.”. “ We can fix the cast and the director. What we can’t solve is amazing writing and storytelling.”. A story that resonates worldwide. Bradley continued: “When Moira [Walley-Beckett] and Miranda [de Pencier] concerned me with a script for Anne,” and it is very important to come with a script, she highlighted, “they had a genuine and grounded interpretation that we understood would resonate worldwide.”. And it wasn’t just the same old 1908 Anne of Green Gables. Vancouver-born Walley-Beckett came to the project with Emmy wins for her writing on the very 21st century Breaking Bad, so including some edge to the Anne character and narrative was all part of the plan. “We knew it would work worldwide,” said Bradley. That hunch turned out to be accurate. Anne with an E was among Netflix’s a lot of binge-watched shows around the world in 2017, with Prince Edward Island’s most well-known red-headed daughter winning over audiences as far away as South Korea, India and South Africa. So what does it consider a netflix original series to have an international appeal? Some believe that shooting in several locations around the globe resolves the problem, but Bradley cautioned that it’s not quite that simple. “ If you’re sitting with a good friend in Japan, and you both just get it … if you’ve got that sort of relatable story around the globe, that’s what we’re after.”. In addition to stories that work throughout cultural and geographical borders, there are logistical concerns to keep in mind when thinking about making a pitch to Netflix. For these factors, Bradley advises working with an agent, a manager or a legal representative. The value of partnering with a Canadian broadcaster or distributor.

The length of time should a TV show pitch be?

Your pitch ought to disappear than 12-15 minutes long. Concentrate on the hook of your show and why it would be a great suitable for their network. Your pitch should be as prepared as your treatment and your script, so practice it multiple times! In a January 2018 interview with the CMPA’s Indiescreen publication, Corie Wright, Netflix’s Director of Global Public law, shared a couple of more insights about working with the company that Canadian producers are most likely to discover useful. “ Many people don’t recognize that Netflix can’t make qualified CanCon without partnering with a Canadian broadcaster or independent Canadian distributor. That’s why all of our CanCon originals are co-productions with Canadian broadcasters. Other Netflix originals like the Trailer Park Boys reboot and Canadian director Tony Elliott’s movie ARQ include a lot of Canadian creativity and talent, and score high on CanCon requirements, however they aren’t accredited as CanCon since we can’t do CanCon on our own.”. Repeating the platform’s main interest in making the highest quality shows offered to a varied and dispersed audience, Wright stated this: “We attempt not to get too caught up in the labels and rather focus on making terrific movies and netflix tv show.”. TIP: Netflix and Hulu DO NOT want your “idea.” They desire your END PRODUCT. And even then, they only desire it if it makes sense for them. It resembles a book, individuals, I can not pitch them an unsolicited “idea,” since a million other people probably have the very same concept, and the last thing they want is for you to think they “took” yours, when it wasn’t even distinct to begin with. If you want to see your “idea” on Netflix and Hulu, establish a pilot, or produce a few episodes, or movie the movie. Once again, it resembles a book, the publisher wishes to see a finished manuscript, or at least some strong chapters …

We’ve all become aware of new netflix show, and more so,... published first on https://the4th3rd.tumblr.com

[aion-rsa]

Agents of SHIELD Season 7: Elizabeth Henstridge Directs Time Loop Episode

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Elizabeth Henstridge and her character on Agents of SHIELD, Jemma Simmons, have both been fan favorites for as long as the show has been on the air. It’s a role Henstridge landed just a year after coming to the U.S. with only a passion for acting and a few professional connections, but now with her success on the Marvel series she has made it all the way to the director’s chair. Her helming debut will be seen this week in the season 7 episode, “As I Have Always Been,” an installment that finds the team experiencing a Groundhog Day style time loop which they must escape or perish.

Henstridge welcomed the chance to take on such a story, and she gave a lot of the credit to the episode’s writer. “It was a very welcome challenge,” she said. “As a director, it’s kind of the best episode to get because you really have to use all the tools in your toolbox to keep it interesting. It was written incredibly, and Drew Greenberg is an exceptional writer. It flew off the page; it was perfectly paced. It has such great comedy, and then allowed for these moments of pure tragedy. So I was already given such a head start by it just being wonderfully written.”

It also takes a lot of Simmons-like organization to keep all of the wrinkles of a time loop straight and make each repeated scene visually distinctive. “We block shot it,” Henstridge explained, “which is something that is typical really of a time loop: the scenes are repeating but slightly different. And just to get it all shot in time, you block shoot in one direction all the different scenes in that set, and then the cameras shoot the other direction all the scenes in that set. As an actor, it’s like sprinting a marathon — it’s an endurance test. It was very challenging! I had lots of color-coordinated shot lists.”

The episode also allowed Henstridge to direct some of the truly heartfelt emotional scenes that Agents of SHIELD is known for. “Every character gets such a lovely arc, and we get to delve deeper into some moments that we haven’t had the time to see before,” she said. “It’s a very Daisy-centric episode, which is lovely because she’s been recovering for a few episodes, and we really get a lot of Daisy in this… And then we also really get to delve into Coulson and how he’s feeling and the crazy journey that he’s been on and coming to terms with some existential questions and what that has done for different relationships he’s had and how that’s affected other members of the team.”

She then coyly added, “And then there’s some really lovely revelations and character development between really new friendships and relationships.”

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Henstridge is, of course, intimately familiar with the relationships in Agents of SHIELD since Simmons is a big part of that dynamic, but she also puts her behind-the-scenes theatre training to work. “I studied scene study and English literature at university within my drama degree, and for me everything starts with the script,” she noted. “Being able to have a good handle on the script and know how to break it down and find all the little clues that a writer would leave in the script for you was invaluable. And then having training in acting makes you a good director simply because of that skill of knowing what an actor is going through to get to the point of a brilliant performance.”

In fact, it’s not only Henstridge and her castmate Clark Gregg that have been able to take on different roles behind the camera. “Agents of SHIELD has been a brilliant incubator for new talent,” Henstridge said. “Being on the air for so long, it’s been able to make creators’ and writers’ PAs fully-fledged writers and the same with me shadowing, for example. ABC has a brilliant shadowing program… Eli Gonda shadowed within ABC’s director’s program and directed last week. It’s so special for me to get to do the one after him because we were kind of preparing at the same time and we’d been through the different workshops together.”

As Agents of SHIELD nears the end of its seven-season run, Henstridge looks back fondly on her time with the show that really gave her her start. “It’s been a year since we filmed it now, and the moments that I really miss are the little moments between scenes of getting a cup of tea and seeing somebody there and just chatting about what their kids are doing or how they got to work that morning or the new car they bought or they discovered a new brand of peanut butter,” she recalled. “Just to feel that sense of belonging in what was a strange country and is now my home — this show gave me that… To be able to be on something this long was truly such a gift.”

Agents of SHIELD has five episodes left in its final season, and Henstridge’s directorial debut airs tonight at 10/9c on ABC.

The post Agents of SHIELD Season 7: Elizabeth Henstridge Directs Time Loop Episode appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[theconservativebrief]

After more than eight years of shenanigans involving candy people, alternate universes, vampires, nearly 3,000 wiki pages’ worth of lore, some highly unusual exclamations (“Mathematical!”), and bacon pancakes, Cartoon Network’s beloved Adventure Time is coming to a close.

Since its debut in 2010, the series has evolved into one of the most popular and influential programs in the channel’s history. Despite being first and foremost a kids’ show, it built a sizable fan base among older audiences and gained mounting psychological and even philosophical weight over its 10-season run. The September 3 series finale marks the end of an era in imagining new storytelling possibilities, not just for cartoons but for TV in general.

Adventure Time spans nearly 300 11-minute episodes involving hundreds of distinct characters — so it’s no easy feat to describe. But in brief, it takes place 1,000 years after a nuclear apocalypse known as the “Mushroom War�� warps the Earth into a fantasy landscape; its main setting, the Land of Ooo, is populated by offbeat creatures and people made of candy, fire, or “lumpy space,” among other things.

A young boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) is apparently the last human being on the planet, and he and his foster brother/best friend — a shape-shifting dog named Jake (John DiMaggio) — have taken it upon themselves to be as helpful around Ooo as possible. They lend their treasure-hunting, monster-fighting, errand-running prowess to their many friends and neighbors, and along the way, the complex backstory of Adventure Time’s characters and their world is unspooled.

That supremely odd summary belies the fact that Adventure Time has sneakily persisted as one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the 2010s. When considering the recent “Golden Age” of TV, few would rank it alongside the likes of Breaking Bad, Mad Men, or Game of Thrones. And yet it has received high praise from sources as wide-ranging as the A.V. Club, the New Yorker, NPR, and this very site.

In addition to being aimed at kids, Adventure Time lies at the intersection of multiple artistic categories that often struggle to attract serious critical consideration — namely, animation, fantasy, and short-form episodic TV (which for a long time was mainly the playground of experimental Adult Swim shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Still, it has won over many critics. And though its erratic airing schedule has led to a decline in viewership and prestige in its later years, it has maintained a consistent standard of quality nonetheless.

With its series finale now on the horizon, let’s take a look back at the brilliance of Adventure Time, both as a singular achievement and as a show that has left a lasting impact on the TV landscape.

Adventure Time began as a short film made for Nicktoons. After the short leaked online and subsequently went viral, creator Pendleton Ward was able to successfully pitch it to Cartoon Network as a series. Produced in 2006, it exemplifies the “random” style of internet humor of that time, pioneered by the likes of Homestar Runner, eBaum’s World, and Newgrounds.

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In just under seven minutes, a boy and his dog fight an ice-powered, princess-abducting king, with a brief dream excursion to Mars for a pep talk from Abraham Lincoln, before ultimately running off to confront some ninjas who have stolen an old man’s diamonds (ninjas were to internet comedy in the mid-2000s what bacon would be to it in the early 2010s). Millions of people loved it when it hit (the then-young) YouTube, and the short was eventually nominated for an Annie Award.

Once Adventure Time the show made its Cartoon Network debut, it found instant success and regularly drew millions of viewers per episode for many years. Examining the phenomenon, critics have often cited the show’s broad appeal for both kids and adults as a big reason for its popularity.

Cartoons have long embraced an anything-goes sensibility, but Adventure Time took the approach to a new level. Every single episode would pack its brief running time with strange new characters, places, and ideas: A vampire who drinks the color red. A pack of sentient balloons eager to die. An imaginative robot that “switches places” with its reflection. And to fit within the 11-minute runtime of each episode, it all came at the audience at a breathless pace.

Animated shorts are as old as television itself, but Adventure Time spurred a revival of the format, especially on Cartoon Network. The show also led the way in turning “random” humor and world-building from a niche interest into what is now practically an industry standard, not just for animated series aimed at kids but for adult-oriented ones as well. Shows like BoJack Horseman and Rick and Morty demonstrate a common willingness to indulge the strange, an instinct that Adventure Time arguably introduced to the mainstream.

It didn’t stop there. Even as Adventure Time told bizarre tales of trickster gods from Mars and penguins that turned out to be world-threatening alien abominations, it worked hard to incorporate them into its complicated backstory and world, maintaining dense continuity through multiple long-running story arcs. In the grand tradition of prestige TV, it featured overarching plots about Finn’s search for his birth parents, or the recurring threat of the fearsome undead sorcerer the Lich. And yet it also made time for many standalone episodes, sometimes ultimately folding them into the larger picture, with major characters like Marceline the Vampire Queen being introduced in apparent one-off installments.

Adventure Time’s penchant for experimentation was both admirable and skillfully executed. The show didn’t hesitate to hand over multiple episodes to guest directors simply to riff on a different animation style. It occasionally adopted an idiosyncratic airing schedule, where several new episodes would drop over the course of a single week and then months would go by with nothing new. While the inconsistency sometimes hurt Adventure Time’s ratings, the show’s creative team used the “episode bomb” approach to produce several miniseries that featured some of its most ambitious ideas and set pieces.

Despite the show’s overall comedic tone, it handled its biggest ideas with gravitas and sincere emotion. And for all the manic energy it could indulge, Adventure Time never hesitated to slow down for a scene or two, or even a whole episode. American animation sometimes has trouble simply putting breathing space into shows and movies — superfluous gestures, brief pauses, and other moments that aren’t necessarily propelling the plot forward. Hayao Miyazaki once explained this to Roger Ebert as ma, the soundless beats between claps of the hand. Adventure Time had lots of ma.

Look at this scene from the “Stakes” miniseries, in the episode “Everything Stays.” In less than a minute, the episode creates an extraordinary evocation of intimacy between a parent and child. The animators inject dozens of little gestures to establish this feeling — note the brief shot in which young Marceline strokes her mother’s arm. And then the scene is over, and it’s on to the next beat.

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This kind of formal economy, doing a lot in precious little time, is rare in television. Today, many prestige shows are running longer with each installment yet still struggle to carve out time for characters to simply be. They could learn something from Adventure Time, a show that used its 11-minute episodes to explore myriad genre ideas and flights of fancy, and to demonstrate the endless potential of simply being artistically open and flexible.

Every single character on Adventure Time, from the regulars to the one-episode guests, had a distinct voice. And I don’t mean in terms of acting (though the show’s voice acting was excellent), but in how each person spoke. The writers gave everyone a unique slang, or attitude, or cadence to work with.

Finn and Jake had their own adolescence-inflected goofy rapport and strange swears (“Aw, dingle!” “Algebraic!”). Marceline was a laid-back slacker punk rocker. Princess Bubblegum was officious and scientifically minded. Finn and Jake’s parents, who only appeared in a few episodes, had ’30s-style trans-Atlantic accents (“Make like there’s egg in your shoe and beat it!”). One episode set in an alternate universe introduced an entirely different future lingo. No character was too minor to be considered as a distinct individual.

Adventure Time frequently devoted entire episodes to fleshing out secondary characters, sometimes shining a spotlight on someone who had only existed in the background for the entire show up to that point. It drew up complex inner lives for the likes of characters with names like “Root Beer Guy” — a sentient, walking mug of soda — and “Cinnamon Bun.”

And what it could do for its main characters was even more impressive. Some of them were hundreds of years old, with a few of them predating the Mushroom War, and as we got to know them better, we came to understand a long history of regrets, which stemmed first from the act of survival and then from trying to build a new society out of the ruins. Their arcs were contrasted with the subtle but definable trajectories of Finn and Jake, who slowly matured over the course of the show from goofballs to responsible figures.

Many episodes of Adventure Time took detours to toss out different philosophical challenges, aiming them at both the characters and the audience. In one, Finn got trapped in another world and lived an entire lifetime there before returning to his own as a child again. In another, Finn and Jake confronted a population of people willingly submitting to a Matrix-like virtual reality existence. In a sequence emblematic of the series’ simultaneous whimsical tone and intellectual seriousness, one character mused: “What’s real? Your eyes think the sky is blue, but that’s just sun rays farting apart in the barf of our atmosphere. The sky is black.”

Adventure Time dared to be anything and everything, often at the same time. It was a silly, plotless kids’ show. It was an epic fantasy adventure. It was a long-term coming-of-age story. It was an experimental exercise. It was a stoner’s dream. It was a relationship drama. It was a heartbreaker.

Episodic television offers a canvas unique among the arts: time. The best shows make use of this canvas to tell their stories as creatively and ambitiously as they can; Adventure Time used it to become one of the best television series of its day.

Adventure Time’s four-part finale, “Come Along With Me,” airs Monday, September 3, on Cartoon Network.

Original Source -> An ode to Adventure Time, one of TV’s most ambitious — and, yes, most adventurous — shows

via The Conservative Brief

[topmixtrends]

THE PAST 20 YEARS have seen the rise or reinvention of a number of indie-infused mainstream comics publishers: IDW Publishing, Ape Entertainment, Oni Press, Black Mask Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, Avatar Press, Image Comics, and a slew of others. In tandem with this publishing boom has come increased attention to the individuals who work for the various presses, in particular editors. Comics editors now seem to make the news — both within and without the comics world — just as often as artists and writers, and they are frequently (and often correctly) depicted as creators in their own right. Yet the exact role of the comics editor and the activities he or she performs remain tantalizingly mysterious. In an attempt to pull back the curtain on the practice of comics editorship, I spoke with Dark Horse editor Daniel Chabon about the role of the editor in comics production and a number of other subjects. 

Since its founding by president and publisher Mike Richardson in 1986 — a watershed year for American comics — Dark Horse has established itself as one of the major comics houses in North America, consistently maintaining a high profile in terms of both artistic prestige and sales. Dark Horse has also employed some of the most influential editors of the contemporary period, including Diana Schutz and Karen Berger. And although he is still relatively early in his comics career, Chabon is already well positioned to garner a slot alongside these well-respected figures. He is behind some of Dark Horse’s most acclaimed recent comics, including Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Eisner Award–winning rural superhero tale Black Hammer, the smash horror hit Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook, Matt and Sharlene Kindt’s Dept. H, P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton’s comics adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s legendary novel American Gods, and novelist Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird, the Booker Prize winner’s first foray (with artist Johnnie Christmas) into the comics form.

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COLIN BEINEKE: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became involved in comics publication?

DANIEL CHABON: My family has always been involved, in some way, with comics. My paternal grandfather worked at a print shop in New York where they printed comic books in the 1940s. My father is an avid collector of comics, cards, stamps, and more. We lived in Washington, DC, when I was a kid and we would go to comic shops and conventions almost every weekend. My mother was instrumental in the creation of a comics studies certificate program at Portland State University. My older brother, Michael, wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel about the Golden Age of the comics industry. I had been a big fan of comics, put them aside when I was in high school, and then returned to them after college.

In 2008, I moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Portland, Oregon, to attend graduate school at Portland State University, where I received a master’s degree in writing and book publishing. While at Portland State, I spoke with Dark Horse about how to obtain employment in their editorial department. Michael’s Escapist comics were published by Dark Horse, and he put me in touch with editor Diana Schutz. Diana interviewed me initially, and then put me in touch with Scott Allie, who had edited all of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy titles. My second interview was at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, where I was asked to assist on all the Mignola books. From there, I moved on to editing my own.

While working full-time at Dark Horse, I was also attending law school at night. I graduated from Lewis & Clark Law and, since then, have focused solely on editing comics. My interests are primarily in creator-owned comics, and I hope to utilize my law degree by helping creators understand their contractual rights and advocating for creator-owned work.

What drew you to editing, rather than, say, writing? How aware were you of what comics editing entailed?

I began to write in high school and in college. I wrote short stories, plays, and screenplays. I wrote a play as an undergrad that was actually performed by my school’s theater program. Post-undergraduate school, I lost interest in writing or, at least, in my own writing, and became more interested in the concept of helping other writers and artists to realize their visions. I had very little understanding of what a comics editor did, and I am sure that it varies from company to company. It took some time to learn the skills, but I think it helped that I am a voracious reader.

Regarding your background in law and championing of creator-owned comics, what are some of the more immediate legal (or perhaps ethical) challenges that creators are currently facing? And how do you see your background in law as a means of addressing those challenges?

My background in law provides me with an understanding of how I can help creators and publishers find the most beneficial deal possible for both parties while still allowing creators to retain ownership. My role as an editor at Dark Horse positions me as an intermediary between the creator seeking to pitch the project and the publisher who wants to publish it. The creator comes to me with their original idea, and if I like it I present it to our publisher. If the project is approved, I negotiate a final contract with the creator wherein they retain copyright and media rights, while we hold the print and digital rights. I work between creators and Dark Horse as an advocate for both — an advocate for the creator and their vision as well as an advocate for the publisher and their line. It is in my best interest that both parties are represented fairly.

Can you describe what exactly it is that a comics editor does, and how it compares to editing prose literature or even film?

A comic book editor has multiple roles. They handle acquisitions and work as project managers. With most of the titles I edit, I contact the creators — I am hardly ever assigned a project to edit. Once a project that’s interesting comes my way I pitch it to our publisher, and if all goes well it is approved. After that I work with the creators (writer/artist/colorist/letterer/cover artists) to set up a creative schedule that works for everyone. I work on each stage in the creation of the book: the submission of a plot summary, the establishment of an issue breakdown for the story, scripting, the creation of rough layouts, penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering. I review covers, too. I work on all of these stages for several titles at once, so it is a lot of work and a lot to keep track of.

The story feedback that I give at each stage of the process is never mandatory, as I believe a lot of editorial notes are subjective. My own notes are based on my education in literature and publishing and my avid reading in prose and comics, and so a lot of my suggestions come from seeing what other successful creators have done to make and market their books.

For example, one big note I always tend to give creators is to ask whether the first issue script they turn in gives enough of a story in 22 pages that it will bring the reader back a month later, when the second issue must compete with a bunch of new number ones. Getting the comics reader to want to come back and get that second issue can be challenging, so you really want to make sure you’re giving them a lot in that first issue to hook them.

When you reach out to a creator, how do those calls usually go?

It is actually quite informal and relaxed. Most of it is done through email. If I am reaching out to an artist to do a cover or interiors on a book, I will introduce myself and let them know what I work on, what the project entails, who the writer is, and the proposed page rate. Then I send any attachments, such as the pitch document, that I might have already.

Do you select and assemble the entire creative team for a given comic, or is it more of a collaborative process?

It depends on the project. Some books get pitched to me with full creative teams already in place, and some teams I need to assemble. Every project is different, but I try to make it as collaborative as possible. American Gods the comic started out with no creative team attached. I put P. Craig Russell on the book because of his previous outstanding work with Neil, and because working with Craig is always a pleasure. I met Neil for the first time a few years ago at my nephew’s bar mitzvah and I asked him about his thoughts for an interior artist, which led to hiring Scott Hampton for the book.

Would you say that some editors are more skilled in certain aspects of the process? For example, it seems that having an eye for talent with respect to acquisitions and providing feedback on narrative arcs require different sorts of skills.

Sure! Certainly everyone has their own special skills, and many have more than one. Acquisitions is a part of the gig that I enjoy, but it’s tricky to navigate as you’re competing with so many different comic titles being released each month. You really have to strongly consider a book’s ability to perform well and survive in the market. I see many great books get canceled each month just because everyone’s cannibalizing each other by trying to produce more books than the market can handle.

Can you map out the editorial structure at Dark Horse?

I believe we currently have 20 editors. That includes a mix of editorial interns, assistant editors, associate editors, editors, and senior editors. This is a fairly large department compared to other comic publishers. When I started, I was an intern and worked my way up.

What sorts of backgrounds do Dark Horse editors come from?

Many different backgrounds. Some folks have college degrees in English, film, and other fields. Some have master’s degrees, some have no college education. Our editor-in-chief has a degree from an Ivy League school. Dark Horse editorial comes from varied backgrounds, which gives us different insights into the books and the process of producing them. But they are very well read, which, as mentioned earlier, I consider important to the success of a good editor.

Would you say that Dark Horse’s large editorial staff is a result of the diverse type of work Dark Horse publishes, or does it perhaps reflect the amount of work put into each project?

I think it’s both. There are a great variety of books that require someone who can handle a high workload. I feel like each editor has the opportunity to focus on the kind of comics that they enjoy on a personal level. I edit primarily creator-owned titles, Carl Horn edits our manga line, Ian Tucker and Patrick Thorpe edit the lion’s share of our art books. Everyone is doing their own thing and what they enjoy working on, and that’s what makes this a great place to work.

I would argue that one of the most fascinating things about Dark Horse’s “house style” is how difficult it is to pin down. Popularly, the house is known as a leader in horror comics, manga translations, and licensed/franchise works. But Dark Horse also produces archival and historical reprints and original, creator-owned titles. What is it, to your mind, that makes Dark Horse distinct within the larger field? And what is it that unites these diverse projects?

We also publish coloring books, prose books, art books, and books for younger readers, and we have a large product development line where we create figures, models, and more. The big positive of this approach, of course, is that it never feels like you’re limited to one kind of story, character, book, property, or creator. Having all of these different things under this publishing umbrella meets the vision of our publisher, Mike Richardson: a publishing house that works tirelessly to bring in the best books, creators, stories, and licenses out there. I suppose a lot of publishers think of themselves as publishing the best books. But I feel like when I talk to fans at conventions and see them talking about Dark Horse books, they really project an enthusiasm for the types of stories we are putting out there, which is very encouraging.

We have spoken previously about the idea that the body of comics overseen by each editor (or editorial team) might be conceived of as constituting an “unofficial imprint” of Dark Horse, yet not quite (I would say) along the same lines as previous (Dark Horse Heroes, Legend, Maverick) and current (Dark Horse Manga, M Press) official imprints. Playing with this idea, how would you describe the aesthetic and/or mission of your own unofficial imprint?

My line is predominantly creator-owned titles. Those are the books I read myself, and they are the types of projects I have the most fun working on. When I was growing up I found myself strongly attached to the mature content titles being published by Vertigo Comics — which is great considering that former Vertigo founder Karen Berger is now editing her own creator-owned imprint at Dark Horse called Berger Books.

The creator-owned books I edit are by innovative creators working in a wide mix of genres. I do tend to look for and edit works by creators who have a body of work that I just enjoy reading as a fan. After I read all of Oni Press’s The Sixth Gun, I knew immediately I wanted to edit a book by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook, and that led to me acquiring their popular horror series Harrow County. A few other titles I am editing include work by Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, Dave McKean, Geof Darrow, and Evan Dorkin — all stellar creators!

What was it about The Sixth Gun that made you want to pursue a project with Bunn and Crook? 

It’s a damn good book. Well structured, the art kicks butt, the characters are all really interesting and memorable — and it’s a super engaging read. The whole series is a fun ride! I had worked with Tyler Crook for some time on B.P.R.D. and I was interested in seeing him work on a creator-owned title after that. I knew he did a few fill-in issues of The Sixth Gun, so after I read that series I encouraged Tyler to reach out to Cullen to see if he had any stories percolating. What arrived later was an early version of Harrow County.

Black Hammer won “Best New Series” at the Eisner Awards in 2017. Do you view that as a validation of your approach to editing?

Not really — that series was initially pitched to Diana Schutz at Dark Horse almost 10 years before my arrival, but by the time the book actually started coming out I was the editor. The whole story of Black Hammer was really in great shape before I came to it. If anything, what I suggested to Jeff later was to expand the universe of Black Hammer. Initially the series was only going to be 13 issues total. After I started the project and read all the scripts by Jeff, I told him I thought that this was a great universe and that he could really do more with it. He thought about it for a while and then we just kept adding more issues to the main Black Hammer title and also produced some tie-in series to the world of Black Hammer: Sherlock Frankenstein, Doctor Star, The Quantum Age, and several more unannounced Black Hammer–related tie-ins coming up down the road.

In your opinion, what is it about creator-owned titles that makes them distinct? And what makes them more fun to edit than others?

They just feel a lot more liberating. You work with the creators on fleshing out their ideas and making the project as great as can be. You’re not confined to the limitations of a license where you’re stuck with a preexisting canon. The process of working on creator-owned is exciting because you’re sharing new ideas with people who are creating an original story, you’re coming up with new titles and characters, you’re asking questions about these characters and what motivates them, you’re creating events for these characters, and more.

Would you call editing an art form in its own right?

I think so. You’re managing the way a story is being told, which in some way makes the editor a collaborator to a small degree. But really my main goal is to act as more of an advocate and coach for the creator and their work, by using my knowledge and skills for the advancement of their book.

You have mentioned both Diana Schutz and Karen Berger, major innovators in comics editing who have achieved a level of celebrity comparable to popular artists and writers. What do you think it is about their approach to editing that makes them stand out? And were either of them an influence on your own work?

Good question! Both are certainly innovators who I very much look up to, and both certainly have influenced my own way of thinking about editing and managing a creator-owned line. Both established wonderful relationships with their creators, and I feel like the sort of responsiveness and attention they gave to their creators had a great impact on my own work. It is really an honor to be colleagues with both of them. I still see Diana at the Dark Horse offices even though she retired not too long ago, and I enjoy working with Karen and reading the amazing books coming from her creator-owned line Berger Books: Incognegro, Mata Hari, Hungry Ghosts, and more.

What would you like to see happen in comics publication over the next 10 years, and in your own “unofficial imprint” specifically?

More diversity in stories, creators, and publishers. Not just in comics, but in everything. There’s not enough and never enough.

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Colin Beineke’s research and writing focus on contemporary comics and the institution of the publishing house. He has recently been elected to a term as member-at-large for the Comics Studies Society.

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