This post has been a long time coming and I hope it helps fulfill the mission of this site, which is to help other writers. I’m happy to be a guinea pig with this experiment, so let’s dive in.
When I first embarked on my writing journey years and years ago, my endgame was this:
To write great stories and to SEE those stories alive.
I understand for a lot of friends that writing is therapy and that if something gets picked up, great, and if not, oh well. That’s awesome.
For me, I want to see it. Not just on the page, but alive. When I started writing scripts specifically for Hollywood, there was catharsis in a way with every submitted draft, because I attract to themes and questions, and fears that bug me in my actual life. But with every pass, the spec would go in my “Gone Out” folder and simply live there in limbo.
With the creation of my web series Long Walks on the Beach, I pivoted my career a bit into directing and producing and I’m super proud of that product.
Now, it’s time to pivot again and try something new: a comic book.
The above is the first page of the pilot.
Below is that page transformed into a comic:
What started off as a desire to create a steampunk TV show in 2014, turned into a pilot that I was so in love with, I just couldn’t let it go.
So I hatched a plan with the two other writers (Eric and Joe) to turn our pilot into a comic series by saving money over the course of a few years to pay an artist and the above is just a tease of what’s to come.
Now, for the meat of this article. Here are four things I’ve learned along the way:
4 – What sounds great on the page, might not translate to a comic:
Right off the bat, I can tell you that translating a spec meant for network/streaming doesn’t always translate perfectly over to a comic.
As far as the comic world goes, man, you really REALLY gotta be specific about what you want to see on the page versus what you might see in a show. This throws away lots of time and training I spent on writing specs, which are meant to be loads of white, 108 pages max, and all of those other spoken/unspoken screenwriting rules.
When it comes to comics, that can mostly go out the window. Depends on the studio, the writer’s relationship with the artist, etc. This site was incredibly helpful for us to study.
As an example, here is the first page of a Sandman issue #24, by Neil Gaiman:
THAT’S…A LOT.
Especially when as a screenwriter, you’re trained to be sparse, with 2-3 lines MAX in your scene descriptions. That learning curve was sharp, but it was something important I’m glad we spent time learning.
3 – Be ready to get all the way out of your comfort zone.
I am not naturally extroverted (what a fu**ing shock) but when you want to hire artists, craft a Kickstarter, and [further] probably most difficult, try to gain a following that converts to asking people for money, you’re going to have to get the hell out of the ‘precious writer in a cottage‘ mentality and change your thinking.
I change my background on zoom calls to pics of the comic to start conversations, I got a freaking tiktok that I post [mostly] daily on, and I market it like crazy to my Facebook friends/family to the point of I’m positive that I must sound like that annoying pyramid scheme friend to some.
So while it has been uncomfy at times, I’m glad to do it, because these things don’t fund themselves and people can’t participate in your product unless they know that you have one to sell.
2 – If you’re going to do this, it’s going to cost you.
One thing I’ve talked about on Tiktok, where I’ve shared the process on how we’ve done what we’re doing is to discuss what I’m positive is the toughest challenge for many: MONEY.
We knew it would cost us to hire an artist. The last thing in the world we wanted to be were one of these guys:
And so to solve that problem, I came up with this. BEHOLD THE JAR!
Incredibly empty at this point, I took the 52 week money challenge and taped it to a mason jar. I then sent one to each of the other two guys. That way, after a year we’d have around $1300 each to bring to the project.
Now it did take two years and we’re over what we initially budgeted at this point, but we love this project so much. That meant we sacrificed and said no to things we wanted in order to say yes to this comic.
And I’m so glad we did.
Finally,
1 – Everything just takes time, and time is all it takes.
This is something I’ve been telling myself since the summer of 2014 when we had our first table read at a McDonald’s on Lankershim before moving away from Hollywood.
That’s how long it has been. Seven years.
But we kept in touch the whole time, we continued to talk about ideas for the series, characters, setting, weapons, villains, heroes, etc.
We have probably 5 seasons worth of TV stories to tell and who knows how many comics that could equal!
As I like to say, if it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse.
At this point, I’m all out of excuses.
The fact is, the kickstarter could flop, but I’m not afraid of failing and if you’re interested or have questions about this route, let me know and I’ll do what I can to help. We even crafted a special tier for the creator who is serious about doing what we did.
And now the pitch.
The Kickstarter goes live the morning of October 22nd, and we would be grateful for your support.
Thanks for reading. I hope this has helped someone on their way to their dream.
Best,
~Nic
