Bryan W. Alaspa 1The Hollywood way
September 19th 2009 19:58
For a little while there it looked like my career was really going to take off. Sure, if you read this blog on a regular basis, maybe it seems like I am doing well. I am managing to survive since I made writing my full-time gig, but I am hardly a wealthy writer living in a mansion with my servants running around writing my novels for me. Not that I am saying this is what famous authors do, just guessing. Heck, were it possible for me to do that, I might at least be tempted.
For a while it looked like my story “Sin-Eater” was going to be turned into a TV series. That is as it should be, or so I figured. The story was originally meant to be told in episodes. Originally the character was meant to be a comic book. The problem with comic books is that, well, they require and artist to actually draw the pictures. That was a problem I never quite overcame because, well, I can’t draw. There is a reason I am a writer and not an artist.
Being a writer, or trying to be a writer, in the comic books field is not easy. When you are an artist, you can see right away if you have talent because your art is visual. You can show up to comic book conventions with your portfolio of pictures and someone at a comic book company can look at them and instantly see talent. When you are a writer you cannot walk around a convention with a comic book script and hope to get some busy comic book industry guy or gal to read it for you while they are trying to walk from the hall where they were peppered with crazy “Comic Book Guy” questions to the bar where they hope to get blitzed and forget they are being pursued by grown men dressed in Wolverine costumes. To read a script you, well, you have to sit down and read them. This is not done at a convention.
So, I eventually gave up trying to find an artist. They are just too difficult to work with. I then hooked up with this website where you could subscribe to various stories and get a new “episode” delivered to your e-mail twice a week. That was cool except that no one ever subscribed to my story. I then sat on the idea for some time before finally deciding to move forward with publishing the first book in what I hoped would be a series.
I did that and it has sold fairly well. I have also published the stories in episodic format on various blog sites and MySpace. I put this damn thing everywhere. Somewhere along the way, though, I got on a mailing list for a production company that produces movies and TV series. I asked if they would hear my pitch. They said yes. I pitched and got past the first round. They liked the idea and my series was pitched at a staff meeting.
Then comes the waiting. Hollywood people like to make you wait. I think this is because they are in no hurry and they kind of hope you will just get impatient and go away. I waited a long time and then finally heard back from them. They were polite about it. Most Hollywood types are polite about it. They said no. They said something about keeping things on file.
Of course I know what that really means. That means they filed it in a drawer and will likely forget about it. That is what I always did when I told people I would keep their resumes on file when I was in HR.
I was surprised when I announced this and people responded. Turns out, I have some fans out there. Sure, many of them are family and most are people who know me, but you have to start somewhere, I guess. So, today, there are glimmers of hope. Glimmers are better than no glimmers, I say. So, I am thankful, and a tad bit hopeful. So, stay tuned, because maybe “Sin-Eater” the series will be coming to a TV network or online TV network soon after all. Keep prayin’ for me.
For a while it looked like my story “Sin-Eater” was going to be turned into a TV series. That is as it should be, or so I figured. The story was originally meant to be told in episodes. Originally the character was meant to be a comic book. The problem with comic books is that, well, they require and artist to actually draw the pictures. That was a problem I never quite overcame because, well, I can’t draw. There is a reason I am a writer and not an artist.
Being a writer, or trying to be a writer, in the comic books field is not easy. When you are an artist, you can see right away if you have talent because your art is visual. You can show up to comic book conventions with your portfolio of pictures and someone at a comic book company can look at them and instantly see talent. When you are a writer you cannot walk around a convention with a comic book script and hope to get some busy comic book industry guy or gal to read it for you while they are trying to walk from the hall where they were peppered with crazy “Comic Book Guy” questions to the bar where they hope to get blitzed and forget they are being pursued by grown men dressed in Wolverine costumes. To read a script you, well, you have to sit down and read them. This is not done at a convention.
So, I eventually gave up trying to find an artist. They are just too difficult to work with. I then hooked up with this website where you could subscribe to various stories and get a new “episode” delivered to your e-mail twice a week. That was cool except that no one ever subscribed to my story. I then sat on the idea for some time before finally deciding to move forward with publishing the first book in what I hoped would be a series.
I did that and it has sold fairly well. I have also published the stories in episodic format on various blog sites and MySpace. I put this damn thing everywhere. Somewhere along the way, though, I got on a mailing list for a production company that produces movies and TV series. I asked if they would hear my pitch. They said yes. I pitched and got past the first round. They liked the idea and my series was pitched at a staff meeting.
Then comes the waiting. Hollywood people like to make you wait. I think this is because they are in no hurry and they kind of hope you will just get impatient and go away. I waited a long time and then finally heard back from them. They were polite about it. Most Hollywood types are polite about it. They said no. They said something about keeping things on file.
Of course I know what that really means. That means they filed it in a drawer and will likely forget about it. That is what I always did when I told people I would keep their resumes on file when I was in HR.
I was surprised when I announced this and people responded. Turns out, I have some fans out there. Sure, many of them are family and most are people who know me, but you have to start somewhere, I guess. So, today, there are glimmers of hope. Glimmers are better than no glimmers, I say. So, I am thankful, and a tad bit hopeful. So, stay tuned, because maybe “Sin-Eater” the series will be coming to a TV network or online TV network soon after all. Keep prayin’ for me.
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