So, I was pontificating about the future of the comics industry yesterday, but I realize many of you are more concerned about a more pressing issue: What’s with all these Captains Marvel, anyway? Perpetual pop culture historian and comics writer Mark Evanier gives an illuminating and succinct account.
One trend I continue to follow is the decline of “mid-tier” creative works, whether they be “mid-budget” movies or “middle tier” novels. I touched on this just over two years ago when I was looking at the film Warcraft in particular and film budgets in general. At the time, I also noted how the erosion of the mid-budget movie and how a similar trend seemed to occur with “mid-list” authors. Now, superhero movies in general…
Continuing on the topic of producing films from Monday’s post on film budgets, what do you do when you –miracle of miracles– finish the film? Well, you want to get it distributed, of course! And, just as I want more than theoretical notions and generalizations for distribution, I want to know who likes to acquire what — and as much of their terms and conditions can be shared. So over at the site Dear Producer,…
One wonky thing I’m endlessly fascinated by is film budgets. When you realize that an hour of modern “prestige” TV can top $10 million, yet the average Hollywood blockbuster is over $100 million, you know certain choices are being made and risks accepted. And yes, I know traditional theatrical distribution and traditional network and cable distribution have business models that can inform and support these widely disparate budgets. However, I lap up little tidbits from…
Unless you’ve been living under a tauntaun, you know that Disney is adding Star Wars sections to its theme parks. And since it’s Disney, they are going all out. The sci fi news site, io9, was part of a group of journalists that got the tour the attractions, still feverishly being prepared for later this year (summer for Disneyland (California) and Fall for Disney World (Florida). If you’re the slightest bit a Star Wars fan,…
Coming off my post on Monday about having hobbies as hobbies and nothing more, I stumbled across an article by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic about the reverence that work and “busyness” has in modern American culture. America has long had a paradoxical status as a Calvinistic Babylon, to reference historian Michael Kammen. To follow along that allegorical thought, if all hobbies ought to be hustles, leisure time itself is suspect. Being unproductive is almost…
I had the opportunity over Presidents’ Day weekend (aka Washington’s Birthday weekend for OPM sticklers) to do something I can’t remember doing in a long time, if ever: painting miniatures. Many of my gamer friends have various Warhammer and related armies and I know my efforts are not remotely in their league. They paint minis regularly. In fact, for several, it’s a bona fide hobby. One preditor friend (that’s producer-editor for the uninitiated) has taken…
As mentioned earlier this week, I will be appearing at this year’s Escape Velocity on Memorial Day weekend, both presenting a producer’s guide to moviemaking and with Jabberwocky Audio Theater (JAT) doing a live performance. Last year, JAT did an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic War of the Worlds since it was the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast. It was great fun to update a radio adaptation to the present day and set it…
Last week, I got confirmation that Jabberwocky Audio Theater has a thumbs up to do a live performance at the Museum of Science Fiction‘s annual science-expo-meets-pop-culture-convention, Escape Velocity! Escape Velocity 2019 Promo from Museum of Science Fiction on Vimeo. We had a chance to do a live performance of War of the Worlds last year which was well received (and a lot of fun to do as well). We don’t know the exact date and time of our performance –it’ll be…
A lot of my efforts these past few months have been working on building the audience for Jabberwocky Audio Theater. Frankly, a great way to do that is with a giveaway. As recipients of the JAT Mailing List know, JAT is running a second giveaway during this “pledge drive period” between our seasons. This time, we’re focusing on Firefly, which more than a few listeners have compared my space opera, Rogue Tyger to. What can…