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Joseph Calabrese an interview with Lisa A. Ford Joseph Calabrese, a member of The Screenplayers, has worked in the film industry for over 20 years from PA to Grip, AD to Director, FX Artist, Editor, and DVD creator. His screenplays have either won or placed in many major competitions, including a win in Slamdance for his religious thriller, SECOND COMING. He has one produced writing credit, two options, and three rewrites for hire. In addition, he moderates the screenwriting/tv/stage writing forum at www.absolutewrite.com and is a Beta tester for Final Draft. Joseph is taking a creative approach to finding an audience. His award-winning screenplay, THE EYES OF MARA, will be published as a comic book and graphic novel. You
can read about Joseph and his work at www.josephcalabrese.com,
and www.theeyesofmara.com. Lisa: Why did you decide to produce a comic book version of THE EYES OF MARA? Joseph: Long story short -- some friends went to a lecture given by Writer/Director Kevin Smith and I was told that during the Q&A, some guy in the audience foolishly yelled to Mr. Smith, asking to have his screenplay read. Mr. Smith responded, "Make it into a movie and I'll watch it." Of course, the guy yelled back, "I can't do that!" Mr. Smith replied, "Make it into a comic and then I'll read it." I really didn't give it much thought until a few weeks later when a gaming artist from Lucas Arts contacted me about doing storyboards from Mara for his portfolio. After I saw the possibilities of my story being told through art, I got to thinking… A comic book? Yeah! Let's do it. Originally, I intended on creating a promotional website and a "Pitch" book, a simple ten page visual query letter that that would give a producer or agent a "Package." Nothing tells a story better then seeing the characters, costumes, sets, concept art, etc… Then, one of the artists involved, Harsho Mohan Chattoraj (from India no less) was passionate about doing a black and white sketched comic, I jumped at the chance to make my story fully come to life. Later, another of the artists from the pitch book, Brendan Keough from Connecticut, agreed to work with me and he is now doing the colors. I now have a full color comic that I believe rivals anything Marvel or DC puts out. It's amazing artwork. Lisa: How did you go about finding the artists? Joseph: I hung out at artist web forums, like www.conceptart.org and www.drawingboard.org, and when I saw work I liked, I emailed the artists and told them of my plans. Some responded and asked to read the screenplay. Most of those that read the script were more than happy to do some sketches for credit (those that worked on it all have a featured work and bio section on the Mara website). I also found Atlantis Studios (www.atlantisstudios.net). They specialize in doing concept art and comics from screenplays and we worked out a price for doing the cover of the pitch book and the concept art for the movie poster. It was reasonable and the work was great. I highly recommend them for those writers looking to have their own comic done and can afford to do so. Lisa: How do you plan to distribute the comic? Joseph: Once Issue 1 (of 4) is completed at the end of July, I will run off a few hundred copies to send to comic publishers and sell online and through some comic shops in the NYC area. Already, I have several publishers who are interested, but want to see some finished art before committing to publishing. If I cannot get a publisher by end of this year, then I will self publish each of the four issues quarterly, starting with issue one in January of 2008. Lisa: What has been the most challenging part of creating the comic book so far? Joseph: I has been a great, eye opening experience. The shear amount of cutting involved to fit the comic format dictates that all the fat must go. Dialog had to be cut down to its bare essence and some of the slow scenes just had to go. I also had to be very visual in my thinking and needed to look at the flow of the action for good pacing in a comic. I know my writing from now on will be much more visual and lean. I owe a lot to this experience. As a result, I have discovered several places in the script that could be better because of the changes made for the comic and have incorporated those changes for better into the screenplay. Lisa: What advice can you give our readers about how to get their screenplays produced as comics? Joseph: If you can draw-- do it yourself. There are many books out there on how to write and draw for comics. If not, then hire someone who can do the job or ask students and ones just starting out in the biz like I did. Pitch and get people passionate about your story and you may find someone to work with you. But offer something… money, credit, promotional stuff or even a percentage of the screenplay or comic sales, anything to make it worth their while. Lisa: How can our readers most easily get a copy of the comic once it's published? Joseph: Regardless of how it ultimately is published, there will be ordering info later in the fall on THE EYES OF MARA website. Lisa: I read, on your website, that after the comic comes out, you plan to publish, in one volume, a full length color graphic novel, sketch book and the screenplay. Can you discuss this project? How will you distribute the volume? Joseph: After the four issues are done and distributed (either by myself or a publisher), I plan on having a special edition graphic novel, putting all four issues into one book. Plus, I would like to have the complete un-produced screenplay and all the concept art used in the website and pitch book. I think it would be a great way for people to see all that was involved in creating this story and it would be very entertaining. It's also another way to get Mara out to the world. Regular comics for the most part are limited to comic shops, newsstands and online sales, but a thick paperback or hardbound graphic novel can be more easily put into a book stores, like Borders or Barnes and Noble. Lisa: Who built the THE EYES OF MARA website, and how do you use the website to market your work? What sorts of interactions do you have with visitors to your site? For example, do people ask to read the screenplay? Joseph: I create and maintain all my websites. I used to be a graphic designer and worked in marketing back in the day. I'm fortunate to have the tools and knowledge to promote myself and my work on the web. But anyone can do it. There's a lot of free website builders and templates. I try and point people to the website whenever possible. It's on my signature in the forums, emails, business cards, letters, etc… If you google my name or The Eyes of Mara you'll see that I am everywhere. I personally think the more people that have heard your name, the easier it is to get read and noticed. I get on average a hundred or so hits a month on the Mara website and usually get a couple read requests from it as well. But I get a lot of when is the movie (or comic) coming out emails. I am starting to get a fan base. Lisa: How has your work in digital art, editing, and short filmmaking) influenced your screenwriting? Joseph: I think having experience in graphics and filmmaking gives me more of a sense in writing visually. I cannot stress enough that a movie is not just a story of words, but of action as well. I also know about the mechanics of production and budgeting, so I can write for genre and specific budgets more easily. Lisa: How has your screenwriting work changed over the years. In other words, what's the main difference between a script you'd write today and the first feature script you wrote? Joseph: I know my writing has gotten leaner over the years and more to the point. I don't bother with parentheticals, passive verbs, long passages of descriptive action or dialog, or camera directions like I did early on in my writing. I also used to write only horror, but now I wrote most genres except for broad comedies. The first script I wrote was with no education or training. I had a script from John Carpenter's Halloween and used it as a template of what and how to write a script. Of course, I know more now after taking some classes and reading many books on screenwriting and I still read other scripts. On average, I think every writer should keep reading, not just old scripts, but new ones and un-produced ones by your peers. Lisa: What is the best piece of advice about screenwriting that you've been given? Joseph: Never give up. Read anything and everything. Market yourself. Send out queries. Make phone calls. Join a writers group. Go to festivals. Write, write, write. Never give up. Lisa: What advice do you have for beginning screenwriters? Joseph: I would follow the advice I got over the years and add one more thing. Read comic books. They are not just superheroes. You can find all kinds of genres. I think that comics and graphic novels are the closet medium to a film. I know it will help any screenwriter write more visually and will give a great feel for writing lean and mean. From everything I hear, that is what producers want today. Lisa: Are you working on a new feature script? If so, can you tell us about it? Joseph: My new script is quite a departure from the action adventure genre. Called World Wide Webster, it's a story about a slacker kid who accidentally gets the entire internet in his head and is chased by a teenage internet identity theft ring looking for an email worth millions. It's the slacker versus the hackers. I am working with two producing partners right now to develop it further so they can get it greenlit. Lisa: What's your take on entering screenwriting competitions? Joseph: I don't think I would be here today if it weren't for my win at Slamdance's Slam-Fi a few years back. I hadn't written a single script in almost 6 years and my first script back into the game won 3rd there and it was the first and only comp I entered. It was such a confidence booster. Needless to say, I have become a bit of a competition junkie. I am selective though. I try to enter only those I feel my work has a shot at based on genre, style, etc… and I enter only those that have a proven track record. Lisa: Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers? Joseph: I am happy to say that because of the comic, pitch book, website and perseverance on my part, I recently got into a pre-development agreement with a British management firm who is specifically looking for a project for cross market to India, the US and the UK. Thanks for the interview. -- Joseph Calabrese |
