Interview Questions Flashcards
(13 cards)
THE BLURB:
WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT?
Amit gives the logline: “The Last Wardens is a horror themed supernatural thriller about a team of paranormal misfits who…”
What’s cool about THE WARDENS is:
It constantly jumps between being a cynical comedy, a deep emotional drama, and of course…. what I’D call….
a “chaotic smorgasbord of ultraviolence”.
so…You know, the classics…
BUT – At its core: this is a story about FAILURE:
How to chew it up, spit it out and ask for seconds.
WHO IS THIS STORY ABOUT?
Danny Pryer
We kicking things off Danny who is our “Fish out of water” character who gets introduced to the Wardens. These first 6 issues focuses on just her perspective and emotional journey…
But our goal is to explore the world through the eyes of the other Wardens’ in future books. See things from THEIR side.
WHO ARE WE AS CREATORS AND WHAT DO WE EACH ADD?
Amit gives context: “We’ve worked together as 2D animators in productions like…blah blah blah”.
Each of us brings something different to the table- Amit has lived this insanely intense life and so his stories tend to lean darker.
MEANWHILE, here I am… hop-skip-and-jump’n out of the Midwest… wearing my plaid flannel shirts…. So I’m the guy who tends to bring more of the uplifting elements.
Overall - I’d say it’s weird combo of
“Aspirational vs. Cautionary” storytelling
and …it works out pretty well!
But yeah… the main thing we have in common is :
we both like snowy places.
WHY’D YOU WRITE THIS?
Amit follows your lead: “Take us for example: When we create a new story to pitch, our expectation is 99% chance of failure….”
Well, aside from the obvious that we’re both long time horror and supernatural fiction fans…
The “WHY” ties back into our theme of FAILURE.
BECAUSE FAILURE IS A UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE. IT’S SOMETHING THAT MARKS US….
the way we all DEAL with failure DEFINES who we are as people.
Some treat failure like a scab they’re always picking at…never letting it heal….
BUT WE WANT TO SHOW that it’s better to treat the wound… embracing the scar – letting it remind you of WHAT you survived (and HOW you survived).
Also…Going back to the 1970’s time period:
FAILING is also a TIMELESS experience.
Whether you’re a writer, a visual artist or a critically acclaimed, award winning finger-puppet master…failure and rejection are ALWAYS the status quo.
ESPECIALLY TODAY….AM I RIGHT?!?
INSPIRATIONS & STRENGTHS - HOW DO WE WORK TOGETHER?
While working on this series, there were TWO key elements that I knew would dictate the visual salad that is this series:
The First element is the history part – and thanks to Amit work on “Eden Frost” and him being such a history buff, I was able to lean on his knowledge.
The Second was the MONSTER DESIGNS. I came up with the initial designs for both the characters and our main villain. They were inspired by all sorts of things that were influential on me growing up (The Zoinoids from Bio-Booster-Armor Guyver, the kracken from the movie “Deep Rising”, Monsters and magical items from Dungeons & Dragons, The Original Evil Dead, JAWS… and even some Scooby Doo sprinkled on top. )
SO I CREATED THE ART GUIDE then passed those materials on to our artist Rui Silveira who really ran with them.
DEV TALK PROCESS STEPS:
FROM - DISCUSSSION
TO - REVIEW
Talk about Domain expertise division and break down the DEVELOPMENT and PRE PRODUCTION stage to 3 steps:
- Components needed: Deck, Script, Presentation and Initial Designs.
-
Rules:
- Domain expertise: In each domain: one leads - one follows and we delegate tasks.
- Domains: Story, Visual, Operations.
——-ELLIOT SECTION —–
This includes not just the comic itself, but social media marketing, PR, pitch, production logistics, contract negotiations, business development and strategy, etc. SO HERE ARE THE **PROCESS STEPS:*** Discussion. Production. Review. Sales. Iteration.** - We start with simple **Discussions:**: Brainstorming and constructing the core idea, themes, characters, story arcs & design choices in a series of talks. - Then there's **Production** Where we actually start writing and designing the deck, creating art and design guides, our verbal pitch presentation routine, etc. - Afterwards, we **Review** every “finished” draft and do some quality assurance on each other’s work. We edit, refine, polish and eventually lock into what we think is a "sales ready" version --->
Next comes SALES and AMIT IS PRETTY MUCH A GENIUS when it comes to that so I’ll throw it back to him:
- **Sales:** We make a list of viable sales targets: i.e. PUBLISHERS who offer the kinds of deals we want and have interest in our type of product. - **Iteration**: We pitch it, gather feedback, if needed-reassess, revise and try again until we hopefully reach that sweet spot. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes years. We certainly have examples of both.
WHO IS THE ARTIST?
Rui Silveira
-First impression: We were excited to work with him. He brings this amazing Passion and Energy to his work.
-His monster designs & Character expressions:
he knows how to add very human personalities to monstrous faces.
-His work is always super EXPRESSIVE… AND his choices actually affected how we directed the layouts.
-He manages to create the struggle of chaos VS order through posing, composition, expressions and effects…which are all the defining visual elements of this entire story.
COLORIST? WHO WORKED ON COLOR?
FranCESco Segala
-who has a super-Strong, confident control of color.
-Thanks to him, everything in the comic is BOLD and IMPACTFUL– Which helps with our dramatic tonal shifts and helps emphasize the UPS, DOWNS, TWISTS AND TURNS of this emotional and visual rollercoaster.
-He managed to give the entire series a very 1970s feel through the color scheme and stylizing.
LETTERER? WHO WORKED ON LETTERING?
Frank Cvetkovic
-Normally lettering is the bastard child in this entire process and while there are typically SOME creative choices, it’s not nearly as prominent as inks, color and story. NOT IN THIS CASE.
-Lettering adds an extra layer of storytelling into every page of The Last Wardens and plays a more “illustrative” role in the final product. Frank not only ran with some of our crazier ideas, but knocked them out of the park. It was one hell of a challenge, and he killed it.
WHO IS THE MAIN COVER ARTIST?
Zach Howard
-what CAN’T I say about that guy? His work is stellar.
-Watching him turn in new covers might just be the highlight of our week.
-as you saw…His issue 01 cover is incredible – and we just got a sneak peek of his pencils on the issue 04 cover and it’s just unbelievable.
WHO IS THE INCENTIVE COVER ARTIST?
Skylar Patridge
-Worked on SuperGirl — her colors and composition add this mysterious flair that we just love!
-her work is striking and packs a punch! Looking at it just makes you want to dive right in!
COMIC BOOK COMPARABLES?
EQUIVALENTS?
The Boys, mixed with, Something is Killing the Children with a sprinkle of Cronenbergian nightmares on top.
WHERE CAN WE FIND MORE INFO ABOUT YOUR WORK?
On our websites, elliotsperl.com and amittishler.com - and on ALL social media platforms.
We have accounts on twitter, instagram, threads, facebook and more and we post a lot of cool stuff about our titles.
