"I love your screenplay -- but I can't sell it!"

After years of hearing producers, agents, managers, and other bottom feeders tell me that they love love love my screenplays -- with nothing to show for it -- I finally have some good news to share:

• I optioned one of my screenplays to a Polish producer, who wants to make American-style romantic comedies that can enjoy international success. They are now translating the script and raising money for an expected 2011 shoot in Warsaw.
• While attending Movie Night at Chalet Edelweiss, a restaurant that screens Swiss movies on Wednesday nights, I met the producer, who happens to be the brother of a woman I knew from 10 years ago. When he announced that he was looking for comedy scripts, I jumped at the chance to pitch him. He invited me to send him several scripts, which he sent to his reader, whose glowing coverage included the following: "This in my opinion was a great example of a romantic comedy... I would absolutely recommend it... It has the potential to be a great film." Here's hoping the producer agrees!
• I just posted one of my favorite screenplays, which I've used as a writing sample for several years because everyone seems to respond to it (although no one seems to want to produce it), on Amazon Studios, a user-generated online development and production venture built around monthly contests and community feedback. They have a first-look deal with Warner. Bros., so please click the link today and give "The Work of Art" your highest possible ratings!

New York Comic Con 2010 - Day 3

On Sunday, our booth was swarming with customers who liked what they had heard the previous evening. Sunday was by far my best sales day, and I also received numerous compliments on the way I handled my hosting duties.

I even conducted two interviews: a print interview for Cue Pittsburgh magazine and a video interview for AOL, which is now posted on their Queer Sighted blog.

Sunday evening we met my old friend and former co-worker Julia and her husband Stephen for dinner, followed by a performance of “Million Dollar Quartet,” which co-stars my friend Levi Kreis, who won the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his role. This show is inspired by the true story of the time Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins met for a jam session at Sun Records. Levi steals the show as Jerry Lee Lewis. We even got to go backstage after the show to meet with Levi. Julia and Steven were starstruck when they met him in person, and he couldn’t have been sweeter to them. It was a wonderful way to end our trip to New York.

On the flight back, inspired to finish writing “Jayson Goes to Hollywood,” I knocked out two more chapters – just four more to go! As usual, my characters surprised me in ways that I hope you find entertaining when the book is published next year.

New York Comic Con 2010 - Day 2

On Saturday morning, I finished writing my questions and designing the slides for the LGBT panel, before heading off to the convention. Our hotel was located just a block from the Javits Center, on a refreshingly quiet street. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a Business Center. So while I worked my booth, Bud took my PowerPoint file off to Kinko’s to print copies.

Good thing he did, too, because when it came time to set up the room for our panel, we could not get the file to project correctly onto the screen. Fortunately, I’m used to things going wrong, so I began to introduce the panelists while the technical team worked on the computer’s resolution settings. I looked out at the audience for the first time and couldn’t believe my eyes; we had a full house, and standing room only in the back! (I later learned that people were even turned away because the room had reached capacity.) I never expected such a turnout. The audience applauded each of the panelists as I introduced them, and as I launched into the questions, the technical problem resolved. The hour flew by way too fast, and we only had about 7 minutes left at the end for audience questions. The panel was a resounding success, and I plan to do it again next year. I just need to get the organizers to give us a larger room and more time!

New York Comic Con 2010 - Day 1

My first sale, just minutes after I arrived at my booth in the Small Press section, was to Tania del Rio, who toplined the recent manga-inspired run on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” for Archie Comics. She told me that Mike Pellerito, the President and Editor-in-Chief of Archie – the one who contracted appendicitis in San Diego – was at the Archie booth and that I should catch up with him before the “Archie Means Business” panel, which started at 3pm. She also told me that they talk about me at Archie all the time!

I ran over to the Archie booth and spied Nina Kester, the Communications Director who was so helpful to me in San Diego. She told me that Mike had not arrived yet but was expected shortly. So I introduced myself to two of the other creators, Fernando Ruiz and Alex Simmons, who were doing signings. They both said, “Oh, they talk about you at Archie all the time!”

Mike arrived and he was all smiles. We made small talk until the Archie business folks, including Mike, needed to make their way downstairs to where the panel was to be held. Since this was my first time at NYCC and I was not at all familiar with how the Javits Center was laid out, I just followed them, reinforcing that I belong with them.

At the Archie panel, they announced that because the Kevin Keller issue of “Veronica” sold out and led to the first reprinting in Archie Comics history, they were going to launch a four-issue Kevin mini-series in 2011. And if that sells well, he will get his own series. And if that happens, they will need writers – like me!

I have this thing about finding pennies at pivotal moments in my life – especially when things aren’t going well or I stand at a crossroads. I believe they are the way God speaks to me, and I call them my “pennies from Heaven.” My previous record, during a disastrous tech week on the “Jayson” musical in 1998, was the 18 pennies I found just a block from the theater, that gave me the strength go on with the show.

Friday evening Bud and I went to see a performance of the musical “Promises, Promises” with Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. On the way to the theater I spied some pennies on the ground as we were exiting the subway station. I picked them all up and shoved them in my pocket. “They’re dirty!” Bud cried. “This is how God speaks to me!” I snarled. As soon as we got to the theater, I washed my hands, and didn’t count the pennies until after we returned to the hotel. In my pocket were 41 pennies! I dare say that something great is about to happen. Oh, and the show was good too.

New York Comic Con 2010 - Day 0

I am usually represented at conventions by Prism Comics, which does all the advance work, including setting up the panels. Since I knew Prism was not going to cover New York this year, I put in my bid a year in advance for an LGBT panel, which I deigned to moderate. I had never moderated a panel at one of these events before, although I’ve been a panelist, and I’ve moderated similar events at the Evil Aerospace Giant (EAG). Still, it was a move that paid off when the NYCC organizers accepted my panel. Now I just had to find panelists!

I titled the panel “LGBT Comics, Creators, and Characters,” so that I could include straight cartoonists who were championing the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender content in their work. This paid off handsomely when Archie Comics announced the introduction of Kevin Keller, Riverdale’s first openly gay teen, in “Veronica” #202, which hit the stands in September. As soon as the news broke back in April, I invited Dan Parent, who created Kevin, to join my panel and he agreed.

To round out the panel I wanted to get as many East Coast creators as possible, since they don’t always make the trip to San Diego. Before long I landed famed underground comix creator and graphic novelist Howard Cruse (“Wendel,” “Stuck Rubber Baby,” original editor of “Gay Comix”), Abby Denson (“High School Confidential”), Tim Fish (“Cavalcade of Boys,” “Young Bottoms in Love”), Joan Hilty (“Bitter Girl,” an editor at DC's Vertigo imprint), Phil Jimenez (Eisner and GLAAD-nominated writer/artist for DC and Marvel Comics), and Tim Piotrowski (“Nitsy & Bitsy,” “Kool Aid Gets Fired”).

Since Prism Comics didn’t have a booth at NYCC, I agreed to share a booth with Tim Piotrowski and two other creators. Tim designed the whole space for us and printed a beautiful banner that promoted all of our work. I shipped my books to him in advance, and by the time I showed up at the booth on Friday afternoon, he had already set everything up. All I had to do was show up and make sales.

Everything in Moderation

Sorry I fell out of touch for a while, but now I’ve got some news that will richly reward your patience. I will be moderating this year’s “LGBT Comics, Creators, and Characters” panel at the New York Comic Con! Second-largest con (after San Diego) and still committed to comics (Goodbye, Hollywood!), NYCC will take place at the Javits Center on Oct. 8-10, 2010.

Open your eyes to the wide world of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters and creators in contemporary comics and graphic novels. Moderated by yours truly, the creator of the long-running gay-themed humor strip "Jayson," scheduled panelists include famed underground comix creator and graphic novelist Howard Cruse ("Wendel," "Stuck Rubber Baby," original editor of Gay Comix), Tim Fish ("Cavalcade of Boys," "Young Bottoms in Love"), Joan Hilty ("Bitter Girl," an editor at DC's Vertigo imprint), and Dan Parent (longtime Archie Comics writer/artist who created Kevin Keller, Archie’s first openly gay teen). Expect a lively discussion of this provocative subject with plenty of time for audience Q&A!

“LGBT Comics, Creators, and Characters” will take place on Saturday, October 9 in Panel Room 8 (1A23) from 6:30 – 7:30 pm. Please join us!

My favorite rejection of all time

In 1999, when I was still living in New York but trying to move to L.A., a British-based market research firm with a branch office in Manhattan was about to establish a second branch in L.A. My headhunter arranged for me to meet the head of the L.A. branch at the Manhattan office. The interview was cordial enough (he was jet-lagged, having just flown in on the red eye), but he soon informed my headhunter that he was really looking for “foot soldiers” to jumpstart the L.A. branch – although he might need someone more experienced down the road.

Two years later, after I had relocated to Los Angeles, I got a second opportunity to interview with the same firm, and the same man, arranged by the same headhunter. I was at the top of my game as a researcher, having performed my job successfully for 12 years – and still I came up empty. Making matters worse, this man offered only perfunctory feedback to my headhunter, leaving me to conclude that he just didn’t get me.

Four years later, after circumstances dictated my reinvention as a Processes and Standards guy at the Evil Aerospace Giant (EAG), I was so miserable that I phoned my old headhunter and asked her if she had any market research jobs in Los Angeles. She told me she was struggling to fill an opening at – you guessed it – the firm that had already rejected me twice. And the same guy was still in charge. I protested that he doesn’t get me, I’d be wasting my time – but she insisted that he wanted to talk to me, and I was weak enough to take the bait.

Having been away from the market research business for several years, I thought long and hard about how I might cast my EAG experience in the most advantageous light. I could talk about how I entered an industry I knew nothing about and came up to speed quickly – a beneficial skill when meeting new clients and trying to grasp their business. Or I could talk about how my EAG experience helped to understand how multinational corporations function, and how their marketing decisions get made. Or I could talk about how I won the respect, and ultimately the leadership, of a team that was already in place when I arrived – a coveted talent. Whatever the question, I was ready!

Throughout the interview, I drew upon my carefully prepared answers, weaving past and present experiences into one seamless bundle of positive attributes that rendered me perfectly suited for the job. Or so I thought. This time, the man’s feedback was swift and specific: “He talks too much… His answers were long and rambling… He’s bound to waste my analysts’ time talking when they should be working.” Interesting. Never mind that I possess an unassailable track record for quality, productivity, and focus – which he could have easily confirmed if he had bothered to check my references instead of fabricating excuses.

I will probably never know why this man so delights in rejecting me. But I do know that I will never give him the opportunity again.