Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Warren Ellis: Building The Imperfect Beast

From Warren Ellis's BAD SIGNAL mailing list, sent August 12, 2008.


Okay, I'm pretty sure I did do this last year, but I think it's reconfigured in my head since then. So. 

What you need is one writer and three artists. Essentially, you decide to Form A Band.
And you decide up front that all the money from the anthology comic is divided 4 ways equally. This is for simplicity's sake -- people argue this point with me all the time, but I have had publishers say to my face that they avoid anthologies, especially creator-owned ones, because THE SUMS ARE TOO HARD. Keep it simple. 25% for everybody. 

What you're going to do, you see, is one writer writing three serials for three artists.
You're doing a two-dollar book. That's FELL format. A 24pp unit, all on the same paperstock, including covers. "Guts" of 20pp, with the "cover", constituting 4pp, wrapped around it, yes? 

Three 6pp episodes is 18 pages. Your cover and inside front cover for indicia etc are 2pp. So that leaves you 4pp, including the back cover, to play with. Use them to interleave the serials, use them as backmatter, let the artists take turns doing full-page pieces, whatever. 

The cover art is a rotating job between the three artists. 
Collect it every six months as a 128pp book (therefore still splitting everything four ways) or collect each serial on its own as best fitting (each book therefore splitting 50/50). (As is blatantly obvious, but people like to ask these questions instead of thinking for themselves.) 
Go and do it. I need something to read. 

Form a band, boys and girls. Form a band.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Pentacle Program - Two Page Script


Simple grid frame, three rows by three columns.

PENTACLE PROGRAM

PAGE ONE

PANEL ONE - THE PROTAGONIST UNLOCKS THE DOOR TO HIS APARTMENT COMPLEX BUILDING IN THE RAIN.
There's a light over the exterior door shining down on the guy. It's late at night; the guy is dressed in a long coat, but having no hood leaves his head unprotected.

PANEL TWO - THE PROTAGONIST PULLS A CD-ROM OUT OF HIS MAILBOX.
The mailbox is one in a locker-style row of many. The guy's keys are still hanging from the mailbox door. The CD-ROM is packaged somewhat discretely. The locker bank is in the complex foyer, which also has the stairs to the second floor. Our guy is soaked in his long coat. He probably won't show much over receiving something in the mail he actually sent for.

PANEL THREE - THE PROTAGONIST CLIMBS STAIRS.
With the mailbox closed and locked, our guy has begun to trudge up to the second floor-- his floor-- leaving sloppy, wet footprints in his wake.

PANEL FOUR - THE PROTAGONIST OPENS THE DOOR TO HIS DARK APARTMENT.
We're looking at the guy from inside the studio apartment. The hallway light is bright, and we can see little more of the guy than his silhouette. The only thing on in his small studio is his computer screen; its light, combined with the hallway light, illuminates just a bit of the mess his apartment is.

PANEL FIVE - THE PROTAGONIST SHUTS THE DOOR BEHIND HIM.
That extra light from the hallway is gone; the light from the computer screen is thus accentuated. The guy's silhouette (and the glimmer of the LCD light off his spectacles) is further into the apartment, probably closing in on his almighty throne.

PANEL SIX - THE PROTAGONIST IS SLUMPED IN THE CHAIR IN FRONT OF HIS COMPUTER.
He's got the slouch anal-retentive posture people warn you about. He's much more visible now that he's directly in front of the computer. His head is sort of hanging and his wet bangs are still dripping wet. His finger is by the external eject button of the computer's disk drive, which is now opened. (Alternatively, the guy would be pulling out a porn DVD from the now-opened disk drive.)

PANEL SEVEN - THE PROTAGONIST PUTS THE CD IN THE SLOT.
A close-up of his hand and the new CD, with his index finger through the hole and his thumb on the rim, careful to place the disk appropriately. The disk's label looks black with a large logo, the pentagram that is disintegrating into binary on the right side of the disk.

PANEL EIGHT - THE PROGRAM DISPLAYS THE WELCOME SCREEN.
It's basically a close-up of the computer screen. The same logo from the disk label is on the screen. The bottom of the screen has one of those boxes you have to click, saying one does agree to the terms of usage and/or assume full responsibility. The guy's arrow-style mouse pointer is probably somewhere between that box and the button marked "continue."

PANEL NINE - THE PROGRAM ASKS THE PROTAGONIST TO SELECT A BASE MODEL.
The program allows for the selecting of one base from many, and a color option that changes the color of the selected model's lines. The guy picks up a pentagram, double-encircled with smaller circles at each point of the star within the dual bands; the color option has "red" selected.

PAGE TWO

PANEL ONE - THE PROTAGONIST IS LOOKING AT HIS KEYBOARD.
This should probably be shot from over the guy's shoulder so as not to beat side-shots to death. From this angle, the reader might be able to see that he is putting letters in each of the five smallcircles around the star. (Hadn't planned for that until next panel, but if it can be worked in there, why not?)

PANEL TWO - LETTERS ARE FILLED INTO EACH ONE OF THE FIVE SMALLER ORBS.
Starting from the uppermost circle, the guy has put the letters J-N-T-h-N in the orbs.

PANEL THREE - THE PROTAGONIST CHANGES THE FONTS.
The guy has changed each letter from the English alphabet to other fonts/alphabets in the program. It will be something like J in Theban, N in Enochian, T in Ancient Greek, h in Furthark, and N in Magi. The guy may have right-clicked to pull up a menu, with the mouse hovering over "invert image."

PANEL FOUR - THE PENTACLE IS INVERTED.
The image is flipped upside down; even the letters, in their new positions, are upside-down.

PANEL FIVE - SYMBOLS ARE ADDED TO THE INVERTED PENTACLE.
The guy decorates his project with alchemic and planetary symbols from a drag-and-drop menu. He starts by putting the astrological symbol for Saturn in the pentagon at the center of the star.

PANEL SIX - THE PENTAGRAM IS COMPLETE.
Another over-the-shoulder view of the computer screen (the side opposite the view taken in page two/panel one) and the now finished pentagram. It now has the symbol for Saturn at the center of the star, the symbols for Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in the higher three sections outside the star, and the alchemic symbols for fire and sulfur in the bottom two sections.

PANEL SEVEN - THE PROTAGONIST SNEEZES ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN.
The guy is in the full throws of a violent sneeze, and seems to blast the pentagram with sickly bodily fluids.

PROTAGONIST: Ahh-
PROTAGONIST: Ahh--
PROTAGONIST: Ahh-choo!!

PANEL EIGHT - THE PENTACLE TURNS INTO A HELLISH PORTAL.
The outer edge of the pentacle has collapsed inward into a portal. It looks fiery yet dark at the same time. A hand is reaching out from inside the portal, with demonic red skin and painted-black claws. The guy is recoilind in fear, if he can be seen in this panel.

PANEL NINE - THE PROTAGONIST IS PULLED INTO THE PORTAL.
The guy is already half-way gone, his precious chair kicked over and the lower half of his body sticking out of the screen. His legs are probably still kicking.

END CAPTION: Tough break, kid!

How's my scripting?

Part of a Green Lantern fanfiction script I'm working on.

PART ONE: YELLOW LANTERN ALLEN SCOTT

PAGE ONE

PANEL ONE
This panel takes up all the page, save for the bleed. There's a yellow border around it. The right half is "reserved" for some panels-in-panel action.

The left side of the panel is primarily taken up by Yellow Lantern Alan Scott. It's a full-body shot, meant to show off his unique costume. (This is meant to immediately show the difference between characters visually. There will be more of kinds of "introductory panels" for each of the six primary characters.) It may be at a slight angle, possibly an action pose, as he had just entered the main room of his version of the JSA's headquarters. There might be other members in sight (even just partially, given the limited room on either half of the page), but he's there to see Mister Terrible, who's definitely not in this particular panel.

YL SCOTT: You called?

PANEL TWO
This is one of the smaller panels on the right side of Panel One. It is the uppermost panel in a column of three same-sized panels, each space proportionally between each other and the edge of the bleed (vertically, that is). Yellow border.

Mister Terrible has his back to a large computer display, his arms outstretched with amiability. We can only see about the upper half or so of his torso-- not being outright important, he doesn't get the "look at my cool costume" treatment like the main six do.

TERRIBLE: I did. First, to give you an appropriate "job well done."
YL SCOTT (off-panel): It was a job.
TERRIBLE: I was getting to that.

PANEL THREE
The second in the column of panels inside Panel One; yellow bordered.

Mister Terrible is sitting at the computer, YL Scott now visibly standing behind him.
What can be seen of the computer screen or screens would be things like images of universes other than their own (though not universes we're all that familiar with, so no Earth-1 or anything too common), perhaps schematics of a device and portions of the formulas that operate at the device's core.

TERRIBLE: While you were dealing with Vand le Savant, one of my Terribyte crawlers was able to infiltrate the base and found this.
YL SCOTT: "This" being?


PANEL FOUR
The third in the column of panels inside Panel One; yellow bordered.

The character positioning will be similar to the last panel, with the perspective shifted so that we can get a better view of the screen(s). The dominant image on the screen is of the schematics of that device. The schematics might be diagrammed, with lines linking different parts of the device to explanations of what they are and what they do; that may be Mister Terrible's computer attempting to divine the purpose of the device by running a simulation of its operation.


TERRIBLE: An interdimensional transporter.
TERRIBLE: Technically, a personal teleporter, augmented for larger capacity and interdimensional travel.
YL SCOTT: And we found the schematics?

PAGE TWO

PANEL ONE
This panel takes up approximately the top third of the page, each panel being of equal dimensions and allowing for space between each of them. Yellow-bordered.

Mister Terrible has left his chair, now standing a few short feet away at a table-like console. YL Scott watches from place behind the chair. This might be a good time to show a wider array of screens, some of which might be keyed onto JSA members in other universes. In theory, the computers connection to the device could allow it to access computers or satellites from other worlds. When the device comes out, the computer would lose that ability.

TERRIBLE: Not exactly. These schematics were drawn from the computer's scans of the actual device.
TERRIBLE: By hooking it up to the computer, I was able to get a glimpse of alternate versions of Earth.
YL SCOTT: Sounds like we got lucky. There's a lot of havoc to be had with a device like that.


PANEL TWO
Equal in size with those above and below it; yellow bordered.

A close of Mister Terrible's hand, or maybe just his index finger as it presses into a button on the console he's standing before.

SFX: Click!

PANEL THREE
Equal in size with those above and below it; yellow bordered.

Mister Terrible is still standing in front of the console, but YL Scott has now crept up to the side of the thing. Between them, the ascending compartment within the console can be seen rising up.

YL SCOTT: Do we have any major plans for it thus far?


PAGE THREE

PANEL ONE
This panel and Panel Two take up the top third of the page, each being half the width of the page. Yellow bordered.

A close-up on the compartment, which has finished rising and retracted its shell to reveal its interior: the device is a gauntlet, held in the air by a visible ray of light. The color doesn't specifically matter itself, but might want to reflect Mister Terrible's coloration in some way. (That is, his costume, not his skintone.)

TERRIBLE (off-panel): We've not even finished the analysis phase, and from the looks of it, it's dependant on an external power source.

Panel TWO
The same size as Panel One; yellow bordered.

Mister Terrible and YL Scott are still standing at the console, although the gauntlet-like device is now in Terrible's hands and the console is mid-descent.

TERRIBLE: Catman said something about starting an interdimensional gladiator arena... Powergirl pondered finding a Krypton to conquer and rule over... But we've got to make sure the thing even works first.

PANEL THREE
This panel takes up the middle third of the page; yellow bordered.

The console between Terrible and YL Scott has returned to its normal state. Terrible is holding the gauntlet in a different position; both are looking at it intently.

Terrible: No one wants their molecules scattered in the multiverse.
YL SCOTT: May I?

PANEL FOUR
To be simple, this panel is the same size as Panels One and Two, bottom left with a yellow flippin' border.

Although still in Terrible's hands, YL Scott has wrapped a yellow force field around the gauntlet.

YL SCOTT: I totally agree. That's a great idea.
TERRIBLE: Idea?

PANEL FIVE
Same as Panel Four, bottom right and yellow border.

The force field is holding up the gauntlet between Terrible and YL Scott. YL Scott has his head cocked to the side, probably looking at buttons or screens. Terrible, confused at what seem to be YL Scott's non-sequitors, is giving him a puzzled, cautious look.

YL SCOTT: That sounds highly likely. Should we proceed with that course of action?
TERRIBLE: Alan, are you okay?

PAGE FOUR

PANEL ONE
This might be a little confusing but here goes: this page, like Page One, is designed with some panels-in-panel action. There will be three panels inside this one, centered and towards the top. There will be two in one row, one in the second; the top two will equal the length of the bottom, which is about fifty percent of the page's length. Although this is the primary panel on the page, it is the last in the reading order of it, so it might read as though it were out of place. Same yellow border, of course.

YL Scott is in the center of the bottom portion of this panel, and should be the only person seen. Energy is swirling around him, as though his yellow light of fear is combining with temporal and multiversal energies as it sends him into another dimension.

YL SCOTT: I can spread a little FEAR through the Multiverse!

PANEL TWO
This panel is approximately a quarter of the length of the page, just to the right of the center line, and roughly a little less than a quarter of the height of the page. Yellow bordered.

This panel is a close-up of the gauntlet, still surrounded by the YL Scott's force field but now opened or unlatched, ready to but placed on someone's arm.

TERRIBLE: Scott, what are you doing?
YL SCOTT: Isn't it obvious?

PANEL THREE
The same size as panel two, although positioned to the right of the center line with a bit of space between them. Yellow bordered.

Another close-up, this time as the YL Scott's forcefield places the gauntlet onto his left arm (which should, if I remember correctly, be the same side his ring is equipped on).

PANEL FOUR
This panel is just below Panels Two and Three, inside Panel One, and is the same height as the above two and the length of them both combined. Yellow bordered.

YL Scott has backed away from Terrible a bit, who's reaching out to him. YL Scott is looking at the gauntlet and pressing buttons with his right hand.

TERRIBLE: Scott, no!
YL SCOTT: I figure, if I can put a little FEAR in this machine...

END PART ONE