Because these characters wouldn't be born otherwise.
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) November 9, 2021
This business is alternately exhilarating and disheartening. Every time I set aside an idea or a script, I can’t help thinking back to Dark Matter and how I spent years developing those characters, their respective backstories and arcs, with no guarantee that they would ever come alive for anyone else besides me. And I consider the fact that I sat with those characters for over seven years before I got the opportunity to share them with the rest of the world, seven long years peppered with countless instances where I doubted the process. Not the characters or the story but the process that stacks the odds against you regardless of how hard you work or how great your script or concept. And so I remind myself that if it happened with Dark Matter, it can happen with TimEscape or Northern Gothic or Fronted or the handful of other projects filled with exceptionally colorful, infinitely lovable characters I’m just dying to share with you. There’s no giving up. Just setting aside for the time being until that window of opportunity presents itself.
Speaking of great characters – check out actor Anthony Lemke (Dark Matter’s THREE) as he sits down with amazing author Bruce McLellan (The Powder Mage Trilogy). A wonderful conversation between these two…
This week on Page Break my guest is actor @ranthonylemke! I ask for advice on how to read a pilot script, and we chat about insecurity, the actor's relationship with script writer, and planning your life as a creative. Give it a listen! https://t.co/bLhtaY5Du5 pic.twitter.com/eXuASoVde3
— Brian McClellan (@BrianTMcClellan) November 9, 2021
Today’s Yes/No…
Pecan Pie Doughnuts? Yes/No
Krispy Kreme will offer pecan pie doughnuts and more this Thanksgiving season https://t.co/4Vk4zKpALn— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) November 9, 2021
I completely empathize with you – I hadn’t realized that you had had, for example, those incredible and ‘real’ characters from Dark Matter in mind for that long before being able to bring them to life and share them. Their ‘reality’, fictional as it is, has been so ‘real’, it is one of the main reasons so many have felt such a loss when that series about them was so unfairly and prematurely cut short. You have an amazing talent for making characters you get involved with in that series and others (very much too in SGU) come alive – why I hope you have such opportunities more regularly often.
Great stuff as always!!! And how did I miss the pecan doughnuts tweet!!! Mercy!! Thank you, for your brilant mind but also, so amazing to see such a humble man even with the amazing success!! It’s rare and I have much respect.
To be a successful writer, rejection must be set aside. If one is prone to doubt or internalizing negative feedback, then perhaps writing isn’t for them. Somehow, you are able to push through it and we are grateful.
I’ve dabbled in fan fiction and I am not sure I could do what you do from an emotional standpoint. Kudos! I’m glad you can handle it because it means that we eventually get to immerse ourselves in a new, interesting story.
Northern Gothic? I like that name. Sounds interesting.
Should we take this as an omen that you have a role in mind for Anthony if/when Powder Mage goes to series…?
Joseph,
I have every sympathy with your feelings about the industry and all its ups and downs. I haven’t even set my foot in the ladder of progress but seen enough of all the highs and lows over the years to evolve my own solution. With my broad scope of concepts sat on the shelf I’ve come to the conclusion many years ago that the only solution for me is to create my own production channel, find the supply of secure finance and thus guarantee my productions to completion and transmission.
With all the ups and downs in my life its still not quite there but things are looking up with the turning of the tides in the world.
Perhaps I will have some great news for you and the world in time.
Stay strong, keep the faith.
M.
Can’t get hold of Krispy Kreme’s here. Well, we “could”.. There’s a larger Tesco store that sells them, but it’s about 5 miles away from where we are, and without anyone in the household driving, it’s not exactly an easily accessible thing.
Booooo…
We do have a nice Ice Cream/Milkshake place in our village (Cube Desserts) that does lovely Sundaes, Waffles and such, and even doughnuts.. But they’re no Krispy Kreme’s 🙁
I do despair when I see that CSI: Vegas, NCIS: Wherever and innumerable other ‘reruns’ continue to be produced instead of original ideas. Maybe that is why I only watch the news on TV now-a-days. I have become devoted more to TubiTV and BritBox where I can see truly original ideas (albeit from the past) that are true classics.