by Kate Blake- Admin Multipleverses.com
Last weekend at the Phoenix Comic Con I had the privilege of sitting in on an intimate discussion with author Jeff Mariotte. Jeff is well known for 
his work as a tie-in author and comic book author. He has written books for Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, Las Vegas, C.S.I, Criminal Minds and more tv series along with other series like Spiderman and even Superman. I asked him what it is like writing characters that are established versus working on your own original characters. He said that it is wonderful when you get the chance to work with characters you know and love.
Jeff discussed his process for working on tie-in projects. When he is starting a new series/ project he usually asks for all of the scripts that he can get his hands on and sits down and watches everything on DVD to catch up. He then works up his own series bible with all of the characters, rules and details that are critical to make sure his work will be accurate. He has worked on both original stories that fill in gaps in tv series as well as strict adaptations. He wrote “Witch Canyon” for Supernatural which had a distinctly western flair yet was very Winchesters in tone. This was an original story that fit between seasons.
Jeff is a fan of westerns and one of his all time favorites is Zorro who he has written as well. Besides working on tie in books- Jeff has a background in comic book writing. He authored a line of western comics called “Desperadoes”- a long running western/ horror series featuring Gideon Brood – ex-Texas Ranger and stock detective. Jeff and fellow Arizona author Michael Stackpole are involved in a social networking project and they have an online chain story going on. Jeff was pleased to announce that his character in his chapter ties in to his own Desperadoes comics.
You can check out the Chain Story at http://chainstory.stormwolf.com
This social networking/ online project is critical to the new direction that publishing is heading toward. Jeff was candid in his comments that he does not think that publishing will look anything like it does today in 6 years. Editors and writers are getting cut from publishing houses and more people are having to find other ways to get their messages out there. Jeff himself has taken a desk job again as a technical editor in a corporate environment. He believes we will always have printed and bound books- but many types of writing will go to electronic mediums. As a bookstore owner he knows this is already changing how people buy things. Jeff is co-owner of the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego. Head to http://www.mystgalaxy.com/ for info on what they have going on at the store and where it is- I love visiting great bookstores when I can. So few are left. The successful ones are ones that people go to for more than just books- they go for advice, the opportunity to meet authors at signings and more.
Jeff had some advice for people who want to write and get published. It is pretty simple- but holds true. You must write often to write well. That is it.
When it comes to writing and working on a defined project there are definite challenges. Input from studios is variable. When Jeff worked on the Las Vegas books he actually wrote a book that tied into the series filling the 6 month gap after the famous cliff hanger which ended a season with the Montecito hotel blowing up. The actions of the characters from the book were then referenced during the next season – which is totally cool. Las Vegas was a victim of the writers strike and when it ended with a huge cliffhanger- that was supposed to be a mid-season cliffhanger not a series finale -fans were peeved. Jeff has been asked over and over about the possibility of a book to finish off the series in print.
The Las Vegas people were great to work with and very co-operative. Jeff’s work with movie tie-in novels has been a bit more challenging. He wrote the novelization of the film Boogeyman ( Eric Kripke’s movie) and was initially given a script which he worked with and had the book pretty well done. He submitted his work to the studio who went oops- they had not sent him the revised script. Six weeks of work had to be pretty much scrapped and redone. He did keep some of the original things from the original script which explained things better in the book which pleased the writing team. Apparently the original script was pretty decent- unlike the stripped down product that ended up on film. If this sounds familiar- you now understand where Eric Kripke’s inspiration for the Supernatural episode Hollywood Babylon came from.
If you are a Terminator fan you probably remember the news that there would be a 4 issue Terminator comics release to coincide with Terminator Salvation. Somehow only one issue was released. Why? Jeff shared that story too giving a very interesting insight behind the scenes of the Hollywood marketing machine. Jeff was contracted to write the 4 issues and was given part of the script. It was very hush hush as the studio did not want spoilers being leaked. He worked on the story layouts and had the first three issues pretty much done and a possible fourth one based upon how he thought it would end. The studio loved the first one , approved it and printed it. They liked the second one had it ready to go and then got cold feet. Over the entire project. And never finished the comics they had advertised and announced they were releasing! As we know the movie did not perform as expected at the box office and the Terminator franchise is actually up for sale. But now you know why there is only one Terminator Salvation comic and only the first chapter was ever released.
Jeff’s latest project is a departure somewhat from exploding robots and ghosts. He is working on a really cool non-fiction real crime book for CBS. It is a book about the real life cases that inspire the stories you see on Criminal Minds. Jeff got to find out more details than he wanted to about some of the creepiest criminals of our times. His book should be a good one if you are a true crime fan .
You can read Jeff Mariotte’s blog on Amazon and check out his extensive library of work. Remember to buy your copies new to support your favorite author!
Jeff Mariotte: Books, Biography, Blog
Jeff’s Site is http://jeffmariotte.com
Jeff’s Blog on Typepad
Pre-order Now : Criminal Minds: The Real-Life Criminals Who Inspired the Hit TV Show
In the category of huh….Summer Glau and Lena Headey are not in the top 1000 which surprises me in some ways, particulary Lena. Lena has a solid film history but most of it falls into the realm of independent films. She was in Brothers Grimm with Heath Ledger and Matt Damon- the movie she says almost made her quit actings- which was a huge flop- costing $88 million and only bringing in $37 million worldwide. This was more than made up for with the sucess of The 300 with Gerard Butler as her co-star which cost $65 million and brought in $210 million.
Lena and her TV son Thomas Dekker have been actively continuing to make independent films while shooting their series Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles. All it takes is one small film to resonate with the critics and your ranking can change overnight. That or be an overexposed teenager. The stars from Gossip Girl all rank very high on the assorted bankability lists- even though the show only reaches a couple of million viewers per week. This is about the perception of who is a star- most of the people in action and sci-fi TV are not glorified as press objects. Hayden Panettiere who is still a teenager is the exception to that rule- of course her young age is part of what makes her the next big thing even though none of the people on the top 10 bankable stars list are under 30.
Will’s most sucessful films have all been genre films and he never strays too far from them. Angelina Jolie has made a lot of movie- we are always being told what a big star she is, but the biggest movie she has made was Kung Fu Panda which she did voice work for. Mr and Mrs Smith grossed $478 million worldwide making 4 times what it cost, the first Tomb Raider movie made about twice what it cost, the second one broke even with a profit of about 50 % of what the movie cost to make. To date Changeling has critical acclaim and has done well overseas but it is not by any stretch a huge sucess. As for Brad Pitt- his films do much better overseas than at home.
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