Writing for Multiple Media

Award-winning character-creator Jimmy Palmiotti has worked in nearly every creative -and writing - medium: advertising, production, editorial, screenwriting, development, production, media presentation, and video-game development. Clients have included Nike, Nickelodeon, Disney, Warner Brothers, Lion's Gate, Vidmark, Starz, Fox Atomic, Alliance films, New Line 2kgames, Activision, and THQ games.

He is co-founder of such companies as Event Comics, Black Bull Media, Marvel Knights, a division of Marvel Comics, and currently Paperfilms, where he is partners with Amanda Conner and Justin Gray.

A jack-of-all-trade, Palmiotti's writer's journey started in comic books, which led to numerous opportunities. He shares his experiences, as well as thoughts on additional mediums screenwriters can pursue to get on the path to their dreams.

What alternate mediums can a screenwriter pursue, while starting his or her career?

The start of a career is the most exciting, frustrating, and difficult time for any writer; particularly if you are stating out as a screenwriter. I can only speak from experience, and for me, it was what most people would consider a backwards journey, since I started in comics and then worked my way into screenwriting later in my career. There are a number of fields that one can look at as alternate mediums and still get to flex the creative writing muscles at the same time. Graphic novels (a.k.a. comic books) are one of the most recent and obvious places a lot of screenwriters have been looking to develop their properties, as well as video games and animation.

Currently there are over a dozen publishers in the comic field looking for intellectual properties to develop and talented writers are always needed. The great thing about graphic novels is that they cover a wide variety of genres outside the superhero one. Plus, because there is no such thing as a budget to worry about, the writer's imagination can really go to town on high concepts and storylines. With video games, you are usually hired to develop another existing property and give it a story spine and create backstory and characters for the property … it is very rare they will ask for a brand new property to be developed. The last thing is animation - another medium that is handled almost the same as screenwriting, except for direction and pace, and it can become quite lucrative if approached correctly. We are all storytellers, so any medium that needs character driven content applied to it, screenwriters worth their weight can quickly adapt and find these outlets very satisfying.

How did you end up working is so many different areas? Do you have a favorite? Which is the most challenging?

All I ever wanted to do ever was to be a storyteller. At first, most of my focus was on illustrating my stories and at an early age - I got into the graphic storytelling medium in high school and college. It wasn’t until years later working in comics that I realized that I may be able to tell a story better than some of the books I have been reading. [I needed to] put my money where my mouth was. Some of the first writing gigs I had were on my own creator-owned books I put out with my buddy Joe Quesada under the Event Comics banner. At the time, most of our work was with Marvel and DC comics and we wanted to tell stories about our own characters and the business wasn’t really set up for that at the time. Out of this experiment we created two characters that still supply us with an income. ASH was our flagship character and was sold to Dreamworks. The second was PAINKILLER JANE which was a TV movie, a 22 episode series, and has been put in development once again recently.

The self-publishing and life-after-comics got me my first TV writing and script editing job with the Sci-Fi channel and that was because we created Painkiller Jane. ... I insisted on writing and producing, otherwise I wouldn’t sign off. Needless to say, they agreed and I got into the Writers Guild soon after. Not too long after that, I was offered some animation work on a children’s Speed Racer show. Because of my contacts with the Starz channel, my writing partner Justin Gray and I were picked to write the animated feature Deadspace: Downfall based on the E.A. games property. Since then, one thing always leads to another, and it has been a wonderful ride so far.

How do certain mediums – such as graphic novels and screenplays, screenplays and video games – work together?

At their core, they are always about people having to deal with the many things life throws at them. It all comes down to character-driven storytelling, which all these mediums have in common. Like a writing program, they are just different formats of the same gig. The core storytelling is the same, but each medium presents a different list of approaches and breakdowns that need to be adhered to. They have so much in common, my approach to them is almost the same.
 
How important is diversification for a writer?

For me, it is everything since I had to approach all the work I have gotten from the ground up. I didn’t have any special schooling except in art, so when I switched gears and started to seriously make a living writing, I had a lot of catching up to do. Being able to write games, TV, movies, and graphic novels has become a real blessing for me and kept me from being considered a niche writer and looked upon as someone that can take a property or an idea and build not only a world around a concept, but introduce many diverse characters that can interact in that world. All these different jobs I do go along way make the properties seem more thought-out, and I like to think that it's something that only working on a variety of mediums can make happen. Understanding all this helps your final product become something your client can easily grasp and get excited about.
 
What sort of elements do you consider when creating a new universe? Creating characters that are not 3-dimensional? Developing theme and plot?

Well, first thing I do is look at what I’m given and try to find something I find of interest in the gig. I let it sit in my brain for a day or so and try to look at it from all angles. If I don’t find an angle of interest, I usually pass and say this isn’t the project for me. That rarely happens; but when it does, the client usually appreciates it and we move on to other things.

Now, if I do find my angle of interest, I work hard to gel it together and present it - the core idea - and get a nod of approval. From there, I get to work with the history and backstory of the project and try to find what it is I am trying to get across and find the story arc of everyone involved.

When doing this, you naturally stumble on theme and plot, because they have to make some kind of sense to the world you are creating. It's as simple as having a planet of fire … and you want to keep the characters from burning. The plot and eventually the theme are there and then you can build.
 
What was your "big break" and how did you get it?

I was the first person to hire myself to write by publishing my own book. After that, all the characters I created for others have come back to visit and have created opportunities that I never imagined would be offered to me.

As a very abstract example, ASH, a character I co-created and published, got picked up by Dreamworks, who flew me out to Los Angeles, where I toured the studio, met with Jeffery Katzenberg and Walter Parks, and met producer Andy Lazar, who is now producing Jonah Hex - another book I co-wrote with Justin Gray. This got me an invite to the screening of Bound, where I met Jennifer Tilly, as well as a whole other group of people who helped get our other titles passed around. Once Dreamworks announced a deal, Sci-fi Channel happened upon Painkiller Jane, which they made into a TV movie and then went to series, where they hired me to write and consult ... and on and on … Honestly, one thing led to another, all because a couple of guys thought their fireman superhero was a good idea and decided to publish a comic about it. I think my real big break came when I was lucky to be brought into the world by parents who let me follow all of my dreams, no matter how insane they were.

How do you approach the blank page?

I usually don’t sit and write till the entire idea is well worked in my head. If I ever have a “blank” moment, I just read a newspaper or two … there are a million stories just sitting there waiting to be tweaked. I really don’t sweat … the first scene and sentence. I just dig in and write a stream-of-consciousness. Later, I go back, so I can clean and maneuver. I feel it's better to get half an idea down than nothing. If I really am having a hard time, I get my ass to a movie, relax, and not think about my project. Sometimes that’s the perfect distraction to get my brain working again. Even a bad movie inspires good ideas.
 
What are the "pros" and "cons" of being a professional screenwriter?

Well, the obvious cons are waiting between gigs, having others mess with your work, waiting to get paid, waiting on lawyers to finish a deal, and being invisible at times in the process after the script is done. The pros are that you can watch people deliver your lines … act out your scenes, and have directors and their crews create worlds that you only imagined … and be happily surprised when they create and build on your idea in ways you never dreamed.
 
Can you share any screenwriting tips or techniques with our readers?

I look at two things right out of the gate. I get my cast of characters in front of me on index cards and ask the simple questions: What do they want? What do they fear? After which, I start building-up their personalities to the point I feel I know who they are and how they would react. Then, I break my story into sections and scenes, do a complete outline and chart of where I see the story taking them. Sometimes, I get the scenes and write each one on a card and move them around to see how best they will fit. This is a great thing to do if you want to mess with the structure of the story, as well.

Once I have this, I type it out into a couple of sheets and place a hard copy next to my computer and dig-in to write the script. I find this to be the easiest way to do it; it allows me room to find the little surprises in the story that I didn’t see coming and gives me room to play with them in the screenplay.

How can a writer develop his or her own voice?

I think this comes naturally when a writer is not worrying about it so much. I personally think on a certain level, we have to write to make ourselves happy and not worry so much about the audience at first…and when we do this, I think the “voice” will eventually be found. Honestly, I think it takes a good amount of work to get to that. In the end, I think it becomes a happy accident that sneaks up on you.
 
What is a writer’s best route towards “breaking the rules?”

Not studying them so much is the easiest way. I always find when people set up rules for things, instinctually I want to break them. I cannot tell you how many friends have taken very “rule”-oriented classes about structure; all their scripts seem to forecast what’s going to happen next in their stories.
 
What advice would you give to someone trying to "make it" as a screenwriter?

It might seem like sideways advice, but there are a couple of things I think make a good screenwriter. The first is to travel the world. Experience different cultures, speak to people outside your circle, and experience as many things as possible. The second thing is to actually become a good listener. Be patient with people - especially older people; really listen to their stories … open yourself up to people who have actually gone through events in their lives and empathize with their situations and experiences. Some of the best ideas and stories I have worked on have come from very unusual sources. It all comes down to being able to tell a solid story that everyone can relate to.

The last piece of advice is to acknowledge history. Understand that what you are writing may have been done before so you need to research it, read it, and then you will have a better idea how to cultivate your idea so you can “own” it and make it unique. Read a ton, watch it all, try to dissect what draws you to a specific subject and genre, and try to apply it. Last, don’t fall in love with just one idea. A real writer should have a ton of ideas and stories to tell. I can't tell you the number of times I run into three people working on almost the exact idea at once. It’s a wall for sure, but I always say a good writer can simply turn a corner and find another idea.
 
What do you know now that you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?

Probably how to pack a travel bag … I really used to suck at it. As far as writing, I wish I had a little more faith in myself and started writing at an earlier age … but honestly, I try not to look back too much, it's counter-productive.