#anyways please hire me dreamworks

[guardianspirits13]

nobody is immune from ✨trollification✨

[mulanxiaojie]

Are you excited for the film? It seems that ur posting both positive and negative news on the new movie. No hate or anything. Just curious.

I guess it’s because I feel there are both good and bad things about the film. Nothing is 100% perfect or 100% horrible…that being said, all opinions so far are reblogs from other people and not 100% of what they say are what I agree with either. It’s more to promote different viewpoints.

For me…a live-action Mulan has been a dream of mine since 2015. I’m all four of their target demographics. A couple weeks after I fantasized about it, Disney actually announced it and I was ecstatic. Then they took so long and I lost interest. Then came the good and the bad.

Good: An all-Asian cast with a competent Chinese woman who can do martial arts. However, this should be a given and I’m not really applauding them for this sort of ‘representation’.

Bad: I never really liked Liu Yifei that much in the first place because she honestly just can’t act.  What I’ve seen her perform in prior has looked so emotionless and sucked any heart or soul out of a story. I also don’t think she fits the role, looks or personality-wise. It’s the same offscreen too – she chose to show herself more through politics than expressing her personality to the wider world. Her impression to me to this day is still a more cold and distant one than a warm and friendly one. Through the trailers, I can tell that that wooden face will likely be the weakness of the film, especially since she takes front and center.

Good: More research was done with a little more thought put in it. Iconic but cringy things from original taken out (Mushu, hair cut) with more Chinese elements added in (phoenix, wuxia).

Bad: It’s still not enough. They removed the worst of it but there is still so many little things that snuck by, and new inaccuracies they decided to add (like her hometown). So you see the crew repeating the 1998′s crew history of patting themselves on the back for being so ‘true’ to the culture while, honestly, still majorly lacking in accuracy and authenticity. Despite what they think, there is still subtle stereotyping and generalizing of the culture.

If you check the cast and crew IMBD page, you’ll see that while the cast is something the internet approved of greatly, the behind-the-scenes crew is still very questionable. It’s like Disney casted Chinese and other Asians to please the public but still secretly wanted westerners to control the story and Chineseness. It’s all just for show.

Just because the fantasy/wuxia elements and set/costume details were done doesn’t mean it was done well. Sure they consulted cultural experts, but then decided to do the art themselves. Why didn’t they just hire Chinese people to work on the production design/costume design/art direction/makeup and even the music? At least a few people in charge of the culture they hold near and dear? Then the westerners can still take part in the project by being assistants instead of acting as the authority. All I see of those in control of art departments of the film is a sea of western influence.

There’s a huge noticeable difference between a Chinese person putting their heart and soul in their cultural arts, and a foreigner messing with this clunky alien thing they did not grow up with. Ends up that even though it is all high quality and highly detailed, I can still sense the shabbiness and orientalism in it. I mean, in some of the behind-the-scenes close-ups, why does the armor look so rustic and imperial gowns look like they are made of cheap fabric? Why did westerners make these decisions..? Well I have some ideas.

No matter what, they are still seeing through a western lens, and altering the art and story to satisfy western sensibilities and emotions. Making it actually Chinese would be too awkward and unnatural for them. Meanwhile we have to watch them tamper with this cultural icon, and viewing it will make it awkward and uncomfortable for us.

For example they wanted to include a kiss in one scene, which would have been a huge mess…thankfully that was shut down by Chinese critics and they removed it. I suppose a lot of bigger things were firmly dealt with, but I’m sure there are a plenty more parts the creators didn’t realize got passed anyway because the cultural experts who first viewed it were too exhausted to nitpick and debate every single subtle little detail.

People want to give Hollywood props now for not lumping all Asians as one, but even among Chinese we recognize the differences and diversity within the culture. It truly, sincerely, is not a monolith. Yet Disney is doing the same again by lumping it all as the same.

Also one of the worst parts is that they speak English instead of Chinese…in an ancient Chinese setting with real actors…it’s going to feel so weird as though it’s dubbed…it’s the biggest complaint of my friends and family…but I guess that can’t be helped.

In order to create a balance that is both true to Chinese culture and still clearly a Disney film, my idea would be to let Disney handle the overall funding and story because they are master storytellers, and then let Chinese people handle the production art and little details and critique during the process. Just consulting isn’t enough. Let people have authority and control over their own culture. Then maybe it would have worked. I don’t think it’s impossible. After all, Dreamworks has done it.

At the end of the day I have no say or control in the movie so I really have no choice but to go along with it. So there you go, I’m posting about it anyway.

Well I went on too long on the bad parts, and I may not even be right, and I haven’t seen the film yet so who knows? Another good thing is that there is the amount of Mulan merch that is going to come out of this. Both cute American novelty trinkets targeted towards Disney fans and gorgeous Chinese fashion with items targeted towards stylish women.

Lastly, there is the music. I’m not interested in the new vocal songs released, but the background orchestra of the original soundtrack is really gonna…I don’t even know how to describe, it’s going to move me to emotional heights, I’m going to soar. Cue the waterworks.

I really rambled on; this ended up being long and yet is only a summary of my thoughts. Initial reviews are saying it’s a good movie though. So I guess I’ll just have to wait and see! It’s gonna be while now tho lol

[sol1056]

a bunch more asks waiting their turns so politely

These are all various asks about the likelihood of a remake, a rewritten season, or a spinoff. 

1 could we get an alternate version 2 is a rewrite for S8 a viable option 3 would they change the ending for a spin-off 4 are single-episode edits possible for S8 5 will S7 reactions affect S8 6 how will DW get us to watch S8

Behind the cut.

With the shitstorm that vld became, would dreamworks ever take pity on us and remake some seasons of voltron that turned out like crap, or not even air, just release them as alternate versions on dvd? Im questioning the possibilities, not the probabilities, bc Im really not optimistic about that, I just wanna know if a show can do that and what would it take for the company to snap their fingers and be like "lets do it" (besides having money)

It’s not like frequent reboots don’t have precedent in other franchises; hell, comics do it on the regular. It’s also much cheaper to do a series of graphic novels or full novelizations geared towards an older audience. The problem there is that Dreamworks isn’t a comic book company or a publishing house; that part of the franchise would have to be farmed out to someone else. 

My guess --- if another remake is ever a possible option --- it’d be several years down the road. The first version would be set aside as, say, the Y-7 version for kids and family, and then you’d find a new angle for the next version. 

If DW got the impression there was a massive older crowd (say, 25-45) who would’ve eaten up a more mature, somewhat darker, version? Sure, why not try to grab that audience? I mean, look at the Castlevania series: it’s not pulling any punches on making clear it’s for adults. That would also require a different business model, since what adults like to buy for themselves is very different than what kids want. Skip the cake toppers, for starters. 

do you think given the reaction to VLD S7, is a rewrite for S8 a viable option? I feel the fandom is divided about the general reaction to S7. If JDS and M can just [focus on the fanbase segment] that liked it, why [bother trying to fix it for those] that didn't?

Given what I’ve been seeing in terms of data from the season... I think they aimed to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one. 

Pretty sure I’ve said something to this extent before: when you can’t please everyone, the answer isn’t to split the difference and piss everyone off. The answer is to pick your audience and give them the best damn story you can. The rest will sort itself out.

Let me put it this way: there are enough people who didn’t like S7 for the crummy animation, the OOC dialogue and actions, and the nonsensical storyline overloaded with a host of new characters that stole time from the actual protagonists. And there are also enough people who didn’t like S7 for queerbaiting the audience, killing off three out of four queer characters, and sidelining the one remaining queer character. There may be some overlap between those two sets, but taken together, those two sets are pretty much the dominant majority of the fan base. 

I don’t know if that makes a rewrite a viable option, but it should be making a few execs think twice about letting the EPs/staff carry on in the same direction. I mean, you want a series to end on a high note, not an ‘omg that had such potential but boy did it self-destruct in the last two seasons’ note.  

So if DW wants to do a Voltron spin-off, would they consider changing the ending to VLD to give Shiro the things he earned so this spin-off wouldn't be dead out of the water?

That would depend entirely on whether they’ve gotten the message that Shiro’s current status isn’t good enough for a significant part of the fanbase. If all they’re hearing (or all they choose to hear) is that it’s great to sideline one of their protagonists with no in-story explanation whatsoever, what’s to tell them there’s anything that needs addressing?  

Additionally, if the entirety of the issue is Shiro --- and everyone else is just fine, thanks --- I’m not sure that’d rate as enough to warrant changing so much. More likely any spin-off would start some X length of time between, and we’d get an implied intermediary backstory (or even a mild retcon), and go from there. 

Truth is, whomever gets the spin-off will (I really hope) be a better writer and not have to deal with intrusive newbie EPs. Even then, they’d be kinda limited on what they could do, given the spin-off does need to make sense placed against the first series. Then again, VLD hasn’t respected its own premise or continuity for the past few seasons, anyway. 

So I guess there’s always the option to start with an episode that retells VLD’s ending... Kinda awkward, but not unheard of, to basically retcon a previous series out of existence.  

I have no doubt DW is looking into what went wrong with this season. I know it might be a little to late to fix all of Season 8, but do you think they would have at least maybe the last few episodes changed to give a better ending to the show - or at least more respect to Shiro as a character?

Normally I’d say no. I mean, episode 1 should have characters making choices that in turn impact episode 2, and those choices prompt the events in episode 3... but that’s a logic VLD threw out the window somewhere between S3 and S4, and it’s only gotten worse since then. 

In which case, oh sure, why not? It wouldn’t make any less sense than what they’ve already got planned, if S7 is any indication. 

Could the reaction to season 7 cause any change the execs minds going into season 8? 

One problem: this is a Dreamworks production, but it’s not a DW-owned story. It’s a franchise: there are other players involved. There are the two guys who first butchered GoLion into Voltron, Toei whose story got that embutcherment, Netflix as the distributor, along with Playmates and Lion Forge and other contracted partners. There’s a lot more people at the table than just DW. 

It’s one thing for the EPs to say they messed up, and apologize. It’s quite another for Dreamworks to admit publicly their lousy (or nonexistent) oversight allowed the situation to happen. 

Legal would have apoplexy, for starters. What wins you a franchise is often showing you have the confidence (if not sheer chutzpah) that you can do this job justice like no other. And then you hit S7 and must admit you hired people who made a complete hash of it? 

If there’s anything that will cost the EPs any future roles of a similar position, it’s that they’ve put DW in a very uncomfortable position. Caught between a furious fanbase and overly-interested co-owners, someone --- or several someones --- are treading very lightly right now. They’re not going to forget the EPs are the ones who precipitated the whole mess. 

I think we are in a unique situation where the fact that the EPs were vocal about [changing] VLD ... could be a blessing for us & DW. [But we know it] was changed, & DW's part seems to be more negligence than direct fault like the EPs. So DW can drop it or fix it, and a rewrite would be worth us sticking around, while restoring DW's name.

Again, that depends on whether DW is in a position that they can do so. I assure you they’d throw the EPs under the bus at the first opportunity, because that’s how the corporate world works. So their failure to do so is either because they don’t see the EPs’ actions as untenable (as far as we know), or because doing so would expose DW corporate to greater retaliation from elsewhere. (It could also be part of the agreement that these particular EPs are in place for the duration of the series’ production, too. Sometimes that happens.) 

I still can’t get over the fact that the EPs were so blunt about having already had a script fully written when they asked to revise. From the Studio Mir leaks, we can guess at least some of the animation was already in production at least a year ago, or earlier. That’s a lot to redo. 

Here’s something that only just occurred to me, when I listed the co-partners in this franchise: the Koplar brothers. These are the geniuses who figured they didn’t need to know Japanese to make GoLion into an american production; turns out they were geniuses on some level ‘cause it was a hit, anyway. They went on to produce Voltron: Fleet of Doom (1986), Voltron: the Third Dimension (1998), and Voltron Force (2011). If there is anyone at the table who’d be likely to have nostalgia goggles, it’d be the Koplars. This has been their ongoing story in one way or another for over 30 years. 

Originally, the EPs said they weren’t tied to nostalgia; they weren’t going to redo the story as it was, but the story as they remembered. (I’d argue this actually indicates a stronger set of nostalgia goggles, but eh.) Their determination to get rid of Shiro has always felt like nostalgia goggles to me. Perhaps the Koplars were the greatest supporters of Keith as BP --- since that would respect the pattern they’ve followed, over and over, in all the iterations. 

Considering the Koplar’s somewhat litigious background over Voltron ownership, they may’ve had the ability to overrule. So... if you want to bench Shiro, you pitch your work with the execs who are most likely to agree with you. And if you can do that in the window between the previous VP of TV retiring and a brand-new external hire coming on as VP... welp, you got permission, and the new VP may’ve signed off, not realizing the impact. 

Which would put DW over a barrel, in some ways. If DW could’ve overruled their partners, the EPs never would’ve been able to make that end-run in the first place. 

How do u think DW will try to get us to watch s8? They & the EPs have shattered our trust and the show is so messy its almost unsalvageable. 

Stay to see X point's resolution? Yeah, we stayed many seasons for nothing, next. 

We have more rep? Ex. blonde girl is autistic... So we should be scared for her too??? 

There's more queer rep? Yeah, we heard that one already. 

Unless everyone responsible is fired and a new crew runs the next seasons?

I don’t know. I would hope the answer is ‘by giving us a story that makes sense, and creates closure for all the protagonists, and not just by making two of them emotional rewards for two other characters.’ 

At this point, there is only one thing that’s going to make Dreamworks change course: if the fallout from VLD impacts its other projects. If the majority of the VLD fanbase up and announced it would be boycotting She-Ra or Fast & Furious or Trollhunters on the grounds that DW screwed up so badly with VLD that it cannot be trusted... Then you’d see movement. If the PR got so bad from so many upset and angry VLD fans that major news outlets paid attention and started writing articles about the situation, that would also put a black mark beside Dreamworks’ name -- and then you’d see movement. 

With the VLD toys a failure (for whatever mismanaged reasons) and a financial model set entirely on toys, fixing VLD now would be throwing good money after bad. Unless, of course, there’s an impact beyond just this single series. 

Until Dreamworks can see the impact in some concrete sense, they have far more to lose from their partners than they have to gain from their fanbase. It’s just how it is, with corporations in late capitalism. 

You want to make an impact? You tell Dreamworks ahead of time, and then you follow through: pick a week and go silent. Nothing about VLD, here or on twitter or anywhere else. No reblogs on She-Ra updates. Ignore the podcasts. Don’t click on the articles. That stuff’ll be there when the week is over, after all. Show DW what it’s like when a fanbase checks out, by doing it. It’s a short-term boycott, but the reason groups do boycotts is because they work. 

[metalandmagi]

July media madness

Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of How Did I Waste My Life This Month? The self imposed life experiment to see what and how much media I consume in a month. Let’s jump into it!

June media

Movies!

Arrival: 12 mysterious spacecrafts appear around the world, and a renowned linguist is hired by the military to try and communicate with the aliens inside. It is an alien “invasion” movie involving no action or world destruction, and as someone who majored in speech pathology, may I just say holy shit this movie is fucking amazing. I know I’m super late to this party, but if you haven’t seen it please watch it. It’s on Amazon Prime. Go now. 100,000/10

Set it Up: Two overworked assistants to extremely narcissistic employers try to set up their bosses in an effort to get some time off. Naturally, because it’s a romcom, the assistants fall in love along the way. It’s The Parent Trap meets The Devil Wears Prada, and it’s pretty adorable! 7/10

The Incredibles: Pixar’s version of the fantastic four that works better than any actual fantastic four movie. Come on we all know the Incredibles, I just watched it because it’s my favorite Pixar movie and I was hyped for the sequel! 10/10

The Incredibles 2: The sequel we’ve been wanting for FOURTEEN YEARS has finally come to the big screen, and it’s amazing. It has everything I ever wanted: the family fighting crime, Elastagirl being an amazing role model, an adorable baby, more Frozone, jaw dropping animation, more creative superheroes....but somehow I still like the original better. This one just didn’t have the spy feeling that I loved so much in the original, and they family didn’t have a lot of scenes with all of them together. And the fact that it’s so unfriendly to people with epilepsy doesn’t help. But still amazing 9/10

Jaws: I was browsing Amazon Prime videos and realized I had never seen Jaws before...it’s pretty good. There’s a big shark...and government corruption...and good cinematography...and that’s all I have to say. 8/10

Despicable Me 3: Those gosh darned minions are back and- wait there’s actually not as much of them in this movie...have the animation gods finally answered our prayers!? Anyway is there even a plot to this movie? Lucy continues to be the funniest and most interesting character while Gru is off doing...something with a long lost twin brother. I have no real excuse for watching this. 6/10

My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rollercoaster of Friendship: The girls have to deal with Equestrian magic at an amusement park where an evil blogger/internet star who inexplicably runs an amusement park gets the power to teleport people...for some reason. These specials have no rhyme or reason to them anymore, but I just can’t get away from this franchise. 6/10

The Last Jedi: Yeah I’m just gonna leave this one here.

Books!

This summer has not been great for my reading life

Circe by Madeline Miller: AKA Local island witch just wants to be left the fuck alone.

If you thought Song of Achilles was a rollercoaster, be prepared to laugh, cry, and throw up while following the story of a woman whose name you heard once during your classic literature class. It is a very slow read, but every page is worth it. Circe is probably my favorite female character of the year so far, Odysseus still deserves his own Madeline Miller version of the Odyssey, Penelope turns out to be a badass bitch to the surprise of no one, and I want my own pet lion. 10 badass Greek women out of 10

Opal by Maggie Stiefvater: A short story taking place shortly after the end of The Raven Cycle series. It is about Opal. She’s an adorable half goat child, and she represents the entire fandom because we too don’t want Adam to leave for college and would happily spend all day spying on our favorite boys making out and taking naps together. And I swear if the Ronan trilogy doesn’t bring up who the hell was snooping around the barns I will personally come to Maggie’s house and shake the answer out of her. 10/10

TV Shows!

Nailed It season 2: Regular people bake insanely professional complicated stuff in hopes of winning money. I just like seeing cool looking baked goods. 8/10

Queer Eye: Makeovers! Okay, all the guys guest starred on Nailed It so naturally I had to watch it for context! 9/10

Glow: A bunch of women in the 1980s star in a tv show about wrestling. Honestly, I don’t even know if I like this show. It’s very well made. But the characters jump between being likeable and unlikeable like they’re in a hopscotch tournament. It’s offensive, but it’s supposed to be offensive on purpose...oh well. ?/10

Dreamworks Dragons: I finally finished all 8 seasons of the How to Train your Dragon tv show! Two seasons from cartoon network, six from Netflix, and holy cow that show is way better than it has any right to be. Now I must patiently wait for the third movie...which had better include a Heather cameo, and a Mala cameo, and a Dagur cameo, and the Wingmaidens. 10/10

Honorable Mentions

Mean Girls the musical: As someone who has never really seen the movie, this was pretty fun. 8/10

Season 2 of Tangled the animated series started. Make that two shows based off of beloved animated movies that are way better than they have any right to be.

JULY STEVEN UNIVERSE BOMB

I finally listened to The Lightning Thief musical soundtrack. I think there’s some sort of contractual obligation for George Salazar to sing incredibly self deprecating depressing solos in every show he’s in.

[dent-de-leon]

Dude that keith video hurt me just as much as the shiro video. Really??hothead and space dad like that’s all there is?? They couldn’t go for something like “his dedication to shiro”??? I’m smh

YoOOOO I’m really…okay, so, I just watched it. Let’s consider something first before we get into it, and this is the actual lore here, but–“hotheaded.” Okay, so. Here’s some quotes about why Keith has really intense, not just “hotheaded” but viscerally intense and passionate emotions across the board for pretty much every sensation. In an interview very early on, Joaquim told us, “[Keith] latches onto Shiro at times because Shiro’s sort of the only thing that can really calm him down and keep him in check.” (source). 

Later on, Lauren confirms that this difficulty with control, this overwhelming sense of emotion, it’s an inherent galra trait–“It’s kind of exasperated by the fact that Shiro’s gone. Like he’s having a hard time dealing with it, he doesn’t really know how to feel. And I think he just goes back to that inner part of himself where it’s just—he can’t control his emotions. And that comes from the galra side.” (source). So, let’s reexamine all of this for a moment. 

Keith obviously doesn’t want to be so angry when he has outbursts, just as he doesn’t want to be so tied down to all his emotions. See here–the way he apologizes for getting upset in his vlog. But also, in regards to his very conscious exertion of control when he tries to mediate with Lance about the whole one sided rivalry thing in season 2 rather than let himself continue to get baited by it. How he again apologizes and tries to explain when Lance accuses him of stealing Blue Lion, how he suggests they both stay calm and just keep apart rather than fighting over the pool, how he doesn’t object when Lance says he’s unfit to go on the BOM mission, ect. 

As for why Keith is so clearly struggling with all of this, seemingly more so than other galra, here’s something to consider–he was never raised with the proper coping mechanisms and grounding techniques that were likely offered to other galra as a natural part of growing up, quantifying and managing these intense emotions. The deprival of such vital coping mechanisms likely did a number on him, and that’s why, as aforementioned, he literally “latches onto” Shiro. Because Shiro was the first one really able to soothe him and offer both comfort and coping mechanisms to help him navigate those intense emotions. Here’s an excerpt on it from another post I’ve written:

What I meant is just, having emotions that intense isn’t good, it’s painful–I know. It can be very easy to get overwhelmed and have breakdowns. You don’t want that much feeling. It’s a kind of sensory overload that can cause meltdowns. So when I talk about Keith “softening” Shiro or suppressing that intensity, I don’t mean “bottle up your feelings.” I mean, when you get overwhelmed from emotion and panic like that, you need grounding.

“Patience yields focus”–if Keith gets too lost in those feelings he has trouble focusing, and Shiro gives him the coping mechanisms he needs to find his center. He also offers both verbal and physical affirmations and plenty of affection–we do see that Keith is very touch averse but seems to really like Shiro’s contact. It’s not about shoving all your feelings down, it’s about managing your feelings so you don’t get overwhelmed and finding ways to keep yourself grounded and calm down. That’s why Keith “latches onto Shiro.” But finding outlets to control volatile emotions like this is very healthy and something Keith really needs

So it’s really not an anger problem thing, it’s a sensory overload thing, and one that Keith is clearly ashamed of and trying to manage as best he can. “I am…sorry. I am so sorry I, I guess—I have a bit of a temper, so…I don’t know why I’m that way.” And we’re…just going to reduce that to “lmao he’s always so mad and extra, what’s up with that”??? Okay, but why?? Anyway, let’s actually talk about some of the “hotheaded” moments in this video, because…boy. First off, one of the segments is called something like, His Fiery Remarks, but includes the scene where Keith makes a joke to help alleviate Hunk’s anxiety, to clear the air and put him at ease. Wow. How angry and hotheaded right?? Telling jokes,, to cheer up your friend??? How angry,, 

You know what made me more upset though? One of Keith’s outbursts during his mourning period for Shiro is in here too. Because it’s apparently irrational anger if you’ve gone months desperately searching for the person you care about most, and you’ve grown extremely frustrated and upset because it feels like everyone else has already moved on and no one cares for him the way you do. People want them to form Voltron left and right, and he’s understandably visibly shaken by it because there’s all this talk about replacing Shiro when you yourself can’t bear the thought. “But nothing. Shiro is gone. He was the Black Lion. Without him, there is no Voltron.” 

You know what else came up under Intense Emotions? 

Keith’s struggle to open up to the Black Lion, and the way he only reaches out for Shiro’s sake. “I know this is what you wanted for me, Shiro. But I’m not you. I can’t lead them like you.” But the video also includes the moment where Black’s lights flood the room, and amidst the triumphant music and glowing equipment, we hear Keith’s defeated, mournful whisper of, “Please, no.” And honestly, it’s important to remember that this is part of what we mean when we talk about Keith having volatile emotions. Much of that isn’t anger, it’s his hopes and dreams, his protective nature, his fierce loyalty, his undying devotion, his love. And it kills me that something like this is filed under the branch of “hotheaded” because it’s so clearly not. This moment stems from deep grief and longing, from love. Keith is a very intensely caring person. 

So, is it disappointing to see stuff like this? Yeah, understandably. Do I think we shouldn’t put too much stock in it? Yeah, absolutely. Do I still want to know if Dreamworks’ marketing is hiring, and if so where I can apply? Yes please. But ultimately, I think they’re just going though bad fandom tropes here. I wish the types of videos we got for each paladin were very different, and more representative of them as characters, but for now I guess this is just how it is for this set. Hopefully I’ll like their future bonus content more. But yeah, it is a little disheartening when a character’s difficulty with grounding, expressing themselves, and moments of grief are just dismissed as “wow he’s so angry.” And yeah, both he and Shiro definitely deserved better videos honestly. 

[melancholiablackbile]

A lot of questions... my my, someone's curious lol

@black-satin-dancer tagged me, cheers dude :D

Rules: answer all the questions, add one of your own and tag as many people as there are questions …pshh please, let’s keep it realistic - I don’t even know that many people irl. (also didn’t feel obligated to answer the Dragon age/Mars effect questions, because I’ve never played it)

1. coke or pepsi?

Neither. I absolutely hate fizzy sweet drinks lol. The only thing I enjoy is kombucha and I’ve had ginger ale which I can tolerate. (btw did you know there’s something called bacon soda? I just found out and I’m absolutely horrified and disgusted. pls burn this knowledge out of my brain thank)

2. disney or dreamworks?

I don’t have a preference, nor am I overly invested in any of the two, so it depends. By Disney I really like Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare before Christmas and Frankenweenie, to pick a few. As for DreamWorks, Penguins of Madagascar are THE SHIT omg 3. coffee or tea? I’m a tea person, however I enjoy coffee flavour in things

4. books or movies?

Both

5. windows or mac?

I use windows, don’t feel like I’m missing out or anything tbh

6. dc or marvel?

I’m only starting to get into comics, and I’ve probably seen more marvel films than dc ones, but I think I like dc a little more I like the older Batman films by Tim Burton.

7. xbox or playstation?

playstation. “OF COURSE we’re going to go with the ps4 - they’re blacker!” :D

8. dragon age or mass effect?

Haven’t played either, but was thinking about giving Dragon age a go

9. night owl or early riser?

aw shit dude, I don’t even know anymore. my sleeping schedule is so fucked up lately, I tend to be a night owl tho. But hey, time isn’t really anyway, so..

10. cards or chess?

both, but you can do more with cards. like chess is just one game, but there are lots of different card games. I personally identify with CAH, I think the company should hire me, because I’m a horrible person lmao

11. chocolate or vanilla?

chocolate all the way. I don’t eat it often, but when I do, I’m a snob about it - I only like the dark stuff (only vegan ofc). bonus points, if there’s dried fruit like berries in it. To sum it up (i’m taking this way too seriously and detailed lol, but I have insomnia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) overall, chocolate flavour is better I guess, vanilla makes me vomit, it’s disgusting and I hate it. 12.vans or converse? I used to own a pair of converse, but neither are shoes I’d wear now

13. fluff or angst?

a good combination of both ehehe

14. beach or forest?

forests are awesome - they are green and smell amazing, you can spot a lot of wild animals and the atmosphere is very serene and calming. I’ll always pick forests over beaches, unless the beach is all sand or small round marble stones, the water is clear without the detached, rotting algae stuff that floats around and ew, the sun has fucked off so I don’t get sunburnt (my skin always skips the tan stage right to red and I prefer pale skin anyway) and all sweaty and shit, there are NO people beside those I’m there with and I do NOT spot any animal while in the water that’s bigger than like 5cm. Because even though I love and respect it deeply, I’m genuinely afraid of sea life, I don’t care that there are lots of totally harmless creatures. …lmao, I feel like a rich asshole saying all that - way too many demands. (sorry sea/ocean, I love you, but you freak me the fuck out)

15. dogs or cats?

I have dogs, but I love both. With dogs, the love is more likely to be returned though :D

16. clear skies or rain?

clear night skies for star gazing, rain during the day

17. cooking or eating out?

I eat mostly raw vegan nowadays, because it’s healthy I don’t have the energy to cook and can’t be arsed and I’m not too fond of eating in public so… preparing/eating food at home?

18. spicy food or mild food?

all the spices lol

19. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas?

How is this a question, have you met me? My whole existence basically revolves around celebrating Halloween like every day

20. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot?

The first one is way better imho, I’m usually a little too cold anyway (no pun intended omg) and I’m fine with that.

21. if you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Hydrokinesis (so basically I’d be a water bender ehehe) or Telepathy

22. animation or live action?

both are great (with the exception of some anime adaptations lol)

23. baths or showers?

showers don’t take too long, but baths are very nice from time to time

24. team cap or team ironman?

Team Loki, duh! No, but honestly, I’m not really invested in the whole civil war thing, but if cap is a nazi, then I’m team ironman

25. fantasy or sci-fi?

both are amazing and bring happiness into my life

26. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so, what are they?

I guess I have a lot of favourite ones, but these two came to my mind right now: “I do desire we may be strangers” (Shakespeare) it’s such a classy and eloquent way to tell someone you hate them :D “And so being young and dipped in folly, I fell in love with melancholy” (E.A. Poe) because ME tbh

27. youtube or netflix? 

Youtube, no netflix here

28. harry potter or percy jackson?

Harry Potter all the way. I’ve read the first Percy jackson pentalogy and don’t get me wrong, Greek mythology is awesome, but wizards over demigods

29. when do you feel accomplished?

Idk, when I’m able to do more than the bare minimum and when I totally Tony Stark the whole subject/study material the night before the exam. and probably smug/petty rather than accomplished - when I prove horrible people/people I don’t like wrong or do things they don’t approve of lol

30. star wars or star trek?

I have to say Star Trek but I love both

31. paperback or hardback books?

Hardback. HARDBACK!

32. horror or rom-com?

I’ve always gravitated towards horror - psychological, gothic, really bad b/c movie style, etc. - I get bored by rom-coms

33. tv shows or movies?

depends, but both. as an aspiring actor, beside theatre, I think I’d like to work on films over tv shows - if I ever get the chance to do so that is

34. favourite animal?

penguins, rats, corvids.. but like, birds in general and all animals are awesome anyway and precious and worth of life 35. favourite genre of music? alternative rock - which is a broad spectrum tho, so I guess rock sub-genres in general.. art rock, goth rock, punk rock my favourite (purely because of the name) is krautrock (aka kosmische Musik) which is the German term for space rock, but the literal translation is either herb or cabbage rock lmao :D throw in some psychedelic stuff, ambient music, experimental and classical and I’m good to go

36. least favourite book?

Madame Bovary. I think The Great Gatsby was boring too. I don’t usually read books without researching it a bit before so I can somewhat predict whether I’ll like it or not. (btw, if you’re into fantasy at all, 10/10 recommend reading the series A Raven’s Shadow by Anthony Ryan, he’s such an eloquent writer and the plot and characters are incredible! 37. favourite season? The season of Halloween - autumn all the way

38. song that’s currently stuck in your head?

Cinnamon Bone by Eliza Rickman. She has a really nice voice and combined with the melody it sounds very unique. Actually didn’t know who the singer was until a few days ago. She also performed in the weather section in a Welcome to Night Vale episode. Oh and I rewatched CATS the musical on Sunday, so like.. the whole libretto is playing in my head on loop :D I’ve pretty much known the entire thing by heart since I was like 8 lol

39. what kind of pyjamas do you wear?

Either boxer shorts or Levi Ackerman’s running titan pyjamas lmao

40. how many existential crises do you have on an average day?

I’m having an ongoing one since the age of 16 tbh

41. if you can only choose one song to be played at your funeral, what would it be?

Space Oddity by David Bowie

42. favourite theme song to a TV show?

I’ve know this song before I started watching the show, but Far from Any Road from True Detective is amazing. And the opening to snk season 2 lol, it gets me all fired up and ready to salivate every time Levi appears cry probably idk :D

43. harry potter movies or books?

even though, they are problematic in some aspects, both have their charm (pun absolutely intended this time)

44. you can make your OTP become canon but you’ll forget that tumblr exists. will you do it? 

Bitch, my otp is canon. and I doubt anyone can really forget about tumblr - you can try and leave, but it will never leave you

45. do you play an instrument and if so, what is it? 

Not like professionally or since early childhood and all that, but I taught myself how to play the violin and I think I’m pretty decent. Same goes for drums. My dad and I low-key collect musical instruments, I think we have around 20+ pieces ^^

46. what is the worst way to die?

alone and helpless and in excruciating pain from whatever the cause was that didn’t kill you immediately though, so you have to suffer

47. if you could be entirely invisible for a day, what would you do? 

Be sneaky ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) lol idk, I’d do stuff anxiety and self-consciousness prevent me from in normal life. Okay, that is so pathetic, but my first thought was “I’d go swimming” … *wipes away a tear*

48. If you could have personally witnessed anything in history what would it be?

I feel like it’s kinda selfish and considering I’d choose this out of any moment in history maybe a wasted opportunity? but I would have loved to see David Bowie perform. Idk, I’m sure there’s more, but it’s 3am here..

49. If you could understand animals but you could never understand humans again, would you?

I find I often don’t understand humans anyway..

50. What is your most favourite album currently?

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars by David Bowie is my go to favourite album, haven’t really listened to whole albums lately, just a few songs here and there 51. (my question) What is your favourite word/phrase/colloquiallism? Name one (or more) per language you speak c:

tbh, Jeremy tagged most of the people I’d tag too, so I’m just adding @the-river-dream-shore and @slecnaztemnot to this if they or anyone else feel like it ;) I’m going to sleep now hopefully~

Note: Wow, that’s a lot of reading material lol. Why did I sound so angry?? I was tired, so that took a toll on my answers, I promise I’m not that much of an asshole :D

[ninjacupcake333]

I was tagged

by the wonderful user @peaceful-waldeinsamkeit (thanks for the tag! :D)

Rules: Answer all the questions, then add one of your own, and tag as many people as there are questions

1) Coke or Pepsi?: I feel like I’m the only person who has never had a preference regarding this debate, I like them both

2) Disney or Dreamworks?: That’s tough…………honestly I love them both equally, I can’t decide!!! >3<

3) Coffee or Tea?: COFFEE!!! I drink two cups a day and I’m actually really REALLY moody without it, like honestly, I am a bitch without coffee (ask my brother)

4) Books or Movies?: Books, Hollywood always screws things up imho

5) Windows or Mac?: I’ve never used a Mac sooooo Windows

6) D.C. or Marvel?: I don’t read a lot of comics, but when it comes to movies and show I’ve never really seen any DC ones (besides like…..batman and suicide squad and teen titans which I adore), so although I adore teen titans I have to go with Marvel cuz I’ve seen more from them 

7) Xbox or PlayStation?: Don’t play a lot of games, but I’d have to go with Playstation. Gotta love kingdom hearts guys. Plus I just bought a PS4 so I could play FF15 soooooooooooo

8) Dragon age or mass effect?: ……..i’veneverplayedeither…………..I’ve heard they’re good though, would people recommend this??? (cuz I have the PS4 now so I could play them if I wanted I think)

9) Night Owl or Early Riser?: Night owl. If I have nothing to do the next day I’ll stay up til 3 and wake up late in the afternoon

10) Cards or Chess?: I don’t do a lot of either, but I play cards more, and I’m REALLY bad at chess (despite my brother saying I’m really good at chess, which whenever I play I usually have no idea what I’m doing soooooo)

11) Chocolate or Vanilla?: Chocolate. I’m like that guy from Spongebob. I’m the girl that buys those pound-of chocolate bars at Trader Joe’s whenever I get the chance and eats it within a week

12) Vans or Converse? I wear converse literally every day. Even when they get destroyed they’re comfortable!

13) Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar?: ………..uh…….gesundheit?

14) Fluff or Angst?: I’m honestly not sure……fluff I guess? it’s cute sometimes, and angst just makes me feel bad

15) Beach or Forest?: atm I’d have to say forest, I did a LOT of hiking when I was in Japan and it was amazing, but whenever I go to the beach anymore I just end up sitting in the sand doing nothing. I don’t really swim anymore

16) Dogs or Cats? Yes

17) Clear Skies or Rain? Clear skies, rain makes me REALLY tired

18) Cooking or Eating Out? I can’t cook, but I also don’t like spending money, so neither I guess? though eating out has the social aspect to it, so if I HAD to pick one I’d say eating out if it was with friends

19) Spicy or Mild Food? Mild, I don’t handle spicy well……

20) Halloween/Samhain or Solstice/Yule/Christmas? THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN (goes off into song)

21) Would You Rather Forever Be A Little Too Cold Or A Little Too Hot?: A little too cold, my thermostat’s usually really low so that’s basically my reality anyways

22) If You Could Have A Superpower What Would It Be?:  I’ve heard legit arguments against this, but despite that, I’d wanna be able to read minds. Not all the time, but in like….a controlled sense. Like read a certain person’s mind at a certain time, but be able to shut it off when I want so I don’t have a stream of incoming thoughts from people. Mostly cuz I’m really bad at being able to tell when someone’s joking about something or picking up on context clues(like REALLY BAD) so that would help a lot, plus I get really paranoid about what people actually think about me (AND IT WOULD HELP WITH MY CURRENT CRUSH SITUATION THAT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY ATM CUZ MY CRUSH EITHER CAN’T MAKE UP HIS GODDAMN MIND OR JUST DOESN’T WANT TO AND IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY CUZ I CAN’T TELL WHAT HE’S THINKING) I would never actually use it against anyone, I just want it so I can freakin relax for once when it comes to being social

23) Animation or Live Action?: Animation. Bout sums that up

24) Paragon or Renegade?: ……………………..what does that mean? pertaining to what exactly? is this a reference? I’m confused.......

25) Bath or Shower?: Shower, I don’t have time for baths (though I have to say I HAVE been wanting to try bath bombs, they look fun....)

26) Team Cap or Team Iron-Man?: (don’t kill me dad) Iron man. Idk why but something has always bugged me about Captain America’s character, and I love the Iron man movies more than the Captain America ones, so Iron man (SORRY DAD SPARE ME >3<)

27) Fantasy or Sci-Fi?: Fantasy, sci fi doesn’t really catch my interest as much. It does sometimes, but I always end up liking fantasy stories better

28) Do You Have Three or Four Favorite Quotes If So What Are They?: also something I’ve never really thought about……..

Well I can’t remember the exact wording, but I guess my favorite quote would have to be “Growing old is mandatory, growing up isn’t”

And I guess if I’m choosing more than one, my second one would be lyrics from a song by Icon for Hire “You didn’t shoot for the moon just to hit the stars” (from their song “Demons”)

I don’t really have any others though tbh, if I find any others or think of any I’ll edit

29) YouTube or Netflix?: I watch a loooooooooot of markiplier and game grumps, so youtube

30) Harry Potter or Percy Jackson?: YES

31) When Do You Feel Accomplished?: When I complete something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I never feel motivated to do anything anymore, so those moments where I do actually get motivated enough to pick myself up from off my couch and like….draw something, or read something, or play something that I’ve been wanted to for a while, it’s not much but it’s a good feeling

32) Star Wars or Star Trek?: neither (PLEASE DON’T KILL ME)

I’ve never watched Star Trek, and I had a kiiiiiiind of bad experience getting into Star Wars (thing with an ex, nothing really bad, just uncomfortable) so I never really got into it further

33) Paperback Books or Hardcover Books?: Hardcover. They’re just so much nicer! Plus I always end up bending the covers of paperbacks cuz I carelessly pack them when I wanna take them with me places....

34) Fantastic Beasts or Cursed Child?: I haven’t actually read/seen fantastic beasts yet so I can’t answer this. My brother got me the book for Christmas, but I haven’t gotten to reading it yet, and I haven’t had time to watch the movie. I HAVE read Cursed Child though

35) Rock or Pop Music? I’m in a rock band so if I didn’t say rock I’d feel like a heathen

36) What Is The Most Important Thing In Your Life?: musiiiiiiiiiic. it’s been a HUGE part of my life since 4th grade when I first started playing flute/when my dad first gave me fall out boy’s “from under the cork tree”/ green day’s “american idiot”. I went to an arts school for instrumental music and everything!

37) Mountains or Sea/Ocean?: going back to the hiking thing, mountains

38) How Do You Express Yourself?: …………….going back to the motivation thing, I can never bring myself to do the things that would best help me express myself……….I’m awful >3< though I’d have to say either drawing or playing an instrument (lately bass guitar) would be the ways I express myself best when I actually try

39) What’s The First Book/Film That Really Counted To You?: Probably Percy Jackson tbh. It’s the first series I’ve read that I stuck with for as long as I have

40) What’s Your Element (Ar, Water, etc.)?: FIRE!!! I literally wear a bracelet/necklace everyday with the alchemic symbol for fire on them

41) If You Could Travel Anywhere, Where Would You Go?: Either back to Japan (CUZ I FUCKIN LOVE JAPAN OMG) or like……I’d love to go to Paris or Italy tbh

42) If you had any job in the world, what would it be?: My UNREALISTIC dream job is to be in a famous band as the bassist, I love just being able to play with my friends and if I could make a living off of that, that would be amazing

My REALISTIC dream job is to teach Japanese.  I’ve always loved the idea of being a teacher, but I never knew for what subject, but when I started college I knew I wanted to teach foreign language. I started with french, but I ended up switching to japanese cuz i had more of a passion/interest in it.

43) If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?

1. WORLD FUCKING PEACE I MEAN SERIOUSLY HOW FUCKING HARD IS THAT

2. a bit selfish here, but for me to have enough resources to be able to live comfortably

3. for everyone else to be able to do so as well

44) If You Had To Eat One Food For The Rest Of Your Life, What Would It Be?: Literally any kind of pasta. That’s all I ate as a kid and I still freaking love it

45) What’s Your Spirit Animal/Patronus?: According to Pottermore, my patronus is a black mamba

I REALLY DO BELONG IN SLYTHERIN!!!! 

46) Would You Kill Yourself And Save Your Friends or Kill Your Friends and Save Yourself?: Uhhhh probably myself to save my friends, that’d be fine

47) If You Had To Become A Mythical Creature Which Would You Be? Now THIS I’ve definitely never thought of……um……I meaaaaaaaaan……I guess if I HAD to choose I’d go with elf probably. That’d be cool

NEW! 48) If you could have one thing in the world right now, what would it be?

I don’t actually know/follow 48 people, so I’m just gonna tag people that I know well IRL (you guys don’t actually have to do it if you don’t want ^^;;;;;)

@dreamer-21 @prince-of-pineapples @phantomcat94 @facheux-grantaire @kingkuroko11 @thenerdwholeaptthroughtime @dasteacup @orangeincubator @kastanas

[gregwhite]

SOLD A SHOW

So a writing career is kind of made up of two jobs: getting staffed on other people’s shows, and selling your own shows in the hopes that one day you will be the one doing the staffing. I’ve been lucky since getting my first writing job in 2009 to basically be employed on other people’s shows on a fairly consistent basis, with only a few notable gaps*, but I hadn’t had much experience selling shows. 

I had pitched a bunch over the years, and I’m still very fond of a lot of them. One of them was called Lesser Gods (pitched with character designs by my very talented board artist pal Will Patrick)--it was set in the realm of the gods, and followed the Zeus character’s degenerate son as he is exiled into a life ruling the lesser gods, aka the gods nobody cares about (there was the god of smooth jazz, and so on). Very fun show, but I don’t think I pitched it very well. Then there was a show called Slice, pitched with Six Point Harness, which was more of a King of the Hill sort of tone set on a crappy public golf course. The show began when this slummy golf pro’s somewhat estranged daughter, a local government employee, is hired to make the golf course profitable, which basically makes her her dad’s boss. Another show I really loved, but I don’t think it really connected with the folks we took it to. 

And on and on and on. 

Then in 2015, I had partnered with Alex Bulkley at Shadow Machine (a great man, and a great studio) on another animated show of mine called Robot Daughter (my agents made sure my DreamWorks deal allowed me to pitch and develop to outside buyers). The premise of RD was basically Terminator meets Girls. A small-time inventor is kidnapped by the Russians (it’s always the Russians) and forced at gunpoint to create a killing machine for them, which he does, but he ends up developing paternal feelings for his creation, so he takes it on the run, slaps skin on it, and tries to hide it in plain sight by enrolling it in high school, passing it off as his teenage daughter. The joke of the show was that for this death machine, capable of anything, high school is a lot more complicated and confusing than actual war. It was funny and vulgar and we sold it to MTV. That was the first time I really felt truly confident in a pitch, where I could just talk about the show without little note cards or anything. It was just “here’s the hook, here’s what the show’s about, thanks for listening.” It was a good lesson in not only how to pitch, but also what to pitch. There are some things that you take out that you feel sort of like, “Yeah, this is a show more or less” and then there are things you take out that feel like, “Oh, this is definitely a show.” That isn’t to say they follow a template, quite the opposite, but that there’s something that just feels right about it. 

I wrote a pilot I’m still really fond of (it’s become a sample my agents and managers use quite often) but ultimately MTV decided, after buying our show, that they didn’t want to do animation anymore. Fair enough. It was a throwback to sort of that Liquid Television era of MTV, and in the end it wasn’t enough to convince them that animation was where it’s at. 

A note on animation for a sec. While I love it, I never intentionally decided that I was going to do primarily animation, it just sort of happened this way. And when it comes time for me to pitch something, the ideas I get most excited about take place in alternate universes and other realities with gods or animals or robots as protagonists. At this point, I just go with it. But on the selling side of things, a lot of studios and networks don’t really know how to approach animation. Is it its own thing? Can it exist alongside live-action shows? It’s a weirder, more niche thing to pitch it seems. I don’t let that really influence what I pitch or write, but it’s worth noting. 

Anyway, moving on. At the end of 2015, I was rewatching The Sopranos, and one episode ended with this beautiful Nick Lowe song called The Beast in Me and I became a little obsessed with it. Just the notion of this roiling monster living inside someone (basically all of us to some degree) and the person not knowing exactly how to deal with it struck me as particularly profound. It also made me think of my dog, Louie, a little wonderhound schnauzer, and how he seems to contain all these amusing contradictory traits. One minute he’s trotting along next to me, docile and obedient, and the next minute he’s vomiting blood and shrieking at the sight of a squirrel or one of his SACRED ENEMIES (pugs and other flat faced dogs). 

So with this in mind, I wrote a script for a show called The Beast in Me. It was basically, what if Bambi decided to get revenge on his mother’s killer, but in doing so, gets sidetracked and wanders off into a nearby city and gets a job at a data entry office. The show was very dry and odd and absurd, and was sort of just about this fox character learning what it means to become human (he gets a job, makes friends, experiences love, etc). I sent it to my managers at Principato-Young, as I often do, with a very self-satisfied note: “Hey! Here’s another script! I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done!” When we connected, they were less enthused than I (I get VERY enthused about things), but they said that there was something about the revenge aspect of this show that struck them as interesting. I recall one of my managers saying, “It feels more like a Western.” It was the end of the year, and I was leaving for the holidays, but they told me to fiddle around with it to see if maybe there was something there. 

So I went home to Jersey for a few weeks, and thought about it, and when I came back in January of 2016, we started talking about this idea weekly. First it was a change in the setting, from present day Hudson Valley to the 1800s Dakota Territories. And it needed a tone shift. So I made it about The Fox, now this sort of bizarre combination of a sweet, sentient animal who is at the same time violently hungry for revenge and yet weirdly naive about the world in his absolute dedication to his personal code. And he’s out there traveling with a Chinese immigrant who is searching for his own family, and this murderous crack shot Molly, who dreams of becoming the first female US Marshal. And then it needed a villain, so we rewrote history and made it Chester A Arthur, who we portray as a lunatic American Hitler with no moorings in reality. He murders James Garfield to snatch the presidency, and by the time The Fox discovers who killed his mom, the task is clear: kill the dictatorial president of the United States. (Who knew this would be so satisfying to write post November 8...)

So it took us quite a while to really land on the tone and the serialized nature of the story and to make sure it functioned as a bizarro drama and not just as a disposable joke machine comedy. And so by September of 2016 the adults started setting up pitches for us, and we basically spent 2 weeks or so in the early fall pitching once or twice a day. The pitch felt very good from the start. I knew the show very well, and was very passionate about making this show (basically, it was me doing Tarantino/Miyazaki fan fiction). Plus, the pitch was fun to do. I liked talking about it. I liked telling people about our alt Chester A Arthur. I liked walking them through five seasons of serialized storytelling. And this was a big difference. In the past, I worried so much about hitting certain talking points in the pitch, that I never really considered whether or not I even liked the words I was saying. This time around, the metric was: what is the detail in each section that I can’t wait to get to? No notes, no pages, just go in there and tell these people about our strange story. 

And it worked! This combination of a weird but familiar thing, and a straight forward telling of something very strange ended up resulting in two offers. One from a streaming channel, and one from FX. FX was always the target in our heads in terms of the tone they aim for, and the kinds of stuff they put on the air, and so we were pleased to be able to go with them. Then the adults started doing the deal stuff, and I went home for Christmas again. 

Now here we are, and I’m about to start writing. So far the conversations we’ve had with their execs have been very creatively satisfying. They want us to make something unique and they have been pushing me to do better work, and to consider the characters’ inner lives and all the things that are very easy to ignore. I pitched them a few pilot premises, and they were off the mark, and we’re** about to go back to them with what I think is a strong but simple premise that allows us to introduce the world and the show to an audience while still leaving plenty of room for the quiet stillness associated with the Western genre. We always said that the show was more anime than Archer. I love Archer more than anything else some days, but it’s a very quick, dialog rich show. This thing will work best in a slower execution. 

So that’s the shape of it. I wrap my very happy time at DreamWorks in a few short weeks, and then I’ll switch over to writing The Beast in Me pilot full time for a few months before seeing what comes my way next. Hopefully I can write a script on this thing that convinces FX to let us make a pilot, and then eventually get to series because I really want to spend a few years making this incredibly strange show. 

I hope to convey a few things here. One is: it’s ok if things take a while. I used to think if something wasn’t ready in five minutes or less, it wasn’t worth pursuing. But having had this experience, one that I enjoyed at every step, I’m okay with something taking longer than expected (in this case it was well over a year between conception and pitching and eventually selling). The other thing to point out is that it’s really not worth pitching things unless you’re very excited about them. This sounds obvious, and maybe it is, but I feel as though there’s enough stuff out there that nobody seems to care about. At the very least, you owe it to yourself and anybody who might watch or read your stuff to care more than anyone else does. There are easier ways to make money than selling cartoons. 

A few other takeaways from this experience: the outcome doesn’t matter. In other words, is this show more valid because we sold it? Would it have been less valid had we failed to sell it? Of course not. And yet a certain extrinsically motivated mindset would say that the opposite is true. Ignore extrinsic motivators. Be intrinsically motivated. Now obviously, you need to eat food and live in the world, so making a living is a valid reason for doing anything, but from a strictly creative point of view, this experience has bolstered my beliefs in doing good work for its own sake. Lewis Hyde would likely agree if I understand his dense writing correctly. 

Finally, this show I think taught me to be fully confident in my ideas, but also that confidence doesn’t come from blind faith, it comes from a true belief and connection to your work. I would take long walks while working on this idea with Lou, and I would play Morricone on my headphones and walk and walk for hours and let the show reveal itself to me in waves. I would then go back home and write down my impressions of what the music made me feel. It gave me a sense in the feeling I wanted to write towards. And in this process, I came to really love what I was thinking about it in terms of the eventuality of this show being made. And that made me very excited and knowledgable by the time we walked into rooms*** for our pitch meetings.

I don’t know if The Beast in Me will ever become something anyone sees, but I do know that I’m enjoying the process, and I promise you, if you can hold tight to that enjoyment, you will never fail.

*Such as the gap between April 2013 and October 2013 where I wasn’t on a staff at all...this was right before I started writing on Puss in Boots at DreamWorks and now here we are over 3 years later, still at it. Such is a freelance style career. The trick is to not let the external stuff influence your internal life. 

**I keep saying we or us because my managers are serving as producers on this, so often it’s a “we” more than “me.”

***A note on rooms and circular life paths. In 2010 or so, I was a very new-at-this writer, having just done a very short 7 episode season of a then-unaired show on Comedy Central called Ugly Americans. FX had a pilot called Duchess, later called Archer, and they were thinking that maybe the show would have a writing staff or maybe some freelance writers at some point. So I remember sitting in this room watching this pilot of theirs, just being so amazed to even be on the dance floor, and thinking how fortunate I was that things worked out as I had hoped they would. And then 6 years later, we sold The Beast in Me to FX in the same room. It doesn’t mean anything, but it does. It’s easy to let things slip by in an attempt to channel the Stoics, but once in a while it’s important to allow yourself a brief moment of satisfaction that your process is leading you down a rich and fulfilling path.