"The Pitch", 12 days ago, 8:46 PM #1
Welcome to The Pitch.
Webcomics may be (mostly) a field of independent creators, but venture out into print comics, or virtually any other medium, and you'll end up working with, if not for, a publisher. They'll solicit proposals for a new comic, or film script, or whatever. They'll ask for a sequel to an existing story - or a prequel, or interquel, or spinoff, or remake, or reboot, or some other sort of adaptation. They'll have requirements and guidelines, and if you want the job, you have to deliver a pitch that meets them.
Doing this well is a skill all its own. It's an important one if you want to leave the indie world - and even if you're perfectly happy working on your own ideas on your own dime, it can be a fun creative muscle to flex. And so that's the skill this game is designed to exercise.
Here's how it works:
Every week, I'll post a "pitch request" - a prompt to focus the week's responses (for the foreseeable future, this will be an existing character or setting - nullifying any potential issues with ideas presented here being stolen). You go off and come up with your take on it - a continuation, an adaptation, a reimagining, whatever you think is best. And then you post your pitch. Doesn't have to be much - it can be longer than a simple "elevator pitch", but it's still a loose summary of the main points. What makes it good, what makes it exciting, what makes it unique. A rough outline and synopsis is enough. Some concept sketches or snippets of script, if you really want to go wild.
While I expect most pitches to be for comic series, given the nature of CF, if you think your idea would work better as something else, go for it! Pitch a movie, or a TV series, or a novel, or a classical opera, if you think it fits your pitch better. The only rule is to stick to the topic. That's restriction enough.
There is no formal competition aspect to The Pitch. I decided it would be too messy, especially if people hop in and out often, but we can revisit later if people really want to go head to head against each other. For now, just try to do the best you can, and have fun with it.
Don't know the subject that well? Go for it anyways. "Able to quickly grasp the core ideas of a character" is also a good skill to develop, and a broad-strokes pitch shouldn't get into any details that can snag on continuity. I've got a list of prompts ready, and most of them I'm only passingly familiar with. I'll still be competing as often as I can.
Without further ado, the first challenge:
SUPERMAN
We're starting with the big one. Others may have him beat in terms of readership these days, but Superman remains the most iconic comic-book superhero, and one of the most recognizable characters of all time. Created in 1938, Superman has had it all. Eight decades of comics, three TV shows, a long-running radio show, at least seven movies, a Broadway musical, innumerable cartoons, and one of the worst video games of all time.
His precise backstory has gotten rewritten a few times, but the core concept has always remained the same. An alien born on the planet Krypton, sent away as a baby to escape an imminent catastrophe, raised in the town of Smallville by the humble farmers who discovered him. He develops a vast array of superhuman powers, which (at his foster parents' advice) he uses for the benefit of humanity, fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way as Superman, the costumed vigilante. By day, he remains quiet old Clark Kent, journalist for a newspaper in the big bright city of Metropolis.
His supporting cast includes fellow journalist (and frequent love interest) Lois Lane; friend and photographer Jimmy Olsen; and a whole host of Super-People. His enemies include Lex Luthor, evil genius; General Zod, a Kryptonian imprisoned before the planet-ending catastrophe; Brainiac, an alien cyborg with vast mental powers; Bizarro, an evil but flawed duplicate; and Darkseid, an alien dictator with near godlike powers.
My First Pitch:
Normally I'll be posting mine later on in the week, so as not to unfairly start in the limelight, but for this first one I'm putting mine up front so people have an example of what is "expected" of their own pitches.
And so the challenge begins! I can't wait to see what you all are able to come up with.
Webcomics may be (mostly) a field of independent creators, but venture out into print comics, or virtually any other medium, and you'll end up working with, if not for, a publisher. They'll solicit proposals for a new comic, or film script, or whatever. They'll ask for a sequel to an existing story - or a prequel, or interquel, or spinoff, or remake, or reboot, or some other sort of adaptation. They'll have requirements and guidelines, and if you want the job, you have to deliver a pitch that meets them.
Doing this well is a skill all its own. It's an important one if you want to leave the indie world - and even if you're perfectly happy working on your own ideas on your own dime, it can be a fun creative muscle to flex. And so that's the skill this game is designed to exercise.
Here's how it works:
Every week, I'll post a "pitch request" - a prompt to focus the week's responses (for the foreseeable future, this will be an existing character or setting - nullifying any potential issues with ideas presented here being stolen). You go off and come up with your take on it - a continuation, an adaptation, a reimagining, whatever you think is best. And then you post your pitch. Doesn't have to be much - it can be longer than a simple "elevator pitch", but it's still a loose summary of the main points. What makes it good, what makes it exciting, what makes it unique. A rough outline and synopsis is enough. Some concept sketches or snippets of script, if you really want to go wild.
While I expect most pitches to be for comic series, given the nature of CF, if you think your idea would work better as something else, go for it! Pitch a movie, or a TV series, or a novel, or a classical opera, if you think it fits your pitch better. The only rule is to stick to the topic. That's restriction enough.
There is no formal competition aspect to The Pitch. I decided it would be too messy, especially if people hop in and out often, but we can revisit later if people really want to go head to head against each other. For now, just try to do the best you can, and have fun with it.
Don't know the subject that well? Go for it anyways. "Able to quickly grasp the core ideas of a character" is also a good skill to develop, and a broad-strokes pitch shouldn't get into any details that can snag on continuity. I've got a list of prompts ready, and most of them I'm only passingly familiar with. I'll still be competing as often as I can.
Without further ado, the first challenge:
SUPERMAN
We're starting with the big one. Others may have him beat in terms of readership these days, but Superman remains the most iconic comic-book superhero, and one of the most recognizable characters of all time. Created in 1938, Superman has had it all. Eight decades of comics, three TV shows, a long-running radio show, at least seven movies, a Broadway musical, innumerable cartoons, and one of the worst video games of all time.
His precise backstory has gotten rewritten a few times, but the core concept has always remained the same. An alien born on the planet Krypton, sent away as a baby to escape an imminent catastrophe, raised in the town of Smallville by the humble farmers who discovered him. He develops a vast array of superhuman powers, which (at his foster parents' advice) he uses for the benefit of humanity, fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way as Superman, the costumed vigilante. By day, he remains quiet old Clark Kent, journalist for a newspaper in the big bright city of Metropolis.
His supporting cast includes fellow journalist (and frequent love interest) Lois Lane; friend and photographer Jimmy Olsen; and a whole host of Super-People. His enemies include Lex Luthor, evil genius; General Zod, a Kryptonian imprisoned before the planet-ending catastrophe; Brainiac, an alien cyborg with vast mental powers; Bizarro, an evil but flawed duplicate; and Darkseid, an alien dictator with near godlike powers.
My First Pitch:
Normally I'll be posting mine later on in the week, so as not to unfairly start in the limelight, but for this first one I'm putting mine up front so people have an example of what is "expected" of their own pitches.
Disclaimer: I have never actually read a Superman comic, never watched any of the movies or TV shows, and the sum total of my consumption of official Superman media is listening to some songs from the film score (because John Williams fucking slaps). I would not be surprised to hear something similar to the following has been done before. I can't search eight decades of stories to see if mine is wholly original - but I at least came up with it independently.
Superman has been explored plenty. Instead, I'll focus on Clark Kent. It is no mistake that Superman's secret identity is a journalist, for journalists, too, fight for Truth and Justice and the American Way.
To that end, we need a villain Superman can't beat just by punching. Indeed, someone who is immune to Superman's arsenal of powers, someone who Superman could never defeat because he would never be able to fight. I want a villain who only Clark Kent could take on.
Instead of kryptonite, his defense will be perceptions - the wide-held public opinion that he's done nothing wrong, and a silver tongue that can make even Superman doubt himself. Superman gets rendered impotent by his own strict morals - Superman may technically be a vigilante, but he's a bright, clean sort, never breaking any laws himself, fighting only the threats that the police, humans at all, can't handle. He's a black-and-white morality character - when faced with gray, he can do nothing.
But Clark Kent can still act. In this story, he and Lois play a sort of Woodward and Bernstein role - an investigative journalist, hounding after the truth that a powerful figure wants to conceal. We interleave this with Superman segments to show the contrast between the two halves of the character - the powerful, fearless Superman, unable to accomplish anything, and the quiet, mild-mannered Kent, digging for clues and connecting the dots.
The villain, then, must be a public figure. Perhaps there's a minor character in the lore that can be repurposed, but a wholly new character would do better. I'll call him Miles Marevo for now (Marevo being Russian for "mirage" or "haze", hinting at his nature, and also at the contemporary events that inspired me). I see him as a wealthy businessman, a sort of classy, quietly ostentatious sort, moving in political circles but without political aspirations of his own. The kind to politely offer a guest a glass of wine, and offhandedly mention it's a priceless, centuries-old vintage. I did consider trying to use Lex Luthor for this, but we want even the readers to not be sure the villain is actually evil. Otherwise, they'll just be screaming at frustration whenever characters don't see it. (Luthor may be useful in the story - Marevo could be introduced by helping Superman take down the supervillain who happens to also be a business rival. Marevo isn't a pathological liar, but instead someone who modifies the truth to fit his needs.)
Marevo's skill is misdirection, clouding the issues. Superman could (and probably will) barge into his home and confront him, and Miles will act so nice and helpful that Superman won't even realise he answered all his questions with non-answers, and lead him out the door pointing him at another suspect who is obviously innocent. He has a Steve Jobs-like Reality Distortion Field - in his presence, truth becomes malleable.
But the truth, in the end, is the truth. This is a Superman story, and that ultimately means the good guys are Good and the bad guys are Bad and there is still an objective Truth underlying Justice underlying the American Way. Only this time, instead of ending with Superman punching a superpowered villain into submission, it ends with Clark Kent blowing the lid off the whole conspiracy. (I may give the Daily Planet a TV news channel - Clark breaking a story on a knockoff Sixty Minutes is more cinematic a conclusion than printing a newspaper article.)
Superman has been explored plenty. Instead, I'll focus on Clark Kent. It is no mistake that Superman's secret identity is a journalist, for journalists, too, fight for Truth and Justice and the American Way.
To that end, we need a villain Superman can't beat just by punching. Indeed, someone who is immune to Superman's arsenal of powers, someone who Superman could never defeat because he would never be able to fight. I want a villain who only Clark Kent could take on.
Instead of kryptonite, his defense will be perceptions - the wide-held public opinion that he's done nothing wrong, and a silver tongue that can make even Superman doubt himself. Superman gets rendered impotent by his own strict morals - Superman may technically be a vigilante, but he's a bright, clean sort, never breaking any laws himself, fighting only the threats that the police, humans at all, can't handle. He's a black-and-white morality character - when faced with gray, he can do nothing.
But Clark Kent can still act. In this story, he and Lois play a sort of Woodward and Bernstein role - an investigative journalist, hounding after the truth that a powerful figure wants to conceal. We interleave this with Superman segments to show the contrast between the two halves of the character - the powerful, fearless Superman, unable to accomplish anything, and the quiet, mild-mannered Kent, digging for clues and connecting the dots.
The villain, then, must be a public figure. Perhaps there's a minor character in the lore that can be repurposed, but a wholly new character would do better. I'll call him Miles Marevo for now (Marevo being Russian for "mirage" or "haze", hinting at his nature, and also at the contemporary events that inspired me). I see him as a wealthy businessman, a sort of classy, quietly ostentatious sort, moving in political circles but without political aspirations of his own. The kind to politely offer a guest a glass of wine, and offhandedly mention it's a priceless, centuries-old vintage. I did consider trying to use Lex Luthor for this, but we want even the readers to not be sure the villain is actually evil. Otherwise, they'll just be screaming at frustration whenever characters don't see it. (Luthor may be useful in the story - Marevo could be introduced by helping Superman take down the supervillain who happens to also be a business rival. Marevo isn't a pathological liar, but instead someone who modifies the truth to fit his needs.)
Marevo's skill is misdirection, clouding the issues. Superman could (and probably will) barge into his home and confront him, and Miles will act so nice and helpful that Superman won't even realise he answered all his questions with non-answers, and lead him out the door pointing him at another suspect who is obviously innocent. He has a Steve Jobs-like Reality Distortion Field - in his presence, truth becomes malleable.
But the truth, in the end, is the truth. This is a Superman story, and that ultimately means the good guys are Good and the bad guys are Bad and there is still an objective Truth underlying Justice underlying the American Way. Only this time, instead of ending with Superman punching a superpowered villain into submission, it ends with Clark Kent blowing the lid off the whole conspiracy. (I may give the Daily Planet a TV news channel - Clark breaking a story on a knockoff Sixty Minutes is more cinematic a conclusion than printing a newspaper article.)
And so the challenge begins! I can't wait to see what you all are able to come up with.
_______________________
Watch this space
Watch every space
Watch every space
