First of all, a disclaimer: if you're expecting this to be one of those awesome screenwriter blogs, informative like John August's or hilarious like Josh Friedman's, you should probably just bookmark those dudes instead. I'm not nearly that good. This is much more garden-variety online narcissism, mostly about work-related stuff. Okay, with that out of the way...
Lots of stuff has happened since my last ancient blog post. To summarize:
* The movie I wrote, The Book of Eli, got produced and released. The whole experience was amazing and the movie came out pretty much entirely faithful to what I intended, which is the rarest of rarities in this business. I'm so thankful to Denzel Washington, Allen & Albert Hughes, Joel Silver, Erik Olsen, Alcon Entertainment and everyone else who played a part in bringing the movie to life for their amazing work. Oh, and of course Atticus Ross, the phenomenally talented composer who created the film's breathtaking soundtrack.
Since the film was released in January it's been a fairly decent-sized hit, grossing around $95m at the US box office and $156m worldwide. It got fantastic reviews from the likes of Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, Rex Reed, Time, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, IFC, Sci-Fi Wire, Ain't It Cool News, The Onion AV Club, CHUD, Collider, The New York Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune and many others. It was also nominated for three Academy of Science Fiction Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film.
The movie was released on Blu-ray, DVD and online in June and has been #1 in sales and rentals on Nielsen VideoScan, Amazon, Blockbuster, iTunes, Zune Marketplace and On Demand. So far it's sold well over a million copies on Blu-ray and DVD. So I ain't complaining. But more than that I've been amazingly gratified and in many cases touched by all the kind messages I've received from people who appreciated the film; that, in the end, is what it's all about. Thank you!
* Post-Eli I've started work on a couple of new film projects that I'm really excited. Reaper, a supernatural thriller I originally wrote before Eli has had a resurrection of sorts after years in development limbo. Currently titled Undying (though that may change again) the movie now has Kurt Russell attached to play the lead role of private detective Virgil Lone and will be directed by the excellent Jon Amiel, who gave us The Singing Detective, The Core, Copycat, Entrapment and the recent Charles Darwin biopic Creation. We're currently polishing the script in the hopes that we'll finally get it in front of cameras later this year for release in 2011. I'm also working on a couple of other film projects that are as top-secret as they are awesome, and I hope to be able to talk more about those soon.
* I currently have the temporary honor of guest-writing the comic strip for Penny Arcade, one of the greatest webcomics in creation and a major totem of videogame and geek culture. I'm filling in for Tycho and Gabe while they're away at Comic-Con with a new story in their fascinating Automata universe which just started yesterday - you can read Part One here - and runs all through the coming week. It's illustrated by the brilliant Ben Caldwell. Thanks so much to Gabe and Tycho for inviting me to do this, as a long-time fan of Penny Arcade it's a real privilege.
* I'm also currently collaborating on a new original creator-owned comic-book series with the incredibly talented Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, The Boys) which hopefully we'll be able to unveil soon. The way we're planning to do this project is pretty mold-breaking and I can't wait to be able to talk about it as soon as the various pieces are all in place.
* I somehow managed to snag a walk-on (well, more like a shamble-on) part in one of the year's most anticipated new TV shows. Can't talk much about that either - check back in October.
* Was featured on PlayStation's online magazine Qore, interviewed about past, present and future projects and generally geekiness by the most excellent Veronica Belmont. If you are a PS3 owner, check it out, it's Episode 25.
* Gave a little talk about the journey of The Book of Eli from script to screen at this year's WonderCon, which I was surprised to see so well-attended. I'm doing a similar thing at Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles in October, so if you're around come along and say hi! Oh, I'll be at PAX Prime in Seattle in September too, no panels or anything, just wandering around.
Okay, that's it for now. I can be found on Facebook and Twitter if you're into that stuff.
* Post-Eli I've started work on a couple of new film projects that I'm really excited. Reaper, a supernatural thriller I originally wrote before Eli has had a resurrection of sorts after years in development limbo. Currently titled Undying (though that may change again) the movie now has Kurt Russell attached to play the lead role of private detective Virgil Lone and will be directed by the excellent Jon Amiel, who gave us The Singing Detective, The Core, Copycat, Entrapment and the recent Charles Darwin biopic Creation. We're currently polishing the script in the hopes that we'll finally get it in front of cameras later this year for release in 2011. I'm also working on a couple of other film projects that are as top-secret as they are awesome, and I hope to be able to talk more about those soon.
* I currently have the temporary honor of guest-writing the comic strip for Penny Arcade, one of the greatest webcomics in creation and a major totem of videogame and geek culture. I'm filling in for Tycho and Gabe while they're away at Comic-Con with a new story in their fascinating Automata universe which just started yesterday - you can read Part One here - and runs all through the coming week. It's illustrated by the brilliant Ben Caldwell. Thanks so much to Gabe and Tycho for inviting me to do this, as a long-time fan of Penny Arcade it's a real privilege.
* I'm also currently collaborating on a new original creator-owned comic-book series with the incredibly talented Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, The Boys) which hopefully we'll be able to unveil soon. The way we're planning to do this project is pretty mold-breaking and I can't wait to be able to talk about it as soon as the various pieces are all in place.
* I somehow managed to snag a walk-on (well, more like a shamble-on) part in one of the year's most anticipated new TV shows. Can't talk much about that either - check back in October.
* Was featured on PlayStation's online magazine Qore, interviewed about past, present and future projects and generally geekiness by the most excellent Veronica Belmont. If you are a PS3 owner, check it out, it's Episode 25.
* Gave a little talk about the journey of The Book of Eli from script to screen at this year's WonderCon, which I was surprised to see so well-attended. I'm doing a similar thing at Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles in October, so if you're around come along and say hi! Oh, I'll be at PAX Prime in Seattle in September too, no panels or anything, just wandering around.
Okay, that's it for now. I can be found on Facebook and Twitter if you're into that stuff.
