Tyler Gibb - Writer, Director, Editor, Filmmaker

The all-seeing arm of YouTube reached out to me recently to notify me of some comments being made on one of my cartoon shorts.

I felt compelled to weigh in:

chris86753091: this video is stupid i hope the persons how mad it die in a fiery and drowing death

kirikakirikakirika: It’s not like he physically hurt anyone. There are worse things than this video and what you’re wishing on the creator is 10 times worse than this.

And anyway, he’s rich now and living quite comfortably.

TylerGibb:  I’m rich now?

kirikakirikakirika: Aren’t you the one who created Boneland?

TylerGibb: I am. And if you’re referring to “rich” in the sense that I have a wealth of family and friends, then I suppose I can’t complain. And it’s true I live quite comfortably, but that’s just because I’m wearing pajamas.

Champagne for my real fans and real pain for my sham fans. Thanks for watching.

kirikakirikakirika: I meant rich as in money, though. My friend told me that the creator of Boneland made millions. Although, he likes to tell tall tales.

(My favourite part is the fiery and drowning death. The visual of this troglodytic illiterate, so vehemently riled by my idiotic animation, that he’s stumbling over his keyboard to comment is just magical. Here’s the cartoon in case you haven’t had the pleasure.)

Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything. I like the notion that maybe there’s a Parallel Universe Tyler out there who actually did make millions with his Bizarro Boneland website. Even the idea that somewhere out there tall tales are being spun of my legendary wealth does give me a smile.

What happened to us, Internet? We used to be so tight.

I know, I know… It’s all this social networking. Things were cooler when the web was still anti-social.

*Sigh*

C’est la vie.

Well, I’m off to take a money bath.

If I opened a bottle of champagne every time I finished writing a script I’d be an alcoholic.

Just faded out the latest. I’ve been calling it my blockbuster. In that, all I really mean is that it’s a “big” movie. Far too big - too expensive - to be considered realistically achievable on any indie level. Or Canadian level - that’s not a measure of quality, just a fact, settle down.

It’s not something I’m used to writing. And that may just be a good thing. They say you’ve got to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. This doesn’t apply to writers because we have neither fashion sense, nor money for clothes. So I say write for the job you want, not the job you have.

How do I look?

I was rolling along in my trusty wagon the other day, brainstorming.

Well, “brainstorming” makes my thought process sound more organized than it actually is. When I’m really keyed up about an idea - and I’m alone - I tend to get a little carried away.

I’m talking lip movement here. Maybe - maybe - sound effects. Kind of like watching a four year old playing with Lego except a 35 year old sitting at a red light making explosion sounds.

Then I realized something. I’ve been going astray recently. I’ve been writing one way. The right way. The correct way. Fifty pages into a script that calls for action and drama and pizazz and I’m writing it like a recipe book. It was all wrong. As soon as I got the wagon home I started re-writing.

This time I wrote it as if I was in the car. At that red light. Making the sound effects.

Fuck, that works so much better. That’s fun writing. And fun reading. That’s energy. That’s pizazz.

People who have a hard time with it, have often said to me “I can’t write. How do you write?” And I’ve always told them if you can talk, you can write. And I always meant it. But I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve taken that advice myself. No more.

Psssshhhhhhoooooo… Prrrgggghhhh!

Went on a fishing trip recently. First time fully unplugged and mentally checked-out in a long, long time. Between casts, a (non-industry) buddy asked me what my relationships were like with other writers - and I think this could be expanded to other freelance professionals in related fields. Maybe it was the fish eat fish, kill or be killed surroundings of our trip, but he was basically wondering about competitiveness.

My reflex answer was that no, there is no inherent competitiveness between writers.

Hm.

I wonder why that was my gut reaction. Because upon closer examination, it shouldn’t seem that way at all. Like the lake beneath our canoe, the entertainment business (at least what I’ve witnessed of it from the vantage of a canoe) is a structured like a hierarchical food chain. Survival of the fittest. Big fish / little fish. There should be vehement competition!

Now, I’m not being naive. I know that if someone else’s script is optioned then that’s one less purse open to optioning one of my own projects. No question, that is competition. But I think what differs when it comes down to it is that we’re not all selling the same product. We’re not all the same species of fish. So you can’t really look at it in competitive terms. The other script was optioned because it was what the production studio was looking for at the time. It’s nothing “personal”.

Sunday morning, cleaning up the bachelor bomb that had been going off all weekend in our cottage, I got a phone call. It was a writer friend of mine. She’d tracked me down - on a Sunday morning - with some good news. A script of mine that she’d passed along to a producer had received a glowing review - finally some movement on the front. She’d heard me kvetching earlier that week about all things business and she knew I could use the positive vibes.

That’s the other reason. Because writers support each other. They pick each other up when one is talking crazy, like giving up and taking a 9 to 5. They look out for each other. Because the wise ones know that sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down but that the road is long.

Caught plenty of weeds before I landed a fish that weekend. But again, the road is long.

I’ve been expanding the homefront around here at TylerGibb.com. In case you take the back door to get here, there’s a new page online now which showcases some of the projects I’m currently developing… In the parlance of such things.

I’d never put anything like this online before because, to be honest, I didn’t see the point. And I’m still struggling with it. What need does it fulfill for me to announce to the general public what projects I’m working on?

I’m not sure it serves any need other than its own. But maybe that’s enough. Maybe a little transparency is good. Maybe its exciting. Maybe after twelve months of seeing the same projects listed in development you too can share in my “what the hell is taking so long” disposition. Maybe.

But what’s with the graphics?

I don’t know that either. I’m experimenting here (can you tell?). The steadfast rules for scripts has always been, just write the script, 12 pt Courier font, no cover illustrations, no frills, just words. Yeah. I can see that. Keep it simple. Makes sense. You want the reader to picture it in their heads the way they want, you don’t want to dictate that to them…

But wait… Is that really the case anymore? Everything’s changing so much in the entertainment industry (in every industry) that it might be a little foolish not to reassess the old rules. 12 pt Courier font is the standard because it’s a monospaced typeface - meaning the each character requires the same amount of horizontal space on the page - thus giving the text uniformity. This uniformity is required because each page in a script is viewed to equal one minute of screen time. It’s math. It’s also the standard because that’s what typewriters used 80 years ago. But it’s not 80 years ago. It’s now. And I’ve got Photoshop.

Just saying. Things are different. Doesn’t mean I’m going to start illustrating my scripts. Like I said, the standard exists for mathematical reasons as well. But what about the periphery. The additional assets. The pitch. There’s no standard around that…

Just saying.

Things are changing…

In the world, the business and around here.

And c’mon: It does make for a pretty snazzy in-development page.