Tyler Gibb - Writer, Director, Editor, Filmmaker

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!

Just a little FYI for you all:

With its extra wide comic book format pages (totally intentional) and sharp resolution, Mankind looks awesome and reads like a dream on the iPad.

Naturally I planned it this way and didn’t just happen to see a copy of it on a friend’s iPad this past weekend.

Because I’m just that cutting-edge.

Naturally.

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.

So the launch of Mankind, my first non-motion picture in a while, went off quite well. The book is regularly being downloaded. Happy to see that. Would like to continue to see more of it.

And I probably should have mentioned this off the top but the plan here is to go monthly with these six books. Barring December when, I don’t know, I think we can do without the blood and guts for a few days? At least that’s the plan. As long as I continue to see those downloads happening. Maybe get some more folks signing up to the mailing list. Maybe see more action on the social networks. Your interest fuels my interest.

So that puts Book 2: Mankind - The Book of Tash, on the slate for October 1st, 2011.

Mark it on your calendar with a big, bloody, red X.

The Book of Eloise was an introduction to the world of Mankind. The Book of Tash is where we really get down to it in terms of story and character. Oh, and for those of you who think the ladies got away with a lot in Book 1… Things are going to get a whole lot more real in The Book of Tash.

October 1st.

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.