J.M. Matthew's newest eBook, now available as a download, for less than 1/15th of the old Amazon price

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Interview: Anime Insights: Advice I got on Screenwriting and Anime, from Correspondence with Thomas Romain....

The story: I ended up corresponding with Thomas Romain (Basquash!, Code Lyoko, Oban Star-Racers) through email, online, from his home in Tokyo, Japan right around the Satellite studio, where he's worked on his most recent projects, Space Dandy and and Nobunaga The Fool, with the likes of Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) and Shoji Kawamori (Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell, Aquarion)

I decided to be generous and share his advice and wisdom he wrote for me, with a large public

Here's what Thomas (the Eurasian co-production anime Master had to say to me about my script he briefly looked at, and he bigger picture of anime employment in general, which I wrote. It's the first script I've ever written for theatrical or television release.

Hi Joseph,

 

I actually am quite busy because I'm flying to Paris with Kawamori. I don't know if you heard about Japan expo but it is the largest anime convention in Europe. I have a lot of things ot prepare before leaving Japan.

 

I got your script.

I opened it but didn't read it yet.

 

Thank you for all your questions too. It could take a while to answer to it properly.

Let's say I consider myself very lucky. Savin had hard times but for me it was very easy. But you know, more than a creator/ writer/ director, I'm a designer. I draw every day and more than writing (which I do not and I'm not interested in so much) I communicate my ideas by drawings. Most of the time I put myself under directors who order me designs. And only on rare occasions I had the opportunity to act more as a creator. Like on Oban or Basquash. But even then it was about creating a visual world. That's why I'm not the best person to give his opinion or advice about writing. Moreover, I'm not fluent in english and I cannot express myself with all the possible nuances.

 

But there is some advice I can give you at this point.

First, before the script, you need a document which explains what your project is. Concept, universe, main characters, target...

Then, if people are interested, you'll send them a script next . You should do that with your project too. Because it takes time to read it and people won't do that at first. You need to appeal them with a light project pitch.

Secondly, just by watching at your doc, I had the feeling that it had too much descriptions. Putting the story in images is the work of the director, not the script writer. So stick to the dialogue, the emotions of the characters and don't write large blocks of description of the action.

Japanese scripts are very lights, no descriptions, almost only dialogues. You're not writing a novel. A script is a guideline for the director.

On the contrary, you need some descriptions for the project pitch. How is the universe, what do the characters look like? etc...

 

And, about working with japanese. There is 3 possibilities. All are very difficult.

 

First option : because famous in your own country. Japanese will then be interested in working with big names....Not easy!

 

Second one, bring money on the table (not necessarely yours of course, but money you got from investors you managed to convince).  

 

Last one : become japanese... in a kind of way. Speaking japanese is the first thing. It is impossible to work with them without that. And that's a way of showing your motivation and gaining their trust.

 

Savin choose the second option (outside producer), I choose the third (inside staff member).

 

I strongly recommand you to make american young writer friends and get experience from them. Go see the studios. Ask them how they work. Integrate the system. If you manage to evolve to a professionnal level, japanese may open their doors to at least some discussion. You need to go step by step, learn the job, get experience. I won't be able to help you a lot at this point

 

Best regards

 

Thomas

Yippledee ho and yabble dee hee. READ THE PIRATE'S NOTEBOOK! Secrets of Uploading Video (Hints and Tips for Not Getting Killed by the You Tube's Big Brother Sellout Police)

When you're uploading your favorite anime DVD clips and ripped/DVR'd from TV and DVD footage, when you first encounter  the upload menu on the Tube, make sure the file of your video doesn't have the title of  the anime on it or the title of your video has an existing anime name, as the YouTube copyright nazi sitecrawlers that police that sort of thing are looking for just that. You kind of have to make sure you upload video files with nonspecific names. Once the video is up, THEN you can specify the name of what you've uploaded.  But DON'T DO THAT when you're doing your initial upload. Edit your video title once it's gotten past the censors...

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That's how we like it!

Used Anime DVD Collection Appraisal: Did The Math!...$860

If I were to sell my used DVD collection, and each disc sold for $4.

My collection would be worth $860 or more.

I sometimes wonder if someone who knew more about me in real life would ever ask me something like....

Is it lonely / isolating / frustrating being the only prominent multiracial comic book creator-writer-artist?

Well, yes and know. Most people don't know I'm multiracial, among many other characteristics, because I'm often unseen. If my genetic background wasn't so shrouded in mystery, even from myself in some ways, I'd probably write about it a lot more.

I'm With [Bang Zoom!] by J.M. de la Strebler

My relationship with Bang Zoom Entertainment. You know, I know to some in the know in anime, it is a point of fascination to some in the otaku community. A small group of people are sort of AWARE of it, or at least it seems that way, so I may as well write about said topic. I still do like Bang Zoom! Entertainment and AnimeTV. I don't DIS-like them. I never have disliked them. Why would I? They've never really been mean to me, so I have no grudges. But an email every once in a while out of courtesy would be nice. But then again, maybe the fact that I "officially contributed" to certain episodes of AnimeTV and have the whole "guilty by association fame" thing going on should be satsifaction enough. Still, I miss contacting them openly, like it happened when I first started writing reviews for them.

I guess the thing was, I was never really sure exactly how close they DID consider me, if at all, if ever, particularly now. The producers emailed me in the beginning regarding the show, but I do kind of miss that time of my life, around 2007. Though that was an awkard time for me in some ways, what with my first TV experience working from home, I'm not going to lie. I've ALWAYS idolized many of the people they employ, and many of the shows they worked on. I've always liked what they've done in the dubbing world. They've dubbed half of the titles in my private DVD collection. I'd still like to work with them on something in the future and I hope they keep me on file, even if it's just for a mailing list. I like being on mailing lists. They took a lot of heat for doing a live action show, I'm well aware of that, and I probably didn't help in that regard. I acknowledge that much. But that doesn't change their actual anime track record. Who cares if they threaten to stop dubbing. As long as I still see them working on SOME kind of good production (hopefully anime related) I'll always be loyal to them, even if they don't email me anymore. It's still been a lotta fun.