Guerrilla Screenwriting: Comic Book Movies Are Still Red Hot

2 Guns debuted as #1 at the box office last week. So far, it has racked up an impressive $51 million domestic gross. The action comedy film stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, two of the most bankable actors in Hollywood. What most people don't know is that the movie is based on a comic book series published by indie comics publisher BOOM! Studios.

As I discuss in my "Writing a Graphic Novel Hollywood Will Buy" class, "comic book movies" aren't going away. They're here to stay. They're mainstream now. The Marvel and DC Comics superhero franchises have certainly solidified that, but the superhero film is only a fraction of the comic book movies in existence. The Walking Dead comes from comic books. Does anyone seriously think The Walking Dead is teetering on the edge of extinction? On the horizon are more of the same: Kick-Ass 2, the 300 sequel, and Hercules. And those are just the creator-owned comic books I can recall off the top of my head. There are many more in the pipeline.

Comic books have made their film and TV inroads over the past decade because the new generation of executives and producers who came into Hollywood in the late 1990s to early 2000s were all comics fans growing up. Even a lot of older producers who predate the big comics invasion or otherwise had little experience with comic books have learned to appreciate them as viable source material. This popularity has not been lost on many actors and directors who have now cast their eyes on comics as a substitute for studio pitches.

Producers haunt (or send their assistants to haunt) Los Angeles comic book shops every Wednesday, looking for that next potential big property. If you've ever been to the humongous San Diego Comic Con, you know how heavily influenced it is by Hollywood now. Nearly every star, agent, and producer you can think of eventually shows up down there. Like novels, video games, old movies, and old TV shows, graphic novels have become a well-respected source of pre-branded story material to feed the studio pipeline.

The lesson here is that there are a lot of producers in Hollywood, and they're all looking for sellable IP (intellectual property). If even ONE of them finds your book interesting and believes they have a chance to get studio muscle behind a movie, they will come knocking on your door.

You don’t have to sit on the sidelines and watch others capitalize on these new trends. The good thing about the comic book medium is you can create one with very little money and it doesn’t matter where you live. There’s no need to be in Hollywood. With the power of the Internet, you can hire an artist in Brazil, collaborate and share art files with them, and even self-publish the book when it’s complete.

If you grab the bull by the horns and create a graphic novel or comic book with your own money, you’ll find that it's much easier to sell it to Hollywood than if you did it solely as a naked spec script. Like an indie film, it becomes your calling card, your invitation to the kingdom of Hollywood. The more interesting you can make it, both visually and with the writing, the more likely it is someone will want to pay you money for it. But that's true for the regular book market too, not just for Hollywood.

Difficult as it sometimes seems, it's possible to fulfill yourself creatively and make money. I mean it's really a nice feeling to see your book on a store shelf or available to buy on Amazon and iTunes. It makes your baby somehow more "real," and thus potentially more valuable.

If you'd like to learn how to create a kick-ass comic book or graphic novel, you should sign up for my upcoming class at The Writers Store. In it, I'll teach you everything you need to know to get started. Click here for more information.

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