Interview With Paul J. Salamoff

Special FX artist, Producer, Writer, Director, Film executive and most recently Comic Book Author, twenty year Industry veteran Paul J. Salamoff could be considered a sort of Renaissance man when it comes to the Hollywood machine. He’s also written the definitive guide to Movie Sets called, On The Set: The Hidden Rules Of Movie Making Etiquette. However, what I found to be the most compelling and sobering fact about Paul is that above all else the man is a true fanboy. Like the rest of us, his work stems from his passion for science fiction, horror and fantasy. It reaches back to his childhood and the countless hours spent watching classic films, reading, and just letting his imagination run wild over the limitless possibilities imbedded in the human psyche. Of all the interviews I’ve done over the years with relative strangers, his was the most easy going and comfortable. But, enough of my rambling, this is after all an interview.

Famous Monsters: How did you get involved writing for Bluewater Comics?

Paul Salamoff: I’m the Director of Special Events for The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Filmsas well as a Producer on the Saturn Awards. Bluewater had donated issues of Ray Harryhausen Presents comics for gift bags at the 34^thSaturn Awards and I was impressed with the quality of their comics not to mention the subject matter. My Agents at APA had suggested turning some of my scripts into graphic novels and Bluewater seemed to be a good fit. I got in touch with Darren G. Davis (President of Bluewater) and he said they were looking for a writer for Roger Corman Presents Black Scorpion. I sent them a writing sample and the next week pitched them the best version of Black ScorpionI could possibly come up with. They loved it and had me write up a treatment, which they then sent to Roger Corman. He approved it and, low and behold, I was writing Black Scorpion. That was my first gig for them. It’s a four-issue arc and hits the comic book stores in November.

FM: So how did that lead to working for Bluewater on a pretty regular basis?

PS: Darren was so pleased with what I was delivering for Black Scorpion and my enthusiasm, he offered me another Roger Corman title, Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen. I was told that I could completely reinvent both properties. Having never written a Conan type fantasy I thought it was really cool challenge. So I read a bunch of Robert E. Howard and re-watched Conan to get into that mindset and came up with the craziest freakin story for Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen. It’s not your typical sword and sandals, but it’s a fun series and I hope people will give it a chance. It’s still being inked right now and will come out later next year.

FM: Is there a big difference between writing for Film & TV vs. writing comic books?

PS: I’ve always excelled at story structure in screenplays, but in comics the structure is very different Fortunately, I’ve managed to understand the mechanics of storytelling in comic books and have adapted to it quite easily. Unlike film where you have a little more breathing room, in comics you have to tell a story in the most visually efficient way possible,  while keeping it cinematic and compelling. One of the most difficult aspects is the scene transition. Typically the page turn is the transition so that means you’ve got to figure out a way to create scenes that take place in total on either  one, two or three pages (or more).You don’t want to find yourself with a panel or two creeping over into the next page, because generally you don’t want to have a transition in the middle of a page. It can be visually confusing. I’m not saying you can’t do it, but you want to try to avoid stuff like that. Another challenge is the economy of action. You may have a sequence that takes a page to describe in a screenplay, but if you were to draw out all the action beats might take four to five comic book pages. So you have to really decide what are the necessary beats to get the point across and still be visually dynamic.

FM: You’re adapting Logan’s Run into a comic, can you tell us about that?

PS: When I was around six years old my parents took me to a drive-in theatre in Cape Cod, MA and I saw a double feature of Star Wars and Logan’s Run and my life changed. I’ve been a lifelong fan of Logan’s Runand have read the trilogy of books  (Logan’s Run, Logan’s World and Logan’s Search) a number of times. Bluewater got the license and Darren knew I was the right man for the job. I was told that we were going back to the original source material (the trilogy of books) and that William F. Nolan was going  to be involved. The intention of Logan’s Run: Lastdaywas to retell Logan’s story within a six-issue arc and then explore new stories and expand the world from that point on. Collaborating with Nolan and writer Jason Brock, I came up with a storyline that  focused on Logan’s transformation from near sociopathic killer for the state to someone who begins to question the system and care for others, especially Jessica. The only stumbling block we had was to update and clarify the reason why people died at the age of twenty-one. In the original book it was population control, but we felt it needed to be a little more than that for a contemporary audience to accept. William, Jason and I put our heads together to come up with a really interesting concept that has a lot of logic of how a society could conceivably get to this point. I think people who are fans of either the books or the movie (or both) are really going to like this new take on it. The artwork by Daniel Gete is amazing and it’s very dark and serious like Blade Runner. It has the stamp of approval from William F. Nolan who is one of the nicest people, just a great guy, and really enthusiastic about the new series.

FM: Can you talk ablout your process for writing comics?

PS: Even having written over 20 single-issue comics, I still have a hard time writing directly in Comic format. I’m so comfortable with traditional screenplay format that I write the comics in that format first and then adapt them into comic book format. So this of course makes it easier when I approach adapting my screenplays to comics, which I’m doing right now with my Horror/Sci-Fi script STASIS. It’s a little bizarre but it works for me. What I do is sit down with my screenplay and a pencil and I’m like, okay, page one about halfway down feels like it would fit on one comic book page. I’d then continue on through the entire screenplay, drawing lines under things and making empty boxes. Assuming that it comes out to a reasonable amount of “pages” I then start back at the beginning and draw brackets pairing up actions with dialogue and see how many panels I can squeeze each page down to. Once I know how many panels there are per page (generally you want 5-6 panels per page), then I draw out the box configuration in my rectangles trying to keep in mind that some actions need bigger panels than others. Once I have all  that pre-work done, I then sit down behind my computer and I adapt it into comic book format using my scribbling as my guide. It might seem like a lot of extra work, but I’ve got very fast at doing it and it works for me and nobody’s complained yet.   

FM:I know that there are many different comic book formats, what’s yours like?

PS: I tend to be overly descriptive to the point of describing panel sizes (i.e. small, medium, large, long, Splash, Tall, Insert, etc), but I always say to the artist, look, this is my interpretation; you’re the artist feel free to add or subtract panels as you see fit. I let them know that what I’m giving them is a guide and I don’t want to hinder them in any way. As long as the story I need to be told is on the page then I’m happy. Having now worked with a lot of different artists, some will follow my scripts almost to the letter while others will think out of the box.  Black Scorpion is like 90% exactly what I had in my head. But the artist on Deathstalker is taking liberties that are truly amazing and really bringing an incredible other dimension to it, I love it. As a matter of fact I haven’t been disappointed by any of the artists I’ve dealt with. With the Puppy Power: Bo Obama I’m working with Emmy-award winning artist Keith Tucker (He-Man, G.I. Joe, TaleSpin, etc). This guy really knows what he’s doing and we are both very proud of the work we’ve done on this comic.

FM: Looking at your resume it seems very odd that you’ve written a children’s comic on the first dog. Can you discuss this anomaly?

PS: You know, I subscribe to the fact that “Writers write” and that’s what I am: a writer. It doesn’t matter what the genre I just like telling stories that I’m passionate about and even though I’m know for my horror and Sci-Fi I like writing comedies as well. Darren offered me this comic because I have a six year old daughter and he thought I might like the challenge. He was right. With Bo Obama I wanted to use the opportunity to tell a fun story but be educational too. So it’s told from Bo’s point of view of the White House. Within the guided tour the reader is going to learn about Portuguese water Dogs, the history of pets in the White House, as well as the history of the White House itself. Keith Tucker said he really just loves working on this because it really has something to say and it seems to have an importance to it and it’s not just a piece of fluff. Some people snicker when they realize I’ve written it, but I don’t care I’m proud of it. When it was first announced it got a lot of attention. And when it comes out (October 14^th) it’s going to get a lot more. I think at the very least it’s a great opportunity to show there’s more than one side to me as a writer./

FM: I understand that you’ve set up a few of your original screenplays as Graphic Novels. Can you tell us about those?

 PS: Yes. All the licensed stuff I’m doing with Bluewater opened the door for me to set up some graphic novels based on my original stories with other companies. One of them is my project STASIS. It’s a Sci-Fi/Horror similar in many ways to Aliens and The Thing. Stephen Susco (Screenwriter of The Grudge 1 & 2 and Red) is attached to the film project as a Producer.  The art for the graphic novel is absolutely amazing. STASIS was very difficult to adapt. There’s a lot of action going on and it was a struggle to try to keep it around in the vicinity of a hundred page graphic novel. I thought it was going to be a breeze because the script isn’t that long, but I wound up having to sacrifice some character subplots and action in order to make it work. I really killed some of my “babies” on this one. What was helpful is that I kept reminding myself that  this is the comic book medium where the story needs to be told much more efficiently. The excised stuff still exists in the screenplay and will be in the movie where it belongs. The other one DISCORD, I just set up with UK based AAM/Markosia. It’s an exciting new take on the superhero genre with art by Giuseppe D’Ella. We’re planning on a mid to late 2010 release. I wrote that to be pitched both as a graphic novel and as a movie. It got a lot of heat and I’m currently in talks with a number of production companies who are waiting to see the Graphic Novel when it’s released.

FM: You’re also President of Production for Rat Bastard Productions (DOWN FOR LIFE).  How does that work with your writing?  

PS: I had met Peter Holden, the CEO of Rat Bastard Prod. When I was V.P. of Production at BOLD Films (Bobby, Starship Troopers: Marauder) and they had a few projects that I really liked and tried to get going over at BOLD. When I left BOLD to focus on my writing, I stayed in touch with RBP and they read and really liked my horror Thriller Script FILTH and optioned it with me attached to Direct. The more I got to know Peter and the other “Bastards” I realized they really had their shit together and the more they spent time with me the, the more they wanted me to join the team.  I told them as long as they understand writing is the most important thing for me and they let me continue to explore those avenues within reason then we don’t have a problem, I can certainly do both. So I soon became their President of Production. Our first film Down For Life world premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival and is an official selection of the 2009 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. Based on a New York Times article about a 15 year old Latina girl who tried to leave a gang, it’s a truly great film and something we’re very proud of.

FM: In closing tell the FM readers a bit about your book, On The Set: The Hidden Rules of Movie Making Etiquette.

PS: I wrote On The Setas a labor of love, it’s basically everything you need to know about working on a film set. I interviewed over seventy people in the industry including Wes Craven, Gale Ann Hurd, Tom Desanto, Ron Underwood, David Grossman, etc. The book takes every department, gives you a brief overview, who’s in the department and what they do, terms you need to know for this department, the rules of etiquette and advice from experts. It also includes on set horror stories that would make even Christian Bale wince. It’s used in film schools all around the world, and I lecture at a lot of different film schools about my experiences in the industry. ON THE SET is now in its second edition. (The first edition was titled Movie Sets 101). It’s something I’m very proud of because it’s helpful.

FM: For those interested in filmmaking on any level, or simply curious in the various details that go on behind the scenes of movie making, I highly recommend ON THE SET. Head over to Amazon and get yourself a copy, it will benefit you in more ways than you can imagine. Also, head over to your local comic book stores this Wednesday, October 14^th and check out Puppy Power: Bo Obama and Vincent Price Presents Volume One, with one of the four issues written by Paul. And, as always stay tuned to Famous Monsters for more of Paul’s upcoming work.