I’m currently going through everything I’m bringing to San Diego for Comic-Con. It’s like planning a military operation, only I lack the support staff the Air Force has, let alone the Army & Marines. While I figure everything I need to bring, I though I’d share a pic of my updated iPhone protective case as I really don’t have the time to write anything in detail as I recently have been doing.
The next time I post could be anytime between tomorrow night and sometime Thursday once I’m settled in at the convention. Expect to see my usual convention updates from that point forward. Take care in the meantime.
I’m now down to my last 15 prints of the SONIC BRAVE NEW WORLD Signed & Numbered Limited Edition Print. Because of my upcoming convention schedule, I’m only making 5 prints available for sale in San Diego, 5 in Boston and 5 in Toronto. I will release 1 from each batch for those who can’t attend.
The catch is one must order now before the start of each convention. You can order online here.
For almost the past two years, when I wasn’t working at my drawing board, I’d been spending time on film sets. From that experience, the main thing I come away with is that however important the writers and the actors are to the process – and they most certainly are as the film or TV series wouldn’t exist without them in the first place – there’s a whole support system that’s necessary to the production of one’s favorite films & television series without which the entire project would not be possible either. It does take a village, or in the case of films and TV, an army.
The vast majority of media writers are not presenting the full picture of the strike, focusing solely on the writers & the actors and whether or not they’ll cave to the AMPTP so everybody can get back to work as if filmmaking were just another 9-to-5 job.
The comments made by Disney CEO Bob Iger labeling the demands of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA as unrealistic sounded pretty tone-deaf, defining a man making $27 million a year plus bonuses even more out of touch than the workers he complains about, especially when he can’t say WHY they’re unrealistic. As if to add insult to injury, he then has the gall to blame writers and actors for costing a lot of people their jobs after firing 7000 Disney employees and/or contractors within the timespan of three months.
Add to that comments made by other members of the AMPTP about breaking the WGA by not negotiating until writers starting losing their homes should give everyone pause about what’s really at stake here.
Ever since that bastard Ronald Reagan – I won’t be a hypocrite here as the man was evil, betraying his working class roots in favor of the oligarchy he would come to champion – broke the Air Traffic Controllers Union and paved the way for replacing pensions with 401K plans, corporations have taken their cues since then that anything was preferable than dealing with a union. Name a company these days facing employees trying to join a union – Amazon, Apple, Starbucks, etc. – and you’ll see management doing everything they can to break those efforts.
The AMPTP is no different. If they achieve nothing else, eliminating having to deal with the various Hollywood Unions is their Holy Grail. It won’t be long after resolving matters with the WGA & SAG-AFTRA that IATSE will want its fair share of the pie, with membership demanding their leaders do better.
But resolving the differences that the WGA along with SAG-AFTRA has with the AMPTP will take some serious negotiating as well as acknowledgement that what Disney, Paramount, Warners, Comcast and other traditional Hollywood Studios want is completely different from what Amazon, Apple and especially Netflix will agree to.
Netflix was the first to start down the path of zero residuals by buying out everyone’s interests in a project. They may have been willing to shell out the big bucks back then but they’re certainly not willing to do that now. Beyond that, they have no interest in paying residuals. That’s money the executives in the upper levels believes is solely theirs, which is laughable as all of them are the most replaceable cogs in the whole machine.
During my time on various film sets, I have dealt with a number of film crews – location managers, grips, electricians, 1st & 2nd ADs, costumers, hair & makeup professionals. caterers, medics and so on – all of whom work long hours while showing up to start their day at the most ridiculous hours. They work in extreme heat and bitter cold, sometimes in the same day. That’s California for you.
Despite the difficult conditions and extreme hours, I have witnessed nothing less than professional behavior, even when they know they’re underpaid on a particular job, which applies to a lot of industry professionals, especially those who work on the so-called “reality” shows.
The actors I have witnessed or dealt with deal with the same conditions as the crew, with the only difference is when they’re in front of the camera and the focus is on them. During that time, most of the crew is “down” until needed. But before and after the filming, the crew is all hands on deck.
Before filming, actors are getting made up and into costume while studying their lines while a beehive of activity is happening all around them. What looks like absolute chaos is simply everyone pulling together doing the job they were hired for to make it happen.
I haven’t seen any writers on any of the sets I’ve been on. Nor have I ever seen a director or writer call for an on-set rewrite during filming. According the comments and articles I’ve seen, this has been a big bone of contention between the writers and the Studios and I agree, the WGA has a legitimate grievance regarding the lack of writers on-set.
The biggest thorn to resolving the strike is the issue of AI. Actors absolutely can’t sign an agreement unless studios agree to some form of compensation for the use of an actor’s image even after the actor has passed. Neither can the writers agree to having their work studied by AI until it can create something in a given writer’s style. Maybe it’s a long way off from when AI can come up with a concept similar to Aaron Sorkin, but there’s enough available material for the AI to learn his style, and that’s a road leading to a darker path.
I’ve been watching Hollywood productions shut down over the past several months. The last few times I was on a set in recent weeks was for commercials, photo shoots and non-union film productions, the last one of which was a student film. I don’t know when the next time I’ll find myself working on-set, but my best guess is not for a long while.
I’ll have more to say when future developments happen.
Above is the very first contract I ever received for a comic book penciling assignment. It’s my first DC Comics contract. It’s my first professional contract. My first, period. It also explains why I prevailed against Archie Comics during my legal battle with them. I really kept the receipts all these many years.
The reason I’m showing this is to make clear there is a paragraph (7) in the contract stipulating a minimum payment per page for any reprinting of the the work. This contract was standard issue for all work DC commissioned during the 1980’s, and it’s also the reason a lot of the work from that era has yet to be reprinted.
I’m not sure what arrangement DC worked out with Scott Shaw! regarding the reprinting of his CAPTAIN CARROT issues in a collected format, but I know they weren’t reprinting it until they resolved the issue of the page rate. At a minimum, Scott would’ve received a check for at least $10,240K when his work was collected in a SHOWCASE black & white format trade paperback. And that’s just Scott. There were other creators involved as well. We’re also talking about reprinting one series. DC published many more at the time. And sales today aren’t what they were back then.
By 1990, the contracts were adjusted. Any title that sold above 40K copies on the direct market generated royalties. A book had to sell over 70K copies on the newsstand before creators saw any royalties. I only saw 1 royalty check as a result of sales on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION issue 17 reaching those benchmarks.
But I’m not here to complain about that. The contract I’m showing doesn’t talk about royalties generated from sales figures, only what I’ll receive if the work is reprinted.
What interests me here is the part about DC authorizing the reprinting of the work as defined in Paragraph 7.
The reason I’m focusing on this is I know for a fact a LOT of comic book freelancers – some of whom I personally know – who worked on licensed titles during the 1980s and 90s are now seeing that work collected in deluxe hardcover and trade paperback editions, and they’re not receiving a dime, despite the promise of reprint money or royalties in the contracts they signed.
In recent years, IDW has reprinted work I did for DC Comics licensed TSR line – ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, FORGOTTEN REALMS – and DC Comics STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION series in trade paperback format. On top of that, the STAR TREK work I did has also been reprinted in hardcover editions by Eaglemoss & IDW and God only knows who else has published the work in what format over the past couple of decades.
STAR TREK inker Arne Starr and others attempted to get the royalties promised by DC paid, so they first approached IDW, who said for them to take the matter up with Paramount. Paramount, in turn, told the creators to take up the matter with DC Comics. When they contacted DC Comics, they told the creators they needed to talk to Paramount as they haven’t published the TREK title in decades. Had I been among them, I would’ve asked what was the mechanism for DC to transfer any negatives or digital files or any material used for reprinting the work to Paramount? Doesn’t that constitute authorization? Just asking.
But this is just STAR TREK. I’ve had work reprinted in the DC COMICS WHO’S WHO OMNIBUS as well as the KULL THE SAVAGE OMNIBUS by Marvel. I hadn’t received even a token check (nor do I suspect did other creators involved) or a comp copy of either book. My credit isn’t even listed for the KULL story I inked collected in the omnibus.
There has been so much reprinting of old material from the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s as well as other eras, but the only ones profiting are the publishers despite promises made in writing to the creators in exchange for their rights.
Dark Horse has published STAR WARS, CONAN and so many other series from back in the day that originated with other publishers. IDW has published reprint collections BEST OF DAN DeCARLO and BEST OF STAN GOLDBERG, yet neither the estate of Dan DeCarlo or Stan Goldberg (who was alive at the time of its release) saw a dime from these projects either.
Stan had just been unceremoniously released by Archie Comics after having worked 40-something years for them when he told me the circumstances surrounding Archie letting him go as well as IDW reprinting his work, which he had extreme feelings about. On the one hand, Stan was proud to see his work collected in such a manner, something he couldn’t have imagined previously. On the flip side, having a book of one’s collected work on the bookshelf may be prestigious, but it doesn’t support one in retirement if one isn’t getting paid for the work. Archie wasn’t issuing a pension check after all those years of service as they had gotten out of Stan what they wanted and had no problem cutting him loose.
(Stan and I discussed a great many many things, but that’s for another time.)
I could go on about the various titles collected by various publishers who didn’t originally commission the work in the first place, but the main point I’m trying to make here is whether one is dealing with Comic Book Publishers or Studio Executives, both are always going to be crying poverty to the creators – whether writers, artists, actors, whatever – while continuing to profit off the work of those creators as they ignore agreements entered into with them.
I myself get asked often by various parties why don’t I go after a SONIC THE HEDGEHOG assignment or work on one of the various STAR TREK titles published by IDW, and my response is always the same. Until they pay me for my work already reprinted as well as issue an agreement that guarantees royalties based on sales figures, I’d just as soon not deal with people who have no problem screwing creators over.
At least the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are unions with lawyers to protect their members. Comic book people aren’t so lucky and are thrown to the wolves immediately. But they all share this: none of the creators are looking for mega-millions. If they work on a project where they do hit the jackpot, great. But the most any of these people expect is the ability to put a roof over their heads, groceries on the table, new clothes now and then, decent transportation, the kids through school (those that have them) and maybe – just maybe – a night out every now and then. That’s a reasonable expectation of one’s paycheck over the long haul.
The increase in prices isn’t just the result of problems in the supply chain, but a reaction to supply and demand, with businesses no longer hesitant to squeeze whatever dollars they can from the general public.
One doesn’t see a Comic Book Publisher or a Studio Executive worry about their next meal or where they’re going to live. Their biggest concern is how long they get to enjoy the gravy train at the expense of those working for them. And when it’s over, there’s still the Golden Parachute, whether they truly earned it or not. It’s in the contract.
While their contracts get honored, how about honoring the agreements entered into, yet broken time after time? I don’t want to hear how the publishers and studio execs are the ones assuming the risks anymore.
The creators are tired of being the ones assuming the risk without being properly compensated.
It’s been interesting reading the commentary section of articles presenting the latest on the WGA & SAG-AFTRA strike, particularly the negative comments, giving me a strong sense of “I’ve seen this before” to say nothing of still experiencing it even now.
The negative comments amount to essentially either the writers & actors are overpaid, nothing’s going to change or if anything will be worse than before, or for the writers & actors to quit being selfish so the rest of the film production crews don’t lose their homes and have jobs to go back to.
That last argument particularly resonates with me as I’ve heard from a number of Sonic fans over the years how selfish I was to fight for my copyrights which allowed me to claim ownership of my characters and stories. Just like the negative commentators of the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike fail to see the big picture, so too did Sonic fans.
Regarding the current strike, members of the WGA & SAG-AFTRA can’t afford to give one inch to the AMPTP or they may as well call it a career, because what they had will no longer exist.
Even now, actors are presented contracts in which their likeness can be used on licensed products without further compensation to the actors, with all proceeds going to the producers and studios. The AMPTP has made it clear they want to hire actors who fill in the backgrounds of a film shoot to come in and be scanned, paid a day’s rate with their image usable in any permutation imaginable without further compensation thanks to AI.
Before I even learned of this aspect of the contract negotiation, I was already speculating studios would hire talent off the street, scan their image and pay $100K or thereabouts for a Forever License. I now discover I was being far too generous and studios really are that despicable.
Then there’s the “writers & actors are being too greedy” argument. Anyone who’s ever been involved in a TV or film production knows not only do these people work hard for the money, there wouldn’t be a production at all without them. The other major sticking point the general public – and even some media writers – fails to take into account is that the vast majority of writers and actors are not on the receiving end of the great contracts and dollar amounts discussed in the trade papers. Far from it.
Instead, Disney should be asked why they agreed to pay Bob Iger $27 million a year plus bonuses for the next 2 years. On top of that, there’s a number of Disney executives receiving 7 & 8-figure compensation for doing God only knows what. Instead of pointing fingers at the writers & actors who are the most responsible for getting the project off the ground, one should be pointing fingers at the mediocre execs with the great paychecks and ask what they contributed to a project’s success or if they’re shouldering their fair share of the responsibility for a project’s failure.
I still get hammered for fighting my battle against Archie Comics even though the facts are completely on my side. What else was I supposed to do once Archie filed a lawsuit demanding I pay them $250K on the grounds of tortuous business interference? Just give up and end up even worse off than I was before? That wasn’t even an option. I had to fight at that point. Even more, I had to go the distance if I wanted to come out the other end having survived the ordeal.
Working in comics and the film industry is akin to working in the Circus. There is no stability. There’s only the next show. Unlike comics, at least many professionals working in the film industry belong to a Union, which offers benefits such as health care and a pension. Only the ignorant proclaim that all Unions do is take your money and allow the deadbeats to keep their jobs. There is no deadwood on a film set. People have to bust their tails and prove themselves for the next job, especially if they want to move up the ladder. People in comics can only envy people working in films for what they have.
When I started working in the animation industry, I thought I’d be looked down upon because of my comics experience. If anything, I was surprised at the respect I was treated with. As one storyboard artist said to me, “Unless you’re the director or writer on a film or animated TV series, everyone else is just a passing glance tacked in the end credits. In comics, your credit starts on Page 1. People know who you are and what you did.”
Comics publishers are like studio executives. Neither truly respects the talent for their success. They’re well aware of many others would love to work on the projects they produce and take advantage of that reality with as much ruthlessness as one can imagine. It’s reflected right there in the contracts they issue. And it explains why they would rather shut productions down rather than even provide so much as an extra crumb to the talent.
Even today, I still receive email demanding I turn over my stories and characters to SEGA to do with as they please without any form of compensation to me. The individuals expressing those thoughts are not shy in stating whatever I created is SEGA’s by devine right trumping any legal rights I have.
Overall, I feel this moment in Hollywood is actually a microcosm of everyone’s life in general. We’re all just hanging on trying to make it through to the next day, not knowing what tomorrow will bring, with most hoping things will go back to the familiar we all used to know. The funny thing is, deep down, there is no going back to what was. There’s only a race to an uncertain, unwritten future, where life will never be what we once knew.
I don’t mean that to sound dark and apocalyptic. If anything, I think change can be good. And it’s high time the wealth started to be shared more equitably instead of preserved for the fortunate few. The working class deserve at least that much.
It took me from September 2008 to well past mid-2013 to complete my legal journey in some respects, while other respects are still out there just waiting to be detonated. The same applies to the WGA & SAG-AFTRA. They’re on a journey for their own survival, one which will come with an armistice, but not a final solution, as the business evolves leading to another battle at a fork in the road yet to be arrived at some later date.
There is a reckoning coming to the gaming industry as it has exploited its workers far too long for the benefit of the suits in the executive suites. Kids grow up playing video games and for some it becomes a passion that they want to be part of it. The problem is that most people entering the gaming industry aren’t business savvy, so they’ll take the lousy conditions in exchange for their dream job.
The problems grow the longer one remains a part of the industry. One gets older and priorities change. Health care becomes an issue. Long term financial stability becomes an issue. When one is in their 20s, life after retirement seems so far in the distance that one can’t imagine not having enough time to prepare.
The comic book industry has similar problems, only worse, as it takes less time to work on a single issue than it does building a gaming platform for release. How many writers and artists have steady work month in month out? Definitely not the majority.
Change is not going to happen that benefits the creators unless and until the majority will band together and fight for those benefits.
I got off the rat race because I didn’t see the benefit of working on the latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR or BATMAN beyond the immediate paycheck. The page rates being offered weren’t commensurate with pay working in animation or other fields. The promise of royalties was never lived up as stated in written agreements.
The kids today have the tech and opportunity to build their own paths instead of taking the corporate path. They just have to decide what’s to their benefit.
I’m a huge film fan with particular tastes. If the poster doesn’t appeal to me, the trailer better. And if that doesn’t do the job, the cast has the last best shot to win me over, as I don’t go by reviews.
I didn’t see the poster, but I did the trailer, and that completely sold me on spending 2 hours of my time watching the story the filmmakers had crafted into what could best be described as the TITANIC of geekdom.
It’s made clear early on that geeks, particularly STAR TREK fans (and I most definitely count myself as one of them) were inspired to spend their lives working to invent the future. The Blackberry smartphone was clearly an early attempt to invent the Starfleet Communicator the crew of the Enterprise used by people whose love for the material knew no bounds.
What the film also makes painfully, factually clear is that creative types aren’t the best business people. They’re too busy having fun creating the device, the artwork, or whatever. This lack of business acumen thus makes creatives easy prey for the business types.
Anyone who’s been around since the 90’s is aware of the Blackberry as a cautionary tale of how one technological achievement can be the biggest thing in the world at one point only to be surpassed by a greater achievement. Just like the Titanic didn’t swerve in time when the crew saw the iceberg, the developers of the Blackberry weren’t prepared to deal with the iPhone.
Despite knowing the eventual fate of the product, it turns out the journey from humble beginnings to spectacular success to a complete flameout is far more entertaining than anyone could’ve imagined.
It’s a fun ride and I highly recommend checking this out.
I just picked up the latest banner I’ve designed for my appearances @Comic_Con , @FANEXPOBoston and @FANEXPOCANADA , which should help make it easier to find me.
I’ll be seated at Table II-24 in Artists Alley during the San Diego Comic-Con. I won’t find out for another week or two where my placement will be at the conventions in Boston and Toronto, but once I do, check back here for the details.
One of the goals I hope to accomplish with my website is to provide a look at my approach to creating a finished work, hopefully to encourage others as well as provide some guidance.
The piece featured here is far from finished. In fact, even some of the characters pictured aren’t finished, as there are details large and small yet to be attended to. There are at least 6 characters already sketched out but not shown awaiting full rendering in color.
When finished, this will be an 11″ x 17″ print that will mark just one part of the job I was commissioned to do. The other part is a pen & ink version rendered primarily with a brush. Please feel free to check back periodically to see how the piece evolves as it nears completion.
Those of you checking out my site from Twitter may want to bookmark my website as the day when I sever my ties with that app is coming soon.
I’d been meaning to write about my ill-fated Sonic film project SONIC ARMAGEDDON for quite some time. A number of fans have inquired over the years for the details, so I guess now is just as good a time as any to spill the beans.
For about the first eight years I worked on the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG series for Archie Comics, the idea of working on any animated Sonic project usually came up only while I was attending the San Diego Comic-Con, and the first time the subject was even brought up was when I attended back in 1994. It had been four years since I first attended the convention back in 1990, and about the only thing that mattered to me while I was there was checking out other work opportunities.
To me, work opportunities meant networking with editors at the various comic companies. However, while my then-co-writer Mike Kanterovich and I were signing copies of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG issues 11 and 13 at the Archie Comics booth, we were approached by executives from SEGA, DiC Animation & the ABC-TV network and asked to submit story ideas for the hoped-for 3rd season of the SONIC SatAM series.
So we went back home after the convention, worked up a couple of ideas into an outline format and submitted them, only to learn the show was just canceled. POWER RANGERS had beaten SONIC in the ratings and ABC was ready to move onto the next thing.
Flash forward almost five years later. I had been living in the Western New York region all that time and continued to submit stories and art for the SONIC series. I was also the one tasked with handling the Sonic spin-off projects such as PRINCESS SALLY and KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA.
What separated KNUCKLES from any other Sonic project was the fact I had been the sole creator to guide the character’s adventures in the comics. This resulted in a continuity that had eluded the SONIC series as a result of multiple writers and editors. KNUCKLES had a consistent creative team along with its editor the first 21 issues, and people noticed.
One of those people who did had worked on a Dreamworks film THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, and contacted me via telephone one evening, inquiring if the rights to my KNUCKLES stories were available. I responded by saying I’d make some inquiries with SEGA and get back to them.
When I contacted the SEGA Licensing Manager at the time – I can’t be sure exactly who without doing further research as it seemed like SEGA had a revolving door at the time when it came to personnel – their response positively stunned me. They had no idea if the rights for Knuckles were available or even attached to another Sonic project that was being proposed.
As a result, there was no further contact with anyone from Dreamworks ever again. It wasn’t long after that, however, when an alumni of the SatAM series contacted Archie Comics with a feeler to see if they’d be interested in hiring him to write a Sonic story or two. Specifically, he wanted a chance to see the story ideas he proposed for the 3rd season adapted in the comics format. His name was Ben Hurst, and I was given his number by the Sonic editor at the time and told to call Ben to see how viable the project was.
Had I known what the result of our conversations would be beforehand, I’d have taken copious notes or run the other way. Editor Justin Gabrie had asked me to find out the nature of Ben’s inquiry, to which Ben was forthcoming. In so many words, he wanted to write a script for the comic book series. That conversation didn’t take long, and we parted with me promising to take the matter up with Justin.
Justin immediately embraced the idea once I told him. I relayed to Ben that Justin was agreeable to placing his story in an upcoming issue of SONIC SUPER SPECIAL, allocating the issue’s full 40 pages of story
Upon hearing this, Ben’s next question was understandable. As a professional writer, he wanted to know how much the job paid. When I responded withe the $45 page rate Justin had quoted me to tell him, the response on his end was one of disappointment having learned comics didn’t pay anything near what he was paid for writing a script for an animated series. Not even close.
In fairness to Ben, back then Hollywood scriptwriters didn’t slum it writing comic book scripts the way they do now. It wouldn’t be until the WGA strike in 2008 that writers would turn to comics as an alternate source of income as well as early development of a potential film project. (This has only made it more difficult for new writers to break into comics if they don’t have previous Hollywood writing experience.)
So I thought that was the end of my contact with Ben until he called asking if I would be interested in pitching an animated Sonic project to SEGA.
Before saying anything more, I need to add the caveat that Ben Hurst passed away on August 10, 2010, leaving a controversy within Sonic fandom concerning interactions I had with him during the late 90’s. As a result, I’ve stayed mostly silent regarding those conversations as a result of some fans complaining Ben wasn’t alive to rebut my version. My response to that is nothing stopped Ben from responding to me when I learned of his comments. Thus, the reader is free to accept whatever version they want, but this is my side, and I’m sticking with it.
Long story short, Ben had asked if I would use my contacts at SEGA to see if they would be interested in paying me & him to develop a new animated Sonic project. Immediately alarm bells went off in my head. I was living outside of Buffalo, NY working in the comics industry while Ben was an established writer in Hollywood with animated series credits to his name. Out of the two of us, who do you think was most likely to get an animated project off the ground?
I responded by telling Ben that I thought it highly unlikely that SEGA would pay us to develop an animated project. If anything, they would expect us to PAY THEM. I had enough experience by that point dealing with licensed properties to know the owner of any IP is looking for a payday when it comes to using the rights for their properties. I was bewildered wondering why Ben didn’t know this already.
Needless to say, I didn’t sign on to Ben’s proposal. He may have had no problem throwing his credibility out the window, but I didn’t have any credibility to throw out at that time. When I did speak to the SEGA Licensing Mgr, this person only confirmed what I knew to be a fact. Neither Ben or I would’ve gotten even a meeting with SEGA if the premise was for them to pay us.
Ben would go on to publicly claim I sabotaged his effort to get an animated SONIC project off the ground, but the reality was simply this: Had Ben approached SEGA with a check and a business plan, he had the experience and industry connections to get an animated SONIC project off the ground before I ever could.
In fact, it would be another five years before my friendship with Fox animated X-MEN Producer/Director Larry Houston had developed to the point where we could comfortably discuss working on a project together.
I had met Larry at the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con as a result of his son Adrian being a huge Sonic fan. From that point forward, Larry, my partner Bernadette, myself and our kids would hang out together during subsequent Comic-Cons, as that would be the only time we’d see Larry and Adrian until Bernie and I decided to move the family out to California during the autumn of 2001.
Sometime in the early part of 2003, I made an inquiry to SEGA Licensing Manger Robert Leffler about the possibility of creating a SONIC THE HEDGEHOG graphic novel which would be published in hardcover format by Image Comics. Although he expressed interest in expanding the Sonic franchise in such a manner, Archie had been the sole steady revenue stream for licensing during the past 10 years at that point, and he had no desire to upset the apple cart.
I then pitched him the premise of coming to SEGA for a license to do an animated project. By then, Larry and I had been discussing pooling our resources to see how feasible such a project would be getting off the ground, so we scheduled a visit with Robert at the SEGA offices in San Francisco, where he proved to be receptive to the idea.
We exchanged correspondence whereupon a meeting took place at the agreed upon location and date at approximately 9:00am, where we met for breakfast inside the hotel dining room.
My team consisted of Larry, who had the Hollywood experience and connections, myself for my track record with the character, and my partner Bernadette Shahin, a seasoned veteran capable of sitting at any grown-up table when discussing business. We were dressed in business attire for the occasion.
It turned out Robert could make the meeting, so he and I handled the introductions, whereupon Robert took control guiding the proceedings.
We had come to discuss making an all-new animated SONIC project based material created for the Archie Comics SONIC series as well as the animated SatAM SONIC series, discussing what each member of my team brought to the table. We had come prepared to make an offer of a down payment to license the Sonic property on condition we received a letter of intent agreement with SEGA.
It was at that point Toyoda-San and Ishihara-San surprised us with an offer of partnership. They explained they had been attempting to get a Sonic project off the ground with Hollywood studios previously, only to discover studios interested in obtaining the license in order to bury it so as to not have it compete against a project where they had sole ownership interests. As for the studios that had no competing interests, they simply weren’t interested because they’d have no ownership stake in Sonic to begin with.
Bernie, Larry and I couldn’t believe what we were hearing. We had been spending considerable time figuring out how we were going to raise $20-$25K just to get a 1 to 2-year commitment to get a project off the ground, only to be offered the keys to the kingdom after we had just proposed sharing any and all 3D assets we’d create for our animated project with SEGA to use in any gaming project they developed.
Upon concluding the meeting, Robert and I discussed our next contact to get the project moving along once Toyoda-San and Ishihara-san returned to Japan.
Our euphoria turned out to be short-lived. Robert relayed how Toyoda-San and Ishihara-san along with a number of SEGA executives were let go in a massive corporate purge. We’d have to wait until the dust settled before discussing the next move.
I had discussed an alternate plan to move forward when I received a phone call from Robert. Yuji Naka of SEGA of Japan had pushed for a Japanese-based Sonic series, which was going forward and thus taking the Sonic property off the market for the next 2 years. The project was to be an animated series named SONIC X and already Robert was seeing problems with SEGA’s approach.
Since I had proposed licensing a different SEGA property as a means to create a relationship as well as establish a track record with SEGA once Sonic became available again, Robert forwarded us a copy of the agreement SEGA had entered into regarding the CRAZY TAXI property for us to use as a template in putting together a deal for PHANTASY STAR with SEGA.
Robert had sent me copies of the most recent PHANTASY STAR games as well as copies of all in-house reference material for use in developing our project.
Operating under the company name Floating Island Productions, we hired a lawyer to draw up the contracts according to the specifications we had been provided. Despite Robert’s assistance, it would not be smooth sailing as SEGA of Japan would prove to be a huge obstacle to anything SEGA of America wanted to do.
In the meantime, Robert continued to provide support to our efforts, such as actually shipping me the official SEGA Sonic costume used for public appearances, as seen here in the crate it arrived in during the summer of 2004, which we used at the San Diego Comic-Con which was about to commence in a few days.
In the top photo, Larry and I posed with Sonic, while Bernie can be seen in the background. In the pic below, Robert stops by my table in Artist Alley to pose with Sonic as well as check out the display of SONIC X material he supplied for me to display.
Robert would also provide us with passes to the latest E3 annual gatherings taking place in downtown Los Angeles for 3 years straight as we worked to strategize and advance our projects.
Among the reasons Robert was helpful was that he had just witnessed SEGA’s efforts at licensing SONIC X collapse. There would be no McDonald’s Happy Meal toys or any toys of any kind. Nor would there be much of anything in licensing opportunities. In fact, the publishers of Archie Comics had to be dragged kicking and screaming to license SONIC X as a comic book series. Not only that, but they totally ignored the SEGA anthology series proposal I had tried to put together, where 3 different SEGA properties would be featured in each issue, with PHANTASY STAR the regular ongoing part of the book.
Events would take a turn late in 2006 when Robert gave the go-ahead to prepare our animated SONIC project to be pitched to SEGA once again. Sales hadn’t been doing well for the company, so they were thinking a complete revamp of the Sonic property was called for. Everything was on the table for discussion.
I had been commissioned by Shout! Factory to do the cover art for the SatAM SONIC DVD boxset around this time, with Robert signing off on me putting together a promotional effort that included selling T-Shirts featuring my cover art. This was notable because I had departed working on the Archie SONIC series a year earlier, having moved on to work in the animation industry.
With credits that included a stint as storyboard artist on the Fox-TV animated series KING OF THE HILL and other animation projects, and Larry continuing to be pulled in to work on various animated projects, Robert felt early in 2007 would be the time SEGA would be receptive to our pitch.
This time, we had prepared a website for use to brief SEGA on our proposal, featuring the presentation art prepared for our initial presentation back in 2003, along with a newly created animatic featuring a rough proposal how our film would begin.
We had been in contact going back and forth on a number of details to make sure we had everything nailed down. At left is the last email communication I received from Robert.
After that, it was nothing but radio silence.
When I tried contacting anyone at SEGA for further information, it was like hitting a brick wall. Nobody knew anything. Or if they did, they weren’t saying so.
Bernie, Larry and I wondered for months what had happened. We had spent more than 4 years in contact with Robert to the point where the relationship wasn’t just business, it was personal. We had broken bread over many a meal whenever we encountered him and the phone conversations weren’t just business either. He once discussed giving permission the bereaved parents of a little boy who died from leukemia. The boy loved Sonic so much that the parents wanted to put Sonic’s image on their child’s tombstone. All of us were incredibly moved by the story.
Finally, on August 10, 2007, Dyna Lopez, Robert’s assistant, sent out an email announcing Robert had passed due to cancer at the age of 50.
Bernie, Larry and I were devastated at the news. The project no longer mattered. We had lost a friend.
That would’ve been the end of this story except for Robert’s boss, Rob Lightner, had sent me an email seeking to have a meeting.
After some back and forth, Larry and I finally met with Rob at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Operating under the premise SONIC was off the table, we opened with a pitch for PHANTASY STAR. Rob surprised us by putting Sonic front and center. He didn’t want to hear anything but that. We told him how we wanted to proceed, that we would need a Letter Of Intent to move the project forward. Everyone at that meeting was agreeable regarding what was to happen next, but as usual, SEGA Corporate had other plans.
They were interested in getting in bed with Marvel, and everything else was pushed aside, including us.
My last official contact with SEGA arrived in the form of a package. It was delivered to my front door where I was residing at the time. Inside was the last licensed product Robert Leffler had given his approval to. It was a 15th Anniversary SONIC THE HEDGEHOG statue accompanied by a note explaining I was receiving it as SEGA’s acknowledgement of my close relationship with Robert.
It sits on a shelf in my family room. I consider it a family heirloom to be passed on to my children and their children.
