If so you would have to be one hell of a brown-noser. And probably owner of Atlantis Studios!
This was forwarded by Terry Pavlet who keeps an eye open for this kind of thing -as should anyone in the comics business.
Are you thinking of doing work for James Watson and Atlantis Studios ? Are you considering paying them to do work for you?
I had a nightmare “working” with them and I’m not the only one.
I’m a produced TV writer from New Zealand with nearly seventeen years experience. I have over 100 hours of produced TV credits to my name (as writer, story-liner, script editor or creator/associate producer). Eight months ago I decided to produce a graphic novel from a script idea I had, working title: “State’s Evidence”.
I’d attended the Screenwriting Expo in October 2007 and heard about a company called Atlantis Studios. I visited their website and learnt they offered a comic and graphic novel production service: you gave them a script (or treatment or outline), and they would adapt it to a comic, using one of the freelance artists in their “stable”.
This sounded like a great idea. I contacted James Watson in December 2007 and we began discussing this.
Here’s what happened next…
I paid a deposit on December 31, 2007: 25% of the full fee quoted. I paid this at that time – even though the script wasn’t ready – because James told me prices would go up on January 1. By paying then I could lock in the 2007 prices.
James assured me that despite the script not being ready, he could begin character design work. He also told me they’d produced comics from an outline of only a few paragraphs. (I’d sent a detailed 14 page treatment on December 28.) He indicated they’d begin this character design work while I fine-tuned the script.
Instead, despite repeated assurances the work was being done, I didn’t see anything until March 27 – two and a half months after I’d sent through information about what I wanted the characters to look like. Three rough character sketches. And the art work wasn’t even done by the artist I’d requested! Why not? Because that artist was owed money by James from 2006! His name is Giuseppe D’Elia, and his story is also told on this website.
James was telling me he was working with Giuseppe when Giuseppe subsequently told me he never agreed to work on this project. Despite being asked, James has never told me who did this small amount of art work.
Those few rough sketches were the first and last pieces of work I ever received from Atlantis Studios. This art work was promised EIGHT times before it arrived. When it did, it was incomplete (only three of the eight characters were sketched) I requested the art work at least 9-10 times by phone or email before anything arrived. I was unable to show any art work to film producers and managers whom I met in
Los Angeles in late February/early March as James ignored my emails requesting material for those meetings.
My script was sent to James on May 30th.- admittedly a fair bit later than I’d hoped (and indicated) I could get it to James. Because he did nothing with it for three weeks, I told him I would send a new draft, which I did on June 30th.
Throughout most of the period between February and July 2008, James would ignore phone messages (it seemed impossible to get through directly to anyone on the phone) and emails about 90% of the time, maybe more. Having spoken to other writers and artists, I’ve learnt I’m not alone in this experience.
Despite James promising he could deliver a 144 page (black and white) graphic novel in “9-10 months” at “15-20 pages a month” (email from James, December 27, 2007), he produced only three rough character sketches in more than six months.
Between May 30th and July 11th when – having finally run out of patience I told James I’d be contacting a lawyer about getting my deposit back – James gave me nothing other than empty promises.
From what I can tell, James’ modus operandi is to simply ignore problems. “Problems” being people he either can’t pay or can’t do contracted work for.
James promised I would be working with Giuseppe D’Elia, a very talented Italian artist. On January 31, James said in an email: “Working with Giuseppe on early drawings of main characters.”
As mentioned above, THIS WAS AN OUT-AND-OUT FALSEHOOD. Giuseppe subsequently told me he never agreed to work on my project. James followed this assertion up on February 20th with an email that said – in relation to a request for the character reference material: “I’ll send a request to Giuseppe to see what can be sent to you by the end of the month.” I even asked James in an email if there was a problem with Giuseppe’s availability. I was prepared to consider a second-choice option if he was unavailable. But – true to form – James never answered my question.
Even after all the problems I’d had with the character material, I was prepared to give James the benefit of the doubt. Hence, I sent him the script.
On June 3rd, James sent an email: “Reviewing the script and working on art. Will have comments/questions to you shortly.” On June 23rd: “I apologize for the delay - for business reasons, I’ve had to shuffle things around. Once I get through this week, ‘States Evidence’ will be front burner, and I’ll address all the production questions you have… Please give me one week to free up the resources needed”
I then suggested I send him a new script that had been amended. I told him it would be with him on June 30th. On June 26th he agreed that he’d accept the new script to work off and said: “I’ll have meetings about states evidence on monday with the artists…”
On July 1st, after not hearing back having emailed the script, James wrote: “Yes, I received the script and reviewed yesterday. Will get back to you with detailed response to your questions later tonight.”
That was the last correspondence I’ve had to him to date.
Why did I get suspicious? (Apart from all the unanswered questions, broken promises, missed deadlines?) Because I looked on the ‘net and found out about others who’d also had problems with Atlantis Studios: artists and writers alike.
One of these writers was Michael Bann, who set up this website. After going public with his concerns, James settled the financial matters outstanding with Michael and the site was taken down. Sadly, I now find I have to re-launch it.
The silver lining? The artist I wanted all along also contacted Michael – telling him his own tale of woe. He and I are now not only collaborating on the graphic novel, we’re also coordinating our efforts to get what’s owed to us. This includes not only this website, but legal action against James Watson and Atlantis Studios.
Ironically, if you go to Atlantis’ website, the comic Giuseppe illustrated is featured prominently. See: http://www.atlantisstudios.net/
Not only that, but Giuseppe is (as at this writing) still listed as an artist that one can use when getting a comic book created. See: http://www.atlantisstudios.net/
MY ADVICE?
There may be artists and content creators who’ve had a good experience with Atlantis Studios. I haven’t met any of them. I have, however, talked to half a dozen people (so far) who’ve had major problems. They either haven’t been paid or have been paid very late (in the case of freelance artists). Or (in the case of clients) they haven’t received work promised to them or it’s arrived several months after it was promised.
If I could turn back the clock I wouldn’t touch Atlantis Studios with a barge pole. I’d go directly to the artist I wanted to work with and do a deal with him/her directly. (Ironically, I could’ve gone to Atlantis Studios’ website; found Giuseppe, found a way to contact him directly, and discovered he isn’t doing any more work for them because he’s owed money for previous work!)
James’ involvement should’ve made the process easier. He should’ve been able to coordinate things between me and the artist and offer me advice on everything from comic script layout to who to go to for publishing advice. Certainly that’s how the service is sold. Alas, his involvement has instead caused me to waste dozens of hours of potential writing time leaving unanswered messages on his phone, writing frequently ignored emails and exploring legal avenues to get my money back.
If what I’ve described sounds like a productive, professional, rewarding creative collaboration then you should write Atlantis Studios a big check immediately. However, if this sounds like a nightmare (which is certainly how it felt to me!) – then consider this a warning.
fin
Ahh,this has been happening a great deal in comics since the 1980s but it seems to be getting far more common.
You’ll see fantastic web sites that are so slick you’ll think think:”Wow! These guys are better than Marvel!” When you look at the actual art,much of it is very amateurish and would normally have only been seen in the Small Press before.
Anyone can ask artists for samples promising to put work their way -most artists are glad to think someone else will do the contract and money side of things so they can get on with drawing!
Once an unscrupulous person gets the artist[s] work on their web site the artist in question is immediately associated with the ‘company’ and the problems -and word spreads. The poor artist then gets the sometimes frustrated “client” [who never was in the first place] bombarding him/her with emails and phone calls to the effect:
“You son of an impure man and harlot mother -where’s my comic?!”
Hmm. In reality there’d be a lot more words beginning with the letter “F” in that line.
The artist,genuinely not usually the sort of person to be financially well off,would need to spend a lot of cash to get the,uh,’company’/’studio’ legally forced to remove art and claims that they are working for said ‘company’/’studio’.
If you want to want to get 150 pages of graphic novel together and are a complete novice in the industry I have advice.
If you are a writer with experience in broadcasting,etc.,and thusly able to prove you are a professional writer:go to a company such as Dark Horse or Image Comics and see if they might be interested in the project.
But if you do that as a writer you have an obligation to company and potential artist!
1. ALWAYS have a completed script to show the publisher. If it is not completed to your satisfaction then do not submit it.
2. A publisher such as Dark Horse might have an idea of,or know, which artist could handle the work. Remember:Image want creator owned projects worked on by the writer/artist team -just a script probably wouldn’t interest them.
3. If you get an artist willing to do the work it is no good waiting til you see page 20 and then saying “Hmm. I think Riingoor ought to be less chunky!”.
4. And don’t pay out a huge wad of cash at the outset.
The best way of finding an artist is check out web sites and see what sort of work artists do and if you think it might suit your project. Artists such as Terry Pavlet and John Erasmus,Jon Haward,Geoff Harrold,et al have pretty good web sites and work records.
So what if you find an artist?
Obviously the easiest thing to do is contact them initially by email but follow it up within a day in writing so that the artist has something legally binding in letter form.
Explain what you want and include a one page synopsis and explain how many pages the book/comic ought to run to. But please remember that if you have not had experience writing comic strips before then the artist may suggest page layout changes or short cuts. An experienced artist will know his job.
Personally,when asked to contribute to a project then if it’s freebie to help someone fill an issue or paying work I insist that the writer/publisher lets me produce some character sketches and,perhaps,3-4 pages of artwork. For this you’d expect a payment if turned down because you have been asked to spend your time and materials at the publisher’s request. They say they won’t pay for your work if they do turn it down -walk away [who can guarantee that after saying “okay” to 150 pages they won’t say “Yeah,we’ve decided against this project -thanks anyway”.
There are reasons why pro artists insist on a “kill fee” from publishers.
If publishers say the spec work looks okay then tell them your page rates or ask what their page rates are. Also,in case its a best seller,ask for a royalty per centage.
The artist must then give a written promise of how many pages he will be submitting each week/month. If one artist pencils,inks and letters ALL the artwork then 15-20pp a month is fine because if you manage 18-25 pages of full art they’ll be very happy.
I’ve come across artists who say they will do “the art chores” but send back scribbly,hardly identifiable scribbles. Some of these insist on payment per page but expect to also get full payment when/if a book is published -royalties too [on top of the rights to,quite rightly,sell off art pages for more money].
““NO!” has been my firm response to this in the past. Every artist seems to think that scribbly pencils constitute full art -someone ‘just’ has to ink it!! I know one ‘artist’ who produces these awful scribbles but puts fully inked,wonderful art up online -he pays another,more competent inker to draw from scratch his scribble at $100 per page!!
A contract between creative team and company usually keeps everyone happy. The company knows it will get its comic,the writer knows his book will be published and he’ll be paid -and ditto the artist!
With Black Tower I have,since the 1980s,adopted the same policy. If I have a series idea I’ll look for an artist who looks like he can produce great work. I’ll send him a synopsis along with any other info needed. I always without fail explain that there is no money up-front. it’s a joint project and I write the scripts and he/she draws the first issue of art and only after that is completed can you really pester companies with your new book. If -IF- the book sells then it’s a 50-50 payment split because it is guaranteed that a great deal of money is paid out by me to try to sell a book. The artist owns all the artwork rights and can earn extra income from that -I’ve never had anyone offer to buy pages of original script yet!
That’s joint projects. If commissioned I explained ALL the details to the artist and usually pass along copies of correspondence [I never ask an artist to start work on a project based on an email -EVER- only once a letter confirming details arrives. I then keep the artist as up-to-date on things as I can and I expect him/her to do the same for me.
If you want to have pages of your script drawn for vanity and pay for that,okay. But if you had a comic drawn for you and it’s a huge seller then the artist will probably insist on more cash or halt a project through legal action.
Always check around the comic community and see if there is a studio or artist who is credible and produces good work.
But in the end it is all down to trust and if you keep getting promises of artwork and it never turns up but you get excuse after excuse severe your links with the person involved and explain in letter form that you are totally dissatisfied and that’s it.
Above all:do not pay out huge amounts of money in advance to a company you have not fully checked out. There are a lot of crooks out there –and people hiding their identities behind internet pseudonyms.
Terry
Comic Bits Online is the web version of the Comic Bits magazine Edited and run by Terry Hooper. Currently Interviews Editor at Manga Life,Terry has over thirty years experience in the comic industry as script writer,artist,freelance Editor,publisher and much more. But if you want the facts:
Curriculum vitae Name:Terry HooperDob:6th June 1957 [50 yrs]Currently living Ashton Vale,Bristol,United Kingdom ...