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The Pitch
2007-09-05 12:18:55

One of the things people seem to wonder about the most, and one of the questions I'm most asked by writers trying to break into the industry, is "What is Marvel looking for in a project?" Well, I recently had reason to write up some notes on this very point for someone, and so I thought I'd share them all with you here.

The key to what Marvel does better than anybody else in the industry, and what keeps us on top, is creating stories that have a resonance with our readership. So regardless of the project, finding those touchstones is job number one. Bill Jemas used to ask, “What’s the metaphor?” whenever talking about projects, and while he tended to become dogmatic about his approach, there’s a definite validity to it. CIVIL WAR was a massive hit and appealed to the mainstream because the underlying metaphors connected as well with a civilian audience as with the faithful readership. While it’s a realm of fantasy, the Marvel Universe works best when it mirrors the real-world concerns of its audience.

At Marvel, the story comes first. The stories are what keep people coming back, while the art might be what gets them through the door. Story is the top concern—if there’s a compelling enough story, we’re more likely to try a project without a whole lot of obvious commercial appeal, counting on the strength of the story itself to connect to a readership. And conversely, we’re likely to pass on an obvious commercial idea if there doesn’t seem to be a story that works in support of it. The story is the thing we’re most interested in as a whole.

There are three kinds of projects: line extensions, revamps or resurrections of old Marvel characters, and completely new characters and idea. The one thing that all of these types of projects have in common: any new project should ideally occupy some distinctive ground within the Marvel line (and ideally, some unique ground throughout the field). Even on a line extension, if you’re pitching another Avengers project, there needs to be a good reason to do it, beyond the simple fact that Avengers is popular right now. What does it add to the publishing line? What does it do that couldn’t be done in the parent book? How is it unique? The same thing applies for revamps. If you want to do a Luke Cage series, what is it going to offer that the reader can’t get in NEW AVENGERS, or in any other title Marvel publishes? How is the story and the milieu unique to that character? (If you can swap out the character, changing a Spider-Man story into a Wolverine story with just a simple global replace, then you don’t have a very effective Spider-Man or Wolverine story, and it’s not likely to be bought.) And if you’re pitching something completely new, does it have a unique point of view or idea at the heart of it that makes it distinctive from everything else Marvel is putting out?

The standard equation for judging a project is Characters + Creators + Concept. So you should think across all three as you put a project together. Clearly, tried and true proven creators are going to make it easier to get a project off the ground, and it’s always going to be easier to sell popular characters than unpopular ones. But it’s really the synthesis of all three elements that makes the engine turn over—and don’t underestimate Concept! In some ways, Concept is the strongest of the three, in that, with the right idea, you can sell a project with lesser known creators and lesser known characters and make it work.

In the end, too, it’s important to pitch books you yourself believe in, that you yourself want to read, not simply what you think Marvel is looking for. You’re going to need to have a love of the material you’re pitching and an emotional investment in the story you’re telling in order to really make what you’re doing sing. So, even if it’s an idea that’s off the beaten track, if there’s a story you really believe in, that’s the thing you should really be proposing.

More later.

Tom B

Other requirements
What else is required to get in the door? I'm sure a portfolio of work would be expected, but is there anything else? What type of college degree is expected if any?

Posted by doncorswhazie on 2007-09-05 17:37:39

How about the long term future??
One thing I wonder when I read this (a very interesting posting by the way, thank you sharing this with us) is how important the 'consequences on the future of the character' are when evaluating projects. Having read some of the blogs and listened to the podcasts etc on this site, I seem to have understood that you already think ahead for the next 4 to 5 years (in which the details diminish as the future is farther ahead), but how much attention is given to the next say 10 to 50 years?

The reason why I'm saying this is the fact that I have heard you guys say that you wanted to break the status quo. And that has been done and quit masterfully, if I may say so. I really love the enormous dynamics in the current MU. But ... isn't there a danger that the characters evolve TOO much away from what they once were? Spider-Man minus 5 years was basically the same character as he was decades ago... So in a way, youth now got the same gift of marvel and fantasy that we had when we were young and some generations before us. Aren't you afraid that say in 10 years the next generation kids will no longer be able to experience the same wonder and amazement of seeing Spider-Man swing into action for the same time?

Don't understand me wrong. This is not criticism. I was just wondering about this.

Is the answer the fact that there will remain a
- children line and a
- young adults line??

So that a certain period in time will remain frozen in a bubble and kept as starting point for the new readers and then when they grow older, they can jump on the train of the more adult stories (ok, not THOSE adult stories)??

But still ... Is there a danger of changing TOO much, so that at a given moment the 'bubble' no longer relates to the main MU at all???

Posted by Zigy on 2007-09-06 06:37:56

Creator
Since you referred to "new writers trying to get into the business" at the beginning, I'm curious how much of an impact the Creator has on the project. You seem to imply with the three Cs that a new writer couldn't possibly sell a project, because they would never be well known or tried enough to balance out that part, no matter how good the concept and characters might be.

It seems to me from my own attempts to get into comic writing that a Creator must already have a fair amount of comic-writing experience before they can write for comics. In other words, the old experience Catch-22.

Am I wrong in this?

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2007-09-06 09:53:38

Transformers/Avengers
How does this fit in?

Posted by RichJohnston on 2007-09-06 10:10:03

Hehe. :-) Now THAT's an interesting question. Does really seem to fit in to either of the three types of projects eh?

"line extensions, revamps or resurrections of old Marvel characters"

But the same can be said about the titles that are being put out there for the kids, don't you think?

Posted by Zigy on 2007-09-06 12:24:58

thank you mom and dad
I think there are interesting questions heading up here.
Trough the plethora of pitch that you are surely receiving, which guarantee a wanted-so-writer-pitch-emettor got to don't have one his ideas recycled ?
As you showed it, a pitch have to be convincive, this why you're immediatly asking to the essential,'what is the metaphor ?', but I closethink it's only 50% of the thing, the other 50 are how the story will be told, which this specific wrtiter part and of no one else...
Which guarantee do the writer got that his plot will not be used by some one else ?
After all, you have enough talented writers in the House that can handle whatever pitch of the world, surely better than someone unknow, and why paying someone new if someone else in the House can handle the job ?
Because you can make some minor changes or re-using something of the idea ,saying that it came out right from the Lab of Ideas
( at the same moment,yeah right,coz we're working on it from a long time now )and the wanted-so writer can't do nothing about that (except maybe double sending to himself a copy of the pitch that he sends you, but who can afford it to a court ?)

I'm asking the question because in the movie industry, you have the same problem, each famous book script-adaption I had provided had been refused because the author was still living ( James Elroy )
or too recently dead (Theodore Sturgeon ) which is not the case for Shakespeare but not anybody is Peter Greenaway and his' Tempest' adaptation ( 'Prospero's books' ), they prefer re-writing a story a little different of the original instead of paying author-rights , there are famous authors who accept to get paid later, if the project feets them.

Is Marvel offering second chances and to which point ?
When the pitch do you got is finding interesting, or do you wait to see one or two episodes written ?
And is there a contract signed at this point ?

Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2007-09-06 14:05:17

characters+creators+concept
Always on this latest post, I tend to asking myself many others questions, thinking about some titles I used to read, and always come with the same conclusion :
"what a bad luck on a characters+creators+concept level."
I'm thinking about Alpha Flight who had fall straight to hell ( a few story-arcs excepted )since John Byrne left the title; or the Soviet Super Soldiers who had always been well guest-starred until when they were about to have an ongoing ( one issue ) with brand new characters who were supposed to make them look like The Avengers, loosing their consistency, to my opinion, who was an intersting counterpart of the FF and the X-Men.
I think they should have deserved better than the less and less good and slow guest-starring that justifies their death.Same for Excalibur who started to interest people when they went on the Multiverse story-arcs.
I'm frankly asking to my self what kind of characters+creators+concept could be there behind, except there are all non-american super-hero teams.
No.It can't be that.
What's interesting readers is it not after all super-heroes stories, nevermind where they come from, where it is taking parts ? They're all connected within the same house, what is the problem with others mythologies ( new adversaries, universe, and JUST others stories ? ).Foreign characters are just here for the exotic touch ?
Don't take it for what it isn't,there's not a single day without me praying for an ongoing AMERICAN EAGLE written by James Elroy (I sware ); it's just seems to me like a waste of intersting characters and stories, comics-books after all are vehicles for ideas.
If there was a new Deathlok ongoing,there surely not will have ALL the stories about second chance ( the born-again-cyborg-thing ), but maybe something like Judge Dreed, about desobeissance, or maybe completely something else.
I think I'm not the only one begging for a come-back of the Defenders, who were the weirdest super-hero team of Marvel, the reason why we loved them so much, dealing with occult but also with cosmic things that you could just await to see them inter-react.

Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2007-09-06 17:13:56

Is it fair to say I should just give up now?

Posted by dugdale24 on 2007-09-07 14:55:18

Pitch to who?
I've recently talked to an editor or two (including you Mr. B. even though you don't know who I am ha ha ha), about a pitch of mine that seemed to attract some attention amongst those I have spoken with. One editor, even gave me an email address to which to be contacted. The only problem I have with this is with all the emails you all must receive daily, how would it even be possible to get back to someone even if the pitch was specifically asked for (or in my case accepted to be looked at)? Is there a way to schedule a face-to-face meeting to present a pitch where feedback can be given without having to go through the email system? For an example, in the music industry one may schedule a time with a producer or panel (often times they require a fee to do so) where one may go and pay these "professionals" to tell you how bad you suck. At least you know where you stand and you know how far you have to come. Is there any type of similar process there at Marvel?

Posted by professorM on 2007-09-09 01:57:52

Long term future...
In response to my own question about how Marvel deals with long term future... I just saw the following video. Joe Quesada on character growth ... risks vs. benefits ...

http://www.marvel.com/videos/WW_Chicago_2007%3A_Joe_Q_on_Character_Growth

Posted by Zigy on 2007-09-10 12:26:57

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