[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What are some advantages and disadvantages of having a publisher?
Stephen L. Stern, Comic Book Author/President of Storyboard Graphic Novels: Comic book publishers, I don’t want to say this categorically but I will, they’re in business to get movie and TV deals. You could make some money publishing a book but the real money is in doing deals for film and TV. It’s incalculably different and also licensing is very important. Film and TV licensing is where the real money comes.
For example, Ken Levin who founded 1FirstComics, my personal publisher back in the day, Ken founded 1FirstComics as what’s called a creator-owned company. What this means is as follows, Marvel and DC own all their characters. They own Spider-Man, they own Superman, Batman, Captain, Marvel. etc. When you get published, the only way you get published through Marvel or DC is if you’re writing or drawing stories based on their characters and it’s a work-for-hire, they pay you x amount, you draw, you write.
Creator own books like the ones that 1FirstComics and some other companies publish, they’re still those characters that you create, like Zen [Zen Intergalactic Ninja] is still owned by Dan [Cote] and I. What Ken as a publisher can do and what Harry Markos (my UK publisher of Markosia) can do, and it’s incorporated into the publishing contract, is they can take your property and sell it as a movie or as a TV show…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Stephen L. Stern is the president of Storyboard Graphic Novels. Steve is best known as the creator/writer of the indie comic-book Zen Intergalactic Ninja that has sold over three million comics and graphic novels and been licensed for video games, action figures and numerous other products. He is also the creator of Shygirl and Frickin’ Butt-Kickin’ Zombie Ants, and the author of Beowulf: The Graphic Novel and the A Christmas Carol Graphic Novel, both published by the UK’s Markosia. His other works include Alien Hero, a collection of novellas and stories about Zen, and the upcoming Majestic Comics Graphic Novel. Stern is a native of New York and former advertising agency president with clients including Johnson & Johnson, Rosenthal China and The Singer Company. He lives in Los Angeles, where he launched Storyboard Graphic Novels in 2011, working with several of his longtime friends and associates—who just happen to be some of the highest-profile artists and writers in the industry today.
BUY THE BOOK – A Christmas Carol (A graphic novel)
CONNECT WITH STEPHEN L. STERN
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