DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

6.23.2005

Here's the Thing... #3 - Your Worth

Last time, on Here’s the Thing…

I know I said I was going to focus on lying this week (and why it rocks) but I realized after outlining the article that I had it too soon. So I’m putting that article off because first I need to talk about worth. This one will sting a bit but stick with it, if you make it to the end the purpose of this series of columns will be revealed to you and you may feel good about yourself. Just hide sharp objects and guns while you’re reading the part that’s going to get you there.

To put it bluntly, when you walk up to a booth with a portfolio in hand, you are worth $2.95. Whether the portfolio contains scripts, published work, art…doesn’t matter. You have a stamp on your head that says $2.95 and that’s all the publisher sees.

Now, if you’re an artist and you open up your portfolio and the work is hot, your value increases exponentially. Great art can sell a book. Selling a book equates to money in the bank. Putting money in the publisher’s bank increases your worth. Of course, things like work ethic and ability to meet deadlines contributes to your worth as well but as long as the art looks great, you’re a worthwhile investment.

If you’re a writer and you open up your portfolio and there’re scripts in there – you’re worth $2.95. If the scripts are handouts, you’re worth $2.95 and the publisher will try to move you along as quickly as possible. If you buy a book off the publisher, you’re worth $2.95 and are forgotten the minute you walk away plus you proved that you really don’t read the books; you just want us to publish you. If you don’t buy a book, don’t really mention the book and walk away well, congratulations, you are worthless.

The number one thing that makes me die a little bit inside is when I see one of my fellow writers embarrass themselves by handing out a script. Nobody wants to read a script. Nobody wants to read a synopsis. Nobody wants to read a pitch, even. And the reason why is because if all you have is a script, it means nobody else has seen any potential worth in you beyond the $2.95 you’re currently worth. And, more importantly, it shows that you don’t even see any potential worth in yourself beyond the $2.95 you’re currently worth (please see Matt Dembicki’s column on self-publishing).

It costs thousands of dollars to produce a comic and do it well. Trying to dress up your $2.95 to make a publisher believe you’re worth thousands of dollars is pointless.

I know, I know. You have talent. You told me so yourself. In a few months our investment in you will pay off.

Let’s say you have your eye on a Ford Focus. It’s not a bad Focus, it’s a 2000 ZTS, has a nice engine in it and leather interior – it has about 65,000 miles. It’s worth around $7,500.

You walk into the dealership, plop down the $2.95 you have in your pocket and say, “I want that Focus.”

The dealer looks at you funny for a minute and says, “Sir. That focus is $7,500.”

You laugh at the dealer and say, “Oh, no, no…You don’t understand. I’m good for the money. I’ll get it to you in a few months.”

I promise you – that Focus will remain in the dealership.

So you’re only worth $2.95 until someone sees more value in you and no-one will see more value in you until you prove you’re worth more than $2.95. That’s an impossible situation. Tear up your scripts, give it all up and call it quits. Right?

Well, no. Not at all. If that was your first thought then, yeah, you shouldn’t be doing this. You should go home and find happiness in your day-job. Sex up your significant other and remind yourself things could be worse.

You can self-publish, obviously, but that’s Matt’s realm. Me, I like to play a good game. I like validation. I’m shallow, yes.

I have a 2000 Focus ZTS, leather interior. I take good care of it and it recently hit 65,000 miles. It’s worth about $7,500. I got it almost two years ago. I bought it at Carmax down in Sterling, Virginia. They wanted 9-grand for it at the time. They gave it to me, but I didn’t have 9-grand; I didn’t pay cash.

I got a loan with a thousand dollar down-payment. I needed good credit, of course. A cosigner. Couple of references. But I drove out of that Carmax with a nice car and I didn’t have to actually be worth 9-grand, I just needed to prove to them that I was good for the money. The bank still technically owns my car but I’m paying it off faster than the term of the loan.

In the comics’ world – my down-payment was my shit job of handling submissions. My cosigner was Jay Busbee, published in the first issue of Western Tales of Terror, whose name I mentioned to at least prove I knew someone they saw talent in. My references were submissions experience at a theater troupe in college and a series of links from Digital Webbing’s Writer’s Forum over the past several months that showed the feedback I gave to other people’s work. That wasn’t enough, though. My credit wasn’t good, no prior loans, I needed to be interviewed. The interview process consisted of sending me three submissions from the queue and seeing what I thought of them. I turned them around in about twenty minutes with detailed notes.

I was approved for the job and I’ve been moving up pretty quickly.

And this is what this series of columns is about, increasing your worth. You need to meet people, you need to be patient, you need to know how to conduct yourself and when to make your move. You need to have several networks of people looking out for you and you and, in return, need to look out for them. You need to be aware, quick moving and always on the look-out. You need to know when you’re being lied to and when that’s ok. Conversely, you need to know when to lie and who to lie to. You need to know when to ditch your deadweight and how to do it diplomatically. You need to know when to move on, when you’ve outgrown your current position and staying there only hurts you.

And I’ll get to all of that and more. But, for now, most importantly, you need to leave your scripts at home until someone asks for them. Don’t even say the word “script”. You know what? Don’t even say the word “story” or “idea”, either. You have no stories, you have no ideas. You and everything you own, right now, is worth $2.95 – claiming you have stories and ideas in that package depreciates them right from the start.

I’m stripping you down and rebuilding you to spec. Next week we get into lying (or spinning, as we call it here in DC), for real. Not lying this time.

Jason at 10:07 PM  |  link to this     

3 Comments

Jason,

Another great read. Looking forward to your Lyin' column.

-pbd at 6/24/2005 10:01 AM   

umm

I have a feeling i know the content of your lying column

The Guam at 6/24/2005 3:42 PM   

Maybe you do?

At least a part of it. If something you read in this article set you off than yes, you do.

Jason at 6/24/2005 6:00 PM   

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