With the sales of Digit and The Stormcrow looking likelier by the day, the question of how I frame myself as a writer-for-hire is becoming increasingly urgent. 

On the one hand, both Stormcrow and XII are firmly in the horror genre, and it would probably serve any representation these sales win me to call myself a horror writer, and chalk my computer family film up as a fluke.

On the other hand, that would cheat my clients of some fantastic stories, and it wouldn't be playing to my strengths or interests.  I do have a milieu, I've realized.  I'm in the business of creating new worlds.

Many filmmakers today are inspired by the great heroes of the 80's, like Luke Skywalker and John McClaine.  Operatic storytelling was at it's peak then, where the world of a story revolved around the characters in it.  The purpose of the Death Star is to be blown up by Luke.  Nakatomi Towers, the Los Angeles Police Department, and his wife's holiday office party exists to make life hard for McClaine.  These aren't ordinary people.  They're larger than life, which means life is smaller than they are.

For me, epic storytelling is a passion, and in many ways an epic and an opera stand at opposite ends of a spectrum.  In an epic, the hero of the story is measured like any other person, and they march out into a world that's both hostile and vast, trying to make a difference.  These heroes are flawed.  They will never save the galaxy.  Their goals are more modest.  All spectacle comes from the setting of the story, and the things our protagonist does to distinguish themselves within that setting.  Lawrence of Arabia is an epic. It's loaded with action and Lawrence is definitely a hero, but Lawrence is not the reason Arabia exists.  He's a guy with a lot of problems, who overcomes some of them and is defeated by others.  War and Peace isn't about Napoleon, you know. 

I love telling stories like that, and I love telling them in very, very surprising settings.  Back in high school, playing Werewolf: the Apocalypse with my friends, I realized this about myself.

Digit is about an ordinary program, lost in the vast ocean of information we call the internet. 

The Stormcrow is a man haunted by the truths of Lovecraft, which are very real to him.  He does what any sane man would do.  He loses his sanity.

One of the films I'm writing for myself, Receiver, is about an ordinary kid in a world where extraterrestrial intelligences are communicating with children, completely ignoring the government, to steer Earth towards a better future.  That kid is deeply, profoundly challenged by living in that world.

I'm beginning work on two spec scripts right now.  One is set in the high school of a dark, dystopian future, and the other is bringing the world and the characters of 1620 Massachusetts to the screen, in a survival story about the Mayflower colonists.

These are stories about ordinary people populating extraordinary worlds.  My characters reveal their true character through HOW they live there, and the choices they make.  Science fiction and fantasy come easily to me.

As happy coincidence would have it, these stories also tend to develop rich, lush worlds full of merchandiseable characters, props, and settings.  As someone who works in motion picture finance, I understand that value as well as my buyers do. 

I'm also good in war movies and historical pieces, for the same reason.  Comedy is easy for me if it involves putting a character in a world that makes them seem ridicuous, like the Truman Show.  If the jokes are more about hitting familiar beats, like it was for Peter Weir in Green Card, I start to flounder.  On the page, I work with actors.  That's fun for me.  Other writers like Joss Whedon seem to play with actors, and that's fun for them.  I can do comedy, but I'm serious about it.  My characters are funny BECAUSE they're serious.

If I can find an agent or manager who values these strengths, that'll be my brand.  I'll be challenged and entertained in my writing for hire.  New worlds are what I love.  It's almost all I think about, and it's how I relate to the challenges in my life.  Why should I settle for less than I deserve? 

For that matter, why should I settle for less than my characters deserve?  The fact that they're not invulnerable heroes on the fast track to victory just means they need even more love and attention from me.  I like it that way.  Characters who don't demand extra attention, don't get extra attention.

Besides, how many Lucases and Wachowskis are there?  How many world-makers are willing to sell off original content for someone else to produce or direct?  Does George Lucas even have any other worlds as broad, and yet as unique as Star Wars?  Do the Wachowski's have even one other world they're planning to develop post-Matrix that isn't liscenced from somebody?  I hope so, and I bet they're keeping it to themselves.

I'm a world-maker with a wide range and an abundance of content.  Moreover, the worlds I build have more than one hero walking around inside them, which means when one story ends, a different story can begin.

As I brand myself, that kind of unique value and wide appeal is a very good place to start.