You may have noticed it, if you have ever viewed the "all demands" page within the Eventful Demand section of the Eventful.com site -- lots of demands for something called "'TSL' // Jessica Mae Stover". Well, here's the scoop.
Among the more than 26,000 demanded events on Eventful right now, one set stands out as rather unusual relative to the others: 66 demands (some of which can be seen in a thumbnail running along the right-hand side of this blog post) for screenings of Jessica Mae Stover's yet-to-be-produced trilogy of movies.
I thought it might be interesting to ask Jessica (who runs the JessicaStover.com website) some questions about her film project, how it came about, and how the demands for screenings are going.
What follows are questions and answers that went on in some recent emails with Jessica:
When did you originally get the idea for The Silver Legacy (TSL), when did you start writing it, and when did you finish?
JS: In a way, it’s a story that has been evolving with my imagination over my entire short-life. It took me years to write the full story. Part of that was time needed to become a more masterful screenwriter, part was that stories of magnitude take time and part is that anything worth doing is worth doing well, and quality takes time. I have boxes upon boxes of old drafts, notebooks, sketched out maps… All sorts of snippets from the TSL world. When I moved to LA I came out here with the TSL “Bible” in hand. (Which is screenwriter-talk for the all-encompassing stack of information about the world.) It is a big thick binder with about 200 pages of script and about 100 years of history. So when I got here, I really hit the ground running. TSL was, and still is, after all, the reason I came to LA. I suppose I have been on a mission for quite some time now.
Can you summarize what the story is about, what the setting(s)/ characters are like, anything to help people understand?
JS: The film is a modern-mythology, especially in that the characters are just like you and me: This is the sort of story that might happen to you tomorrow. Unlike a lot of epic fantasy, which has very clear good vs evil lines and themes, TSL explores the more realistic greys between the black and white. We have started to roll-out concept art at http://www.thesilverlegacymovie.com. More will be added soon.
What were your influences in coming up with the story-- what other films, books, characters?
JS: Comparative mythology, family, friends, strangers, real places… As simple as it sounds, daily life and academic ideas play a huge role either directly or metaphorically. After I finished the writing, I realized that the state of the world, U.S. politics and current events, had greater impact than I had been aware of. I’m a little ahead of the curve in regards to what’s coming down the pike, I think (and fear), which I suggest might say a little something about the subconscious things that people often know without directly realizing. Some people who have read the script recall the magic of fantasy movies of the ‘80s, some recall books they’ve read… fairytales, the news… . Certainly I was influenced when I was little by The Dark Crystal and stories of that sort. Joseph Campbell’s ideas have influenced me, as have David Mamet’s, Thoreau’s and those of classical, English writers (Shakespeare). Music helps me quite a bit: I rarely write without music. At times, I will write in response to the things I dislike about current genre movies. (In that I tend to do the opposite of those things I dislike.)
You've done online promotions before that have gone viral -- can you give me a summary of the AOL project you were involved in, and what the usage statistics were like for that?
JS: I had a teen entertainment show on AOL that had 5 million viewers. There I was fortunate enough to work with just about everyone from Hilary Duff to George Lucas. Getting to pick Lucas’ brain about Joseph Campbell, mythology and the state of the industry was hugely important to me. I doubt he’d remember it despite it being a turning point in my life as a storyteller. Of course, regarding the show, I had the backing of AOL promotion, and at the time they were boasting 30 million users. Not exactly grassroots. It’s far more difficult to promote my projects now, but I much prefer the quality of the work I’m doing now to the easier, more commercial work.
What exactly do you hope to achieve using Eventful Demand?
JS: To support the audience demand, to give audience and artists back some of their power and to help open the door for new, quality voices in film and in so doing help raise the bar for cinematic art.
How would you say things are going so far?
JS: The Demand is up to 66 cities, which is great because it’s a tricky little thing to promote, and is only linked via my official site. I’ve been through enough projects to know that things of this sort take time to snowball. I have other projects in the pipeline and those will help the Demand once they come to fruition because the audience has already worked up an amazing foundation. Since the Demand is an audience driven movement, beyond supporting it, there’s not much for me to do. It’s really up to the movie-going community to add to the screening list and open the door.
What do you see currently as the top 2-3 challenges for you to get to 100k people signed up and demanding TSL?
JS: 1. The Silver Legacy is not a preexisting property (meaning that it’s not a book, comic, amusement park ride...). Some have suggested turning it into a book. I considered it (that’s not bad advice, after all) but decided that turning it into a book in order to get it made into a film would be ridiculous: It’s a film, always has been. I know that’s a rare thing in this world of hack adaptations, but that’s what the work is; a film. So it’s challenging to get people to support something that I can’t show them without ruining the story and their experience. That’s why we started sharing some of the concept art. Plus, there is some writing and otherwise on my website which people can use to get a feel for what I’m like as an artist. Speaking of adaptations and bad story-films: What was the last great, genre movie? Now how about the last great genre movie not based on a book or comic, etc.? They really are very few and far between.
2. Another challenge is that people are lazy or jaded with the film industry or not interested. It really shouldn’t fall on the audience to hand pick artists and stories. Unfortunately, as the studios aren’t doing their jobs very well and people are buying whatever crap they put out regardless, things have really slipped and it is falling to artists and the audience to cut the red tape and make some changes in the name of artistic quality.
How many pages total is the screenplay (or, are the screenplays)?
JS: On paper they each run about two hours and twenty minutes. (Nice and tight for an epic.)
For more information about Jessica's TSL project, I suggest you read this Metroblogging LA interview with Jessica; an article entitled "It Started With One Demand"; and this July 2006 article entitled "Ignorant Critics".
And hey, last but not least, help Jessica achieve her dream by joining a demand in your city and spreading the word far and wide for TSL screenings!
