…and then take a long, long time to finish them.
Just kidding. This new buddy pictures in the making will tour four cities as part of the UcreateComics Big Break Tour, starting in NYC on May 4th, 2013. (That’s also Free Comic Book Day.)
And who is UcreateComics, you ask? According to the PR “a new company with “a million dollar fund for comic book development”—which explains how they were able to hire Smith and Adams. UCreate “is hoping to find the next Adams or Smith at the event.”
“UcreateComics is trying to enable people to move forward and to learn the things they need to be professional artists and storytellers and then to reward them for it. And, at the same time, give them the opportunity to see their work published.” Adams explains.
UcreateComics’ million dollar comic book development fund provides breakthrough opportunities for creators. Everyone can pitch concepts and vote at this online community of writers, artists, and fans. Winning concepts are turned into comic books, with writer and artist members competing for paid scripting and illustration contracts.
Crowdsourced movie pitches? That could work. The pitching portal is coming soon.
Who is behind UCreateComics? Developing.
UPDATE: Wow, this is not a cheap date. The cheapest ticket is $170 with 40 $249 VIP packages available.
Also, the people behind UcreateComics are:
Doug Duncan, CEO, President, and fund manager. Doug has a proven track record in software and entertainment industry startups. A serial entrepreneur, he has spent time as a merchant banker and as a successful restauranteur. On a charity climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, he met Donald Lanouette and became intrigued with the UcreateComics concept, ultimately leading to a dynamic partnership. He looks good in tights and a cape.
Donald Lanouette, founder, creative director, and fund manager. Donald’s love of comic books goes way back. He was part of the group of talented teens who founded Nightwynd Comics which, as Aircel Comics, became one of North America’s largest independent comic book publishers in the 1980’s. Donald then moved into TV and publishing, managing creative and production teams.
Web registration doesn’t shed any light…
Tell Jerry Ordway about this!
Apparently they plan on running the site as a subscription based thing:
http://www.ucreatecomicsevents.com/tickets/
Who the heck is going to play $179 for a chance to pitch something once a month? Sounds like a scam.
File under “mounting evidence of a crowdsourcing bubble.” Things are going to get very ugly in this space sooner or later.
James Frey’s Full Fathom Five did something similair but with young adult novels and much more scammy due to the aforementioned Frey(a possible connection to Walder Frey?). They produced Lorien Legacies(I am number four) but this seems more like the Pepsi Refresh Project and American Idol for comics. i gotta see what they drum up before i can say anymore.
You might want to break into a bank first:
http://www.ucreatecomicsevents.com/tickets/
Standard Ticket Balcony Level – $179
Standard Ticket Mezzanine Level – $199
Standard Ticket Orchestra Level – $219
VIP Ticket – $259 (Only 40 VIP Packages Available)
All tickets include “a FREE 12 month membership to ucreatecomics.com as a UcreateComics Freelancer Member ($120 value)” Pay to play?
Hmmm… the New York City event? It’s on Free Comic Book Day.
God help you if you’re the next Kevin Smith.
The key question is, who owns the copyright? The creators? These guys? And how much of a cut does each get?
You gotta ask yourself, any time big money comes to comics they’re looking for something. And it’s not comic books.
I’d bet a shiny penny that Ucreate would have a stake if not 100% ownership of any accepted pitches – then those comic pitches can get turned into movie or tv or online content pitches were the real money is…..I mean…really…why else would anyone put big money behind unknown comics…to find the next Walking Dead because we all know that even with a ressurgence in the popularity of actual hand held paper comics there is very little money in in continual large scale publication.
Get it in writing and don’t give away your work.
I would feel if they truly wanted to help and inspire this would be offered free.
One could send out a lot of pitch packages for $179 bucks, and if one is any good, I think one might even have better odds at being “discovered” doing it the old-fashioned way.
But I’m old school, so what do I know?
I’m going to make sure that all my pitches to Neal Adams include references to the crystals inside the earth that are making our planet expand. This will win him over and guarantee me great success.
Glad you guys are at least reading about us. I am the CEO, Doug Duncan.
IP rights are always 100% retained by the Creator. If you win a competition we will license the commercialization rights for 8 years. You (the Creator) retain 20% of the commercialization rights (profits).
We put 50K$ into the development of that winning product. 25K$ divided between the artist (penciller, inker, colourist) and the writer, and 25K$ into the commercialization of that product.
There is a whole lot more information coming that will be released shortly that will shed more light.
Anyone can contact me for more information directly. Doug(@)ucreatecomics.com
We are doing our best to bring new opportunities to Creators, Artists and Writers of Comic Book Content.
We wont sit behind a website, we are accessible. That’s the whole point of the tour. We will also see you at comic cons near you.
Lastly, here is a promo code to save a few bucks on event tickets if you do decide to come.
UC040513
In general:
(From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting#Examples)
“Winston Groom’s price for the screenplay rights to his novel Forrest Gump included a share of the profits; however, due to Hollywood accounting, the film’s commercial success was converted into a net loss, and Groom received nothing.[7] That being so, he has refused to sell the screenplay rights to the novel’s sequel, stating that he “cannot in good conscience allow money to be wasted on a failure”.”
Go for “Gross”, not “Profit”.
And get a good lawyer and accountant.
Even then, even if you get a percentage of the gross receipts, you might need to sue, like Stan Lee and the first Spider-Man film, or the Tolkein Estate.
(Nothing against UCreate, just a caveat for all creators.)
People. Check your facts. The EVENT tix were $179, NOT a subscription to UCreate. And they DO have a free version.
Also, of COURSE their endgame is to make money but they’re doing it by finding great concepts from people who wouldn’t normally have a shot of breaking into comics. The paid subscription gives you access to paying gigs, just like actors pay for sights and eblasts on auditions and such. They’ll probably add services like finding an agent and charge for that too. If they aren’t trying to dick you on copyright issues it sounds like a win to me.
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