Posted in : cartoon strip , Movies| Tagged : funniness - play , indie picture show , Jesse Metcalfe , Johathan L. Bowen , the comic shop , vod
The Comic Shop is an overlooked indie comedy - dramatic event out now , and author - director Jonathan L. Bowen talks about the reality of filmmaking
Article Summary
InThe Comic Shop , disillusioned computer storage proprietor Mike ( play byJesse MetcalfeofDesperate Housewives ) and raw - kid - in - town Brandon ( newcomerMicah Giovanni ) take such a liking to each other . As Mike faces difficult pick about maintain his store open and Brandon navigate a disputatious relationship with his own father , these two new friends see way to let their passion for comic Book and risible art reveal unexpected paths forwards . This is author - directorJonathan L. Bowen ’s second indie feature of speech pic , a comedy - play about second chances , salvation , and coming of age . We interview Bowen on how he made the moving-picture show and the realities of indie filmmaking .
On How The Comic Shop Came to Be
Hi Jonathan , congratulations on getting The Comic Shop made , since it ’s generally a miracle when any movie gets made . You wrote in your personal financial statement about being inspired to write a better story and terminate for a actual comic shop owner you mistily knew . The Comic Shop is about Mike ’s tale of repurchase in his office as a mentor and surrogate don figure for a young man coming of long time . Is this motif as personal to you as it felt like to Mike in the movie ?
Thank you , and with all that goes wrong even before making a movie , you ’re right — it always feels like a miracle ! Although a lot of detail are intemperately fictionalized , I considerThe Comic Shopa deeply personal movie as Mike ’s struggles in middle eld were based largely on my own . Instead of a comic workshop , I was ( and am ) running a B2B video production company where because our work is countrywide , I ’m rarely even imply in the projects . What begin as a passion for filmmaking became just another job , like Mike at the amusing shop , where I dreamed of returning to have filmmaking , and Mike dreams of return to professional illustrating .
There are some other parallels that I wanted to explore in the movie , which is the bittersweet feeling of fresh " content . " When Mike welcome new shipments of comic each calendar month , of course , he ’s mad because he have a go at it the medium and savor checking out whatever is new , but there ’s also a bitterness to take what other people create when he require to be among the creators . That ’s also how I felt see film for a decade between directing , where I am a huge moving picture fan and erotic love watching , but wanted to get back in the biz myself . I am golden that my parents were always very supportive of my goal and dreams , but my mom passed by back in 2006 before I moved to Los Angeles to pursue motion picture formally the next yr .
Movies set in comic shops are a pocket-sized subgenre now but most of them are either geeky inside baseball joke fests or downbeat exercises in eccentric ego - loathing , at least the one from the 90s and early 2000s were . It ’s a relief that The Comic Shop is the character of life - swear character comedy - drama that used to be common on internet idiot box in the seventies and 1980s . Do you think being a bit of an outsider from comics fandom gave you a more objective point of aspect to just evidence a report about people rather than nerd percentage point - marking ?
I think so , yes . I grew up as a huge comic nerd , from Marvel to Image and batting order to comics , action figures to collectibles . Eventually , though , I gravel more into film , and my nerdy side transfer over toStar Warscollecting , conventions , and being involved in the devotee community . ForThe Comic Shop , I was focused on using the setting and the world of strip as a backdrop for a story about multitude just following their dream and passions . I admit to being not entirely concerned in impersonate a perfectly realistic smell into " the comic book world " of the present day . I still wanted to ground the story in reality , for instance , the struggle of many retailers during the pandemic and post - pandemic and the engagement of independent label versus giant corporation . It ’s not a docudrama about the state of the industriousness , though I tried to do enough research to make it feel bona fide for the story .
As we push the picture and attempt to ramp up an audience , of track I sympathise our gist viewing mathematical group is people who love funnies , oddball culture , and art in general . That being say , I really want the movie to be accessible to mainstream audiences without any anterior noesis of funnies , illustrating , or nerdy bodily fluid . I want people to be able to relate to the fictitious character on their own terms , because the struggle each of them encounter are vulgar among people in any field or situation . A forefather ’s attempt to link to a child , a young human being ’s conflict to make sensory faculty of what they want out of lifetime , and the middle - years scrutiny of world versus first moment .
A piddling aside , but I guess relevant , a moving picture likeThe Comic Shopis appropriate to be different from pic a few ten ago in the same subgenre because of the explosion of geek culture . When I was in high school almost 25 geezerhood ago now , any admission charge of being into something " geeky " could be social self-destruction , just as movies of the fourth dimension depict . There ’s a generational divide where people over a sure age may not have been exposed to such property , but younger citizenry have no problem proudly identify as fans of dissimilar enfranchisement . Think back to the ' 90s , when the display " everyone was watching " or that absorbed mass medium attention were shows likeFriends , Seinfeld , andER . In the last decade , the display that everyone has talked about are more likeGame of ThronesandThe Walking Dead , base on cartoon strip . Far from being relegated to the security deposit , oddball culture has dominated the conversation for some time now and taken the limelight .
The Fifteen-Day Shoot Indie Filmmaking
Many low - budget indie films have fifteen - twenty-four hours shoot now . How did you manage that ? award , you did n’t have stunts , explosion , or car chases … it ’s mostly character drama scenes , but those still require time to feel right and emotionally rightful . You could say the veridical stunt was how unquestionable and lived - in the characters finger . Were you able to have rehearsal with the role player beforehand ?
Yeah , we had a fifteen - day shoot as well , which was shave down from an anticipated seventeen or eighteen day because of budgetary restrictions . We had character group meeting with the central cast members , discuss their motivations and spark , but we did n’t have any audition . Especially where name actors come into swordplay , the availability for rehearsals is limited and also refine by the entire cast ( bare one ) being in Los Angeles when the picture show was dash in Las Vegas . Fortunately , filmmaking is such an toilsome procedure that I always had mickle of prison term on set to go over each scene thoroughly before we shot . We had time to make for with block ( where worker stand and move ) , quality fundamental interaction , and even the smell of the scene . For the most part , we had no number with time , finishing slightly early or on time every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. except for one ( about fifteen minutes over our twelve - hour day — it was the convention day , of course , despite bringing two camera that day ) .
As for how we managed such a tight shooting agenda , the biggest logistic challenge is what I ’d call " paired locations , " which can have two meanings . In other lyric , Brandon ’s house needs a room I can production design as Alex ’s apartment , an example of one physical locating for us serving as two movie locations . The space to build out the conventionalism arena has to have a bowling alley seize ( thank you , Silver Nugget Casino ) . The next deterrent example is propinquity . The restaurant we ’re pretending is in San Diego has to be extremely close to the prevention that Mike shop — in fact , they were in the same parking lot ! The park where Mike sketches must be close to Dan ’s spot , another example of the second type of mate where the locating are separate , but the move between them is minimally turbulent . A lot of location are winnow out not because they miss what we require , but because they miss a proper union . Beyond that , the key is precise preparation and clip direction , so that we always eff how much time we have for each scene . We allowed more metre for more emotionally charged scene , giving the actors the way they needed to deliver strong performances .
The Current Reality of the Movie Business
Hollywood is kind of a mountain now , with blue - budget and mid - budget movies being neglected , and indie movies need to be packaged with names and mellow construct . What was it like gettingThe Comic Shopcast and fund ?
That ’s the name of the biz in today ’s main world , which is sad . I would identify basically three type of indie movies : 1 ) fund establish on name actors ( your distinctive Cage / Gibson / Baldwin type of film ) or action constituent for alien markets , ideally both 2 ) fund based on prestige ( Anora ) , often because of an auteur director or muscular producers , or 3 ) Self - funded and normally below the $ 250,000 doorsill ; in other lyric truly independent , flyspeck moving-picture show . The fourth , I suppose , is repugnance , but that survive all on its own because budget for repulsion movie have never been especially mellow anyway . The Comic Shopis like some uniting of 1 and 3 , where we had no safety net of a minimal guarantee ( MG ) , which distributor offer based on A - inclination talent they know can reimburse their investment , but we also had more resources than your average ego - fund film .
I make a expectant risk of infection and invested my own money inThe Comic Shop , but we had a leaning of name that would " move the phonograph needle " with our distributer and help recoup the budget , hopefully . Jesse Metcalfe I think was one of the most intriguing names on the tilt , because the culture medium remain interested in his vocation , he ’s a really strong actor ( underrated , I believe ) , and he was uncoerced to take the lead function without breaking the bank . A few other actor , like Justin Long , were also interesting , but we only could n’t afford them . cast is a painful process , and you get your spirit set on each person you offer until you finally see the sodding couple . In retrospect , I ca n’t imagine choosing anyone else because Jesse understood the case perfectly .
Have you gotten any consultation feedback for the movie ?
So what next ? Do you have another movie in the works ?
If you ’ve got the money , I ’ve got the movie ! In all sincerity , I have a few script that I ’m excited about defecate one day , but they are all above the budget horizontal surface of something likeThe Comic Shop . I need the film to be successful to have a fortune at making a third motion-picture show and to see what opportunity will be useable . Despite my first two movies being a romantic comedy and a dramedy , four of the other six scripts I ’ve dispatch are science fiction , usually fuse sci - fi elements with dramatic play , repugnance , or action . Besides ruined scripts , I have several outlines or ideas that I ’m also working to develop , butTCShas keep me busy for the last three twelvemonth now almost .
The Comic Shopis set for release on digital on April 11th on Prime Video , AppleTV , Fandango at Home , Google / YouTube Movies and Microsoft .
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