Writing a Graphic Novel Hollywood Will Buy

Naturally, there are dozens of ways to break into the movie and TV industry. But, from my own experience and after talking to many producers and agents, I would say it’s easier for a writer to sell a comic book than a spec script. That’s why I decided to do it for my first horror script, and guess what? Shortly after I finished the second issue, before it was even published or printed, a producer wanted to buy it.

When people think about comic books, generally the first thing that pops in their mind is superheroes. Marvel has Spider-Man, the Avengers and the X-Men. DC has Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. These two companies dominate over 80% of the market. They each pump out over 30 comic books per month. Most everything they do is created in-house so you’re probably not going to get your book published by them.

We all know these iconic characters have been the source for some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. But, what you might not know is numerous other movies you wouldn’t expect started off as comic books or graphic novels.

Here is a short list of popular movies that were based on comic books:

These properties have attracted many of Hollywood’s top stars, including Tom Cruise in Oblivion, Bruce Willis in Sin City, and Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition – all good movies. Notice that none of these are traditional superhero properties. Men in Black was originally an obscure, cheaply made black & white comic that only sold about 1000 copies when it first came out. Hardly anybody knew about it until the publisher Scott Rosenberg set it up at Sony.

In the American market, you’ve basically got two standard formats. Either a 22 page comic book where you tell your story episodically in 4 to 6 monthly issues OR if you’ve decided to tell your entire story within one single long volume, then you’ll be selling it as a graphic novel consisting of anywhere between 88 and 132 pages. This is what you’ll find in most bookstores. Comic books, for the most part, are sold in specialty comic book shops only. Graphic novels can be found in both mainstream bookstores like Barnes & Noble and comic book shops.

The first thing you need to do when you start writing your project is decide if it’s going to be serialized in monthly magazine form or if it’s going to be a full graphic novel. If you choose to break up your overall story into a mini-series, you need to make sure that each individual monthly issue ends with something interesting or climactic – like they do in a TV drama series.