Geeks of the Week: Mikayla Wiseman and Chad W. Wood
Where are you from, originally?
Mikayla: I was born in Aurora, Nebraska, and grew up in North Platte, Nebraska.
Chad: Lancaster, CA, born and raised. It’s a medium-sized town in the middle of the desert, specifically an area known as the Antelope Valley. The only thing we’re known for is Aerospace manufacturing and being near Edwards Air Force Base.
What’s your Hogwarts house? Why?
Mikayla: We’re both solid Slytherins! We may come off as Ravenclaws on the surface, but I think we’re the perfect embodiment of the Slytherin ambition and conviction to do everything in our power to succeed.
Chad: One hundred percent Slytherin, I think if you looked at us you might think “Oi, that big guy’s a Gryffindor and the wee lass is a Ravenclaw no doubt” but anyone that has spent more than five minutes with us knows that those don’t fit. We’re both interested in the long game, some might even call it the ‘scheme’, which is what I think sets us firmly into the Slytherin camp. We’re not just interested in the story that’s being told now, but the story that could be told a year from now, and how what we’re doing now is going to affect it. We’re ambitious, and determined, but we’re also at times impatient and blind to the work that needs to be done to succeed, which can be self-defeating.
How long have you known each other, including prior to becoming a writing duo? How did you meet?
Mikayla: Chad and I shared many classes together in the film program at the Art Institute of California – Hollywood. Our classmates actually tried to keep us separate at first, saying, “We can’t leave Chad and Talon* in the same room, or they’ll kill each other.”
For whatever reason, they felt our two personalities were too strong to get along, and I actually believed them at first. But once we were alone in a classroom together, I think we both recognized the other as someone who had the power in them to do incredible things. We joke about it now, because now we’re each other’s greatest supporters.
*Talon is Mikayla’s nickname
Chad: We’ve known one another since college. Talon already told you the story of our mutual friends keeping us apart, but she didn’t mention that the first project I helped her on was a Nerf commercial she and her group were shooting for class. Honestly, as my first interaction with her, it could not have gone worse. I thought her project was boring and uninspired, and I made my feelings known. It was a clash of ideas on one hand, but more importantly it was the small conflict that was going to lead us to talking. I don’t think we’d be friends without that conflict, without something to break our initial conceptions and get us to talk. Not the best start, but certainly something unique.
When was the point you considered collaborating?
Mikayla: Chad and I worked on most of our film projects together with a group of our classmates. One of our earliest projects was a very ambitious web series headed by Chad, where we had a team of four writers. Once we realized this process wasn’t working, Chad dropped two of the writers, asking me to help him write the series. I was surprised, but happy that someone I saw as very driven and an insanely talented writer also recognized me as a talented writer he could work with. It gave me much-needed reassurance in my abilities, but even then, I don’t think we could have foreseen that our writing partnership would continue about eight to nine years later.
Chad: This was my fault. She mentioned the ill-conceived, though ambitious, series I wanted to work on. It was here that I first started working with Talon, and I think it was during these writers’ meetings that I realized my earlier conceptions were wrong. She wasn’t uninspired. She was timid and she needed a place to freely voice her ideas. More importantly, she was willing to tell me no, willing to put me in my place. I needed that. She’s kept me focused ever since, kept me working towards something. In return, I’ve helped her in anyway that was possible.
You see, I’m like a sorcerer, filled with wild magic firing it off in chaotic patterns, hoping to achieve something. Talon is a sage, quieter, more professional, more concrete knowledge, spreading her magic out in delicate flowing spells. She keeps me moving, I try and keep her inspired. It’s hard to explain, but we’re family now and I couldn’t ask for a better writing partner.
You mentioned having to drop a couple of writers for the best of one of your works, has there been another challenging moment in your life as a filmmaker that stands out to you where you had to pick yourself back up? How did that go?
Mikayla: No project we’ve ever worked on together has ever come without challenges or setbacks. Sometimes these are very external obstacles. Chad had his thesis film sabotaged when his U-haul full of film equipment was stolen the morning of the first shoot. But lately I think we have been holding ourselves back more than anything.
There have been many times where we’ve both said, “Maybe we should just give up. Maybe we’re not cut out to be writers,” but the next day we’re always asking, “Okay, what are we going to accomplish today?”
I’ve personally had to pull myself out of a very dark place where I couldn’t devote myself to any of my art because of how destroyed I was in spirit. But Chad was by my side through all of it, never letting me give up on myself or let me forget that I am still capable of amazing things. I think we’ve learned throughout all of this that we’re never going to be satisfied with our lives unless we’re creating and always moving forward.
Chad: We’re constantly coming against one challenge or another, either from exterior or interior forces. I think I must swear off writing entirely at least three times a year if not more, just convinced I don’t belong there. And of course there’s the problem – of trying to be a writer while maintaining a full-time job, being on the opposite [end] of the country as your writing partner, life in general getting in the way, debt, heartache, etc. I could go on, but suffice it to say – most people think writing is easy, because all you do is put pen to paper and go. But honestly, as a writer, you’re not just scratching down words, you’re telling a story, and if you want it to be any good – It’s going to be a lot of hard work.
What was this first collaborative web series about?
Chad: It was a fantasy show about a group of rag tag supernatural heroes fighting against things that go bump in the night, heavily focused on family.
Like Scooby Doo meets Supernatural.
It was overambitious for the knowledge base we had. But honestly, I look back and see the fun we had.
Do you two lean towards a certain genre?
Mikayla: In the simplest terms, Chad is the sci-fi guy and I’m the fantasy fan. Sometimes our differences are very obvious in the genres and types of stories that inspire us. But we also complement each other’s skills very well, and this is just one place where our duality can be seen. Overall, I think we agree in that stories have the power to shape our world and touch lives, so even if we have different interests, we both want to write meaningful stories.
Chad: I live for sci-fi. Ideally I think it should inspire you, make you wish for something better for humanity and lead you towards a new line of adventure. Fantasy definitely has its place, and some of the best stories are based deeply in fantasy. But the one thing I think we both agree on is that character transcends genre. We both love a game called Persona, which is a little sci-fi and a little fantasy, but the characters are so good they could exist almost anywhere and I think we’d still love them.
What would be your dream project to work on, whether already made or one of your own?
Mikayla: It doesn’t matter what the project is. If we do one dream project, I hope the next one will also be our dream project. I think we know now that we work best when we work together, so I just want to keep that momentum going every day until we can’t write anymore.
Chad: This is a tricky one – I think if it was one of our own, I’d love to see the comic we’re working on turned into an animated series. I want so desperately for our characters (or our kids as we often call them) to come to life. I want to hear them speak and sing and cry and laugh and all the wonderful moments of growth we can muster.
If it’s one that’s not original, then I’d have to say I’d love to turn MechWarrior into a television series. I’ve got a lot of love for that franchise, and the story is a crazy combo of hardcore warfare, giant robot battles, and Game of Thrones levels of intrigue. Honestly, I think whoever decides to finally tap that potential first is going to make bank.
If you had advice to give to fellow creatives just starting out, what would it be?
Mikayla: Believe in yourself and your power to do great things. I’m a very strong believer in that if you want something, you can always make it happen. The only way it won’t happen is if you give up. Just stay focused and do whatever it takes to keep working toward your goals, and you’ll get there. The hardest part is believing you can.
Chad: Find a good writing partner, someone that can tell you no, someone that can question you, someone that will listen and debate, possibly most importantly, someone that will never get tired of listening to you about your stories. These absolute brilliant members of your team are worth more than gold.
What is one of your favorite inspiring quotes and written by whom?
Mikayla: “Never give up on a dream you’ve been chasing all of your life.” – Park Jimin, BTS.
BTS started from nothing and became who they are, despite all odds against them, through hard work, pure passion, and a dream that they could be something more. They inspire me to live for myself every day.
Chad: I have a dark sense of humor when it comes to quotes, most of my favorites are things like, “One death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic.”
But, one of my teachers from college told me on my last day of school, while referring to my thesis. ‘If you can go through what you did on your thesis and bounce back with something like this, you’re going to do just fine.’
Time has probably stolen the true words from me, but the meaning, that idea that I was strong enough to bounce back from all of my equipment and props being stolen, and still come out with something good enough to show. That if I just kept that tenacity, I’d do fine.
That idea has always stuck with me, and to this day makes me keep working so that one day I’ll be able to call that teacher up and say, “Look LeMond, I did it.”
What geeky activities do you partake in?
Mikayla: My first inspiration came from the books I read as a child, everything from Harry Potter to literary classics like Alice in Wonderland. Now I consume media in all forms (video games, films, anime and manga, music, you name it) but am in a place now where I’m trying to create more than I consume. That doesn’t take away the passion I have for other people’s art, but I’m trying to be just as passionate about my own art now as I am learning to love myself and believe in my ability to change the world.
Chad: Oh, I’m a big ol’ geek no doubt. I play all manners of games from video games to board. I play card games and role playing games. A friend and I even have a project in the works for an RPG adventure audio play of sorts. I read comics, science fiction, and fantasy novels. I love Star Trek, cartoons, anime, and more. Recently I’ve started getting into playing Warhammer 40k – painting the figures is kinda therapeutic in its own way. But yeah, I’m pretty deep into most geek culture and am always looking for more. But to echo Talon – I’m much more interested in adding to it at this stage in my life. And once we get something going, the avalanche that follows will, I think, change the game for geeks in the years to come.
