J. Michael Straczynski Talks Vlad Dracula, Studio JMS, And More!
During the chaos that was San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Geekscape staff writer Allison got the chance to sit down with J. Michael Straczynski. He’s the famed author, comic writer, and creator of Babylon 5.
A: On July 11th, you were announced as working on Vlad Dracula. There were no details released, so what is that going to be, exactly?
JMS: What we wanted to do with that was to mix the historical story of Vlad Dracula with the fictional Dracula of the Bram Stoker novels and, in a way, by merging the two it deepens both stories. We know from history that Vlad was with the Ottoman Empire for ten years— he had been given there as a child, as a hostage, basically, with his brother to guarantee that his father, Vlad Dracul, would never attack the Ottoman Empire, as a sort of insurance. For ten years, he was raised by the sultan of the Ottoman Empire and then came back to Wallachia at the age of 23. He was actually hailed as a hero by his people, he was revered because he helped kick the sultan out and he fought for his people in many cool ways at the beginning. Over time, though, he got more and more dark, more dangerous, and was doing more things that were inexplicable or horrific.
So we thought it’d be interesting if, to explain that transition in his character, we discovered that he was cursed and became the first real vampire. The cool thing about it in terms of what has already been done in vampire literature is that, for most stories, the whole lore of vampirism is a cliché— we know how it works. Vlad doesn’t. He’s the first. He has to figure it out as he goes through it. He goes to a chapel to try to pray and ask forgiveness from his god and he can’t even walk in the door and he doesn’t understand why his god has rejected him. When he has a problem with daylight for the first time, he doesn’t understand why or what’s going on. The process of figuring that out with him gives it a whole new dynamic and explains why the vampire thing works the way that it does—there’s a reason for it that is explained in the storytelling. The show will track the first year or so of his rule as he’s trying to hold onto the things that made him normal— his normal life, his wife, his kingdom— as this affliction gets worse and worse and drives him right down into the abyss.
A: Since you’re combining the history with the Stoker novel, are you going to be setting the whole series in that older timeline, are you going to be jumping back and forth between the two stories, or are there going to be flashbacks from modern times?
JMS: In the first year, it’s all going to be set in that older period, the second year we’re going to move it but I can’t tell you where.
A: Cliffhanger! So how are you going to be blending Stoker’s Dracula into that? Just by using the same vampire mythos?
JMS: To answer that question, I’d have to tell you where the series is going. But you may see the events of Bram Stoker’s book set a couple hundred years later from a different point of view, that’s all I can say about it right now.
A: Are you going to be creating people that you are just for this story that didn’t exist in history, or focusing more on existing characters, like his family?
JMS: There were a lot of characters that were in history that we’re going to be using. His wife, Justina, and his father, but we are creating additional characters. Tamal, who was a friend of his for the ten years he was being raised by the sultan. His brother, Radu. When he and Radu were first turned over to the Ottoman Empire, Vlad resisted all Muslim influence while his brother went for it, which caused a schism between them. When Vlad came back to Wallachia to rule the country, Radu stayed behind and was somewhat scheming against his brother.
There are others where we created fictional characters in a realistic context. For instance, when Vlad came back, there was a group of guys called the Boyars who were the aristocracy in Wallachia. They were like the mob, and had killed his father. The Boyars were a tyranny throughout Wallachia, and Vlad arrested all of them, killed most of them, and then went to the average person in the street and asked them to pick the new Boyars, basically saying, “You chose who you want to help your country, you choose who you want to represent you.” And this, in a way, introduced representational democracy long before anyone else was doing it. For that, for driving out the sultan, for restoring order, actually to this day makes them still consider him a hero and we want to delve into why such bright beginnings had such dark endings.
A: So how much research have you had to do for this?
JMS: A lot. I really wanted to take his background, ground it as best I could, and introduce the fictional elements to try to explain why did he did what he did. Could I stick with a historical reason or could I go with a fictional reason? Impaling people, that wasn’t his idea initially. When he was with the sultan, and that’s how they dealt with guys who were trouble— Vlad learned it from them. So when he starts staking people, he’s sending a message back to the sultan saying, “Don’t screw with me, I’ll do to you what you’ve been doing to others.”
A: Is this project something you pitched to a studio or something that was handed to you?
JMS: It was a meeting of minds— myself and Robert Tapert, who brought me on this thing. We talked about it and I developed it further and made it what it is. That’s part of this thing I’m doing, Studio JMS, if you’ve heard about it. I announced it here at the convention.
I started my own studio. We have two series that are in development right now—Vlad Dracula and Epidemic, for Will Smith’s company. I signed a deal with Image Comics to bring back Joe’s Comics, and I have more comics coming out from them starting in the Spring. We’re doing a web series for MTV.com and another one we’re still financing. I have a movie I’m shooting in Berlin next year. So we’re putting all of this under one roof now.
The funny thing about my career is that the comics fans I have don’t watch my television stuff that much and my TV fans don’t know about my movies or my comics. So let’s get organized, get it under one roof and create a studio that is self-sufficient, not tied to a large studio. The goal of that is, essentially, to own my own stuff, produce my own stuff, and have creative control—which is everybody’s dream.
A: Yeah, I noticed when I was looking into your history that you had a lot of divisions with people where you were working on a project and it was going great and they’d take it into another direction and you’d back off of it. So this is really going to help you not have to do that.
JMS: Yeah, if it’s going to be a dumb studio, it should be my dumb studio.
A: Yeah, and you should be able to make your own dumb decisions.
JMS: Exactly, and I’m proud of that. [laughter]
A: So how did you get to that point? Why didn’t you start a studio earlier?
JMS: I didn’t have all the pieces together and I really have developed over time into the person that can do this. There are a lot of guys that have a bigger footprint in television that I have and there are people that have a bigger footprint in comics and movies than I have. But no one has all three. Joss Whedon does the occasional comic, J.J. does movies and television but not comics. So let’s take this and really make something out of it. And it’s only been the last year that I’ve really had the resources that I needed.
A: So who’s in the studio with you that you’ve worked with?
JMS: We’re just starting off, so I have Patricia Tallman who’s helping me run it. She’s on the acting side of things and has her own business. She has the business acumen to help me keep the thing on target, but we’re just gearing up. We’ve got a guy we’re hiring to work on the web stuff, we have another guy we’re hiring to do demo reels, so we’re really starting to crew up now.
A: And then you’ll have a lot of support under you when you start working on all of these of projects.
JMS: Exactly. And eventually I’ll be able to bring some writers on behind me. So I’ll be writing just a year or two of comics and then co-write the next year or two with another writer and see where it goes from there. So eventually we’ll bring in more writers, but right now it’s me doing my own stuff.
A: Do you think it’s going to give you more free time? It seems like you’re doing so incredibly much.
JMS: I’ve never had free time.
A: Yeah, it didn’t sound like you had.
JMS: I write ten hours a day, every day, except my birthday, New Year’s Eve, and Christmas day and that won’t change. It may go up an hour.
A: Ten hours a day? Some days have to be really grinding.
JMS: No, it’s never a grind. It’s always fun. Writing should not be homework, should not be a hassle. If it is, you’re doing it wrong. It needs to be enjoyable for yourself because if you’re not enjoying it, no one else is going to enjoy it.
The problem that most writers have is that they can’t get out of their own way and they try to force it to happen and if you try to force it to happen, if doesn’t work. The secret to writing, well, imagine your best friend for a second. You’re walking across the living room and all of the lights are off. And they bang their shin on the coffee table. You know your friend, you know exactly what your friend’s going to say when that happens. You don’t have to think about it, chew on it, worry about it. You just know. Writing should be no different. You should know the character well enough that you just sit back, drop them into a situation, and write down what they do. That’s how I work.
A: Is there any part of a story in its development that is harder for you?
JMS: Initially the research is the hardest part. And then you get going and at a certain point, the characters start talking to you and they won’t shut up. That’s when I know I’ve got it. And I try to avoid writing it as long as I can to let the pressure build up so all the scenes are there in my head and the characters are talking to each other and I run to the keyboard to get it down.
A: You’re not worried that, while you’re letting that pressure build up, you’ll forget parts of it?
JMS: For some reason I have a fairly good steel trap when it comes to dialogue. I can hold every line of a screenplay in my head and all the scenes until it’s really there. I write as fast as I type and I can type 120 word per minute, so I get it done pretty fast.
A: Apparently. [laughter]
JMS: I’ve never not enjoyed the process. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I get up every day and I get to do what I love for a living. How great is that?
You can check out Studio JMS at StudioJMS.com, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter: @Studio_JMS.
