Your passions will lead you to the grave…

Were all going to die sooner or later. It’s a fact. What better way to die than being in the pursuit of that which matters to you most?

Just as Belal-radi Allahu anhum used to call the people to prayer and serenity through the gift of a powerful voice that Allah had blessed him with, I as a Muslim dream to call the people of this world to the message of Islam through film and media for the sake of the One who created me.

This is my passion. What’s yours?

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Tuesday night, I had the opportunity and honor of meeting Michael Uslan, the executive producer of the Batman movies. He was invited by my school to speak to a film class. For those of you who don’t know, Michael is a resident of New Jersey (my home state!). I must say that these two and a half hours were quite the motivation and battery charge I needed.

See the following links for more information on Michael Uslan:

• New York Times Coverage of Michael Uslan
• Michael Uslan IMDb
• Michael Uslan: Man Behind the Batman
• Michael Uslan on Literary Newsletter Website
• Interview with Michael Uslan
• Comics as Cultural Mythology

This post is not only a spotlight on Mike, but also the sharing of my experience I had with him and his talk to the class. Out of respect to Mike and his request to not divulge the details of the meeting, I will instead share with you, some inspirational portions of his talk that he shared, general tips, as well as some gems. The stories I’m relating to you have been paraphrased to the best of my ability:

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Mike started his career as a lawyer, but then he turned his passion and interest for comic books into a career. When you don’t have money, how do you get into Hollywood?

Mike loved comic book heroes as a kid. His dream was, “…to write batman comics when I grow up!”

One can say “I’m going to cross the Grand Canyon!” – But how do you do that? You gotta take it step by step. Every opportunity you get, put your foot in the door.

During middle school in English class, Mike stated that they were reading Moby Dick. He had stuck a comic book that he was reading inside the book. As Mrs. Stiller walked by, she noticed what he was doing. She picked up the comic book out his book and showed the class. The class erupted in laughter, after which Mrs. Stiller stated that Mike’s creative and writing ability is greater than everyone else’s. She advised the rest of the class that they too should read comic books to better ignite their imagination. Later, when the first Batman movie premiered in 1989, Mike had a limo pick up Mrs. Stiller and bring her to the premiere screening. He told everyone the story of Mrs. Stiller at the screening.

In the 70s, if you had a curriculum idea that you thought should be added to the college, you could pitch it to the dean. If accepted, you would get to teach it for college credit. Mike, at this stage, was in college and had the idea to teach Comic books as cultural mythology. This is where he gave his first pitch, and the college dean responded, “I reject your proposal. I’ve read Superman as a child, as much as I like it, its cheap entertainment. That all.”

Mike asked, “Can I ask you a question?” The dean gave him permission, and so Mike asked, “Can you summarize the for me the story of Moses?”

The dean responded, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I’ll play along with you…The story of Moses is that the Israelites are in trouble, and their sons are being executed. A couple to save their son, put him in a basket into the river which later ends up in the company of the pharaoh. Their take him in, raise him up as their own, he grows up and is accepted by his people, and then becomes a savior and hero among them.”

Mike then asked, “Can you summarize for me the story of Superman?”

The dean responded, “The people of Krypton realize that their planet is about to blowup and they are in trouble. A couple mounts their only son onto a rocket ship toward earth, where a family find him, take him in and raise him up as their own. he grows up is and is accepted by his people, and becomes their savior and hero…!!…This class is approved!”

Walking out of the meeting, Mike realized that now he has to let the people know about it! — – It doesn’t matter how cool your idea is, or how good your idea is. If you don’t know how to market your idea, who is gonna see it?

Mike then called the newspaper saying, “Did you hear that they are teaching a class on comic books at the university? My tax dollars are going into that! This has got to be some communist conspiracy!” After that every class has reporters and photographers attending to cover the outrageous course.

It wasn’t long until Marvel and DC called him, both interested in working with him. DC comics flew him in, and this lead to him working for them. His dream to write batman comics became true.

Take every step you can. Put your foot in the door.

When you achieve your dream, you then have to make a new one. New dream was to make the first, dark, serious Batman movie ever!

By graduation time, Mike sent out 300+ resumes, and got two wack job offers. Both to work on some production for $90 a week. About to get married, and wife-to-be going to school, $90 a week wasn’t going to cut it. — Always have a plan B and C

Mike at this point did what any committed man would do. He sold many of his comic books, and with that money was able to pay for his wedding and years of graduate school. Mike decided to go to law school just as a means to get into the movie business. He got a job with United Artisan and started work, also later got a job working on Apocalypse Now which was a grueling two years.

After this he went back to DC comics to by the rights for Batman. Little did he know that it would take him 10 years from that point to get the movie made. Every studio would reject him. Ten years went by. He came across a fellow by the name of Tim Burton, and Batman is finally made and becomes revolutionary.

Some of the studios that rejected him and said that the movie would never work, started calling him saying how they always believed in him. — If you don’t believe people when they say that you are no good, and you don’t believe them when they say how great you are, then believe in yourself, and you put your trust in Allah…you will be okay.

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It’s a Fact of life that doors WILL slam in your face. (I personally experienced this first hand…I’ve done door to door sales). At this point you have two choices:

• Cry and go home
• Or you get up and knock on the next door, and the next one, and the next one…until your knuckles bleed.

Mike stated that he had a father who loved what he did as a living. He would wake up at dawn every morning, excited to get to work. Growing up in a house with a man like that, how can you not want the same for yourself – Follow your passions!

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After Mike give his inspirational story, we had a question and answer session. Again as I had stated above out of respect to Mike and his request to not divulge details of his talk, I will instead share with you, some inspirational portions of what he shared, tips, and gems.

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Question: Every Motion picture is a team effort. Can you talk a little bit about assembling a team of people?

Answer:

• If you want something to work, you need to have the Peter Pan syndrome. Don’t ever grow up!
• Have a sense of what’s happening in the market place. If your idea isn’t commercially viable, then you won’t go anywhere.
• Who is the right talent or talent package for it? Ask yourself this question.
• You need a budget, maybe attach a star.

THIS is how you put together a package.

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Question: How did you go about getting your flat comic onto the screen?

Answer: Who you choose to do work is very important. Its important that you choose the right visual effects company, costume designer, set designer, and have a director who knows how to work well with people.

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Question: What do you look for in scripts and screenplays?

Answer: You HAVE to have it done right! God help you if you have typos in it. There is a skill and craft to script writing. Ever script has to have a three-act structure. Your script has to read with character. You need to understand pacing and formatting. If you can’t tell your story in 125 pages then go back and fix it.

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Question: Story telling in comic books is different from a novel. There is a difference in how its told in a movie. Can you tell us about the differences about them?

Answer: It’s so rare to find a movie as good as the book. Gone With the Wind, it’s a THICK book. The movie is only part of it. Its difficult to make that translation. Comics are a visual medium. Those panels you see, they’re borders…your brain is filling in the action between those pictures.

If you’re gonna write, write about something you know. No matter how great you are, if you aren’t exposed to a kid, you cannot write a dialog for a 12 year old. You need to be exposed to it.

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Question: How do you recommend that one identify something as meaningful but also have commercial value.

Answer: Lets look at the successful comic book movies: Men in Black, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Mask, — They were colorful characters, great stories, and there was something unique and special about them…yet these are unpopular comics.

One thing to understand is comic books and superheros aren’t the same. Comic books aren’t a genre. Comic books are a medium, and telling Hollywood this has been a struggle.

Master the pitch. You have a very limited time to grab the attention. They are looking for commitment and passion. Hit them with the marketing, history, and story. Who’s gonna buy? Is there an interest out there? Let them know.

As a producer, you spend a lot of time pitching. Perfect your art of story telling with kids. When you pitch to executives, pitch it to them as if you’re talking to kids. Do anything and everything to keep their attention. Take acting classes if you need to. It’s all about story telling!

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Question: How do you see the future in terms of movies?

Answer: When TV started, it was the doomsday cry of movie theaters. Same with home video. Same with home theater systems. Truth is people need to socialize. Theaters provide that. Some theaters have changed their form. To me it doesn’t matter what you deliver on, theater isn’t going away. It may change or evolve, but its not going away!

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The Dark Knight Trailer

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