Since this interview was first published, former Firefly writer Jose Molina wrote a draft of a pilot script, and Sizemore teased a comic book, but unfortunately there?s still no sign of Slingers on TV. Which is a great shame. Still, fingers crossed!
3rd December 2009. That was the day the SLINGERS sizzle reel hit the internet and whipped sci-fi geeks up into a frenzy, myself included. So far Slingers has been mentioned on Paste Magazine, Sci Fi Wire, Twitch Film, io9, Topless Robot, Slash Film, The Huffington Post, and blogged or tweeted by award-winning comic book author, Warren Ellis; John Rogers, creator and writer of hit US TV show, Leverage; and Duncan Jones, director of the critically acclaimed movie, Moon. And that was just in December.
Directed by Steve Barron and starring Sean Pertwee, Adrian Bower, Tom Mison, Margo Stilley, Haruka Abe, GUN and JUNIOR, Slingers quickly grew widespread attention for its eye-catching visuals, interesting concept, the fusion of rat pack heisting and sci-fi spectacle, and its quirky British backbone.
Oh, and did I mention SEAN FREAKIN? PERTWEE?
Sean Pertwee as Colonel Hall
They?re hoping to shoot a full pilot in 2010. Meanwhile, the self proclaimed ?creator/writer/idiot??, MIKE SIZEMORE, graciously agreed to answer a few questions for us, talking about himself, screenwriting, and a little bit of miscellaneous geekery.
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VAUGHN: Firstly, let?s talk a little about Sizemore and what makes you tick.
Give our faithful readers a quick rundown of Mike Sizemore. Where are you from, what do you do, what pets do you have, and why use the name ?Sizemore?? Apart from being mistaken for the ex-English cricket captain.
SIZEMORE: First up it?s not my real name. Back in the dark days of AOL dial up I needed a screen name and picked ?sizemore?. It stuck. When I bought my first domain I used it and all my email addresses over the years used it. Then when I started meeting more people online who became friends they mostly knew me as sizemore. Got to the point it?s now tattooed on my arm so I guess I?m stuck with it. It was a way to move away from my real name ? Mike Atherton ? and associations with the ex-England cricket captain of the same name. Of course now I get thrown in with Tom Sizemore and baseball player Grady Sizemore so I can?t win.
I live and work in London, but am originally from Lancashire. I?ve been earning a living from writing for a few years now and for the last 18 months have been having a crack at screenwriting and seeing if I could have a go at the TV world. So far so good.
VAUGHN: Most of our members will know your name from the ?Slingers? sizzle reel that took the internet by storm in December. Your blog makes mentions of a few other experiences prior to that, including being on a Bond set and writing a book about London. Are there any other projects, past or future, that we should know about?
SIZEMORE: Nothing of my own. I?ve been lucky enough to get asked to do some fun stuff over the years. So I hung out with Lucas, Spielberg and the cast of the last Indiana Jones movie as part of a social media gig and still get invited on to movie sets to interview cast and crew armed with an iPhone. I was editor of the website Londonist for a while and myself and a few of the other writers on the site put a small book out on London. I have no idea if it?s still in print. Along the way there?s been the odd magazine piece, a lot of online nonsense and a few movie events I?ve organised. I have a very scattershot approach to ?career?. If it sounds fun I?ll have a pop at it.
VAUGHN: ?Slingers? obviously has a bit of ?Ocean?s Eleven? and a bit of ?Firefly? thrown into the mix. So that begs the question: Favourite three heist movies and favourite three sci-fi TV shows?
SIZEMORE: Tricky. Changes all the time, but let?s go for KELLY?S HEROES, the original TAKING OF PELHAM 123 and RESERVOIR DOGS.
Huge fan of FARSCAPE, FIREFLY and THE INVADERS.
VAUGHN: If there was one franchise you could reboot, given a healthy budget to bring to life on the big screen, what would it be?
SIZEMORE: A TV franchise to the big screen? They tend to fall over, but I think something like SAPPHIRE AND STEEL still has some life in the concept. People would kill me for even trying though. Maybe a QUARTERMASS movie, then they?d really have an excuse to string me up.
VAUGHN: Do you have any inspirational quotes hanging around your work space? If not, what would you have there?
SIZEMORE: Funnily enough I do. The first one sounds trite: Be All You Can Be. A good friend of mine died last year and that was the last line of the last email he wrote to me. Reminds me not to fuck around too much. There?s also a print by Hugh McCloud of Gaping Void entitled Ignore Everybody that is filled with good single line advice. I also have the last line of Hunter S Thompson?s suicide note handy: ?This won?t hurt?. Not sure if that counts as it?s tattooed on my arm. Next to JUDGE DREDD.
Lots of writing/scheming ahead for Sizemore and crew
VAUGHN: Let?s shift gears and talk a little bit about why we?re all here: writing
How did you get into screenwriting, and what about it made you want to continue on past ?FADE IN??
SIZEMORE: Arrogance mostly. I?ve had critic gigs in the past and was raised mostly by the TV set when I was a kid. I hit my thirties and had a good idea of what I liked, but was sick of railing against the stuff I hated. I decided I could do better, but had no idea at the time how to prove it. Probably a good thing, because I would have proved myself to be an asshole. I was putting together a comic book instead and one of the ideas was pitched on my behalf in LA. One phone call later I was writing a TV show. No one was more surprised than me.
VAUGHN: I?m fascinated by the writing process. How you do it, where you do it, your beverage of choice during a long session at the computer, the music you listen to when writing (or no music at all), and so on. What?s your process?
SIZEMORE: I have an office at home, but move around both the house and the neighbourhood. I write on planes, in hotel rooms and a lot of coffee shops. I don?t sleep much so that helps and I drink a lot of coffee. This time I?m trying more tea, but it doesn?t go as well with the Rollins Band or Black Sabbath I tend to have turned up to 11. Noise canceling headphones are a life saver. I?m a Mac, but used to be a PC. No going back. I use a Pro at home and an Air when traveling. I also take a lot of notes on my iPhone and just started using an actual screenwriting app on there. It?s a little clunky, but talks to FinalDraft which is my favourite scriptwriting software. I also use Moleskines, index cards and the margins of whatever I?m reading. A lot of index cards actually.
VAUGHN: Are you a fan of epic, multiple-page outlines, or do you like to wing it, seeing where the characters and the story take you?
SIZEMORE: I?m becoming more disciplined and I think a better writer for it. The first SLINGERS pilot was written in a single sitting and was all over the place. Took a while to pull it back into something that resembled an actual script, but most of the beats survived the process. I guess I now wing it, but with a certain structure in mind. I know I?m writing properly when the characters are strong enough not to let me mess them around. Then I try and kill them.
Tom Mison as Frank in SLINGERS
VAUGHN: When writing, do you think of the characters first, the story first, or is it really one, big organic process?
SIZEMORE: For me so far, and I?m horribly new at this, it?s usually situations first. I?ll think of something messed up and then see who walk away intact from it. So far I?ve written science fiction, horror and comedy ? all of them started with a single ?what if? and then I dropped the characters in. But then I deal with those characters until they seem real to me. That?s what drew Sean Pertwee to SLINGERS even though at that stage it was only an afternoon?s work. I sent him a character break down he doesn?t normally get for a feature and he just fell in love with the guy.
VAUGHN: There are a couple of prevailing theories about how to do the first set of episodes in a series: make 5 or 6 little pilots that each sell the show to new viewers jumping in, or set your stall out in episode 2 with your show?s template and just say ?tough luck? to anybody coming in after that. Do you subscribe to either method? If not, how did you go about planning the first half of ?Slingers? Season One?
SIZEMORE: We?ve been horribly ambitious and so far that?s helped a great deal. We want to grab an audience and keep them, but also don?t want to alienate anyone coming to the party late. A tricky thing to pull off. It helps that viewing habits are changing ? people tend to eat whole boxsets now and if they tune into something late it?s easy to jump back and watch half a season back to back and catch up. I?ve tried to make each episode of Slingers stand alone ? we fit a lot in. But the character arcs especially are long term. I know where the crew finishes up in season three and there are nods to that in the pilot. Of course I?l be working with other writers taking this forward and some stuff will change. The concept is designed to be robust enough to survive the birthing process and I hope we get to tell the story we want to.
Behind the scenes on the SLINGERS shoot
VAUGHN: You?ve presumably written and read a lot of scripts. What?s your biggest pet peeve? Badly used voiceovers? Horrendous grammar? Excessive flashbacks?
SIZEMORE: I?m a big fan of both flashbacks and voice over when used properly. I hate to see both used to patch holes in a story or even worse when a story just leaves the holes gaping and limps towards the finish line with me wanting to shoot it in the head. But reading scripts is an education. Seriously. Working out why something changed from page to screen and how good an idea it was is something I?ve spent a lot of time studying. What I hate is seeing a movie that was so-so and then reading the kick ass script that somehow got forgot along the way. Then again i would say that and I?m sure it happens the other way around too.
VAUGHN: What?s the best screenplay you?ve ever read?
SIZEMORE: Too tough to call. But I will tell you my favourite scene at the moment. In KISS KISS BANG BANG by Shane Black there?s a scene where Harry is under a bed as a girl simply called Pink Hair in the script gets shot. She falls to the floor and sees Harry and he stops her from speaking, denying her her last words so as to save himself. Harry watches her die, waits for the killer to move and then shoots him ? a lot ? with his own gun. It?s my favourite scene in the movie, but on the page the whole script turns on that moment for me. Trying to come up with that stuff ? character moments that cause the entire script to move up a gear ? is what keeps me at the keyboard.
VAUGHN: I absolutely adore KISS KISS BANG BANG. For our readers: you can find the script HERE (though I?m unsure whether that moment is in this version of the script).
How long has it taken you to get into the position where you could pitch your ideas to an American network, and are there any tips you could give our readers on ?breaking into the business??
SIZEMORE: Not a single one that would do them any good. I didn?t aim to get here and now I am I?m just working like crazy to make something come of it. A huge part is luck, but it?s also the ability to recognise the opportunity and jump on it. I?ve always taken risks, been outspoken and surrounded myself with like minded people. That helps a hell of a lot. I remember Duncan Jones, the director of MOON, saying to get a gang together to move a project forward and that rings true for me. Find people you can work with and then work. People stumble a lot at the second part which is a shame. I have a lot of fun right now, but it?s 2am and I?ll be up until 5 probably. So making time is still an issue for me and I do it for a living. But back when I was a bookseller I?d write at work and as soon as I got home so I guess that?s the big takeaway. And if you love it you?ll do it anyway. But finding the people who ?got? what SLINGERS could be lead to the sizzle reel and that has introduced me to a bunch of people already making TV and movies that I love who now see something of value in what we did. I don?t think there?s been a better time to get noticed and the industry is hungry for ideas. My profile always helped too ? having a website, making myself available and basically living online made most of this happen.
VAUGHN: You?re obviously a native of England, what made you want to look toward American networks for ?Slingers?? And do you think that ?chasing the dream? in Hollywood is a better option for our young, talented writers than trying to break into the business in the UK?
SIZEMORE: I don?t know enough about the UK industry to be honest. It seems very much like a walled garden and even when I?ve spoken to the BBC about ideas they like there are only so many slots available for the kind of thing I write. It?s just a system I?m too busy to get involved with. In the States it seems you?re only as good as your last idea, but they seem a lot more open to people coming out of nowhere. I?m putting another trip to LA together now and the people that reached out to me for a meeting is incredible. But understanding the system, whether it?s British or American seems to be key. As I was writing I was also learning about the production side of things and while I?m still no expert I can now hold my own in a meeting with people who have been doing this for years and knowing what?s possible within a system also helps the writing process.
VAUGHN: What was it like to pitch your ideas to the powers-that-be, and is there anything you?d suggest people do or don?t do when faced with a pitch meeting?
SIZEMORE: Don?t panic. I treat every meeting now as fun and have done do from the beginning. The first meeting I had I was convinced it would be my last. I?d say something stupid and they?d hire a real writer as soon as the door closed behind me. So I just went in determined to enjoy the experience. So far so good. But I know people now who have been doing this for decades and they?re also still waiting to be found out. But it helped that I knew the concept inside out. One thing we fell into quickly was when asked about A and B we?d give them A, B and C. They want a synopsis then we have the pilot written. They want six episodes planned we give them 22. They want a show we give them a few complete with spin off concepts and built in transmedia elements. Over delivering so far has not been a problem.
Margo Stilley as Jeannie in SLINGERS
VAUGHN: And finally, a test of your geek credentials. Here?s the BIG ELEVEN!
Favourite three actors/actresses of all time.
SIZEMORE: Ha. Too tough. My first crush was Olivia de Havilland in the Adventures of Robin Hood, I met Harrison Ford and he was too cool for words and I still get annoyed that Oliver Reed is dead.
VAUGHN: Favourite three movies of all time.
SIZEMORE: John Woo?s THE KILLER, MAD MAX 2 and THE LONG GOODBYE.
MOON is catching up though. Sounds crazy as it?s brand new, but it?s certainly for me the most important movie made in the last decade.
Sam Rockwell in MOON
VAUGHN: Favourite three TV shows of all time.
SIZEMORE: TWIN PEAKS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and THE (old school) TWILIGHT ZONE.
VAUGHN: Favourite three screenwriters of all time.
SIZEMORE: This week: Tarantino, The Coen Brothers and Dan O?Bannon.
VAUGHN: Favourite three directors of all time.
SIZEMORE: John Ford, John Carpenter and Werner Herzog.
VAUGHN: Favourite Ghostbusters character.
SIZEMORE: The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Us fat guys stick together.
Clear your mind of all thoughts
VAUGHN: Favourite Back to the Future character.
SIZEMORE: Doc Brown.
VAUGHN: Favourite Firefly character.
SIZEMORE: Mal.
VAUGHN: Favourite Star Wars movie. As a bonus question, what cruel and unusual torture do you wish would befall Jar Jar Binks. Go crazy.
SIZEMORE: EMPIRE. Skin him. Leia needs a new bikini.
VAUGHN: Favourite movie quote.
SIZEMORE: ?Why don?t we just wait here for a little while? see what happens?? THE THING
VAUGHN: What music will you have at your funeral, and what are you going to have on your gravestone?
SIZEMORE: Not sure I care. How about ?Game over, man? on the tombstone and the theme tune to SPACE: 1999 followed by an Eagle crashing into the grave. BOOM.
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Thanks once again to Mike for taking part. You can discuss this interview on our community forums.
All SLINGERS pictures and information courtesy of Mike Sizemore @ http://www.sizemore.co.uk/ and Sleepy Dog Productions @ http://www.sleepydog.net/
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