Hey, everyone. For those of you who are already familiar with Multiplex 10 or the Multiplex comic strip, we have a new name on this Kickstarter project, whom I wanted to introduce: our newest co-producer, Scott Weinberg. And for people familiar with Scott’s work but not Multiplex 10, I wanted to talk about why he was interested in joining up with us.
Scott is the co-host of the 80s All Over podcast, a programmer of the Cinepocalypse film festival (going on this week in Chicago!), a film writer, screenwriter, and film producer. And he just had Popeye’s for dinner.
GORDON McALPIN: Popeye’s is awesome.
SCOTT WEINBERG: [burp]
GORDON: Hell yeah. So I guess first of all, tell me about your background as a film writer.
SCOTT: I started at a site called eFilmCritic (aka Hollywood Bitchslap!) and while it wasn’t a paying gig, it provided me with a chance to improve as a writer, find my voice, network with other film writers, acquire local and festival press credentials, and start building my name. Eventually someone hired me for money. I’ve written for dozens of outlets: Rotten Tomatoes, Thrillist, (and) FEARnet were the biggies.
After FEARnet died I went through a severe bout of depression. I’ve always wanted to be just a working film critic. When I was younger that was a viable career choice, but the internet sort of killed the profession (not entirely) and after FEARnet I decided to work the other side. I started writing screenplays and working on my friends’ films.
GORDON: So what were some of the early films that you worked on?
SCOTT: I worked with great filmmakers like Emily Hagins, Nacho Vigalondo, Burnie Burns, etc. Emily asked me to play a teacher in Grow Up, Tony Philips. Nacho asked me to play a film producer in Open Windows. Burnie used my voice in an episode of Red vs. Blue. And then Steven DeGennaro asked me to play “myself” in Found Footage 3D. I said yes. He promoted me to producer a few weeks later, and I worked my ass off on that movie.
And I just watched everyone on these sets (and studio). I watched the script supervisor, the FX people, the stuntman, the make-up hut, the DP, the first AD, the production assistants, etc. I just learned what these people do on a movie set, and not from reading books. From watching and asking questions. I figured if I’m going to try to be a producer I should know what all these people do. So I studied that stuff.
Steven and I became good friends. We’ve written three screenplays together (so far) and we’re hustling to get them read. Right now I’m still writing about movies online to pay the bills, and I probably still would write some stuff if I sold a screenplay or two. Oh, also there’s the podcast.
GORDON: Right. How did the 80s All Over podcast start?
SCOTT: Drew (McWeeny, co-host of 80s All Over) and I wanted to do a podcast together. I threw together five or six ideas. 80s All Over was the only one we were both enthusiastic about.
GORDON: How’d you meet Drew?
SCOTT: I think we met at a Sundance actually.
GORDON: So that brings you to me. Haha. How did you find out about Multiplex 10, and what made you want to get on board with us as a co-producer/writer? I know this, but for the sake of the interview I’ll let you tell the story.
SCOTT: (Producer Joe Dunn) RTed it into my eyeballs. I thought, “Oh, I like this, and they’re still kinda small, which means they may need some help from a lifelong movie freak who also thinks he’s funny.”
You mentioned that you might be able to use me as a voice actor, which is awesome, but I think Multiplex 10 has the potential to travel beyond YouTube. Maybe a Netflix series, maybe a feature. I think you cooked up something that could strike a chord with a lot of movie nerds.
Movie geek culture is huge. The good and the bad. I think M10 can address a lot of interesting things that cinephiles deal with. Social media, marketing, accepting other peoples’ opinions, criticizing films in a fair, non-personal way. You can deliver a lot of worthwhile messages through humor and kooky animation. Plus there are lots of ways to put the M10 nerds in all sorts of wacky situations, which is also fun.
GORDON: I abbreviate it MX10, by the way, because I always used MX for Multiplex (the comic strip that Multiplex 10 is based on). Although I guess MX could still work because X means 10 in Roman numerals but whatever.
SCOTT: NERDDDDDeh
GORDON: Yeaaahhhh. I’m not sure how much we do “wacky” in Multiplex 10. Kurt is a pretty wacky character, for sure. But Jason is… decidedly not. I think the interplay between them is the most fun (and hopefully interesting) aspect of Multiplex 10.
SCOTT: What if we send them to Comic Con? That would blow up.
GORDON: Hah. Maybe in the Netflix animated series.
SCOTT: Oh, I didn’t mean tomorrow. We’ll need some new animators eventually.
GORDON: Haha sure. Hopefully! [laughs] [cries softly]
SCOTT: And I want to have Kurt and Jason dealing with more horror films.
GORDON: Well, yeah. Obviously. At the base goal, the last couple of videos from this Kickstarter project would be coming out in October, after all…
SCOTT: [evil laugh]
GORDON & SCOTT: [even more evil laugh]
Multiplex 10: The Web Series is now funding on Kickstarter! The funding period ends on July 17 at 10pm Eastern. Please help keep the Multiplex 10 Cinemas open for business.