Introduce Yourself : Embracing this Renaissance ! by Daniel Stuelpnagel

Always good to see your posts ,Daniel Stuelpnagel. Love that picture! I watched a YouTube that reminded me of you. It’s a stop motion series that someone put together of heroes from every universe you can imagine fighting each other. The latest episode had Hulk crossing into Metropolis to fight Superman. Then Omni Man shows up. Search for “Vanimation Films” and you should find it.

Wow, Daniel Stuelpnagel where is that photo from? That's amazing and don't tell me, it's probably a public service building. A railway station perhaps? Probably totally wrong, right?

It's good to see you on the IYW, I hope you are well and thriving. What project are you working on at the moment?

Hey, Daniel Stuelpnagel. That's a beautiful ceiling! What's that place?

Hi Daniel Stuelpnagel! So glad you're here! What kinds of genres do you like to create as a writer and director?

Hi Daniel Stuelpnagel - it's great to meet you here in the community! I love your creative trajectory and passion. Excited to see you bringing all of that awesome talent and energy to the screen.

I recommend checking out Michael Tully's upcoming class on how to make a micro budget feature film and find major distribution for it - here's a link: https://www.stage32.com/classes/Stage-32-4-Part-Class-How-To-Make-Your-F...

Leonardo Ramirez that's the kind of juicy epic cinematic distillation and synthesis that powers the platform, I believe there'll be lots more to come!!

Geoff Hall thanks and great to see you, yup it's Union Station Washington DC USA,

I just moved here from Virginia Beach last month, turning my entire life upside-down yet again, having shot the photos and video clips for episode 1 of Super Turbo Jet Boats,

so now kind of an improv plan, set up here in DC to design the graphic novel concurrent with post-production on this proof-of-concept reel for social media,

I am blessed and grateful to have so much additional creative talent and inspiration close at hand in my new home back here in the Nation's Capital !!

Emily J cheers and great to see you! It's so much about Genre isn't it? I often fall into the rabbit hole of doing genre mashups that can get a bit complex, and I always hark back to Save The Cat because that's been helpful in deconstructing and understanding alternative genre definitions,

My scripts span a trajectory from dark crime thrillers to family-friendly comedy adventure, and my current micro-budget reel (that is already gonna take several years to complete haha) is in that Adventure/Comedy wheelhouse, in the STC parlance it's a Golden Fleece type concept.

How about you, what's your fave?

Sam Sokolow thank you! I so enjoyed the zoom calls you've brought to life, including the one with your brother speaking about the origins of Toy Story! I'm looking forward to getting back into the Writers' Room community now that I'm settled in after moving back here to Washington DC last month,

I'm pretty well along with the current project and hope to self-publish the graphic novel of Episode 1 for this Super Turbo Jet Boats proof-of-concept reel in Q2, 2024.

It's been really inspiring to learn more from seeing you on video calls about your experience and creative passion, the more I learn and the more this project expands I continue to refine my vision accordingly, a joyful challenge all along.

See you soon in the Writers' Room!

Maurice Vaughan yes it's Union Station Washington DC, I just moved back here and getting ready for expansion into 2024, obviously I love being in this region and already arriving back here has been really inspiring to be immersed once again in the dynamic community of artists' culture!

Daniel Stuelpnagel ah, my hunch was right about the photo then. It’s still beautiful!

And the move, wow, you are an adventurer! I love the sound of the graphic novel and its concurrence with post-production. It’s something I’ve thought about (the graphic novel) for my animated fantasy series, but don’t know how to do that. Is there any advice you could give me, please?

Geoff Hall thank you!

As far as the "how to do that" regarding the graphic novel, I think sketching and visualization are possible points of entry. It might be a bit different for everyone.

I believe that going in through a concept or script, to a lookbook, further in to image sources (storyboards, sketch art or working with a pro designer, AI art designs, photos and/or screenshots from video clips) and then building a pitch deck, to me it all carries this creative momentum building to a graphic novel format,

and since my intended micro-budget video piece will go out free on social media, which does not carry a high level of Intellectual Property legal protection, an added benefit is self-publishing the graphic novel first to establish a level of copyright strength for the property.

There's more, but this is the general idea.

And designing and creating the graphic novel brings us as the writer to also work through the script as a shot list again and maybe find story glitches or scenes to be streamlined, etc., kind of compels yet another possible polish or even a rewrite which is always good even if I think it's locked.

The layouts can be super basic and simple as full-page spreads, or exceedingly rococo and experimental, it's got to serve the story and tone, so that process on the page will get me clarity as I then re-crop and mount shots in post for the video.

I'm building it shot by shot, and as I brighten, up-res and re-crop the images, it brings a certain elevated intensity and drama zooming in further and further as the medium shots end up being close-ups, I love how it's just reflecting my experience in visual art in the sense of getting closer and closer in on the elements within the frame.

This whole interposed step requires another year of work but I think it's going to really challenge me and it continues to test my commitment,

the proof of concept is first to prove it to myself, and already it's helped me to love this story even more, think about its marketability and even merchandising as a revenue stream,

it's not 'Fitzcarraldo' but for me it's sure starting to feel like it!

as I wrote Super Turbo Jet Boats back in 2021 and spent a year in Virginia Beach just to capture some shots of the remote-control boats in the ocean!

A true labor of love, what can I tell you, it's expanding and turning into an obsession which lets me know I'm on track. And still a very minimal micro-budget of less than $10,000 spread out over five years which hopefully will yield a wackadoodle feature-length video comedy, if I can ever finish it then I can move on and commence writing more new script concepts again. Thanks for reading !!!

For examples of my 'production stills' check out #superturbojetboats on Instagram >>>>>

Daniel Stuelpnagel thanks for that, thoroughly inspiring response, Daniel. Yes, we as writers are I think obsessive compulsives! Was the graphic novel part of the original budget?

Here’s a rookie question:How do you budget for that?

“I believe that going in through a concept or script, to a lookbook, further in to image sources (storyboards, sketch art or working with a pro designer, AI art designs, photos and/or screenshots from video clips) and then building a pitch deck, to me it all carries this creative momentum building to a graphic novel format,”

I can see how this makes the process of creating a graphic novel much easier, because with all these steps, you are laying the groundwork for it. That gives me plenty to think about. Thanks. Is there anyone helping you on the artwork side of that?

Anyway, I may just call on you for a little advice if I may, when my animated series progresses, if I may?

Thanks again for answering my questions.

Geoff Hall cheers man and thanks for connecting on IG, I'm very glad to be in contact and talk about your project.

I'm doing most / all of the creative graphic design work, social media, set building, shooting, props, editing, publishing, all myself, and I've been setting aside funds from my personal budget for almost ten years with an eye to making an independent film project, for a long time I just didn't know what, how or which one.

As a visual artist selling corporate collections of paintings and running different studios, my annual budgets and profits varied quite a bit, some exhibitions would not break even until later on when those paintings sold as a package deal, others were profitable a lot sooner and could in turn finance more projects, supplies and expansion, art fairs, etc.

So in 25 years of creating and selling more than 1,000 paintings through more than 100 exhibitions, I've developed a business model that's partly logical and partly improvisational, focused on keeping low overhead, low prices and high profit margins.

The basics of which I learned previously in 8 1/2 years as a stockbroker and branch manager for a major mutual fund company, so while it's been a flippin' rollercoaster I am so grateful to have the experience as I think it's been humbling enough to where I'm always looking over my shoulder expecting disaster.

Daniel Stuelpnagel thanks Daniel. That’s a great ratio, 1,000 paintings from 100 exhibitions. Very impressive! And also quite an adventure, moving from stockbroker to artist. There seems to be a theme there in this thread!

And thank you for being willing to talk about my project, when the time comes. That is really encouraging. Have a great weekend.

Hey, Daniel Stuelpnagel! Great to see you again! Hope you make some industry connections in DC and hope you reach your goals!

Thanks Maurice Vaughan, great to see you too and I know that we are all in this creativity and industry learning infinite patience, the longer projects require to gain acceleration the more we develop the persistence to continue that journey! I will definitely be expanding my network here in Washington DC in the year ahead!