The Next Fix

For your reading pleasure, my screenplay for the episode of Stranger Things I penned has been posted on the very awesome Simply Scripts. Not only that, it is the super-deluxe-expanded ANNOTATED edition featuring notes by myself and the episode’s director, Earl Newton. If you’re into this kind of thing it’s a lot of fun and even a little insightful. You can check it out in .pdf form by clicking here.

In its honor, tonight’s F’n Advent is a little craft 101 for those of us with sugarplum dreams of attaining much plunder and womens and/or man ho’s in the screenwriting industry. Quick and dirty, for what it’s worth. You make the call on that.

The best books written about screenwriting I’ve ever read were penned by William Goldman, hands-down. In Which Lie Did I Tell? when talking about The Ghost and the Darkness (the flick Goldman wrote about the lions of Tsavo. Very underrated in my opinion), he uses a scene from Casablanca to illustrate why the Michael Douglas character in GatD didn’t work. It’s the scene where Claude Rains asks Bogie why his character came to Casablanca, and Bogie tells him, “My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.” When Rains’ character says, “Waters? What waters? We’re in the middle of the desert!” Bogie replies simply and beautifully: “I was misinformed.”

For me that line and its delivery completely encapsulates and perfectly sums up the essence of Bogart’s pimpness. But more importantly, Goldman pointed out, it tells you everything you need to know about that character, specifically that bad things happened, it’s dark down there, don’t ask. His point was that to give him an elaborate pained-filled backstory would make him a loser, make him a wimp. He was referring to that kind of character specifically.

I thought about this when I picked up The Dark Knight on DVD. Throughout a fucking slew of amazingly good choices they made, I feel the best choice was NOT delving into The Joker’s back/origin story. The scenes where he gives conflicting accounts of how he got his scars are that character’s “I was misinformed” and they work on so many levels it’s sick in its impact and deft crafting. Goldman called Bogie’s character in Casablanca “wounded bravery.” I’d call Heath Ledger’s The Joker “wounded fucking everything.” Those choices made these characters more than regular men. With very little effort they made them mythical in a way. And that’s key in both cases.

This all feeds into a larger point. In a novel, you can pour information like water. You can have an entire chapter tracing the genealogy of your protagonist back to the days of Hannibal and his fucking elephants if you bullshit it well enough. In a screenplay, however, information, any information, is precious. It is at a dire premium. Generally you have between ninety and a hundred and twenty pages that you’ll burn through like parchment to convey every piece of information vital to your characters and their story.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my admittedly limited experience with this medium is simple: choose your facts and figures carefully. It’s not just “show, don’t tell” it’s deciding when not to show, period.

Strange Horizons is among the first (and no doubt last, the way the market has been headed for so many years) of the professional short story markets gone completely digital. It’s also among the shiniest and I generally dig their product a ton. For those reasons, and because their donation model is very podospheric, it was Kool and the Gang to be mentioned in this article over on ST by Shaun Farrell dealing with podcast fiction authors making the jump to book deals and print publishing. It focuses mainly on Scott Sigler (signed to Crown, i.e. Random House, i.e. the biggest goddamn publisher on the planet), J.C. Hutchins (signed to St. Martin’s Press), and Mur Lafferty (soon to be signed to some intergalactic, universal, pan-dimensional meta book publisher that will make first contact with Earth JUST to release her fiction), but I’m in there.

We are the First Wave. When the mothership lands you are all fucked.

It’s an encouraging piece with thoughtful quotes, and if you still don’t really “get” what we’re doing with this whole novel/podcast cocktail, the parties involved lay it down pretty nicely. And doesn’t Mur Lafferty look pretty? Prettier, I’d daresay, than J.C. Hutchins. And that ain’t easy. Whereas Scott Sigler either looks like a Vulcan coming off the tail-end of a weekend coke binge or Shawn Patrick Flanery from the movie Powder, depending on which way you lean.

Speaking of web press and why Sigler eats cock (metaphorically, anyway. Why he literally eats cock is a WHOLE other blog post), Stranger Things and more specifically the episode of the world’s first hi-def video anthology podcast I penned—“Latchkeepers”—were recently featured on AMCtv.com in Sigler’s Monsterfest blog. He didn’t credit me as the writer of that ep, because he’s a fucking douchebag, but it’s still freaky awesome, well-deserved press for Stranger Things and executive producer/creator Earl Newton. And what’s good for the goose, you know?

Personally, I want my geese to lay gold eggs for Easter.

Before the premiere of ”Latchkeepers” during the jam-packed Singularity event at Balticon 42, I sat down with the fucking Mac Daddy of Mayhem himself—scholar, pimp, playa—THE David Kanter for a live edition of Audiometrix (a.k.a. “The Sound and the Soul of Stranger Things”). The recording is now on-line. We discussed my Tommy Monaghan-esque origin story, how I got involved with the show, The Year of M&M, and just exactly how I formulate those intriguing metaphors.

Dave’s words.

It was a fun piece of business. The crowd was feeling it, I had jokes, Dave wore an opera coat that made him look like God’s own MC. And it was an honor to be featured on Audiometrix and join an elite trio of writers that includes Scott Sigler and Gary Braunbeck. Well. Not so much Sigler. But you know.

You can download the interview here. Although I recommend visiting the site and leaving a comment. And digging the obligatory Next Fix plug in the show notes.

Thus far you’ve seen blood and betrayal. You’ve stared into pockets of the infinite. You’ve met immortals, madmen, and people that are probably a lot like you. And you want to know—dare I say you are PINING to know—where we’re taking you and what is waiting at the end. You’ve held your breath for over a week. Well, get ready to let it all out in one last universal gasp.

The third and final act of “Latchkeepers” is now live and available for download free of charge on Stranger Things. For Kalypto it’s all about choices. For Lisa and Seth it’s all about escape. For Alan it’s about obsession. And for Pan . . . well, that’s up to you to figure out. Get ready for the most surprising twists and phantasmagorical F/X you’ve seen yet. This is where it all comes to a head. The gatekeepers of the Universe and the guardians of its darkest recesses. The predator and the prey. CLASH OF THE MOTHERFUCKING IMMORTALS. It’s all happening, people.

I want to thank Earl and his entire Wilmington crew one more time for taking my script and story and turning it into an experience. For you and for me. I also think I can get several witnesses on just how eyefuckingly good the cast is. And I've also got a whole lotta love for producer David Kanter.

Subscribe to watch the entire episode, or download the fullscreen version of Act III here. And be sure to leave your feedback for the whole Stranger Things team.

Thanks for watching.

One week ago you met the Latchkeepers. Are you ready to see what they can really do?

Our story continues with “Latchkeepers” Act II, live and available for download free of charge right now on Stranger Things. This week we pick up with Kalypto in a tight spot, caught between a rock and a dead chick. We learn a lot more about Pan. And we meet the new players in our story. The inestimably talented William Yelton (John Adams), Cari Moskow (One Tree Hill), and Shaun O’Rourke (a whole bunch of awesome crap. Look yonder) join the cast as we move deeper into the world of Stranger Things and toward the climax of this chapter in its story.

Download the fullscreen episode here and come back in one week for the conclusion. It is NOT to be missed. By the end you’ll either be up on your feet or down on your fucking knees, I promise you.

Are you ready for immortality? Are you ready to peer through a hole in the Universe? Are you ready to face the doorway to dimensions beyond your own feeble conception of the real?

Are you ready to meet the Latchkeepers?

The long-awaited fourth episode of Stranger Things has finally gone LIVE with part one of ”Latchkeepers” penned by (who fucking else?) Matt Wallace and directed by Earl Newton. I consider this a momentous occasion. For the last two and a half years I have been violating your auditory cavities with my stories over on Variant Frequencies. Now I am officially mauling your eyeballs with my brand of storytelling for the first time. Same awesomeness. New medium. Before I’m done I will own all five of your senses and make you realize you have a few more. Believe it.

The hundreds of folks who attended The Singularity at Balticon 42 got to see all three parts of “Latchkeepers” at once. You’ll have to sweat out the cliffhanging end of each act for one whole week after parts one and two. What can I tell you, kids? Even in the digital age it still pays to inhabit a physical universe every now and then. Although you WILL dig the entire thing several months before all the people who order it through Illusion TV (that was both shameless and gratuitous and I apologize for neither).

This was a very cool and rewarding experience for me, and I’m proud to see it finally reach the podcast audience. I want to thank Earl for taking my story on, eventhough he hadn’t even read or heard any of my fucking work when he asked me to write the script. Platter sized snaps are owed to the crew he assembled over in Wilmington, North Carolina, all of whom were topnotch. Not to mention David Kanter and the cast. Quentin Kerr and Rob Covington III are two pimps at the opposite ends of the pimp spectrum. And Nate Panning, as you will discover by part two, is a fucking animal who devours scenery wherever he finds it. Someone recently told me he was cloned from a Baldwin brother. Fuck that. The Baldwin brothers were cloned from Nate Panning.

I hope you dig it. And anything you don’t like is Earl’s fault, obviously.

I described it from my perspective in my Balticon 42 recap. Now here’s executive producer/creator Earl Newton’s live update announcing the deal for Stranger Things to be carried on Illusion TV. PLUS—for those who couldn’t be there—a bonus trailer for “Latchkeepers”, the episode penned by your humble narrator that premiered at Balticon.



This is a tremendously huge fucking deal, kids. But because Earl and I both essentially lie for a living, I can understand why it might not fully sink in ‘til you’ve absorbed it from an alternative, impartial media source. Which is why I give you i09’s (yes, that i09) coverage of same: Zombie Clones and Holy Aliens Build a Bridge from Web to TV

My maddest, dopest, stupidest props go out to Earl and crew. I hope to continue working with Stranger Things to create rabidly cool shit like “Latchkeepers” (and not just because they might actually be able to, you know, PAY me now).

I’ll be rolling into Baltimore, MD to attend Balticon 42 this Friday, where I will continue to refine the art of doing JUST enough at a con to get in for free. If you’re going to be checking it out or even if you’ll just be in the area and would like to catch up with me, here’s when and where I can be nailed down . . .

- “Up From Podcasting: Success Stories in New Media” Saturday, 11:00 p.m., Chesapeake Suite -- David Moldawer, JC Hutchins, Jim Kelly, Matt Wallace

- “Live! Stranger Things presents The Singularity” Sunday, 12:00 p.m., Main Tent

- “Adapting Literary Works For Audio” Sunday, 5:00 p.m., Chesapeake Suite -- Mur Lafferty, PG Holyfield, JC Hutchins, Jim Kelly, Matt Wallace, Chris Lester

- “Adapting Literary Works For Video” Sunday, 7:00 p.m., Belmont -- Rich Sigfrit, Matt Wallace, Earl Newton

The rest of the time I’ll be in the bar. Donations in the form of drinks and chicken fingers are always appreciated and will earn you at least five minutes of conversation. No politics or religion. Unless you’re a Zoroastrian and/or a member of the Guns and Dope Party. You guys amuse the fuck out of me.

I also can’t possibly stress enough just hot imperative it is you attend The Singularity on Sunday if you are at all able. This is THE event, kids. The Singularity will include the WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING of Stranger Things episode #4, “Latchkeepers”, written by Matt Wallace (me), directed by Earl Newton, and starring Quentin Kerr (HBO’s John Adams) and Rob Covington III (Port City P.D.). There will also be a live Audiometrix as David Kanter talks with Matt Wallace (also me). An equally live update from executive producer/creator Earl Newton, including a HUGE announcement about the future of the show that you won’t want to miss.

Finally, there will be swag. Free swag. Prize swag. Earl and the crew will be holding a raffle drawing during The Singularity. Purchase a ticket when you walk through the doors and you will be eligible to win several kick ass prizes. I’m contributing a SIGNED HARDCOVER EDITION of The Next Fix as well as a fucking awesome Murky Depths package that will include ALL FOUR ISSUES of the magazine to date AND the increasingly rare 16-page promotional issue we put out last year. That’s over a hundred bucks worth of exotic cross-oceanic eye and mind fuck. Dig it.

I'll see you there.

I’ve already made it known that later this month I will be rolling into Baltimore to join the mammoth podcaster and sci-fi author contingent for Balticon 42. And one of the main reasons is Stranger Things will be staging an epic event there called The Singularity. And I do mean epic. They’ve got the main ballroom booked, they’ll be filling it with several hundred rowdy friends and fans. There will be a premiere screening from the new episode of Stranger Things (their biggest, most elaborate production ever), “Latchkeepers,” penned by your humble narrator. I’ll be dragged up on stage for a little something special after that. There’s going to be swag giveaways. And there will be a HUGE announcement that warrants such an ominous name for the occasion.

This thing is going to scream, kids. Seriously.

Below is the event t-shirt that executive producer/creator Earl Newton and crew have come up with for The Singularity. It’s a wicked piece of armor. I hope you’ll be joining us the weekend of the 23rd, and I hope you’ll don it proudly.



It runs $15.00 and is currently available in medium, large, and extra-large. Pre-order yours now and you can pick it up the first day of the con. Because come Baltimore, you wanna be stylin’ and profilin’. Woo!

Seriously. Click the button, buy the shirt . . .

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Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit is a sneaky motherfucker who obviously chooses to live in direct defiance of the bushido code. He was recently invited onto the set of the new episode of Stranger Things by executive producer/creator Earl Newton, and do you wanna know how the man of 1,018 voices repaid Earl's hospitality? By posting this bootleg behind-the-scenes footage he shot clandestinely over on his own Requiem of the Outcast, that's how. The episode in question is called "Latchkeepers" and the tele/pod/screenplay was penned by your humble narrator from a totally originally story I came up with just for the ST Universe.

And *I* haven't even visited the fucking set. The balls on that sideburned Schwarzenegger-impersonating bastard.

If nothing else, Rich's act of piracy does illustrate how my script forced Earl to pack up his one man Floridian show and seek broader means to tell the tale I've concocted (it's a mindfucker. Oh, yes). As you'll see in the footage Rich captured, the set-up for "Latchkeepers" is pretty sick. Earl has raised a massive crew of talented pros in Wilmington, North Carolina to shoot and assemble this thing. The visual effects alone are going to be phantasmagorical. I know because I wrote them. "Latchkeepers" also stars a fucking beyond-the-stratosphere cast that includes Quentin Kerr and William Yelton from the new HBO miniseries John Adams, One Tree Hill's Cari Moskow, seasoned voice and screen actor Shaun O'Rourke and Rob Covington, whom you might know from the vidcast series Port City P.D. and whom I can assure you is the High Priest of Pimpery in this production. I've seen ALL of these guys laying it down in the rough cuts, and the level of harshness they bring saying and doing things I wrote is truly more than I or my scribblings deserve.

You can read more about the episode here. Earl will also be posting his own SANCTIONED video update soon.

Keep your eyes open, kids. It's going to be something special.