OFFICIAL Top Cow Talent Hunt 2015 Discussion Thread

[CBR News]

Hello!

This thread will serve as the Top Cow-sanctioned official discussion thread for all matters relating to Talent Hunt 2015. Feel free to discuss your submissions with your fellow participants, or ask questions of Top Cow President and COO Matt Hawkins -- who will stop by this thread periodically as time allows.

Full rules, submission agreement and sample scripts are available for download here.

Thanks, have fun, and good luck!

[Javia]

Couple of questions. How many pages are we allow to summit? How many time can we summit work? Whats the deadline?
I already downloaded the documents and I didn't see any info on those questions.

[Shawnmilazzo]

Dear Top Cow Team, I was wondering if I could use parallel realities for my writers submission. I see that the rules are "We've decided to open it up a bit this year and your submission can feature any present, past, or future versions of the Top Cow Universe characters using 13 Artifacts from this list or any of the characters featured in the 2012-2014 publications of Aphrodite IX or Cyber Force." But was wondering if a parallel universe could be allowed? Specifically a past use of an artifact with a new character set in a parallel world.

[Top Cow Ryan]

Dear Top Cow Team, I was wondering if I could use parallel realities for my writers submission. I see that the rules are "We've decided to open it up a bit this year and your submission can feature any present, past, or future versions of the Top Cow Universe characters using 13 Artifacts from this list or any of the characters featured in the 2012-2014 publications of Aphrodite IX or Cyber Force." But was wondering if a parallel universe could be allowed? Specifically a past use of an artifact with a new character set in a parallel world.

I would STRONGLY advise against something that intricate, Shawn. Especially since in our continuity we haven't really explored parallel realities all that much.

[Andrew1]

Hello, for the sample scripts for the artists to work from, most of these are full length scripts, except for Artifacts 6 which is 6 pages and Artifacts 8 which is 10 pages. Were there page ranges for the others you guys had in mind but got missed or are you waiting to see how many people hand in something that's not Artifacts 6?

[ksayed]

First, thank you guys so much for hosting these talent hunts, it means everything to us little guys that you give us these opportunities. Second, and I'm not sure if this is a stupid question or not, I did read that the files need to be sent as PDF or in Final Draft files, but when I was looking at references to study from publicly posted scripts(from the link provided), will you accept scripts sent in using/looking like the scripting format from Final Draft? with the dialogue centered in the middle of the page? Or do they have to be done EXACTLY like how the formats are shown from the links you provided?

[ertitomontana]

Hi,

Sorry to insist on this point but then I can submit the sequential art of the script "ARTIFACTS Chapter 6" that it have only 6 pages?

Thanks

[astrakhan]

Can I just say kudos to Top Cow for releasing a Witchblade guidebook the day the talent search link went live? I know nothing about the Top Cow universe to be honest, but I'm a writer who'd like to give it a shot, so that Case Files issue and the Top Cow bible should hopefully be enough to give me a head start.

[Top Cow Ryan]

ANNOUNCEMENT #1:

Artists
If you were planning on drawing the Cyberforce for your submission, you might want to redownload the scripts/rules! The script in that bundle was mainly lettering, and not really conducive to an art submission.

We've reuploaded the script bundle to now include the original plot script for Cyberforce #1, which is definitely what you should be working from.

Apologies!

[Top Cow Ryan]

Can I just say kudos to Top Cow for releasing a Witchblade guidebook the day the talent search link went live? I know nothing about the Top Cow universe to be honest, but I'm a writer who'd like to give it a shot, so that Case Files issue and the Top Cow bible should hopefully be enough to give me a head start.

Kudos to YOU for picking up Case Files. Vince and I worked really hard on that book and it means a lot to us that people want to read it, fortuitous timing aside.

Good luck with the Talent Hunt!

[afrankjr]

Hi Matt,

This will be my third Talent Hunt. One thing I've been very curious about is continuity; have the winners' submissions chronologically fit in the timelines of their respective books? Or have their submissions just earned them the opportunity to write a new issue within the timeline? I've been trying to kind of balance the two, and I'm not sure which way to lean continuity-wise, between timeline-sensitive and completely isolated.

Thanks for any answer you can give.

[mhawkins]

Hi Matt,

This will be my third Talent Hunt. One thing I've been very curious about is continuity; have the winners' submissions chronologically fit in the timelines of their respective books? Or have their submissions just earned them the opportunity to write a new issue within the timeline? I've been trying to kind of balance the two, and I'm not sure which way to lean continuity-wise, between timeline-sensitive and completely isolated.

Thanks for any answer you can give.

We've been lenient on this. If something dramatically counters continuity we've dropped it in the no pile. My best suggestion would be to do something easy, a story based on character and a single plot point or two. Keep it simple. I really liked the Artifacts 39 story from the last year's Talent Hunt. That winner wrote a bedtime story where Jackie told Hope about the first Darkness bearer. At the end of it when she asked if that was true, he said nope, he made it all up. That's in Jackie's character, kind of funny and works well as a one shot story. Nominal nods to continuity or storylines of the comics is good, but don't do anything earth shattering. Don't blow up a city, kill a major character, do something that we'd have to explain in the regular books. The only two you really need to worry aboutthat with are Aphodite IX and Witchblade. There aren't regular publications of the others.

[Samy Stop]

Hi everyone
How much pages pencillers have to draw ?

[Arden Belfry]

Thank you Top Cow and CBR, this is a great opportunity.

[mhawkins]

Hi everyone
How much pages pencillers have to draw ?

8 pages of sequential art