NIGHTMARE HUNTERS

'NIGHTMARE HUNTERS' AND ALL RELATED IMAGES, GRAPHICS, TEXT, CONCEPTS AND CONTENT ARE REGISTERED, COPYRIGHTED TRADEMARKS OF JOHN FOUNTAIN - 2006 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF 'NIGHTMARE HUNTERS' MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF ITS AUTHOR AND CREATOR, JOHN FOUNTAIN.

*Whew*! Now that I got THAT stuff outta the way, perhaps I should explain...

Several years ago while I was still on "The Fairly Oddparents", I got this idea for an animated show that was intended to be a sort of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' meets 'Vampire Hunter D' that would be appropriate for younger audiences.
Thus, the concept of 'Nightmare Hunters' was born... the idea being that nightmares have figured out a way to break into our reality and feed on our psyches (or 'figment' as it is known in the story) the way vampires feed on blood.
The two main characters, Rem and Luci, are the only two who can fight them off (for reasons that will be explained later) and the stories follow their adventures as they try to keep these dream-demons at bay.

Anyway, I loved this idea so much that as I continued to develop it and write scripts around it, I decided I needed to take time off from the daily grind of animation so that I could devote myself more fully to my new baby. I had lots of other ideas that I was pitching around, but this one was really dear to my heart. (By the way, do me a favor and don't bother writing in and saying "So-and-so already had that idea" or whatever... the notion of fighting nightmares is not 'new ground', but I can say that my take on it is honestly and sincerely my own, and that's why I'm protecting my rights to it here).

So, I quit FOP (much to everyone's shock) and whored myself out as a freelancer for a while, but my primary focus was on THIS concept.

Eventually I pitched it around and one of the major animation studios in town loved it and - after lots of haggling - optioned it for development as a possible television series (the studio shall remain nameless purely for the sake of caution, but I will go on record as saying that the experience working with them was generally very positive).
Anyway, for those of you who are fotunate enough not to be in the entertainment industry, an 'option' means that they pay you some money for the temporary rights to your idea... in my case, the option was for a maximum of two years... in that time, you work with the buyer to show them your concepts and make adjustments based on everyone's interests.
If they decide to permanently acquire the concept within the option deadline, they have to pay you more and then it gets made into a regular series - but THEY own it after that.
In my case, when their option deadline runs out, all rights to the characters, stories and everything else revert back to me.

And that's exactly what happened yesterday.

I had determined long before anyone optioned it that I wanted to do a comic book version so that if all the networks passed on it I could simply self-publish the comics and enjoy it for 'art's sake'.

While I'm obviously kinda bummed that it's been passed on (by this network) I'm also thrilled now that I have the opportunity to secure its copyright by publishing it on this blog. And you, dear reader, are now a part of it as a witness. So you have my thanks.

To be honest, as I dive back into working on the comic version, it's some of the most fun I've ever had. I can go back to my original stories without having to worry about 'network standards' or anything like that and just let my own bliss dictate the narrative.

Anyway, I hope to have the first issue done by this time next year (where I intend to premier it at ComiCon).

I'll have updates as they occur.

Now I'd like to take the time to publicly thank some folks who helped me during the pitching/developing process... most of them got paid either very little or nothing at all, but the hard work, support and encouragement they provided made it an extremely rewarding experience...
Holly Kim - Holly was my initial 'barometer' for the idea... she would look at the drawings, read my stuff and give me her brutally honest feedback. She also provided me with positively mind-blowing colors and graphic designs for the pitch materials.
Eric Trueheart - The only creative force other than myself who actually got paid by the studio. Eric co-write the script and a lot of the pitch material. Beyond that, however, Eric did COUNTLESS revisions for me off-the-clock (i.e. for free) out of sheer enthusiasm. He was my first choice for who I wanted as my scriptwriter, and it was great having him with me in the trenches. This project was not the last time you will see the fruits of a Eric/John teamup.
Louie DelCarmen, Cynthia French and Heather Chavez - These three nutjobs actually drew storyboards for me on their free time! Can you believe it? Louie, in fact, provided an action sequence that rivals the speeder-bike chase in 'Return of the Jedi'. Anyone who is a board artist or knows a board artist knows that they work really long hours, so taking on freelance work is often just not an option - yet Louie, Cynthia and Heather somehow did it and I couldn't be more grateful.
Jason Stiff - Unfortunately, we never got to the point where we needed music, but VERY early on Jason agreed to do some original scoring for it. The fact that someone as talented and cool as Jason was willing to jump in on something that had the potential of NO payoff was wildly flattering and encouraging. That encouragement, alone, was like rocket-fuel for me.
Ian Graham - Who said to me VERY early on: 'Don't try to do it all yourself.' This simple yet profound bit of advice has snowballed into a whole other work philosophy for me that has had long-lasting positive effects.
and of course...
Leigh Phillips my wonderful Fiancee who gave nonstop support and the kind of objective guidance no one that's IN the animation industry could possibly provide.
You all make up "The Dream Team" and you have my humble thanks.

Anyway, the future of Nightmare Hunters is still very bright... I can't go into any more details, but what I can say is at the very least I will do a comic of it that should be out sometime next year.

And remember:

NIGHTMARE HUNTERS IS A COPYRIGHTED TRADEMARK OF JOHN FOUNTAIN - 2006 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Man that feels good...