Felix Hughes is the Eisner Award nominated writer of the critically acclaimed “Fire of the Pendragon,” a fantasy comic book published by the small imprint, Blam! Comics.

A lifelong comics fan and aspiring creator, getting “Pendragon” published two years ago was a dream come true for Felix.  And to make things even better, shortly after his first issue was released, he met Faith Robbins. Beautiful, smart, funny…everything he had ever been looking for in a woman.  He found “The One.”

Or so he thought.

It’s been more than six months since Faith left him.  Felix has been cooped up in his house, not returning calls from his friends, family, or even Skate, his artist partner on “Pendragon.” Instead, he’s been working on a passion project.  And much to the dismay of Tony Tuttle, his publisher at Blam!,  the project is not the script for the now two month’s late twelfth issue of  “Fire of the Pendragon.”

As Felix prepares to finish the final page of his masterpiece, he’s confident his life is about to change.  And he’s right.  Just not in the way he expects…

Faith Robbins is in love.

Again.

But this time, it’s the real thing.  It has to be.  So what if it’s only been six months since she got out of her last relationship?  Blake Sterling is the man of her dreams, her knight in shining armor.  After all, he’s smart (a lawyer!), successful (drives a Lexus!), funny (does THE BEST Borat impression!) and handsome (So. F’ing.  Gorgeous!)  And what’s more he’s crazy about her and has big dreams for their future together.

In fact, it was Blake’s idea that Faith run for the open seat on their local town council.  After all, she’s a well-liked and respected member of the community, serving for several years as a teacher and now Assistant Principal at the Blue Ridge Elementary School.

Everything is falling into place…

Writing Over has been quite an adventure.

It started out as a graphic novel and evolved into a screenplay.  After countless hours and more than four rewrites of the script, I finally got Over to a point where I was happy with the story.  Only then did I begin to translate it back to a comic…the very graphic novel you’ve been reading and hopefully enjoying thus far.

Writing a feature length screenplay has long been a goal of mine.  While I’ve had The Screenwriter’s Bible for years and took a class in 2002 that involved some screenwriting, I just never found the inspiration (and more importantly the dedication) to actually sit myself down and write one.  The fact that I’ve now got a spec script in Over is something I’m very proud of.  The experience of writing a feature length script, putting it out for feedback, and revising and rewriting and revising again, has probably been the most rewarding experience in my life as a writer.  I feel like I’ve grown in leaps and bounds by committing to this process.  I hope it shows in both this story, and in everything I write going forward.

While I’d love to be able to update with a new page every day, I simply can’t draw that fast.  But I am committed to frequently (daily if possible) updating this site with interesting content relevant to both the story and themes presented in Over. One of the regular features at this site will be the presentation of the screenplay.  Now, I won’t be spoiling the comic by giving away things in the screenplay.  Rather, after a scene or sequence is posted in comic form, I’ll include that scene as written in the screenplay.

In some cases, the screenplay and the comic are different.  Some scenes will be added for the comic and some omitted.  What works in one medium doesn’t always work in the next.  Certain montages or visual tricks that were written for the screen need to be handled differently in comic form.  Hopefully, the screenplay will provide enjoyable, complimentary reading material for those days I’m not updating with a new comic page.

I want to give a special acknowledgment to the incredible website and (more importantly) community at TriggerStreet.  I posted several version of Over on that site and got some incredibly helpful critiques from people there.  It is a much better script thanks to Trigger.

So, tune in tomorrow for page 1 of Over, the first feature length screenplay by Tyler James.

Over

By
Tyler James

c. 2009                  tylerjamescomics@gmail.com

FADE IN:

INT. FANCY RESTAURANT – NIGHT

FAITH ROBBINS, 27, beautiful, well-dressed, and composed, sits at a two-top. Logs burn in the fireplace behind her.

FAITH
I know you’ve been trying to fix
things. But I don’t think they can
be fixed. I realize relationships
take work, but I don’t think
they’re supposed to be this hard.

Faith rubs the rim of her nearly empty glass of wine.

FAITH
I don’t think we were meant to
spend the rest of our lives
together. Why drag this out any
longer?

Faith takes a deep breath.

FAITH
I know you don’t agree, but I
believe this will all be for the
best. I think we can both do
better. This doesn’t even have to
be that hard. We’re adults.
There’s no reason we can’t end
things responsibly. This is a good
thing.

Faith smiles at her unseen soon-to-be ex. A long pause, then-

MAN’S VOICE (OS)
Fuck!

All eyes in the room turn to the table, where they see Faith’s smile fade and the man at her table doubled over, head in his hands.

BEGIN ANIMATED TITLE SEQUENCE

A black and white, graphic novel-style sequence of a couple bumping into each other, on a date, holding hands, having sex, moving in together, making out on the couch, snuggling on the couch, sitting farther apart talking, still farther apart ignoring each other, on opposite ends fighting, the woman getting up in anger, and the woman leaving the man.

Just wanted to point out that there is now an active Characters Page on this site.  Accessed from the navigation bar at the top of the page, it’s a great resource to find out more about the characters of Over.  Right now, there are only two characters on the page.  As characters are introduced in Over, so too will they be added to the characters page.