Are you thinking of doing work for James Watson and Atlantis Studios ? Are you considering paying them to do work for you?
I had a nightmare "working" with them and I'm not the only one.
I’m a produced TV writer from
I'd attended the Screenwriting Expo in October 2007 and heard about a company called Atlantis Studios. I visited their website and learnt they offered a comic and graphic novel production service: you gave them a script (or treatment or outline), and they would adapt it to a comic, using one of the freelance artists in their “stable”.
This sounded like a great idea. I contacted James Watson in December 2007 and we began discussing this.
Here’s what happened next…
I paid a deposit on December 31, 2007: 25% of
the full fee quoted. I paid this at
that time – even though the script wasn’t ready – because James told me prices
would go up on January 1. By paying
then I could lock in the 2007 prices.
James assured me that despite the script not being ready, he could begin character design work. He also told me they’d produced comics from an outline of only a few paragraphs. (I'd sent a detailed 14 page treatment on December 28.) He indicated they'd begin this character design work while I fine-tuned the script.
Instead, despite repeated assurances the work
was being done, I didn’t see anything until March 27 – two and a half
months after I’d sent through information about what I wanted the
characters to look like. Three
rough character sketches. And the art work wasn’t even done by
the artist I’d requested! Why
not? Because that artist was owed
money by James from 2006! His name
is Giuseppe D’Elia, and his story is also told on this website.
James was telling me he was working with Giuseppe when Giuseppe subsequently told me he never agreed to work on this project. Despite being asked, James has never told me who did this small amount of art work.
Those few rough sketches were the first
and last pieces of work I ever received from Atlantis Studios. This art work was promised EIGHT times
before it arrived. When it did, it
was incomplete (only three of the eight characters were sketched) I requested the art work at least 9-10
times by phone or email before anything arrived. I was unable to show any art work to film
producers and managers whom I met in
My script was sent to James on May
30th.- admittedly a fair bit later than I’d hoped (and indicated) I
could get it to James. Because he
did nothing with it for three weeks, I told him I would send a new draft, which
I did on June 30th.
Throughout most of the period between February
and July 2008, James would ignore phone messages (it seemed impossible to get
through directly to anyone on the phone) and emails about 90% of the time, maybe
more. Having spoken to other
writers and artists, I’ve learnt I’m not alone in this
experience.
Despite James promising he could deliver a 144
page (black and white) graphic novel in “9-10 months” at “15-20 pages a month”
(email from James, December 27, 2007), he produced only three rough
character sketches in more than six months.
Between May 30th and July
11th when – having finally run out of patience I told James I’d be
contacting a lawyer about getting my deposit back – James gave me nothing other
than empty promises.
From what I can tell, James’ modus operandi is
to simply ignore problems. “Problems” being people he either can’t pay or can’t
do contracted work for.
James promised I would be working with Giuseppe
D’Elia, a very talented Italian artist. On January 31, James said in an email:
“Working with Giuseppe on early drawings of main
characters.” As mentioned above, THIS WAS AN OUT-AND-OUT FALSEHOOD.
Giuseppe subsequently told me he never agreed to work on my project.
James followed this assertion up on February 20th with an email that
said – in relation to a request for the character reference material: “I'll send
a request to Giuseppe to see what can be sent to you by the end of the
month.”
I even asked James in an email if there was a
problem with Giuseppe’s availability. I was prepared to consider a second-choice
option if he was unavailable. But – true to form – James never answered my
question.
Even after all the problems I’d had with the
character material, I was prepared to give James the benefit of the doubt.
Hence, I sent him the script.
On June 3rd, James sent an email: “Reviewing the script and working on art. Will have comments/questions to you shortly.” On June 23rd: “I apologize for the delay - for business reasons, I’ve had to shuffle things around. Once I get through this week, ‘States Evidence’ will be front burner, and I’ll address all the production questions you have... Please give me one week to free up the resources needed”
I then suggested I send him a new script that had been amended. I told him it would be with him on June 30th. On June 26th he agreed that he’d accept the new script to work off and said: “I’ll have meetings about states evidence on monday with the artists...”
On July 1st, after not hearing back having emailed the script, James wrote: “Yes, I received the script and reviewed yesterday. Will get back to you with detailed response to your questions later tonight.”
That was the last correspondence I’ve had to him to date.
Why did I get suspicious? (Apart from all the unanswered questions, broken promises, missed deadlines?) Because I looked on the ‘net and found out about others who’d also had problems with Atlantis Studios: artists and writers alike.
One of these writers was Michael Bann, who set up this website. After going public with his concerns, James settled the financial matters outstanding with Michael and the site was taken down. Sadly, I now find I have to re-launch it.
The silver lining? The artist I wanted all along also contacted Michael – telling him his own tale of woe. He and I are now not only collaborating on the graphic novel, we’re also coordinating our efforts to get what’s owed to us. This includes not only this website, but legal action against James Watson and Atlantis Studios.
Ironically, if you go to Atlantis’ website, the comic Giuseppe illustrated is featured prominently. See: http://www.atlantisstudios.net/
Not only that, but Giuseppe is (as at this writing) still listed as an artist that one can use when getting a comic book created. See: http://www.atlantisstudios.net/
MY ADVICE?
There may be artists and content creators who’ve had a good experience with Atlantis Studios. I haven’t met any of them. I have, however, talked to half a dozen people (so far) who’ve had major problems. They either haven’t been paid or have been paid very late (in the case of freelance artists). Or (in the case of clients) they haven’t received work promised to them or it’s arrived several months after it was promised.
If I could turn back the clock I wouldn’t touch Atlantis Studios with a barge pole. I’d go directly to the artist I wanted to work with and do a deal with him/her directly. (Ironically, I could’ve gone to Atlantis Studios’ website; found Giuseppe, found a way to contact him directly, and discovered he isn’t doing any more work for them because he’s owed money for previous work!)
James’
involvement should’ve made the process easier. He should’ve been able to
coordinate things between me and the artist and offer me advice on everything
from comic script layout to who to go to for publishing advice. Certainly that’s
how the service is sold. Alas, his involvement has instead caused me to waste
dozens of hours of potential writing time leaving unanswered messages on his
phone, writing frequently ignored emails and exploring legal avenues to get my
money back.
If what I’ve described sounds like a productive, professional, rewarding creative collaboration then you should write Atlantis Studios a big check immediately. However, if this sounds like a nightmare (which is certainly how it felt to me!) – then consider this a warning.