See KILL SHAKESPEARE on Stage!
We are very happy to announce that we have formed a partnership with Toronto's Young Centre for the Performing Arts to present a Live Stage Reading of Kill Shakespeare!
On Sat, Nov 26th (8pm) and Sun, Nov 27th (4:15pm) we will be presenting a live stage reading of our epic story, which will combine comic art, performance and music to bring our comic series to life. The reading will be done by actors from Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre, and feature Andy Belanger's art from the series - and perhaps a cameo by Conor or I!Tickets for each show are $20 (with tax/service fees), or if you'd like to purchase four tickets you can do so for $59 (a 25% savings). You can access the box office here or by calling 416.866.8666.
We're really excited about the show. We did a table read last week with some actors - along with our director Derek Boyes and dramaturge Toby Malone - and it was so invigorating to see our characters and story come to life. It will be a show that Shakespeare fans, comic readers, and everyone else will thoroughly enjoy!
Empire State of Mind this weekend!
Conor, Andy and I will be attending the New York Comic-Con this upcoming weekend to do some signings and check out some cool new stuff in the comic and pop culture world. It'll be great to be there again - it was at least year's event (in February, 2009) that Conor and I first pitched Kill Shakespeare to a number of publishers, IDW included. I still remember the grins on the faces of Greg Goldstein and Chris Ryall as we pitched them the idea, as they immediately grasped the potential of the series.If you're in the New York area please come out and visit us - we'd love to meet you!
The Shakespearean Social Network
I was reading another rave review of The Social Network, this time on HollywoodReporter.com. The film is garnering fantastic reviews and I'd like to state that it's one of the best film marketing campaigns I've seen. Everything - from the haunting trailer to the posters.. Great work.The Hollywood Reporter uses this expression: "The Social Network has as its protagonist a character drawn in a Shakespearean mode, a high-achieving individual who carries within him the seeds of his own destruction." A great description and so I sat down last night for a couple minutes and put together this mock-up poster, using our own Shakespearean character (Hamlet) as a subject...
I hope you like it...
Kill Shakespeare in San Diego!
Conor, Andy and I are heading out tomorrow (Tuesday) to head to San Diego for the annual pop culture smorgasbord, San Diego International Comic-Con! We're excited as this year we'll be there to further promote our series and get people excited about it.
If you're in San Diego feel free to stop by our booth to say hello - we'd love to hear from you.If you can't be in San Diego please let us know if there's anything you'd like us to capture for you. We'll be taking plenty of photos and video while there so please send us your request(s)!
Profile: Jason Chan & Spencer Rysdale
Last week I introduced some of the key members of our team - our PR reps from MDG & Associates and Smith Publicity. This week I wanted to shine a spotlight on two individuals that have made just as big an impact on the early success of Kill Shakespeare - our two marketing interns, Jason Chan and Spencer Rysdale.What can I say about these two? They have gone above and beyond the call of duty for Kill Shakespeare for the last five-plus months. Both are current business students at Ryerson and based on the work they've done with us I expect big things in the future. They've done everything from making phone calls to retailers across North America to doing research for us to posting stuff on Facebook to hanging out with us at signings and conventions. They have been godsends for us.
Jason is our tech go-to guy. Whenever we get proposals or ideas for online or game concepts he's the one that we turn into. He's got a fantastic entrepreneurial drive and is always looking for small niches for his own potential start-ups (he's currently working on a pretty cool idea at the moment through Ryerson's start-up incubator).
Spencer is our pitbull. He's always getting in our faces pushing us to get him more stuff to do. He's even reached to potential academic distributors to make them aware of our series (and they are very interested in it).
These are both players you want on your team. But don't get any ideas - we don't want to lose them...
One of our first (and biggest) international fans
Conor and I received a fantastic email earlier this week from Deborah Altenbeck, a current English and Art student from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Deborah had found out about Kill Shakespeare through an online search and wanted to find out more about the project. Deborah is currently working on a paper about the rise of graphic novels and may use Kill Shakespeare as a case study.
More importantly, she has helped us out by referring us to some comic book stores in Germany and is starting to spread the word.
It's these sorts of interactions that make the hours and hours of work and effort worthwhile. Thank you very much for your enthusiasm, Deborah - we love to hear from people like you.
All the world's a stage...
Oh, the things you'll do to get people excited about your story...
Earlier this week Conor and I were sitting down with an individual interested in helping us out with promoting our comic book series. We did the meet-and-greet and then he offhandedly joked about the fact that he thought we would perform some of the book for him. Conor and I looked at one-another, unsure of what to do. So we did what any two budding showmen would do...
We acted out the first issue for him...
I quickly jumped onto the ground, pretending to be Hamlet washed up on the beach, while Conor became a bird, then a witch, then an emperor, and we promptly led him through the first act of our story. I think that the waitress at the posh hotel bar was thrown off a bit but I believe we won over the crowd. In fact, I believe that Conor should be eligible for a support actor nomination for his performance, especially that of the witches...
And our review the next day? "I didn't think you would actually act out some of the first issue like you did - HYSTERICAL!"
Oh, the things you'll do to sell a comic book...
Going Postal...
The past week has been spent sending out our first wave of marketing materials to comic book retailers. Conor and I mailed out letters to 390 U.S. retail stores last week and are sending out more in the next 24 hours.
Will it work? Well, earlier today we received a great email from Ralph DiBernardo of Jetpack Comics (Rochester, N.H.), who stated, "In an age when everyone thinks email marketing is the way, I applaud you for taking the time to create interesting letterhead & envelope... Thanks again for hitting us old school. It absolutely worked." To hear that made our day - and now we're off to stuff some more envelopes and continue our quest to turn this into a successful comic book series...
The Long Road to Retailers...
This week we are prepping our direct marketing campaign to North American comic book retailers. As a new title with upcoming talent it's crucial to spread the word and we've devised a pretty cool campaign to make as many retailers aware of us and Kill Shakespeare as possible.
Two excellent young interns have started to work with us. Mike Klassen, from Sheridan College, and Charlie Jay (above), from Ryerson, have brought theirs skills and talents to the Kill Shakespeare team. They have been spending the last week or two putting together a great deal of data for us and will be helping us out over the next few months. If you are someone who may have the slightest interest in K.S., you'll probably hear from them sometime/some how...
More details on our campaign as we move forward with it.