Made a new audio show for Howl in the style of old-timey radio. It drops next week but you can listen to the trailer now! http://howl.fm/hoot

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@heyjustin
Made a new audio show for Howl in the style of old-timey radio. It drops next week but you can listen to the trailer now! http://howl.fm/hoot
So happy to be a small part of this great and funny show made by Zach and Jess and Ian Pfaff AKA the chillest director this side of Spring Break. Watch it for freeeee on ABCd!
Found an old comic I made about two very relatable characters: a hamburger in a fez and an alligator. Naturally, it’s called... HAMBURGER FEZ N’ GATOR JACKSON.
Hey guys, I made this short with my good buddies Harry Chaskin and Dan Lippert and lots of other extremely talented people! It’s a love letter to the giant monster movies I grew up watching and still love to this day.
Take a trip to MONSTER ISLAND! Zog and Java are two best friends looking to throw the ultimate BBQ party. They also happen to be giant monsters imprisoned on an island. 99.9% stop-motion animation, 0.1% tiny live-action people!
Created, Written, and Directed by Harry Chaskin, Dan Lippert & Justin Michael
Executive Producers Seth Green John Harvatine IV Matthew Senreich Eric Towner
Starring
Justin Michael as Zog Dan Lippert as Java Patrick Janssen as The Hazmatts Marissa Strickland as Java’s Girlfriend Joel Knapp as The Entire SWAT Team
Director of Photography Andrew Knapp Costume Designer Becky Van Cleve Character Designer Harry Chaskin Character Fabricator Chelsea Bayouth Production Designer John Sumner Model Builders John Sumner, Frank Duran, Alexis Deprey, Natalie James, Lizzy Klein Scenic Painter Alicia Ellsworth Matte Painter Molly Rodman Music Casey Trela Animators Michael Granberry, Harry Chaskin Track Reader Jeremy Fisher Storyboard Artist Tom Smith Editor Jenny McKibben Visual Effects Artists Jack Hamilton, Jason Oshman, Mike Spitzmiller, Harry Chaskin Sound Design & Mix Patrick Janssen Colorist Loren White Supervising Producer Janet Dimon Production Manager Laura Allen
Monster Island Created, Written, and Directed by Harry Chaskin, Dan Lippert & Justin Michael
Godzilla vs. King Kong Director: Ishirô Honda Cinematography: Hajime Koizumi
Today on Movies In Color, I’d like to share a stop-motion short film made by extremely talented folks. Monster Island came out today and you can watch it here!
Take a trip to MONSTER ISLAND! Zog and Java are two best friends looking to throw the ultimate BBQ party. They also happen to be giant monsters imprisoned on an island. 99.9% stop-motion animation, 0.1% tiny live-action people!
The color in the short is stunning and shows a clear attention to detail as well as clear inspiration from films like Godzilla vs. King Kong. I made a few palettes to showcase their fantastic use of color and the clear parallel between the short and Toho monster films above.
Here is a bit of insight into the use of color in Monster Island from creator/writer/director Justin Michael.
“When we started pre-production on Monster Island, we always knew that color was going to be an important component for the piece to succeed. Harry and I are both enormous fans of old-school Toho monster movies, not to mention stuff of the Ray Harryhausen stop-motion variety. I grew up watching many of Godzilla’s decidedly goofier outings, and my absolute favorites were some of the more technicolor-looking iterations like Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla, not to mention the wonderful and goofy King Kong Escapes!
We ended up pushing things a little further than those Toho films and really saturated the hell out of things, both in paint and fur choices during construction and fabrication, and in the post-production color sessions with our colorist Loren White. We wanted the island to feel vibrant and inviting, like a 1960s James Bond villain’s lair.”
Go watch this short! It’s great!
Movies in Color is one of my favorite things on the internet, and it’s a real bonus that it’s a project by a good buddy. Roxy covered our short for the most recent post and it’s very very coooooool to see!
That's a wrapackdraft on #Backpackdraft! Very excited to start cutting this bad boy. And by bad boy, I mean pilot.
The voice of Poison Ivy AKA Diane Pershing talks about her experience as a central Batman villain, how it spurred an interest in becoming a fan of watching superhero shows in real life, not to mention her writing and singing careers and the good ol’ days of looping porn! I also chat with Alana Gospodnetich (These Are My Friends, LA City Municipal Dance Squad) about Ivy’s origin on the show, vaginal plant monsters and a man named Claudio. Sponsored by Poison Ivy’s Hypno-Lipstick! Subscribe in iTunes. Follow @BTASpodcast for updates.
It's a one year anniversary spectacular! I celebrate with an interview with Arleen Sorkin (voice of Harley Quinn) + Paul Dini (creator of Harley Quinn), a chat with Chris Tallman (The Thundermans, Buffy, Spontaneation) about Mad Love, and appearances from my Mom, my robot assistant and YOUR TWEETS. Also featuring Marissa Strickland and Casey Trela. Sponsored by Police Blimp Ultra! Rate + Subscribe in iTunes. Donate at www.patreon.com/BTASpodcast. Follow @BTASpodcast and @heyjustin for updates on Twitter.
The time I sort-of-barely got the chance to pitch Ghostbusters 3
Sometimes you write things you like that never get seen.
Back in 2014, a friend of mine was working for an established comedy writer who needed help with a Ghostbusters 3 pitch he was bringing to Paul Feig.
I’m assuming this was before anybody knew it was going to be a reboot, but they DID know it would feature an all-female cast. At the time I never met this writer in person or even talked to him on the phone or emailed directly… but as far as I know, he wanted free insight from a fan of the franchise who also wrote comedy to throw out some ideas that might plus his new characters and story.
If this were any other job, I would’ve politely declined the unpaid work, even if it was for a funny dude like this writer. BUT THIS WAS GHOSTBUSTERS. The chance of a lifetime to contribute to one of the greatest comedy franchises of all time... even if it was unpaid, uncredited and likely to never see the light of day!
So while I was out of town for a comedy festival, I took a half day to park myself at a coffee shop and try to organize the hundreds of thousands of thoughts and ideas I never knew I had for a Ghostbusters sequel and turn them into something coherent and worthwhile in less than 24 hours for a talented but complete stranger who wanted to pitch it to another talented stranger.
In the end, I heard that the writer liked my ideas and used some of them in the room. Which ones? I dunno! But as we all know, the new Ghostbusters isn’t a sequel. It’s a reboot written by Katie Dippold that’s right around the corner and a movie I’m genuinely very excited to see.
This means my irrelevant pitch ideas for GB3 has no place to live but the internet! I’m posting this because I’m proud of the work, even if there are some ideas that end up incredibly cringeworthy. Plus, sometimes it’s nice to give this kind of writing a chance to be read, even if it’s not perfect.
So please enjoy the rambly thoughts of a comedy dude who grew up a Ghostbusters fan and was asked to turn around an idea for a sequel to one of his all-time favorite comedies and only had 24 hours because he was outta town, and please please please forgive me for even suggesting that it might be fun to see "a lady Slimer wife and little Slimer kids.” That’s a bad idea. Everything about it is what an out of touch sequel machinist might suggest. But I think a lot of the other stuff is fun.
In conclusion, “Bustin makes me feel gooooood!”
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GHOSTBUSTERS 3 IDEAS // Justin Michael
PLEASING THE FANS + ENGAGING A NEW AUDIENCE
This is my attempt to come up with a GB3 idea that the Ghostbusters fan in me would love and the film critic part of me wouldn’t snub as fan fiction.
There are a million difficult things that come with resurrecting a beloved franchise 25 years later. Ghostbusters is rooted in nostalgia for a lot of people, and that means you have to honor the fans with nods to the original films and keep what’s fundamentally “Ghostbusters” about it.
You also have to make sure you’re not alienating new viewers. In fact, you have to galvanize a whole new slew of GB fans with new, likeable characters and cool technology and ghosts that could ideally spawn a whole new slate of toys and other merchandise.
So what (in my opinion) makes Ghostbusters work so well after all these years?
THE WORLD Ghostbusters always felt like a grounded reality despite the inherently crazy and sometimes silly premise. Part of that was the naturalism of somebody like Murray’s performance, and the other part was utilizing New York City as a real backdrop. The city is as much a character as the characters.
The GBs themselves were always the underdogs, whether it was fighting tooth and nail to be taken seriously (GB1) or stay relevant (GB2). I think any successful iteration of Ghostbusters needs to maintain this underdog quality for comedy’s sake.
Instead of making the new GBs obsolete or low-status because they seem like lunatics, I think it’d be fun to naturally follow the “if this, then what” of the original films to create a new playground for the third film: ghosts exist, everybody knows it, and as a result everybody and their brother has their own version of Ghostbusters. It’d be crazy for the general public to deny the existence of ghosts after the highly publicized events of the first two films. The original Ghostbusters and our new heroes are obsolete because anyone can do it. It’s not unique. For example...
Los Ghostbusters battle spectres in Mexico City. A D&D group uses their roleplaying skills in the real world. 4Chan style internet nerds remotely track and announce ghosts on a GoogleMaps updated with a ghost locator and its very own subreddit category. Having so many splintered groups allows the different types of ghostbusting groups to be filled out by lots of funny people in cameos.
THE TECH The tech has been upgraded since 1989... but is it better? We’ll soon find out the answer is no. Slick new weapons like a PKE meter app on your smartphone track ghosts (and maybe even get a visual a la thermal signatures), remotely activated traps, and containment units the size of thumb drives are sold at Radio Shacks. But the biggest change? With the new proton packs you can cross the streams.
WHY ARE THERE STILL GHOSTS? Why are there so many ghosts? Well, for most of the movie we think that’s just how the world works. Gozer and Vigo may have exacerbated things 25 years ago, but people have just accepted that ghosts have always been around at this point. They’re more of a nuisance than a threat these days... but things are starting to get worse. There are more ghosts than ever, and people are getting scared again. Why?
As it turns out, it’s a direct result of there being so many new Ghostbusters. Specifically, this new stream-crossing technology is inadvertently opening rifts to “the other side” and jacking up the psionic energy. The solution has become the problem, and it’s up to the new Ghostbusters to prove it, once again pitting them as underdogs in a world where nobody wants to believe them. People accuse them of making it up as a publicity stunt to drive up hiring them.
In the end, the new Ghostbusters acquire the old proton packs from the original films, team up with the old GBs, and prove to the world that the new tech + having so many ‘busters isn’t necessarily a good thing. The goal of the film is to pass the torch to these new Ghostbusters and allow them to be the only GBs we follow into a new franchise.
THE CHARACTERS Or more importantly, the actors / comedic personalities. When the general public thinks about Ghostbusters, they think of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, then Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. Even if they don’t know their names, they love the actors, not the characters.
I think to honor the fanboys and help transition the people who grew up on the old movies into legitimately loving a new franchise, some (if not all) of these characters have to be integral to the plot without things sliding into internet fan fiction territory.
The easiest way I see doing this for anybody’s take on a Ghostbusters movie (regardless of my version of the plot) is to turn major plot points / set piece battles into opportunities to involve major characters from the old films as cameos. The fanboys will be satisfied to nerd out and catch up with their old favorites, but people who have never seen a GB film can still enjoy the scenes without knowing what they’re missing.
WHERE ARE THE ORIGINAL GHOSTBUSTERS NOW? What makes the original GB films so popular is largely the main four ghostbusters. It’s also what’s going to attract old fans. Problem is, most of them (obviously) cannot appear. My pitch? Allude to them and focus their involvement to plot-integral cameos and a team-up with the new ‘busters in the final battle.
My loose pitch is that in the third film, the original four Ghostbusters have disbanded. Why? Egon died. It would be strange to ignore the fact that Ramis no longer with us, but difficult to include because this franchise should never cheaply use his death as a punchline / dishonor his memory. I think the only tactful way to handle Ramis’ actual death is to make it just as important to the characters. It was all fun and games and busting ghosts until Egon died, and that sent the four ‘busters into arguing, splitting off, (supposedly) destroying the old proton packs, and disbanding the team.
RAY STANTZ / AYKROYD Being that Aykroyd is the real life biggest proponent of resurrecting the franchise, it only makes sense to center things around him. At the start of the film, I think he’s holed himself up Bill Watterson style in the woods. He’s got a huge, bushy beard. Or maybe he runs his own occult book store franchise based out of Portland a la Powell’s. Hell, maybe he’s got his own crappy YouTube vlog that nobody really takes seriously. Either way, his enthusiasm and love of the paranormal and ghosts has been stunted by real life loss of his best buddy, Egon. How do you go on loving what you love when it took away one of your best friends?
PETER VENKMAN / MURRAY
After Egon died, Venkman went off the grid (largely as a way to write Murray out of it if he’s unwilling to appear in the feature). He was never one to show his emotions, but this kinda broke him. Nobody’s seen or heard from him for years. Ideally Murray could pop up for a satisfying appearance / cameo when he returns to team up and fight the big baddies at the end of the film, but it’s not necessary.
WINSTON ZEDDMORE / HUDSON Winston is probably living the most normal, satisfying life of the original four GBs. He’s got a wife, a couple of kids, and lives in upstate NY where life is peaceful and calm.
EGON SPENGLER / RAMIS This is tough. Like I said, I think you have to honor his memory in some way as a real person by honoring his character with the same reverence. Why doesn’t Egon appear as a ghost? Because he’s moved on. He died peacefully, without regret. This idea can help galvanize why the remaining GBs reassessed what they’re doing with their lives and split off. Ray wanted to continue busting ghosts, Venkman realized it was more about his friends than about the actual job. Without Egon, it just wasn’t the same. There’s a Ghostbusters memorial museum in the heart of NYC in Egon’s honor. Maybe it’s revealed that Venkman was the anonymous donor who helped fund it and skipped town after sinking all of his money into it. Later in the film, we find out the old equipment was never destroyed... it was hidden in a secret room in the museum. Egon’s last gift to everybody and the blueprints for replicating it. All the old gear is there.
WHERE ARE THE SIDE CHARACTERS? Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver and even Annie Potts are just about as important to GB fans and the comedy of the first films as the main four. So if there’s a way to include them, why not?
These aren’t necessary, but I think nods like these can help bridge the old with the new in a meaningful way without alienating new audiences.
DANA BARRETT / SIGOURNEY WEAVER In the first films, she’s a musician at the NY Philharmonic. In the second she touches up art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My pitch? Make her a musician again. At this point she’s a successful conductor. She left the museum after the events of GB2. She didn’t like being around paintings after one of ‘em turned evil and tried to possess the body of her baby.
Maybe the first truly huge set piece battle takes place at the NY Philharmonic. Sigourney is possessed or terrorized by musician ghosts. Classical music ghosts (Mozart, Beethoven types) clash with ghosts of NY music past across the ages. Jazz, big band, rock n’ roll, etc. appear and force people to run for their lives.
After the fight with these ghosts end, we get a moment for the new crew to interact with Dana. She reveals why she’s no longer with Venkman. Maybe she’s the one who reveals that he secretly spent all his money on the Egon Spengler GB Memorial Museum? The redemption of Peter Venkman.
RICK MORANIS / LOUIS TULLY + ANNIE POTTS / JANINE Here’s another guy who might never be in another feature film, but if he were to appear he could theoretically be the guy who helps run the Egon Spengler Memorial Museum with his wife Janine (Annie Potts).
Alternatively, it might be fun if Louis is a lame selfhelp / group therapist for people who got possessed by ghosts or demons. Janine runs the back end / answer the phones. Yanoush (Peter McNichols from GB2) could have a cameo as a guy still struggling after he got possessed by a painting and kidnapped a baby 25 years ago.
Might be fun to have a “group game” type scene with newer comedian cameos all sharing their stories of being possessed. e.g. Seth Rogen possessed by a poltergeist who kept making him shit the bed. Made for Sarah Silverman and Jonah Hill types. Anybody funny can pop in here.
WILLIAM ATHERTON / WALTER PECK The human villain of GB1 (the EPA guy) is a cranky old man who, years later, still hates them. He’s retired, got too much time on his hands, and angrily rants on his website that looks like it was designed in 1998 (complete with a counter at the bottom). He’s the equivalent of a conspiracy theorist who thinks the moon landing was faked. He’s the only guy who thinks the Ghostbusters are causing the ghosts... and unfortunately, he’s right. Maybe a visit by the new GBs to his place (covered in newspaper clippings connected by string on walls) convinces the new GBs that he’s right.
GHOSTS Obviously this is an opportunity to bring in a bunch of fun new ghosts. That said, the two most iconic ghosts are probably more recognizable than some of the human characters. It’d be fun to include nodes to Slimer and The StayPuft Marshmallow Man.
SLIMER He lives inside the secret back room of the Egon Museum, allowed to roam free. Maybe he acts as a bit of a “guard / patrol ghost.” They could run into him when they acquire the old gear in a secret back room. Not sure how the logic pans out on this one, but seeing a lady Slimer wife and little Slimer kids might be fun. Alternatively, he could inhabit the original Firehouse.
STAY-PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN Problem with this guy is that he’s pretty plot specific. Unless somebody imagines him up again...My idea? The film opens with a huge set piece battle. Los Ghostbusters (the Mexico City equivalent) vs. El Muchacho de Marshmallows, the Mexican brand equivalent of StayPuft marshmallows. This can introduce the idea of an world oversaturated with GBs while also having a new, fun take on an old favorite movie monster. After the battle, pull out to reveal it’s news footage being watched by one of our new ‘busters (or soon to be GBs).
VIGO THE CARPATHIAN (that evil painting) The villain from GB2 got turned into a really goofy painting of the four original ‘busters. Maybe this painting is hanging in Egon Museum along with some bottled pink slime. Don’t think you need too much more than that, but fans will like it.
GHOST RATS / RAT KING GHOST A new ghost. Battle in the subway or on the streets near sewer openings with rat ghosts. They can form together into one towering, gross mass of squirming rats that move in synchronized patterns like schools of fish. Can possibly morph swarming body parts into different shapes / weapons (a la Clayface in Batman). STAND-UP COMEDIAN GHOSTS Either on a late night talk show (like Fallon) or at somewhere like UCB, a ghost comedian can terrorize a show / audience. Maybe one of the new GBs is being interviewed on the show as a plot point.
PIZZA GHOST A fight that takes place inside a dingy walk-in pizza place. If anything imagined can be turned into a ghost, a giant slice of pizza can come to life, or slices can glob to form one big doughy monster. It’s defeated by people eating it.
DRAG QUEEN GHOSTS A slew of drag queen ghosts do the equivalent of a Ru Paul’s Drag Race style strut and catfight around the streets of the city in a neighborhood where it makes sense.
The first Batman: The Animated Podcast of 2016 is here and I think it's worth a listen even if you’re not a big ol’ Batman nerd like me.
Maurice LaMarche AKA The Brain from Pinky & The Brain, talks about his career in VO from Batman and Inspector Gadget to The Simpsons, Futurama, Adventure Time and the movie Elf. You guys, he is just a fuckin' delight.
Plus, DC Pierson watches Batman for the first time since childhood and Jace does his famous (around our apartment) robot voice opposite The Brain.
YES!
BATMAN IS ON THE PODCAST!
I celebrate 20 episodes by sitting down with the voice of Batman himself: Kevin Conroy. We discuss everything from how he stumbled into the role of a lifetime and channeled his inner darkness to hanging out with his neighborhood bartender, Bruce Willis.
I also go behind the scenes of Mask of the Phantasm with writer Alan Burnett to talk about the genesis of the film and how it went from direct-to-video to last minute theatrical release. PLUS, comedy writer / director Alex Fernie (Hulu’s Hotwives, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) pops by to discuss the movie in detail and explore the logic behind things like using a saw-horse to escape the cops and whether or not the Joker is doinking a 1964 World’s Fair robot.
Sponsored by Dating Batman Style! Follow the show @BTASpodcast and find more / donate at www.BTASpodcast.com. Rate + Subscribe on iTunes.
I spent most of my college film school application describing why Batman: The Animated Series made me want to make things that are specific and maintain a sense of quality across the board. Now I'm lucky enough to sit down with Batman himself, Kevin Conroy. This dude's voice shaped my childhood and it was a surreal, wonderful experience to interview him.
Let’s talk up Lock-Up! First Echo Kellum (Mr. Terrific on Arrow, Rick & Morty) pops by to share his experience playing a DC superhero on TV, getting to be an extra in The Dark Knight and why Batman has “the finest rogue’s gallery.” Then BTAS scribe Robert N. Skir walks me through the writing process and creation of Lock-Up. Also featuring Jeffrey Combs and Marissa Strickland. Sponsored by Arkham Singles! Rate + Subscribe in iTunes. More at @BTASpodcast and www.BTASpodcast.com.
HAPPY HALLOWEEK! Here is the brand new first episode of a new audio comedy show I created with Eric Martin for Audible and Rooftop Comedy. It’s called Brief Interviews with Hideous Monsters and features James “Doc Venture” Urbaniak as The Ghost. Not a ghost. THE Ghost.
Had a traumatic experience in the forest. (at Sequoia National Park)
18. Harley & Ivy - Paul Dini, Julia Vickerman, Marissa Strickland
Paul Dini returns to talk everyone’s favorite Gotham gals! We discuss the genesis of Harley Quinn, the cruelty and manipulation of Poison Ivy and how Harley brings out the best in her. I also sit down with animation creator and artist Julia Vickerman (Twelve Forever, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Powerpuff Girls) to talk about the importance of funny female characters and how Batman influenced her career in animation. Plus, the grand twisty turny musical finale of #PodQuestCast featuring Marissa Strickland, Jace Armstrong and Casey Trela. Donate to the show at www.btaspodcast.com. Follow the show on Twitter at @BTASpodcast. Rate + Subscribe in iTunes!
This is one of my new favorite episodes of the podcast for many reasons. Listen! There’s a lot packed in here.
Comic book legend Gerry Conway may have created The Punisher and killed off Gwen Stacy, but today he’s here to talk Batman and writing Appointment in Crime Alley. He shares the importance of bright spots in a dark narrative, why he likes Dr. Leslie Tompkins, and the two ways to deal with a cliche. He’s joined by artist and comedian David Kantrowitz (@midnight, Plot Twistagram). Also featuring Dan Lippert (Workaholics) and Ryan Rosenberg (Playing House) as The Ammo Bros and Alex Berg’s literally groundbreaking return as Rid Ler. Sponsored by The Crime Alley Chamber of Commerce! Rate + Subscribe in iTunes. More at www.BTASpodcast.com and @BTASpodcast.
A new episode for your ears to chew and swallow.
Jake Goldman (Powerpuff Girls, Futurama) stops by to talk about extreme recoiling, compare Perchance to Dream to Calvin & Hobbes, and share why Batman’s uniquely greatest asset is learning from his mistakes. Then, the incredible BTAS writer and producer Alan Burnett (Justice League: Gods & Monsters, Mask of the Phantasm, probably all of your favorite cartoons) explains how Hitchcock influenced this episode, why villains bring out the best in Batman stories, and shares details on a script that was never produced. Also featuring Drew Tarver’s triumphant return as The Mayor of Podcasts in #PodQuestCast: Part 4. Sponsored by Perchance to Cream. Rate + Review + Subscribe in iTunes! More atwww.BTASpodcast.com and @BTASpodcast.
ICYMI: here’s another episode that came out a month ago that I forgot to promote on tumblr. Jake talks intelligently about cartoons and is a smart and fun guy. Alan Burnett shares a lost Batman episode! Drew is my favorite sane friend masquerading as an insane person. It’s all funnnnn.