CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST

[music plays]

Hilarie Burton: Hi guys! It’s Hilarie Burton, and you have tuned in to the Southern Gothic Production Podcast! It’s our look into the inner workings of a production company. So sit back, hang out, and enjoy a sneak peek into our journey.

Denise Gideon: Denise Gideon, here. We’re here with the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast. We’re returning to the podcast. It’s been a few weeks, but we have some special news, a special guest, and we’re really excited to have this special guest on. But, before we get into that, we have, of course, one of our leaders, Hilarie Burton, here, and the podcast this week opened with a band called Camera Obscura, and that was a band, Hilarie, that we talked about, oh, months ago about hopefully trying to get them on the podcast, and here they are, and maybe you can tell the listeners a little bit about your love for Camera Obscura.

HB: Yeah, I mean, this is a band that put out a new album earlier in the year that was just incredible, and I really like them quite a bit. You know, it’s just a beautiful record, and so you are totally tied into the music scene, so you asked me what bands I would be interested in having on, so you went for it! I guess, you know, some bands are easier to get than others, and you really fought for this one, and you know, I think this is music that is really beautiful and cinematic. It’s stuff that we want to use in the future for other projects, so you scored them, man. I hope everyone enjoyed that beautiful intro!

DG: Well, we’re all about trying to help others out, tying music in, and getting people’s ears opened to new stuff, and that’s what we did this week, I think.

Nicholas Gray: Can you get us Stevie Nicks, Denise? [Hilarie laughs]

DG: I did get a gauntlet thrown down from Kelly when I told him that they were the only band that told me no, and Kelly was like, ‘Somebody told you no?’ and so then I had to go back to the drawing board, because we make a joke that no one can tell me no, but we’ll see.

HB: Damn, where is the bar now? Yeah, Stevie Nicks. Hell, Stevie Wonder, while we’re at it! You know? This Southern Gothic Podcast is about to get crazy! [everyone laughs]

DG: Well, another reason we’re here besides great music, and you guys testing my limits, which I have a feeling will get higher, is, as I said, we’re back and we always say we welcome the Big Three, which, of course, is you guys, Hilarie Burton, Kelly Tenney, and Nicholas Gray, but we have a very, very special guest with us, and that is Mr. Menton Matthews, and Hilarie, this is a new… [Hilarie cheers] member for the SoGoPro family, as we like to call it, and he’s kind of the art to your words, right?

HB: Yeah, you know what? We’ve been working with Dave Dorman who’s been helping us with our graphic novel, and Nick and I had spent some time in the comic store, and I think we all know that between the three of us, we’re very picky about, you know, the quality and the caliber of people that we include in our little world, and so, you know, we were looking at lots of different artists that Dave was showing us, and then, all of a sudden, this artwork that was so different and so exact to what we had in our minds came across our table, and it was Menton’s artwork, and yeah, it just absolutely blew us away. It is the kind of artwork I would hang up in my house, and I’ve told him that before, and so, the idea of working with someone and creating an entire book of that quality of artwork was so exciting to us, and so yeah, Menton’s here with us right now. Menton, do you want to say hi to everybody?

Menton Matthews: Hello. I do want to make one correction, real quick. My name is Menton John Matthews III. Menton, the other one, is my grandfather, so I’m a third. Just put a 3 in there.

HB: The third! [everyone laughs] And that just makes you sound classier! [laughs]

DG: Menton Matthews The Third.

HB: Hey, were you grandfather and dad, were they artists too, Menton?

MMIII: No, they were not. [laughs]

HB: They were not? [laughs]

MMIII: They were both pretty big golfers, from what I understand. But I don’t actually know them all that well, so I can’t tell you that much about them. Sorry! [laughs]

HB: Oh, mysterious relatives! Those are even better, then you can just make up whatever you want! That’s perfect! [Menton laughs] So yeah, we got Menton’s information. Dave made contact with him, and then, you know, one day, I think I asked, like, Kelly… I asked you and I asked Dave and I was like, ‘Is it okay if I just call him?’

Kelly Tenney: Just call him.

HB: Because it was all… yeah, it was all this, you know… It’s Dave’s contact and we’re trying to do everything by protocol, and yeah, it was a few weeks ago, and we just got on the phone, and I feel like all the puzzle pieces have come together so perfectly. So yeah, man, it’s a perfect fit! You belong to us now, Menton. You’re a member of the family.

DG: Menton, I’m sorry.

MMIII: I feel terrible for all of you. [Hilarie laughs] I’m kidding.

DG: Well, Menton, were your ears burning because, you know, Hilarie really talked about you, without really talking about you, on a vlog? I get troubles… v-log, blog, whatever, or a blog, that you let all the fans from Southern Gothic Productions, you let them know that you were heavily after this artist, and you were going to go after him, so Menton, were your ears burning because she was talking about you!

MMIII: You know, I did find that post on youtube… [everyone laughs] Me and my wife laughed, and at this point, I’m just curious where my gifts and presents are at, because I like me some gifts and presents. [everyone laughs]

HB: No way! We’re super good at gifts! Nick and I are in L.A. right now, scouring the oddities of this seedy city to find you something appropriately strange as a bribe.

MMIII: No, no, no. I’m kidding. Please no gifts. But no, that was really funny and kind of you, and really nice to say and so forth. You know, the artwork I do is really different than you’re normal comic book thing, so I thought, honestly, I would have a hard time getting involved in the industry, but of course things seem to be going very well so far. I really appreciate all the kind words. The best joke out of me is that I still thing the whole thing sucks, but I’m really happy that you guys like it.

DG: Well, Menton, why don’t you take this opportunity to tell the listeners just a little bit more about yourself?

MMIII: Alright. I was born and raised in Mississippi. I now live in Chicago with my amazing wife and son. I self-produced a book called the “Ars Memoria” last year that’s doing fairly well. A current project that I’m working on is one called ‘Zombies versus Robots’ that Chris Ryall is writing. That will be coming out of IDW publishing in February. If you want to see more of my artwork, you can go to www.menton3.com. There’s also a great print site called Luna7 that’s got a bunch of stuff up. I’ve been a musician most of my life. I only recently started doing this about a year and a half ago, and that’s about it. I mean, I’m pretty boring. [everyone laughs]

HB: No way, dude! What was your band like? That’s the thing that I wanted to know more about, because we talked on the phone a couple of times, but I want to know… I mean, obviously, we’re kind of a music-heavy company, so I want to know what your band was like!

MMIII: Well, there were several bands, and I used to tour with a bunch of bands. I have a current project called Saltillo. You can find that on, like, Myspace, or whatever. You can have an album or two, I think, on iTunes. It’s just under the name Saltillo.

DG: Kelly, I think we found our music Monday tweet for Monday.

KT: Heck yeah. Let’s do it!

HB: Yeah, right?

MMIII: [laughing] No one said it’s good, yet!

HB: [laughs] Well, no, I mean, it’s perfect too. We are Southern Gothic Productions, and you know, when were were first, you know, aware of Menton, and obviously, like, you google someone before you go in and you talk to them, and so I googled Menton and saw that he’s from the South, you know, and then in a conversation we had last week, you told me that your family comes from a village in France, right?

MMIII: Yeah, I was actually named after Menton, the village in France. It’s really close to the Rivera, way South France. My great-grandfather, John Lee Matthews, was from there, named his son that, named my grandfather.

HB: See, it’s a perfect fit with our French graphic novel, so, like I said, all the puzzle pieces are falling into place, and it’s Kismet, you guys!

DG: Kind of alluded to, Hilarie, it’s words in art, and they are essential in a graphic novel. So, you have the words and you have the art, so what’s your next step? I guess, Menton, it’s time for you to get to work?

MMIII: Well, yeah, I mean, there’s a lot that goes through this, and the kind of project that I think these guys want, there’s probably going to be a good deal of character development, just kind of going through color tests, before handing in the real deal. So basically, we’ll go through the character list and some scenes and so forth. I’ll do some mock-ups of those, I think, and then we’ll just go from there.

NG: We have a bit more… just a little bit more writing to do, Denise.

DG: Okay.

NG: We wrote you the originally script for what was to be, you know, this pilot episode, is complete, but we want to change it just a little bit, so that it’s more friendly towards being a book, instead of, you know, being a film or a television show.

HB: But one of the great things about Menton is that, because he is new to the graphic novel world, you know, he’s like we are. We’re kind of doing everything unconventionally and making up our own rules as we go along, and so Menton has actually told us that he prefers just to get a script, instead of having us write it out like a graphic novel. So, what’s great is that we can continue to write scripts and hand them to him, and he can, instead of putting it on film, put in on paper. It’s kind of the perfect combination.

MMIII: Well, I think so many times, like based on what an artist is good at, and how the artist uses things, it’s a lot better to do panel pacing based on that. Like, I can tell you nightmare stories about scripts that I’ve gotten that don’t fit and the pacing is wrong with what I want to do with it, and in the end I think that’s what suffers. So, I think, a lot of times, if you figure out the artist and let him do his job with panels and pacing, it often times turns out really good. I think the trend lately in comics is to write specifically what happens and what each panel looks like, and that’s great as a starting point but I think it’s a rigid form and actually stifles a lot of artists.

DG: Well, Menton, tell me, without kind of giving away plot lines because we don’t want to do that, what really appealed to you about this storyline?

MMIII: Well, first and foremost, I like working with people that I can get along with, [Hilarie laughs] and the fact that Hilarie called me was really, really cool and I like working on the phone a lot more than emails, because you can hear what people are thinking and you get a better vibe, but the other thing about it is I’ve been writing my own story that was not exactly what they had, but there was some very similar elements, and I’m not a writer. In fact, I really think I’m terrible at it! I think the best might be if I put 100% towards the visual and someone else can put 100% towards the story, I think that’s the way it should be, kind of thing. But this was perfect for me because this is what I wanted to paint and what I wanted to draw, so it’s kind of like a no-brainer. And the more I find out about the story and the more I learn about what they’re doing with it, the more excited I am by it. Honestly, it’s something that I, personally, value a great deal, what they’re doing with it. I really like it. Some of the books I’ve been offered… you know, they’re kind of cool or this that and the other, but there’s some stuff on there that I could probably take very personally and I’m very excited about the book, so, I hope that answers your question.

DG: Yeah. Well, I’m going to turn the tables a little bit. I’m going to let these three… Menton, we call them the Big Three [Menton laughs]… turn the tables a little bit and to have them tell me… Hilarie, you already said a little bit about it… but the guys too, I want to know, kind of, what, as you guys sat down and decided you were going to go after Menton and not let him get out of your trap, [Hilarie and Denise laugh] what was the couple of things that really stood out to you? That goes to you, Kelly, and to you, Nick, as well.

NG: Well, I really knew just in, like, books that I was reading. You know, there’s a lot of books you see that look really comic-y, and I did not want that, personally. You know, there was a few books that I read like… there was a book ‘Fell’ and I think Ben Templesmith is the artist on that, and he was somebody that really appealed to me visually, and it was just different from, you know, a lot of the other books that I’ve picked up. And then Hilarie and I thought another book, from the U.K., by a new artist… I think her name was Hannah Barry… and it was, like, this silly little story about, like, a detective and his tea bag… [Hilarie and Nick laugh]… That sounds weird…

HB: Yeah, it does! [laughs]

NG: But that was also just a really uniquely drawn book, and I think that once we started to see these, kind of, different renderings than was the norm… I can only speak for myself. I knew that was exactly what I wanted, and I tried to really translate that information to Dave, and he kind of suggested Menton, and when we got that email I knew that it was going to be a really good match for us.

HB: Yeah, that was a no-brainer. Kelly, I think I texted you right away, right?

KT: Oh yeah, it was instant, and we all agreed with you. I mean, when you sent these drawings to us, that’s what was, like, the icing on the cake.

HB: This was, like, the second or third batch of artists he had sent us, too. But, you know, there were a lot of other great artists.

NG: They were all great.

HB: But everything was a compromise, and Menton’s work… there was no compromise. It was exactly what we wanted, without him having done anything, you know, that… He hadn’t drawn any pictures or drawn any panels… you know, like spec panels for us to look at. It was nothing that was tied in with our storyline. You know, he could have been painting pictures of Santa Claus, but the style just fit our aesthetic so perfectly. Yeah, Kelly, I think I literally texted you, like, two minutes later like, ‘Yup, this is it! Done!’

KT: ‘That’s our guy!’

HB: Done!

DG: I can totally see that. When I was doing the research for this and, Menton, I was looking at your website, and knowing the plot of the first story, I agree. It was just like, ‘That’s it!’ Kind of an out there feel to it, and I think you guys are going to work well together.

MMIII: [laughs] Thank you! I am a strange, strange, unusual man, but thank you.

HB: [laughs] I think, you know what, anybody who knows, like, me and knows Southern Gothic, knows that I live in this, like, creepy haunted house. There’s, like, videos on youtube where they’ve done tours of my house for television, and I think I remember saying to Kelly, I was like, ‘I feel like this is someone who wouldn’t look at my house like it was weird, you know? Like, this is someone who would fit into our circle.’ And, you know, we all work so closely together, that’s a very important comfort to be able to have. So, Menton, at some point you’re going to have to come hang out with us and all my taxidermy.

MMIII: Well, not to sound like some kind of weird stalker, but I googled you too and I found that youtube video [everyone laughs] of someone going into your house, right? And I was like, ‘Wow, I get to check out her house! Sweet!’ [Hilarie laughs] And one of the weird things is a lot of the stuff that you have in your house, me and my wife have in our house. My wife, before having a boy, was a coroner, so we’re…

HB: No way!

MMIII: Yeah…

HB: Oh man, Menton! This is just fate! This is just perfect!

DG: Well, you know, Menton, also, we have to tell you that, you know, Hilarie is the one that will wear a cape to the grocery store, so… [Menton laughs]

HB: It’s been done! [she, Denise and Menton laugh]

DG: Well, why don’t you tell everyone just a little bit about how you guys are proceeding with everything and making sure to continue for you guys to be on the same page?

HB: Well, at this point, Nick and I are still tweaking the script a little bit. There’s an element we’d like to add to it.

NG: We’re going to do a little bit of background work, a little bit of, you know, setting up a master story that isn’t even going to be revealed in this book, and that’s a lot of work, but we’re just going to sit around and drink coffee and do it!

HB: Yeah, man. We’re wearing flannel today. We’re just going to get cozy.

NG: I haven’t shaved in four days.

HB: You look great! So yeah, we’re just creating the bible of our project, where it has all the information that you’re going to need for… I mean, we’re still looking at creating four or five books that create the full story, so we’re going to have to map out things that we won’t see necessarily until the third or fourth book, but you know, we want Menton to be able to have all the information that he needs, and Nick, be able to have all the information he needs to be able to continue the storytelling.

NG: And it’s like those, you know… I think there’s like little visual clues that, you know, might pop up that, you know…

HB: …add some texture. [laughs]

NG: … add some texture to the story that will show up. You know, people won’t really know what they are in reference to but we will and Menton will.

HB: And we love those secrets. Inside references. So, yeah, we’ve got some work to do, and Menton, you’re finishing up some other projects right now, right?

MMIII: Yes. I am finishing ‘Zombies versus Robots.’ I’m on the third book right now. There’s four in total. But yeah, I’m finishing that up and I’ve got some other projects that I’m working around as well, but this is going to take a big priority for me, because I really, really love the story, and I really like the way that everybody’s talking about working. This is going to be a lot of fun for me. By the way, Nick, I haven’t shaved in about 7 months, so… [everyone laughs]

NG: That’s amazing!

HB: That’s perfect! Yeah, I mean, one of the things that we found out right away when we went to Dave and were like, ‘Hey, we really like this guy, this Menton guy!’ You know, Dave was like, ‘Well, he’s got some other stuff going on right now, so he’s not available to start working right away.’ And, you know, without any hesitation, we were all like, ‘We’ll wait. We’ll wait.’ You know, we’ll let him finish his other projects. We’ll wait. So, it’s great. It actually works out perfect because it gives us some time to really make the story perfect and you know, we’re looking at a, what, Comic Con release? Is that what’s going on, Kel?

KT: That’s what we’re trying for, yes. July, I believe. Yup.

DG: Comic Con is in July, yup.

HB: That’s going to be… I’ll be wearing my cape, Denise!

DG: I’ll be out there!

HB: [laughing] Yeah, if we can all get Southern Gothic Capes with, like, our logo on the back…. Can you imagine? Everybody else is dressed as Princess Lea. I just want a cape.

NG: Maybe we will come as characters from this book?

HB: Maybe!

NG: Yeah, we have to.

HB: Oh, yeah! That’s a good idea. I’m saying… Kelly, do you promise to dress up?

KT: Uh… okay.

HB: [laughing] And Menton, you’re going to be out there anyways, right?

MMIII: Yes, I am. I will be out there anyway. And I will dress up if you want me to.

DG: There you go.

HB: Oh, sweet! Perfect! [laughs] I can’t wait!

DG: We talked and we were just talking about projected target dates, and so, I mean, since you guys have just kind of gotten it all together now, do you have set, like, ‘we’re going to hit this, we’re going to hit that, we’re going to hit this, we’re going to hit that’ or is it just, kind of, a playing it by ear right now since it’s just November and we’ll move forward when we need to?

HB: Kelly’s in charge of giving us due dates. He’s the grown-up in this situation. [Kelly laughs] Kelly, what do we have due next? What’s next?

KT: Menton’s got to finish his work, and then the script goes to him, and he starts, I hope, in the beginning of the year, or shortly thereafter, and in February we’ll start publicizing it, and then the pages come in. They will be editing and putting the book together. So, hopefully we go to press, I believe, by June.

HB: I can’t wait.

DG: And it doesn’t sound… does it seem like fate, Hilarie, that it’ll start at the beginning of the year, and it will be a year since you guys have, really, jumped into the pond of all of this?

HB: Yeah, I mean, I think… here’s the deal. We’re doing everything differently. You know, we don’t have a… we’ve got mentors but we don’t have anyone that’s done a production company like this before, or that has led off with a graphic novel instead of, you know, instead of a short film. We’re doing things very differently from other companies, and we’re trying new things, you know? We’re obviously very involved with social networking. We’ve recognized the value in that, and a year ago, I didn’t even know what the hell the podcast was!

DG: [laughing] That’s not true! That’s not true.

HB: No, I mean, I had a vague idea, but I certainly, you know, wasn’t doing them on a regular basis, so I’ve never really listened to one before. So, you know, realizing the power of the internet. Yeah, man. Now I’m just all about the future and computer robots and yeah, we’re doing everything different. So, if it takes us a year to get this book out, I’d say we’re doing pretty damn good!

DG: Menton, you don’t know, you’re talking to, like, a social media geek now. I mean, she’s up for, like, what? Three? Four awards? On the Mashable’s Open Web Awards?

HB: That’s you, Denise. That’s all you! Thank you very much, by the way.

DG: [laughing] No! I mean, you know, it’s just Mashable. It’s five million hits a month on that website, and there was some pretty heavy hitters, social media-wise. I think that if you make the finals, Hilarie, we’re going to make you a little badge that says ‘I am a social media queen.’

HB: God! It’s just a whole new world, you know? Cyber. Cyber is so sexy now, you know? It’s just… it’s pretty exciting. Who needs an Emmy? I’m saying! F the Emmys!

NG: I just want to date my Emmy.

HB: Yeah! [all laugh]

DG: You know, you guys need to google the song ‘Date My Avatar.’

HB: Oh!

DG: Google that one!

HB: That’s beautiful!

DG: Menton, check that out! [laughs]

MMIII: I most certainly will. I think I might have heard of it, actually.

DG: Well, we’re here right in the week before Thanksgiving, so guys, I want to add this in. Throw out some Thanksgiving wishes, and maybe go around the table and tell the listeners what you’re thankful for.

HB: Oh, man.

KT: Wow.

DG: Maybe not. [laughs]

MMIII: I’m not first. [everyone laughs]

HB: No, I’m…

DG: Kelly’s first! Kelly’s first!

HB: Okay, yeah, Kelly, you go first! That’s good. I’ve got some time now.

KT: Yeah, you can think about it. I’m thankful that… for one, that I’m still able to work here in Wilmington. Everyday I think about that, and we’ll go with that. Go ahead, Hil!

HB: I’m thankful that tough decisions have paid off, you know? And that I trusted my friends and, you know, the people that I’m closest to to support me emotionally while I made some hard decisions this year, and yeah, I feel really good about the position that we’re in and, you know, not just as a company, but as people who really care about each other. That’s important to me that, you know, these guys are doing as well, as well. So, I’m grateful that we’re all still trucking!

DG: Next.

NG: Mazel. [everyone laughs] I’m thankful for, you know, that Hilarie and Kelly let me enter this world of theirs, [Hilarie and Kelly laugh] and I’m thankful that I didn’t get swine flu on the flight out here to Los Angeles. [Hilarie laughs]

KT: You’ll probably get it there!

NG: Yeah, I know. And I’m also thankful that I’m really smart! [Hilarie laughs]

MMIII: Well, I’ll tell you, this is the first year with my son. We had a song in February, and having the first thanksgiving with him is going to be just… I mean, I can’t wait. I’m extremely thankful for him and my absolutely amazing wife, and for this project. It’s very exciting, and life is freaking good this year! So, yeah, I’m really thankful.

KT: You’re next!

DG: Me? Oh, I’m going to be thankful when I get back from Alaska. [Hilarie and Kelly laugh]

HB: No way! Alaska is the last frontier!

NG: It never seems like you are happy with your travels.

HB: [laughing] We need to get you, like, a good ipod mix so on all your plane flights you can jam.

DG: Okay, I keep throwing you music, Hilarie. Before I leave next week, that’s what i’m going to have. I need a list from you.

HB: Okay, well there’s going to be some Stevie Nicks on there, so just…

DG: Oh, god! Again with the Stevie Nicks! [laughs] I am, no, seriously… I am thankful that you guys gave me a chance to take on this role as your podcast host and captain, if you want to call it that. I’m thankful for my family and I’m thankful, sometimes, for my job that pays the bills. [everyone laughs]

HB: That’s a good answer!

DG: Guys, thanks so much for, you know… well people will probably say you came out of hiding, and we got a new podcast. It’s been about a month. I think this works. I think this is great to come out… and when a new one comes out, people know that it’s something important that we all have to say, and really, I think it was great to be able to introduce, Hilarie, your fan base and Southern Gothic Productions followers to Menton.

HB: Yeah, man, and as soon as we’ve got some visuals to show you guys, you know… that’s the thing about Southern Gothic is that we keep you, you know, we keep you along for every step of the ride, so you know, so yeah, we’ll keep you guys in the loop, and if we got stuff to show you, we’ll show you, and if we got stuff to tell you, we’ll tell you!

DG: Well, let’s close out by everybody at the same time telling everybody else to have a happy Thanksgiving.

HB: Alright, on the count of three, everybody! One, two, three!

All: Happy Thanksgiving!

HB: Thank you guys so much for listening to the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast. See you next time.

[music plays until fade out]