023 - Interview with Jason Neulander

Anthony and Keith chat with Jason Neulander, producer and director of The Intergalactic Nemesis (www.theintergalacticnemesis.com).

Jason has a theater background; he once ran a theater company in Austin, Texas. A few years ago, the Intergalactic Nemesis concept began as a radio drama. Eventually, Jason and his troupe took the radio play on a tour of the country. There was a certain point when Jason was having money troubles and applied for an administration job at the Long Center, but was given the opportunity to perform his show there rather than any offer for an admin job. This was a turn-around point for Jason, who had a vision of sorts about presenting his show alongside graphic novel imagery on the Long Center's new two-story screen. Around this time, the comic book version was created as well as the comic-enhanced version of the radio play, their launch helped in part by the creativity of artist Tim Doyle and investor-infused capital.

Jason believes that having the comic to hand to people--that having a physical thing that looks really good--makes both the show and the broader "Intergalactic Nemesis" concept very tangible to people, moreso than any theater-only project could. Later, he shared some thoughts about about merchandise, and how different price points pull in customers with different perceptions of acceptable pricing. For example, if someone likes your comic book, they will pay whatever they think is a reasonable price for it, even if that price is more than a typical comic book.

Jason said he is relentless about getting e-mail addresses at events. He uses a simply pad and paper to collect addresses at each event, as well as the "Custom Contact" e-mail service for tracking e-mail openings and clicks--information that can help you modify your message and improve your click-thru rates. Also, he posts twice a week on his site's blog and keeps in contact with his audience with Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/The-Intergalactic-Nemesis/23079773438) and Twitter (twitter.com/intnemesis).

The next show is on January 8, 2011, at the Long Center in Austin Texas. They'll be in Houston in Spring 2011. In Autumn 2011, they'll begin a month-and-a-half tour of 15 different places up and down the midwest states. More information about appearances can be found at the official Intergalactic Nemesis site.

As a final bit of advice for going from part-time to career, Jason said you really need to think about how to exploit the story in as many different media as possible. For example, create video versions of your comic and post them to sites like YouTube.