Ariel Schrag
Don't limit this lady to comics - her plans span multiple media
By Adam Schragin
Published: May 20th, 2007 | 10:52am
Brooklynite Ariel Schrag is planning a three-tier assault on the entertainment industry, and if you haven't heard her name before, chances are you'll be running into her work increasingly often. A graphic novelist, a writer for television, and a screenwriter, Schrag has grand designs for 2008 in each medium.
Your career began with Awkward
I've had different responses to this question at different points in my life. In high school, I considered my comics to be very much "the truth." They were as close to my "truth" as I could get. As I got a little older I was like, well, maybe they're not "the truth," that's a little lofty and presumptuous, but what they are is "honest," as "honest" about my experience as I can be.
Now, I feel more aware of the presence of fiction in my work. How much the crafting and editing and shaping and emphasizing of events are the "fiction" that makes the books what they are. I think this has to do with getting older and having two very distinct records of my past: 1. the comic, and 2. my memory. Because the two are different in so many ways, I end up viewing the comic as more fictional than I did when I first wrote it.
You must be excited about the nearing publication date of Stuck in the Middle
The Stuck in the Middle project started when an editor at Viking Children's Books approached me, wanting to work with me. I showed her some short comics I had been working on including the comic "Shit" -- a story that takes place in 8th grade and involves a best friendship and a crisis with a toilet on a houseboat. She really loved "Shit" and asked if I'd be interested in doing a book of stories about middle school.
I said what I'd really like to do is edit an anthology of comics about middle school. I know so many great cartoonists, most of whom mainly draw stories about adults, and I was very curious what their forays into pre-teen life would look like. In the end, it's a wonderfully eclectic book; with the universal theme that everyone was miserable.
Linen and Things is your newest, soon-to-be-completed project. Aside from working in autobiography, your website also mentions the new book will feature fiction and non-fiction. Any teasers you can offer up?
Well, first of all, Linen and Things is just a working title... I just like the way it sounds. I imagine it being said very fast and in a high-pitched voice. The actual title will probably be something different, and the project won't be completed for a while. I'm interested in publishing the stories in anthologies and magazines before I collect them into the book. The autobiographical stories will span childhood to me at age 26, and will be written in many different styles.
The fictional stories are all over the place. One of the fictional stories is a six episode story called "Tickbite," which I write/draw with my cousin Sarah Schrag. It's about a girl named Emily who keeps getting diseases. In the first episode she gets Lyme disease, in the next episode she gets leprosy, in the next episode she gets rabies and so on. Except through it all, she's very blasé ; and unconcerned and goes about her junior high life. It's sort of inspired by a reaction to my own issues with hypochondria.
You work as a Story Editor for "The L Word," a Showtime series primarily about a group of lesbian women living in Los Angeles. Please tell us a little about getting hired on there, and what it's like on a daily basis working as a writer for television.
I watched the first season of &"The L Word" and my immediate reaction was: I want to live in LA, and I want to write for this show. Then almost magically, it just happened. I told my entertainment lawyer (who represented me in my deal with Killer Films) that I wanted to write for "The L Word."
She gave my Potential
Along the same lines, Troche has also decided to direct a feature film built around that screenplay you gave her for Potential. Can you talk a little about how the project came together?
Rose and I met working on "The L Word's" third season. She had read the script, but it was after getting to know each other on the show, that she decided she wanted to direct it. I wouldn't want any other director. I think she's perfect and she truly gets the story. We worked on several drafts of the script together and her input improved it immensely. I'm really excited to see the final product.
Issue #28
Comments
Want to tell us what you think? Please click here to log in or just click here for quick comments