Almost Famous, Again

By Clifford Meth

Here's a little something from Variety:

Saperstein Options Rights to Meth Series

"Producer Richard Saperstein has optioned the film rights to Clifford Meth's comic book series Snaked from IDW Publishing, the company behind 30 Days of Night. Based on an original story by Meth, Snaked is a horror-noir that follows the personal and political exploits of a government employee with supernatural, snakelike abilities."

Well, that's not entirely accurate. Bill Timmons, the main character in Snaked, has had no political exploits per se. He just likes William F. Buckley. But who doesn't?

Again, Variety:

"‘The political arena forms the perfect backdrop for Clifford Meth's heady mix of horror, sex and mayhem,' said Saperstein, former prexy of production at Dimension Films, who has overseen pics including 1408, Rob Zombie's Halloween and The Mist. IDW released the first installment of Snaked, whose publishers call it ‘the most controversial book' it's ever published, in December. The third book in the series was released on Feb. 13. Meth will pen the screenplay, and he will exec produce with IDW Publishing prexy and founder Ted Adams. Shara Kay will co-produce."

I'm a huge fan of Richard Saperstein's, even if I didn't know what a prexy was until yesterday. It's not a great sounding word, let's face it. If someone called you a prexy in eighth grade, you'd have to hit them in the mouth. "Don't call me a fucking prexy, you cocksucker!" and wham—blood all over their shirt. And then there you are, murdering your entire lunch hour in the principal's office with a peanut butter and fluff sandwich, two days of suspension ahead of you, and a knuckle that aches from somebody's tooth.

(At which point Jason Sacks sends this column back to me and says, "I need another paragraph, Cliff. How about telling everyone how happy you are, blah, blah, blah...).

Happy? I'm nervous and disappointed. I first wrote the short story "Snakes" in 1996 as a sort of thank-you gift to Robert Bloch, who had just done a solid for me by writing an afterword to my story "I, Gezheh". "Snakes" was my attempt at a Blochian story and it sort of worked. And I liked the character enough to follow up with "Snaked" a year later. But happy? I think the comic series was an experiment that some people got and some people didn't. The time shifts may be a little jarring, but so is genuine vertigo. And sales are never an indication of success, either way. A lot of real shit sells while most of you have never read John Fante or Isaac Babel or Jorge Luis Borges. So happy is a stretch... Nervous because the screenplay will also be an experiment and if I fail I'll feel like day-old puke, and if I succeed I'll feel like a hack... Disappointed because after my agent's take and my lawyer's take and taxes, the money I'll make from this is less than what it will cost me for a new roof. And the rain season is almost upon us.

Blah, blah, blah.

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© 2004-, Clifford Meth

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