In her latest column at Comic World News, SLG Publishing Editor-in-Chief Jennifer de Guzman takes a look at Those Hollywood Guys:
It’s not right to lump individuals into a depersonalized mass, but, being morally imperfect, I have done so with Those Hollywood Guys. Those Hollywood Guys aren’t just any person from the movie industry. They’re a specific subset whose cologne can’t hide the smell of their eagerness to find the next break-out “property,” the next big thing. Those Hollywood Guys are the guys who come up to the booth and want me to tell them which of our comics sell the best. They’re the ones who want me to explain the premises of every graphic novel we publish because for some reason they are incapable of reading back covers. They’re the guys who say things like, “Oh, I won’t be interested in that. I can tell just by looking at the cover.” (True story!) They’re the guys who want to tell me that they think that Vasquez guy’s work could really “be something.” They’re the guys who cruise the publisher booths in the convention center, smile big smiles, and leave you feeling somewhat used and smarmed on after they leave. And they’re back the next year, either the same guys or convincing clones of them. Because Those Hollywood Guys are the guys looking to make their name in their industry by raiding another, and everyone knows that comics and graphic novels are hot properties these days.
I’m going to steal “smarmed on” and use it at every opportunity.
July 10th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
`They’re the ones who want me to explain the premises of every graphic novel we publish because for some reason they are incapable of reading back covers. They’re the guys who say things like, “Oh, I won’t be interested in that. I can tell just by looking at the cover.” (True story!) They’re the guys who want to tell me that they think that Vasquez guy’s work could really “be something..”´
Sounds like my impresion of Those Hollywood Guys is spot on. How depressing.