Painkiller Jane

The League of Five

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:00:01 -0500

A while ago I got the opportunity — because it was written into my contract — to work with the writers' group a couple of times in Los Angeles, in particular to work on an episode that I was going to write. That episode is called The League, and it's on this Friday night (July13th).

Sniper hunt
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Everyone in the writers' room had a ton more experience writing TV than I did, and their assistance sure helped me, along with the episode. Special thank yous go out to Larry Hertzog, Gillian Horvath, Lisa Klink, Gil Grant, Matt Carpenter, Charles Heit, Kerry Glover, and Mike Goldberg for being patient, considerate and great teachers as well as comrades. I have to mention that without Larry on board and at the wheel, this would have been one rough ride. Larry, I owe you an extra-large pastrami sandwich when you come to New York.

Andre's secret meeting
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So… we outlined for a week what would be going on, broke it into acts and then I was sent on my merry way to write the full script based on the outline. Well, as with anything I do, I went in and did my best. I changed some stuff that made no sense to me, questioned the pacing on other things and then changed and added a few scenes as well. This is what you do when you get down to the details of the script.

Jane and Conner hunt
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I found it interesting that I wrote only two scenes in the main "subway station/computer room," but by the time Larry got the final copy to Canada it was up to five or six scenes in the room. Stuff like this drove me nuts, but at the same time I totally understood what he was doing and it wasn't something I was thinking about at the time. Changes were made because of budget, limited shooting and prep time, and so on. Years of experience taught him how to work these things out, and I was very much still the student. I wanted a lot in my first draft and am glad a lot of it stayed in — but things were lost as well, which was, again, a learning process all the way for me.

Director Paul Ziller
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The cool thing is, writing the episode meant I got to head out to Vancouver to the shoot. When I arrived at the main show office, a revision of the script was waiting for me. A few things had been taken out and moved around… and this is normal. I met with the whole crew while I was there, went out daily with the director, Paul Ziller, and the heads of the art department, Paul McCulloch and Rudi Grant. Also along for the ride was the producer of the show, Richard Bullock, Abraham Fraser and a few more people I'm forgetting. We scouted locations, hit Starbucks like clockwork, and Paul, Matt Hastings and I did the casting for the episode the first week. I had a blast working with such cool people and watching so many excellent actors try out for the smaller parts. I think when you watch the episode you'll understand why these people were picked. All did a great job.

Click on the link to read more.

LIVE FREE, DIE HARD, GODBYE FRANKIE AND HELLO MONTE CARLO

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:23:23 -0500

Last week Amanda Conner and I were in Monte Carlo for the 47th annual television festival, guests of the fine people of Starz media: http://www.tvfestival.com/. Got a lot to talk about there but going to go backwards a bit to last night and back track a few events in my life.Amanda & Kristiana on Boat

Jimmy, Kristianna and Amanda in Monte Carlo.
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We went to the premiere of Live Free or Die Hard at radio city music hall in new York city last night. It was the red carpet premiere and all the actors and the director were on hand to introduce the film. I am a big fan of the action film genre, especially where Die Hard is concerned, so I was really looking forward to this. After a few hours of getting everyone packed into this gigantic theatre, the cast came out, said hello and then the lights went down. Man, not a person in the house was disappointed. The film delivers as the best action film of the summer and I think, after the first Die Hard, Its as good as the second film and much better than the third. It was a non stop adrenaline ride all the way that didn't let up to the final credits.

Amanda and I were lucky enough to get invited to the after party [ thanks to the beautiful Kim lane at Nike] where we ran into an old friend Kevin Smith and his wife and his usual crew of buddies. Kevin and I go way back to when Joe Quesada and I used to help him with his Indy films supplying artwork and even setting up our old comic booth to help him shoot scenes from Chasing Amy. Kevin and I talked about his role in the film and caught up on a few things. We also ran into another fellow comic creator frank miller. We talked about his latest film he is working on called The Spirit and mostly how the weather is in Vancouver. Frank is shooting his film there…which is where Painkiller Jane is shot , if you didn't know. The after party was first class all the way filled with cast, crew and local nyc celebrities…and us for some unknown reason. Lol.

Frankie as a kitten.
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Earlier that week I had the unfortunate task of putting my cat Frankie to sleep. It was heartbreaking. This cat was at least 15 years old and a great little gal that Amanda and I taken care of for a long time. I got the kittens as a pair, two sisters, and bought them for an old live in girlfriend for Christmas. the girl split and the cats remained in my care, which at first sucked, but then was ok, since I loved these little characters. Her sister Johnny died like 5 years ago, but Frankie hung in there, diabetic and all , till this week. The cat had been having episodes where she would literally zombie out and walk around the room, her eyes dilated, and try to climb the walls. This would last for like 15 minutes and stop and only happened a few times a year. Well, this week, she appeared sick and tired and started to convulse and we brought her to the doctors and they said she was ok. Later that night, she got really bad and we found a 24 hour vet and brought her there. Long story short, she didn't get any better and we had to put her to sleep. The poor thing was in pain and out of her head. A bad day in a good life of 15 years. Not the worst way to go, but heart breaking none the less. We will miss you good friend. you were one of a kitty kind.

Frankie and her sister Johnny.
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Frankie in a bag.
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A few days before I was guest at the wizard world Pittsburg con. It was a weekend long event but I could only make it for a day. Did a big signing at the DC comics booth, was one of 6 guests on a DC panel talking about my books and then did a Wizard school panel where I spoke for an hour about how to break into the business, create your own character and the perils of dealing with Hollywood taking the character and doing it " their way". was fun and as always, and I actually learn a lot from the questions thrown at me by the participants in the room.

Ok, now we worked our way to the 47th Monte Carlo TV festival. Amanda and I were there for almost a week and let me tell you…we were both treated like rock stars all the way. so…from the beginning.

I had received an invite from Tom Southwick at Starz to the festival in Monte Carlo, be a guest of the festival and do press with Amanda and kristanna. Duh…like I would say no? well, after the quickest e- mail reply in the history of man, we got a list of the events and places we would need to be and with the list what we would be expected to wear. For me, I needed two suits and a tux. I figured it was time to grow up, get off my ass and buy some suits. In the past, I have had a few which only came out for weddings and funerals…being an artist, no one ever expects us to dress up. Hell, I would attend meetings in los Angeles wearing sneakers and shorts and t -shirts and it never seemed to be a problem. Well, I think its time I grew up a bit and dressed with a little bit more respect and represented myself better and this week overseas was the perfect excuse to be fitted and look like a million bucks. Longer story short, I spent a shit-load of money, got the suits and a tux and off we went to Monte Carlo

Xena sings, Brooklyn dreams and Monte Carlo awaits.

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:58:57 -0500

Just got back from seeing Lucy lawless [ with special dance partner surprise guest Renee O Connor] Lucy & Renee and her band perform at the canal room bar downtown Manhattan. the room was the perfect size for an intimate show like this . Lana Kim, one of my favorite people at sci-fi invited Amanda Conner and I and a few friends to the gig and it was fantastic. we had an amazing time. We were joined by the famous Steve Bunche Steve and Amanda and really, if you are a fan of lucy and 70’s and 80’s music, it’s a show not to be missed. I actually have met Lucy a few times but never in a million years would I expect her to remember me and she really shouldn’t. I do get to say I met her a few times, but to tell the truth I really have never said more than one sentence to her at any time but the surroundings I met her in are interesting, so here goes.

Lucy Lawless at the Canal Room,
NYC. Click pic for a larger image.

Steve Bunche and Amanda at the
Lucy Lawless concert.
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Lucy Lawless and special dance
partner Renee O'Connor.
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All Over the Map Today

Tue, 08 May 2007 17:08:53 -0500

Tribeca just happened in the past week in New York and I am glad that's over and done with. For the record, I didn't attend any of the screenings except the Birth of a Nation screening the last night after a spectacular meal, all set up sponsored by my pals at Starz. What I did manage to attend was a bunch of dinners, get-togethers and drink fests that were exhausting beyond words. I met a great deal of wonderful people, ate at some of the coolest swankiest eateries in New York and even managed to find myself out dancing one night at the Hudson Hotel and closing the place.

It was a wonderful experience that I am glad only happens once a year. Maybe next festival I will actually attend more than one screening, but to tell the truth, I like to go to the movies in the middle of the day when no one is around and dive into the experience. An empty theatre, some popcorn and a Coke. Nothing better in my book.

For the record, I want to thank the crew from Starz once again, especially Stacey Smart for taking good care of me this week and Julie Kroll for entertaining the hell out of me, and to that dickhead cabbie that didn't think 60 bucks was enough to clean the vomit out his back seat… dude, it's a NYC cab…the vomit only made it actually smell better.

On to business, sort of. I am one of the last holdouts on earth to get a Tivo. That's right…I'm just not in one place long enough these days to do anything regular and have never gotten around to hooking myself up with the system. I am the guy that goes out and buys the box sets of shows when they are available and waits till I get sick or have flu like symptoms and slows done enough to play catch-up with my TV viewing. Yesterday I was out and missed the last aired episode of Painkiller Jane, which is a problem since I have a time dated interview in my mailbox that I have to do that is episode specific. Got to check the channel programming today to see when they are running the show again… and no, I don't get the show sent to me on disc… at least not in advance. I agree, I thought they do that kind of thing, but it comes down to costs and that would be another Fed-Ex package a week and that adds up. Hey, I don't want to cut into anyone's salary, so I can watch it like the rest of the planet… except for the fact that I am usually lost in a pint on Fridays. I will figure it out.

May 16th. Not far away and the day that the first new issue of the Painkiller Jane comic book hits. That's PAINKILLER JANE No. 1 written by yours truly, co-plotted with my old partner Joe Quesada. [PIC -COVER]It's the first of a 3 part story where Jane is investigating some high tech crimes around New York, gets messed up pretty bad, takes a vacation break on Fire Island and makes out with a girl on the beach.

Timekiller Jim

Tue, 01 May 2007 12:33:40 -0500

Welcome to my personal blog!

For those of you that do not know me, here is a brief history:

JIMMY PALMIOTTI

Writer, Editor, editor and now blogger.

Multi Award winning character creator with a wide range of experience in advertising, production, editorial, film writing, development and production, media presentation and video game development. Just a few of their clients include Nike, Nickelodeon, Disney, Warner Brothers, , Insight, Kickstart, SciFi channel, Lion’s Gate, Vidmark, Starz, Fox Atomic, Alliance films, New Line , 2kgames, Activision and THQ games.

Co founder of such companies as Event Comics, Black Bull Media, Marvel Knights, a division of marvel comics, and the current Paperfilms, where he is partners with Amanda Conner and Justin gray.

Created and co-created numerous universes, series and characters including: the New West, Monolith, 21 Down, The Resistance, The Pro, Gatecrasher, Beautiful killer, Ash, Cloudburst, Trailblazer, Trigger Girl 6, Thrill Seeker, The Twilight Experiment and Painkiller Jane.