Dec 01 2009 Welcome to The Flying Fist Ranch! Posted by Beau Smith in General "I am your only true friend." I’m Beau Smith, your only true friend. Here at The  Flying Fist Ranch you’ll find all the latest info about my writing career in graphic novels,  comic books, pop culture and entertainment. You can check out all of my past work or be the first to find out what new writing  crimes I’ve committed. Most all of the thoughts here at The  Flying Fist Ranch are mine, so you’ve got nobody to blame but me if you read something you don’t quite agree with. After all… if everybody in the world agreed with me it would be almost darn near perfect. (Twisted, but perfect.) I hope you enjoy your vist, as always, if you have any comments or questions, just let me know. Your amigo, Beau Smith The Flying Fist Ranch P.O. Box 706 Ceredo, WV. 25507 beausmith2@earthlink.net Comments Off on Welcome to The Flying Fist Ranch! Aug 12 2015 SyFy Acquires Beau Smith’s Wynonna Earp For TV Series Posted by Beau Smith in Beau's Manly News Syfy Acquires WYNONNA EARP from SEVEN24 Films and IDW Entertainment Initial Series Order 13-One Hour Episodes Melanie Scrofano, Tim Rozon, and Shamier Anderson Cast as leads Los Angeles, CA (July 21, 2015) – SEVEN24 Films and IDW Entertainment announced today that Syfy has acquired the U.S. rights to Wynonna Earp, a live action television series based on the IDW Publishing comic created by Beau Smith. Emily Andras (Lost Girl, Killjoys) developed the series for television and will serve as Executive Producer and Showrunner. With an initial order of 13 one-hour episodes, Wynonna Earp is a fast-paced, contemporary thriller that follows Wyatt Earp’s great granddaughter as she battles demons and other supernatural beings. Wynonna is a witty and wild modern day gunslinger, using her unique abilities and a dysfunctional posse of allies to bring the paranormal to justice. The series is scheduled to premiere in April 2016. “Wynonna Earp is a unique contemporary western that will bring high octane, full-throttle, supernatural action to Syfy,” said Chris Regina, SVP, Programming, Syfy. “It is wildly imaginative and we are excited to work with Seven24 Films, IDW Entertainment and Emily on this truly original concept that will showcase fun, stylized visuals and pure escapism.” Melanie Scrofano (Damien, Gangland Undercover) will star as Wynonna Earp. Tim Rozon (Being Human, Instant Star) will play legendary con artist Doc Holliday, and Shamier Anderson (Defiance, Constantine) plays the mysterious Agent Dolls. “Together with SEVEN24 Films, IDW Entertainment, and a virtual dream cast, I’m confident we have something special on our hands: a female-led supernatural series with grand themes of redemption, honor, and the struggle to define good vs. evil. Not to mention, a kickass biker babe fighting demon outlaws,” said Emily Andras. Wynonna Earp will be produced in Calgary by SEVEN24 Films, and distributed by IDW Entertainment. Production is slated to begin in August. SEVEN24’s Jordy Randall and Tom Cox will serve as Executive Producers. IDW CEO & Publisher Ted Adams, David Ozer, Peleton Entertainment’s Todd Berger, and Circle of Confusion’s Rick Jacobs packaged and facilitated financing for the series. “Developing the series has been a passion for our entire creative team and we’re excited to share this new series with Syfy’s equally passionate audience,” said Jordy Randall of SEVEN24 Films. “Wynonna is an incredible character that will appeal to a global audience. IDW Entertainment is thrilled that Syfy will be the U.S. home for this fabulous series and we look forward to bringing Wynonna to the global market,” said David Ozer of IDW Entertainment. Emily Andras is represented by Jeff Alpern of The Alpern Group. Melanie Scrofano is represented by David Ritchie of Ambition Talent and Matthew Lesher of Insight Entertainment. Shamier Anderson is represented by Douglas Patterson of Patterson Talent Management and Tim Rozon is represented by Paul Hemrend at Edna Talent Management. About SEVEN24 Films SEVEN24 Films is an independent film and television production company whose work has spanned over two decades. Executive Producers Tom Cox and Jordy Randall have produced dramatic series, mini-series, television movies and feature films garnering over one hundred industry awards and nominations. Current projects include the hit family series Heartland, the longest running one-hour series in Canadian history, now in its ninth season on CBC and UPtv, as well as Young Drunk Punk, a new half hour comedy starring Kids in the Hall alumni, Bruce McCulloch. Other award winning projects include the Canadian Screen Award winner, Borealis as well as the Gemini Award winning movie Mayerthorpe and Gemini Award winning Mini-Series Burn Up (with Bradley Whitford and Neve Campbell). Tom Cox and Jordy Randall were also co-producers on numerous high-profile feature films including the Academy Award nominated Brokeback Mountain, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Resurrecting the Champ. SEVEN24’s development slate focuses on unique stories with universal appeal, and includes dramatic series, comedy series, youth and family programming and feature films. About IDW Entertainment IDW Entertainment launched in November 2013 to distribute productions globally as well as to develop film and television properties based on IDW’s extensive catalog. The division is currently in development on a slate of properties including the chilling and realistic vampire thriller, V Wars, by New York Times best-seller Jonathan Maberry with writer/executive producer Tim Schlattmann (Dexter, Smallville); political conspiracy series, Cobb, with writer/executive producer Thania St. John (Chicago Fire, Covert Affairs); quirky supernatural mystery, Douglas Adam’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, with writer/executive producer Max Landis (Chronicle); supernatural action series, Pantheon, with co-creator Michael Chiklis (The Shield); and Brooklyn Animal Control, created and written by J.T. Petty, with David Goyer (DaVinci’s Demons, Dark Knight Rises) as an executive producer as well as Circle of Confusion (Walking Dead). IDW also has several active theatrical projects in development. . Currently Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Warner Brothers are producing a film based on Ashley Wood’s Lore; Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film and Alex Kurtzman are producing a movie based on Locke & Key at Universal. About Syfy Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine Greater.) No Comments » Oct 09 2014 Beau Smith’s Cobb To Be Developed For Television. Posted by Beau Smith in Beau's Manly News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IDW Entertainment And Entertainment One Television Bringing Secret Service DramaCobb To Television Thania St. John Writing the Pilot and Serving as Showrunner Los Angeles/San Diego, CA (Oct 8, 2014) – IDW Entertainment and Entertainment One Television (eOne Television) announced today that Secret Service drama COBB is being developed for television under their first-look co-production agreement. COBB is being developed as a television series and is based on the acclaimed IDW Publishing property written by Beau Smith. Veteran television writer and producer Thania St. John (Covert Affairs, Chicago Fire) is writing the pilot and will serve as showrunner on the series. COBB is a conspiracy thriller following Frank Cobb, a top ranking Secret Service agent, whose life gets turned upside down when he is removed from active duty after stumbling onto a deadly conspiracy at the highest global level. He must win back his reputation and save the newly elected President of the United States. “There is no margin for error when guarding the President of the United States, but the men and women of the Secret Service are only human, as we’ve learned this week” said St. John.  “This show explores how one agent’s heroism – or mistake – can affect global security.  And how a conspiracy at unthinkable levels can exist, even in an era of total surveillance and transparency.” Smith said, “The best protection the President can have is courage…and Cobb. I look forward to seeing this courage and Cobb come alive in this new television series based on my character.” Executive Producing the series are Ted Adams and David Ozer from IDW Entertainment, John Morayniss, Michael Rosenberg, and Benedict Carver from eOne, and David Alpert and Rick Jacobsfrom Circle of Confusion (Walking Dead). “COBB is a thrilling project with shocking twists and turns, and we are excited to build on our collaboration with our partners at IDW Entertainment, who not only have unmatched access to a goldmine of properties with international appeal, but also an immensely talented team with whom to produce and bring these projects to life,” said Morayniss, CEO, eOne Television. “Thania has an amazing track record and we are so pleased that she is on board.” “Thania is a highly accomplished writer/producer, bringing a wealth of information about the Secret Service,” said Ozer, IDW Entertainment President, “COBB brings viewers inside the inner workings of this top government agency.” IDW Entertainment and eOne Television entered into a partnership in April 2014 to co-develop, co-fund and co-produce television series based on IDW’s extensive library of over 300 original properties, with the intent of securing direct-to-series commitments for network and cable television. The companies will jointly represent the U.S. network sales, and eOne will be responsible for the international distribution of programming. About Entertainment One (eOne) Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE: ETO) is a leading international entertainment company that specializes in the acquisition, production and distribution of film and television content. The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Spain, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Entertainment and Distribution divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming and merchandising and licensing. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 35,000 film and television titles, 2,800 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks. Through strong relationships with broadcasters and content providers, eOne Television International has successfully sold eOne’s original and third-party productions to over 500 broadcasters in 150 countries, including key US networks and international pay TV channels. About IDW Entertainment IDW Entertainment launched in November 2013 to fund and develop film and television properties based on IDW’s extensive catalog. The division is currently in development on a slate of properties including Chuck Dixon’s epic Winterworld, being developed with Xbox; V Wars by New York Times best-seller Jonathan Maberry with writer/executive producer Tim Schlattman (Dexter, Smallville); action packed comic series Pantheon with co-creator Michael Chiklis (The Shield); Life Undead, with showrunner Paul Zbyszewski (S.H.I.E.L.D., Hawaii Five-O, Lost); and Brooklyn Animal Control, based on the darkly thrilling comic from writer/director J.T. Petty (Splinter Cell, Hellbenders). IDW also has several active theatrical projects in development: Lore, at Warner Bros. with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson set to star; World War Robot, with Jerry Bruckheimer producing at Disney and Jon Spaihts writing the screenplay; and Zombies vs. Robots, at Sony with Platinum Dunes and Circle of Confusion producing.

Tags: Cobb, Secret Service, Television

Beau Smith’s Wynonna Earp and Cobb, Both Optioned For Television.

Posted by Beau Smith in Beau's Manly News

Beau Smith’s Wynonna Earp and Cobb Optioned For Television.

At TriCon Comic Convention in his hometown of Huntington, West Virginia, (Same hometown of Craig Johnson of Longmire fame) Writer and creator of Wynonna Earp and Cobb, Beau Smith, announced that both of his graphic novel properties have been optioned for TV by IDW Entertainment.

Click the link below for more information on this announcement and to see who’s to blame for unleashing Beau Smith’s creative madness on the masses:

www.herald-dispatch.com/features/x243855959/Beau-Smith-announces-books-optioned-for-television

Forget Godzilla, It’s The Evil Aliens You Need To Watch Out For.

Posted by Beau Smith in Beau's Manly Thought of the Day

by Beau Smith

I have a deep love for all of those great, and not so great, alien invasion movies from the 1950s. Most had that wonderful influence, if you can call it that, of the H-Bomb and the A-Bomb, not to be confused with today’s F-Bomb, not to mention the Cold War.

As a kid growing up in the 1960s, I caught most of those movies on TV. Every Saturday night our local TV station would run “Chiller Theatre”, complete with a local host. I’m sure almost all of you had something like that in your area as well. I always heard that the Los Angeles area really had great ones. Like I said, I had a great admiration for the monster movies, but I truly loved the alien invasion films. You just never knew what was going to step or slither out of one of those flying saucers or space ships. You also never knew their intentions, but you kinda figured and hoped they were bad, so our U.S. military could fire machine guns, bazookas, missiles and bombs at them. It was even better when national monuments and cities were destroyed in these all out fights. As a kid, I would play these themes out in my front yard with my bag of army men, dinosaurs and myHorrible Hamilton Invaders. Only on late night TV could you see such classics as Howard Hawks’ The Thing From Another Planet, Invasion Of The Saucer Men, Mars Needs Women, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, Killers From Space, Invaders From Mars, Not Of This Earth and This Island Earth. To a kid like me, this was some of the best TV time ever.

Later, as I grew into what passes as an adult, I found the same love affair with direct to video action and sci-fi films of the 1980s and early 90s. In my opinion, it wasn’t a really great action movie if it was released in the theatres; it had to be available only on VHS tape or shown on HBO at like 3 in the morning. I can still remember what fun it was to hunt down direct to video tapes at the local Blockbuster and mom & pop video stores that were on every corner. The lower the budget, the more fun the film was. Action, adventure, martial arts, sci-fi and horror films were king during this period. So many bad actors made so many good movies. No storyline was too over the top, it was real creative freedom with films like Drive, Back To Back, The Immortals, Top Of The World, White Tiger, Blood Guns, Guts and Octane, Crossworlds, Firepower, Automatic, Blackout, Phase 4, Dark Breed, The Elite, Acts Of Betrayal, High Voltage, and Project: Shadowchaser. These are just a small few of the great/bad films that were churned out almost on a weekly basis.

Needless to say, it was always a dream of mine to combine the love for both of these cinematic genres/decades into a comic book series. In 1990 I got to make that direct to comic book dream come true in Parts Unknown.

In 1990 I was working as the VP of Marketing for Eclipse Comics. I had been there three years and had written a few things for them such as Dogs Of Danger and The Black Terror. At the time, publisher Dean Mullaney wanted to launch a line of comic books under the FX Banner that expanded the Eclipse line into comic books that would appeal to the film/TV audience as well as regular comic book readers. I pitched Parts Unknown as one of those books. It was accepted.

I had the plot, storyline, characters and the series mapped out. After all, I had been working on it since I was a kid playing in the front yard, With the infusion of the 80s direct to video action/sci-fi films, I was ready to roll. I just needed an artist. Not just any artist, the RIGHT artist.

I was attending a lot of conventions during this time for Eclipse Comics. I had the opportunity to look at a lot of portfolios and wrangle some talent for Eclipse. I kept my eye out for an artist that I thought would be the “perfect” choice for Parts Unknown. I came across a lot of really great artists, new and veteran that could fill the bill as far as talent, but had yet to really find the right one that “got” what I wanted to do with Parts Unknown. I had a lot of folks try out and do samples, again, their work was top notch, but they either took the feel of the book and story too seriously or just didn’t get the mix of 50s alien invasions and 80s action. After a while I thought I was going to have to settle on one of these artists and really hold their hand through the process of Parts Unknown, something I didn’t have time for. Then I went to Mid-Ohio Con the one year they had to move to a more remote and out of the way part of Ohio. The con went pretty good for it not being in its regular location, not quite as crowded, but still a good run of people. I can still remember it like it was yesterday, I was sitting at the booth, promoting Eclipse, handing out flyers and looking at portfolios, when this tall, thin guy with glasses and a beard comes up to me and asks me if I had time to look at his artwork. I said “Of course.” And he laid out his stack of art, Xeroxes, photos and even a couple hand-sculpted items that he had done.

First thing that I was taken by was the vast variety of mediums that he presented that he had worked in; comic books, animation, toy and figure design, painting, and just about any other form of creativity that you could think of. I saw dinosaurs, aliens, beautiful women, westerns, military, funny animals, you name it. The bulk of his work was something that I didn’t miss either, naked women. He could see that and bashfully said, “Most of my recent stuff has been underground comics, in case you missed the lack of clothing.” I liked this guy’s dry sense of humor. The guy’s name was Brad Gorby (C. Bradford Gorby, check him out on Facebook).

The more I looked through his stuff and talked to him, the more Parts Unknown kept popping into my head. We ended up talking a long time. I told him about Parts Unknown and it was like talking to myself. Brad “Got” what I was talking about. In fact, he was able to finish thoughts of my own before we were done. It was great to talk to someone like-minded, who had seen the same monster movies and enjoyed them for the same reasons, who had read the same novels and comics that walked in the Parts Unknown path and had been influences.

I went over the main characters Maria Lucci, Pendleton Spurr, Sarah Lark, The Shark Tank and of course, the evil alien invaders-The Scalons, and I could see right then, Brad was already drawing them in his head. Needless to say, when I got back home, I sent Brad all the character sheets, reference photos, story outlines, background info on Parts Unknown and he started working on samples. I was stoked to see what he was going to turn out.