Posted in: Comics | Tagged: first minister, Mark Millar, millarworld, scotland

Mark Millar – Comic Creator, Film Maker, Lord?

I've long covered Mark Millar's grip on media, able to twist and turn them to his own ends, and building his career in the process, much to his chagrin. However it's rarely a critique, it's generally in admiration.

Initially he used the observation that, thanks to the internet, the world doesn't see a difference between local Scottish media and the larger media organisations they are a part of. So getting friendly with people on the Scottish Times, and persuading them to run stories without too much fact checking, whether that be Eminem starring in Wanted, or winning GLAAD awards (when he was just nominated), have seen them blown up and broadcast internationally, as if they were coming from the main Times newspaper. It's arguable that publicity about a non-existant Wanted movie actually helped the actual Wanted movie be made, in a pulling-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps move that should be taught in film school.

And each time he has planned these media outbursts to help his career, move him one notch up, from getting The Authority to Ultimate X-Men to The Ultimates to being able to launch his own titles and using the biggest publishers to pay for it all – Kick Ass, Nemesis, the movies, even CLiNT Magazine and Kapow, each time he's used other peopl'es money – and seen them do very well out of it. Even if the first Kapow lost money for Titan, they are happy to keep going, and the Kick Ass movie did very nicely indeed for investor and owner of Titan/Forbidden Planet owner Nick Landau to pay for many Kapows to come.

But now there is a new step to be taken. M&L Films Limited, set up by Mark Millar and his partner Lucy Unwin. They've worked together for a decade, and now have a newborn child, Mark is creating a very sold future for them all.

Because thanks to the success of Wanted and Kick Ass, and the media hype he's created along the way, Mark Millar has become a major cultural figure in Scotland. Consider his role in the Glasgow Film Festival, the charity fundraisers, last General Election even saw him become a political figure, backing the left wing nationalist party, the SNP, as they gained ground in Scotland forming a strong government, and getting political thanks in the process. Mark Millar is being labelled as a great new hope for the nation, especially as a certain percentage of it fights for independence from the United Kingdom. Could we see Mark Millar eventually becoming a Member of the Scottish Parliament, or a Scottish Lord? It's on the cards.

Here's a photo of Mark Millar and SNP First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond. This is the Scottish equivalent of Kevin Smith getting a photo op with Barack Obama.

Because, as a government press release puts it

"The First Minister met with some of the biggest names in Scottish film production in Glasgow tonight to encourage investment in Scotland's film industry. Alex Salmond and Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop hosted the get-together for potential investors this evening as part of the Glasgow Film Festival – all with the aim of getting more movies made in Scotland.

…

Scottish writer Mark Millar said:

"Historically, you had to live in LA to work in Hollywood, but technology means we can do this from anywhere now. Millarworld alone has six big budget features with the studios and I haven't been in LA for over three years.

"But it doesn't all have to be massive budget fare. A good movie can make back 100 times the initial investment. All you need is a good idea and Scottish creators are hardly short of good ideas. The reason I pitched this plan to Alex is because I know a lot of great film-makers who needed investors and I know a lot of rich guys looking for a new opportunity in these changing times.

"The plan here is to put them both in the same room and overhaul what we understand by Scottish cinema overnight. Spain did it, New Zealand did it and South America did it. I want Scottish cinema to be a powerhouse thinking globally and bringing in jobs, cash and new opportunities. It's time to stop thinking small."

Mark Millar wrote on his board;

First Minister Alex Salmond invited me over last year to chat about the arts and what the government could do to think outside the box a little. I came up with the idea of an annual Investors Night, my notion being that film-makers in Scotland need dough to make their movies and rich guys in the country could own a piece of the more commercial of these by making a financial investment. Very simply, it put two groups of people who never meet in the same room and it happened last night.

My plan for this is three-fold, the first being that in these difficult times when arts funding is cut and film-makers are finding it hard to get their work made there's a separate (and potentially huge) revenue stream from a new source. At the same time, if they back the right horse, the investors can make an amazing return on the movie they get behind. But the most important aspect for me, and one that's hugely exciting, is that it moves us closer to the Hollywood system in terms of encouraging commercial film-making. America is the most successful movie making machine in the world and my idea is to make Scottish film-making less socialised and reliant on state donations, focusing instead on the most commercial global fare.

Which explains the positive Mark Millar Scottish press hyping of the weekend, talking about films going into production this year as if there is no possibility that they wouldn't. Because that's a great lead in for such a meeting, Mark Millar has done it again. And now, instead of getting local media to promote him, the Scottish government are happy to do it instead. A prestigious meeting between government ministers, investors and Mark Millar. Doesn't that deserve some kind of applause? Whatever your feelings about the man, and I know for some they can be mixed, he's won. Grant Morrison, I'd worry about what you say about wanting to run Millar down at a hundred miles an hour, he can probably get his mate Alex to send a fleet of tanks in your direction now. Magic your way out of that.

There have been a few things seemingly jettisoned along the way – the Space Oddity promises to young creators, the Miracle Park movie he was directing seems to have stalled for now (though M&L Films may be able to resurrect that with some new funding) but it seems Mark Millar isn't just building an empire for himself, he seems to be building it for his family, his friends, his peers… and now all of Scotland.

What's next? I suppose he didn't call it Millarworld for nothing.

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