FIGHTING CHANGE is an interesting project since it is somewhat "metaphysical". The background is that I read the book I AM LEGEND many years ago and have been a fan of Richard Matheson, the Hugo and Nebula award winning author every since. When this film was greenlit at the studio, I was beyond myself. At the time, however, Matheson's health was fading and there was little collaboration. However, in developing the transmedia component of this film, I was able to work with his equally talented son, Richard C. Matheson!

I need only ask him once to contribute a story and he was awesome to work with. We developed a concept that he came up with about a man who is infected but finds a way to live on the recently deceased's life energy so long as he could make it to the dead body in a certain window of time. I know, I know... creepy but brilliant. This allowed us to discover an infected person's psychology before they lose their frontal lobe brain reasoning and could still control their urge to kill.

Again, with a hard-hitting style of writing, I paired Richard with David Levy who is a crazy talented French native whom I found for his concept work on ASSASSIN'S CREED. There were definitely challenges in this piece but mainly in the scene where he goes to the site of the dead body and has to conjure the memories and experience of death to "feed". That's a tough visual but I believe David did a knock-up job!

As with all these projects, I identified, hired and managed all creative staff involving story development, illustration and animation. Also, I oversaw the budget and managed the schedule to ensure timely delivery to DC/Vertigo for publication.

Finally, as a senior creative executive at Overbrook Entertainment, I managed the creative vision of the overall transmedia campaign in collaboration with WB Marketing, DC/Vertigo, Weed Road Entertainment and the producers of the feature film.

Writer: Richard C. Matheson
Artwork: David Levy
Developer / Creative Director: Dawn Thomas
Publisher: DC/Vertigo Comics
Partnerships: Warner Bros., WildStorm, DC Read Less