TV and Comic Book Writer Christina Weir

As far back as she can remember, Christina Weir, Emerson College class of ‘94, knew she wanted to be a writer.

“When I was a kid, I was sure I was going to write prose,” Weir said. “My mother had written several books, and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.”

In high school, however, Weir realized the power of a more visual medium: television. During her senior year, Weir interned at Boston’s CBS affiliate, where she was given the opportunity to write a five-part, 20-minute “teen soap opera” that aired on a morning show for children.

“The week they filmed that was the most amazing experience I had ever had,” Weir said. “I loved the notion of having written a script and then watching actors say the lines as the camera people filmed it.”

After high school, Weir toyed with the idea of attending Emerson for her undergraduate studies, to “kick-start [her] life in Hollywood,” she said. But she ultimately decided to “do the liberal arts thing” first. She enrolled at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, where she met her future husband and co-writer, Nunzio DeFilippis, though neither of them knew it at the time.

Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Weir decided she was ready to tackle Tinseltown. She enrolled in Emerson’s Mass Communication graduate program and focused on creating a career in television, while DeFilippis attacked Hollywood directly by enrolling in graduate school at the University of Southern California.

“I knew I wanted to work in film and television and there was no denying that Emerson had a fantastic program that would give me amazing classes, networking opportunities and valuable internships,” Weir said.

It also didn’t hurt that Weir’s father was Emerson’s dean of continuing education at the time. “It was the logical choice,” Weir said.

While at Emerson, Weir spent a semester in Los Angeles interning at NBC, during which she said her “certainty that [she] wanted to work in television only grew.” Once she completed her master’s degree, she did what any aspiring television writer would do: she moved to L.A.

But as the old saying goes, you can take the girl out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of the girl.

“I love to set stories in Boston,” Weir said. “The city has such a rich environment and history. Boston has a personality all its own. And in many ways, my sense of what a city is comes from living in Boston. I had no idea what to expect when I moved out to Los Angeles. I had visited New York and lived in Boston and those two combined defined what a city was supposed to be. Cities are things you can walk around and take in. You can sit at a street cafe and watch the people go by.”

In Los Angeles, Weir wrote for the HBO series Arliss and the Disney Channel cartoon Kim Possible with DeFilippis. Comic books were never something Weir gave much thought to, despite her husband’s love for the medium. It wasn’t until good friend and acclaimed novelist Greg Rucka (the Atticus Kodiak novels) wrote a comic book called Whiteout, about a deputy U.S. marshal dispatched to Antarctica, that Weir, wanting to be supportive, read her first comic since the Archie comics she had read as a child.

“I loved it,” Weir said. “Suddenly after years of my husband trying to coax me to read comics and me politely declining, I was interested in learning more.”

Weir quickly developed a taste for comic books, devouring her husband’s collection.

“I read all of his favorites and found a definite appreciation for the medium,” Weir said.

When Weir and DeFilippis were developing the idea for what would become their first comic book, Skinwalker, they originally planned to write it as a film. Rucka, by then an established comic book writer, had a suggestion.

“[He] came to us and said, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about doing that as a comic?’” Weir said. “We hadn’t, but then we started to entertain the idea and decided it would be perfect as a comic.”

Weir said that transitioning from writing for the screen and writing comics was a learning process, but not a difficult one.

“They’re both visual mediums,” Weir said. “And when you’re writing a comic script, it’s as if you’re the director as well as the writer.”

In addition to Skinwalker (with artist Brian Hurtt), Weir and DeFilippis have written numerous comic books over the past decade, everything from Marvel and DC superhero mainstays like the X-Men and Batman to creator-owned work like crime story Three Strikes (also with artist Hurtt) and the action comedy Frenemy of the State (illustrated by Jeff Wamester), which they developed with film and TV actress Rashida Jones.

Weir and DeFilippis also have a series of graphic novels about a young private investigator in Los Angeles named Amy Devlin.

The seedy underbelly of humanity always seems to find its way into Weir’s writing.

“There’s a romanticism to the crime fiction genre that’s fun to explore,” Weir said. “I think being from Boston definitely influenced that. I grew up on Beacon Hill which at times feels like you’re walking around a movie set. It looks like what you think an old New England city is supposed to look like. … I just feel like any neighborhood you go into in Boston can serve as the perfect backdrop for a story.”

For a complete bibliography and updates about what’s next for Weir & DeFilippis, check out their website at weirdefilippis.com

Social Media Maven Margarita Vaisman

During her time at Emerson College, Newbury Comics was a regular destination for Margarita Vaisman, class of ‘00, though her taste strayed from the superhero adventures of comic book publishers Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and DC Comics.

“I was really into the goth scene in Boston and a lot of those folks were into comics and made regular trips to Newbury Comics and Million Year Picnic,” Vaisman said. “While I didn’t read many comics beyond Sandman and The Crow — both on the goth required reading list — comics were certainly a common interest among many of my friends and acquaintances, along with black clothes and gloomy music.”

When it was time to look for colleges Vaisman zeroed-in on Emerson after reading a listing in The Princeton Review.

“I knew Boston was the ideal location for college, because I wanted to leave New York City, but not venture too far,” Vaisman said. “I also wanted to major in Creative Writing … [Emerson] matched both criteria and was described as ‘a school for freaks and misfits.’ The second I read those words, I knew that would be the school I’d attend.”

At Emerson, Vaisman, 33, majored in creative writing, with a minor in psychology.

“My favorite professor was the late Peter Corea, who I was fortunate enough to have for two psychology courses,” Vaiman said. “He always stressed empathy and kindness and I think he wanted to teach us to be decent human beings above all else. He certainly left a lasting impression on me.”

After four years of clubbing and writing, Vaisman, a 2000 graduate and now a community manager for Google, was unsure what was next for her.

“I think [Emerson] gave me a good foundation in terms of developing my talents and interests, but by the time I graduated, I didn’t know how I wanted to apply those skills.”

Vaisman moved to England after graduation, where she said she was biding her time until her ideal job was invented.

“I always had a feeling that whatever career I was going to have didn’t exist yet,” Vaisman said. “And wouldn’t you know, here I am working in social media.”

Until recently, Vaisman, was the social media manager for Marvel.

Before she started working at Marvel, Vaisman wasn’t very familiar with superhero comics. She had been reading more realistic work by creators like Adrian Tomine and Daniel Clowes, but she wanted to branch out. So when she heard about the job opportunity at Marvel, Vaisman dove right in.

Vaisman was particularly drawn to Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men.

“Someone pointed-out to me that I probably have a fondness for those characters because they are all misfits in some way, and I think that’s true,” Vaisman said. “This also goes back to what drew me to Emerson.”

Check out Margarita’s blog, The Diary Project, at metadiary.wordpress.com

Indie Comics Writer Josh Fialkov

What drew indie comic book writer Josh Fialkov to Emerson College was the school’s strong liberal arts reputation.

“I’ve wanted to write and create since I was a kid,” Fialkov said. “I was producing radio serials on my Fisher Price tape recorder at age 4. And these were real serials, where I actually had a whole programming slate of recurring shows.”

Fialkov, Emerson class of ‘00, grew up in Monroeville, Pa., just east of Pittsburgh, a city he said has strongly influenced his storytelling.

“I worked in the mall [where] they shot Dawn of the Dead in,” Fialkov said. “I worked at the same theater that Tom Savini was mounting his gore soaked production of Dracula in. Pittsburgh is a very noir city and a very horror-filled place.”

Those noir and horror influences are evident in Fialkov’s Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel Tumor (with artist Noel Tuazon) and his psychological thriller Echoes (with artist Rahsan Ekedal).

“Where we come from and where we are influences our work because it changes who we are,” Fialkov said. “My work is the sum of every place, person, song, book, play, movie, TV show and novel I’ve ever experienced.”

Fialkov counts the time he spent in Boston among the biggest influences in his life.

“Being in Boston expanded my taste a lot,” Fialkov said. “Being surrounded by people reading Ibsen and watching Frankenheimer, and being equally drawn [to] both had probably the biggest influence on what I do.”

After a friend raved about Emerson’s theater program, Fialkov decided to visit the college and see for himself.

“I instantly fell in love with Boston, and immediately felt at home,” Fialkov said. “I miss the city deeply.”

Fialkov majored in theater and, despite not being allowed to double major, he took an bachelor degree’s worth of film classes, enough that he was able to graduate a year early.

“I was equally interested in being a performer and a writer/director at the time,” Fialkov said, “and when I auditioned and interviewed it seemed like the program was going to flexible and supportive of that.”

Fialkov read comics as a kid, but his interest waned during his high school years.

“I realized my money would be better spent on buying guitar equipment and impressing girls,” Fialkov said. “In that order.”

During his time at Emerson, Fialkov said he would read the occasional issue of Usagi Yojimbo and Concrete, but it wasn’t until after he moved to Los Angeles after graduating that he fell back into the writing habit.

After graduation, Fialkov and his writing partner wrote spec scripts. To make ends meet, Fialkov worked on film crews around New England, filming commercials and low-budget movies. He also worked at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge.

A producer had attached himself to one of Fialkov’s scripts, and he and his writing partner packed up their stuff and “started the long migration to Los Angeles on Sept. 9, 2001.”

By the time Fialkov and his writing partner arrived in L.A., their production deal had fallen through.

“The world wasn’t interested in the sort of achingly dark stuff we were writing,” Fialkov said.

With his film career stalled, Fialkov returned to the comic books he loved as a kid.

“I was getting more and more frustrated with my career and direction in life,” Fialkov said, “and suddenly, there they were, like a 32-page stapled piece of salvation.”

Fialkov’s salvation sparked within him a need for a creative outlet, and the newly-rediscovered comic books provided the perfect opportunity.

“I never really thought about writing comics until I came back to them,” Fialkov said. “I was pretty seriously depressed and needed an escape, and comics were just … there.”

Fialkov began writing comics “as a way to actually create finished products out of my ideas that I could share with the world.”

Read the first two issues of Josh Fialkov’s Echoes, illustrated by Rahsan Ekedal, for free online at Comic Book Resources and visit his website at thefialkov.com

The Marvelous John Cerilli

When Marvel Entertainment, Inc. executive John Cerilli was a boy, he never thought he’d work in the comic book industry.

“To me it was an unreachable goal, like trying to play third base for the Mets,” Cerilli said. “It was beyond my comprehension.”

Still, Cerilli, Emerson College class of ‘89, was a steadfast fan of comic books from a very early age.

“I remember being attracted to them even before I could read them,” he said. “My aunt read a lot of horror-based comics in the early ‘70s and I would flip through them at first looking at the pictures.”

Cerilli, vice president of digital content and programming for Marvel.com, eventually learned to read and began selecting his own titles in his early teens.

“I was a Marvel guy through and through, but I read a ton of DC books, too,” he said. “The X-Men, Spider-Man, The Thing, Conan and Batman were far and away my favorites.”

Cerilli, 44, had never heard of Emerson College before his high school guidance counselor mentioned it to him, but the school’s focus on media and communications immediately piqued his interest.

“I went to visit the school and, simply, I was hooked,” he said. “I loved the fact that our ‘campus’ was the city of Boston.”

In fact, Cerilli was so enamored by Emerson and Boston that he never considered applying anywhere else.

“It really seemed fantastic and felt like home,” he said. “The vibe, it being situated in the heart of a major city, was just perfect.”

Initially, the New York-born and New Jersey-raised Cerilli thought he would have a career in sports writing or commentary when he began his academic career at Emerson in the 1985 fall semester.

Cerilli, an avid Mets fan, said, “Sports, especially baseball, were and still remain an enormous passion of mine … Little did anyone know that the Mets and Red Sox would meet in one of the greatest World Series ever played in 1986, which made the experience of going to school at Emerson all the more amazing.”

At Emerson, Cerilli majored in mass communications, but, encouraged by his teachers, quickly shifted gears.

“[I] decided to switch to writing when professor after professor commented on the quality of my papers,” Cerilli said. “I finally had a chat with one of my professors who seemed to like my writing during my freshman year.”

That professor was Mary Karr, who would later write “The Liars’ Club,” among other award-winning memoirs and volumes of poetry.

“I asked her if she thought I was good enough to pursue a career in writing and she didn’t dissuade me from that,” Cerilli said. “Just the opposite, in fact. For me, that was a major victory as I respected her enormously.”

Cerilli’s history professor was also influential in setting him on his writing career, “even if I didn’t really know how I was going to make a living from it,” he said.

“My favorite professor was Dr. John Coffee,” Cerilli said. “In fact, I achieved the entirety of my history minor by taking classes with him … [he] actually used to have a class called Cartoons and American History. It was brilliant. In fact, I ended up writing a paper on the X-Men – comparing their plight to the civil rights movement that fueled their creation.”

Even in college, comic books remained a part of Cerilli’s life.

“I was a frequent visitor to Newbury Comics on Newbury Street and would often walk back to Fensgate with CDs and comics,” Cerilli said. “I still remember the buzz around ‘The Dark Knight Returns.’ I had to have it.”