Scout Comics Smoketown Optioned as Feature Film

Scout Comics and Entertainment is proud to announce that its critically-acclaimed crime/thriller series SMOKETOWN by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson (AQUAMAN, POWER OF THE DARK CRYSTAL) and artist Scott Van Domelen is now in development with writer/director Vaughn Stein. Vaughn’s most recent film, TERMINAL, starring Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, and Mike Myers, is currently in post-production.

SMOKETOWN is a Tarantino-esque story that revolves around an American soldier in the days leading up to his murder. Jumping around in time, each chapter reveals a new facet of the soldier’s life (and death), and the many people he affected, before his time in the Middle East, during, and after. The characters and series first appeared in SMOKETOWN #1. There was also a SMOKETOWN #1 Con Exclusive. The total print run according to James Pruett is 3,000 total copies for issue #1, including variant.
Vaughn Stein says, “SMOKETOWN totally gripped me from the moment I first read it. It’s an incredible story; dark, twisted and utterly brilliant. I am extremely proud and excited to be bringing SMOKETOWN to the screen with Scout Comics. It’s going to be a stunning movie.’”
Phillip Kennedy Johnson says, “After seeing and reading Vaughn’s other work, I couldn’t be happier to have him on board. SMOKETOWN is a story with intensely flawed characters, people who fell between the cracks, and Vaughn gets that. He’s the perfect choice to tell a story like this. I can’t wait for people to see his vision of our story.”

15 thoughts on “Scout Comics Smoketown Optioned as Feature Film”

  1. I wish they would have different levels of entertainment industry “options”. Red options would mean probably not or don’t count on it for a very, very long time, yellow would mean 50/50 or close to it and green would mean almost definitely being made. I do hope this goes through but most options turn out to be “red” at the end of the day.

    1. My wife works on shows and sometimes movies…. You’d be surprised how much stuff gets beyond even the media option by actually getting produced but gets shelved, never to be seen again.

      1. I hear ya. I did my time in Hollywood as well. Seems now, more than when I worked on the crap I worked on, options for comic books are being picked up like crazy. Far more than they were a decade or so ago. Would just be nice to know which ones producers are serious about getting into the box office and TV..But that would be impossible for most of them. So much goes on that can de-rail a potential project. Economics…chaining tastes/demographics… Passing with test audiences…Passing with studio execs…too much time passing. Just much can go wrong to keep an option from seeing distribution.

        1. I think it’s just Studio Heads grabbing while they can. Kind of like a security deposit. Then they watch how the market for it trends, etc. I mean, some books are getting optioned on issue 1.. if the comic fizzles away after 6 months, I doubt a studio is going to be in a big hurry to produce something.

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