Short Cuts

We Bite/Stickmen With Rayguns Dept.: In what surely must qualify as one of the fastest cross-media success stories, local writer/artist/ vampire fanatic Jason Henderson last week had his comic book Sword of Dracula optioned by Chuck Gordon of Daybreak Productions (and producer of the Bruce Willis Die Hard series) and Adrian Askarieh of Prime Universe Productions (producer of the upcoming Spy Hunter with the Rock). Rarely has a comic made the leap from the page to optioning so quickly: Sword of Dracula debuted in October 2003 and has met with bright crimson gobs of critical acclaim ("Full Metal Jacket meets Dracula!" accurately exclaims one back-cover blurb) since issue one. Issue three is out this week, and already Henderson is mulling over who exactly might be best suited to wear the fangs. "As far as casting goes? It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's not wrong." Describing Sword of Dracula, Henderson says that the project has "taken on a life of its own." Not only have the film rights been optioned, but the comic has also just been picked up by local gaming company Critical Mass Interactive (SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman) for a first-person-shooter video game. Holy relentless tide of divergent marketing options, Batman! For more info and to check out the King of Creative Dentistry online, go to www.swordofdracula.com... Local producer Damon Chang and filmmaker Jeffrey Travis (What's Wrong With This Picture?) have scored a pilot deal with 20th Century Fox to develop a new family series for the fall 2004 lineup. Titled Except for Danny, the proposed series concerns "a family of overachievers and their below-average younger son Danny who draws a crayon stick man that comes to life." Shades of the Spike Jonze-aborted Harold and the Purple Crayon? As of this writing, Fox has commissioned Travis to film two scenes from the pilot script here in Austin, and if all goes well and the pilot is picked up, Chang says that the series will most likely be shot here in town, as well. More on this as the project evolves... Blessed Event Dept.: As we were going to press word came down from on high that Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellán, aka Mom 'n' Dad, are in the midst of releasing their fourth mini-epic in the family's ongoing My Kids franchise, the long-awaited (well, nine months, anyway) Rogue Rodriguez, who joins Rocket, Rebel, and Racer in the proud parents' unslakable quest for yet more kickass progeny. Congratulations from everyone at the Chronicle... Also in Rodriguez/Avellán news, Paramount Pictures has signed Rodriguez to direct A Princess of Mars from a script by Mark Protosevich based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' seminal sci-fi series John Carter of Mars. We've got lots more on this, but, dammit, we're out of room. Next week, we promise. Viva Barsoom!