DC has a dedicated following that spans generations, and with the new competition DCYou, the company is helping some of those fans to showcase their love for the superhero universe.
CBR spoke with two of the minds behind the initiative, Sam Ades, DC Universe senior vice president and general manager, and Abe Mohammadione, vice president of creative and production for Ideas United, about what it was like to see what fans came up with for the competition.
The DCYou event looked at more than 1,000 entries, with 10 pitches chosen for consideration to receive a pilot for an upcoming unscripted series on DC Universe. The creators will then be brought to the DC studios in Burbank, California, for a chance to pitch their ideas to the top authorities on DC: DC Co-Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee, DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio and Stage 13 Senior Vice President and General Manager Diana Mogollon.
Of the 10, three will receive the opportunity to make the pilot episode for their prospective series; one eventually will receive a full-season order on the streaming service. DC Universe previously brought together virtually all facets of the DC Universe, including comics, television and movies. But according to Andes, the goal has always been to bring the fans deeper into the world they love. "That's what DC Universe really is," he said. "We'd started with that tag line 'This is your universe,' and obviously there was a lot of work there to do.
"We had to make sure the comics were all live, getting onto platforms," he continued. "But the promise and the hope had always been to really, when we say 'This is your universe,' either through fans or through the community they're seeing themselves and seeing their voices. It's their particular love and passion for this property that we're just the stewards of. We're not the owners of it. We have a very important but humble role to play, and it was such a great moment to see fans come and say to [Jim Lee and Dan DiDio and Diana Mogollon] and say, 'This is it.'"
Mohammadione also saw the connection between the fans and the streaming service as a crucial part of DC Universe. "It was the most important thing," he explained. "I think that DC Universe has this foundation of wanting to really put fans first, and put fans into that creative process and give them the opportunity to contribute to the greater universe of DC. That's just something that's made sense since the beginning, and I'm so glad about how it turned out."
There are participants in the contest from across the United States, each coming with ideas for the service. While some hail from major cities, others are from more rural areas. "Giving those areas in the country that might not have the same creative process is something that [Ideas United] has always valued," Mohammadione said. "It's those voices that sometimes we don't get to hear, where we found really compelling stories to be told. They have ideas that are just as robust as any you can find in Los Angeles or New York. To give them that platform so they can showcase [their ideas], it was great."
That deep-seated love that motivated all the fans who participated in the contest also helped fuel the creatives who work at behind-the-scenes on projects like this. Looking back at his love of the DC Universe, Ades explained that "I have a love of characters. I have the stories and the characters that matter most to me... the Darwyn Cooke New Frontier stuff. That to me is kind of a distillation of everything I love about comics. It's a universe, it's a tribal language -- not tribal in an exclusive way but in an inclusive way. "
Ades compared the passion that fuels DC fandom to the same kind of love that drives sports fans. "You can be anywhere... there's something in a world that's sad is so divisive, in some ways so broken," he said. "Politics can create tensions that almost seem insurmountable. And I've never been a sports fan. But the ability to talk to people across generations and gender and orientation an anything that might be block or challenge or something that limits understanding or limits the ability to connect... To have this thing that literally short-circuits that and lets you connect to people emotionally, directly and authentically. That to me is what all this is about... it matters that there are stories that matter to people. It's less about an individual character or flavor of fandom. It's that type of fandom that's really needed."
Mohanmmadione was also able to speak to that kind of love from his own experience. "As long as I can remember, I've been a Superman fan. I've got photos of literally every major milestone in my life in a Superman tie or in a Superman shirt or Superman cuff links," he said. "The first time I ever remember reading something was the first Superman movie. I remember watching it on TV and reading 'story by' and I was like, that's giving me information! So, from little things like that to things like Clark has always been about supporting people who might not have an advantage or opportunity or the chance to do it themselves. I think that in the little ways, DC Universe is doing that for fans. It's an echo of that. It's about hope and possibility and nothing is impossible or something you can't overcome."
The DCYou event will be aired Jan. 23-24 during two special episodes of DC Daily on DC Universe. The three finalists will be announced at the conclusion of the Jan. 24 episode.