By Logan Leavitt 3-30-2012
Author Seth Grahame Smith was in Boston to speak about his increasingly successful career as a screenwriter.
Smith has written two New York Times best-selling books, Prides & Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. One audience member asked how he came up with the idea for Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. His answer was “every store I went into there was a bookshelf of Lincoln books next to a shelf of Twilight books.” He pointed out that this was during the 100th birthday celebration of Abraham Lincoln and the time of the Twilight craze.
The best-selling author got his first big break when he was asked to write for a web-only TV series “Clark & Michael” starring Michael Cera who was an unknown actor at the time. The series didn’t take him anywhere, but he pointed out, “it’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it.”
Smith mentioned the many disappointments he’s had throughout his career. These disappointments included writing several books about topics ranging from politics to the porn industry. Although these books never made it big in Hollywood he said, “I don’t know if it was stubbornness or stupidity but I just wouldn’t leave [Los Angeles].”
Smith spoke about his upcoming projects. He discussed his writing for the upcoming film,” Dark Shadows” and how director Tim Burton originally approached him to write the movie.
Smith pointed out that his main reason for speaking was to reiterate his main motto in life. He said, “There’s no path, no timetable. There’s just what you want.”