Five Questions with Tim Bacon, Lead Writer, or “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword, but I Carry a Glock”

BY: NICK IANNITTI  |  Fuel Family, Five Questions

Great writing takes balls. Ask our lead writer Tim Bacon, who’s got them in spades. Between his frequent trips to the coffee machine and his often profane and frightening outbursts of creativity, I managed to catch Tim for a few questions. I’m still shaking from the experience.

Why does Fuel need a team of creative writers?

I began freelancing with Fuel back in 2004 and was hired on full-time a couple of years later. I was the first dedicated writer in the shop and I must admit it was a real challenge to get up to speed on interactive writing and internet-based content as my background was mostly film and television. The early days were intense and as the shop grew and consequently so did the workload, the need for additional writers became readily apparent.

In order for a writer to survive at Fuel they need to be well versed in a number of areas: concept development, pitch writing, game and website copywriting, scriptwriting for audio, animation, series bibles, episodic material, editing and proofreading.

When we set out to build a writing team we made sure to hire writers with varied backgrounds. Paul Green has a wealth of experience in film, television, and comics and has been in the trenches with me for over twenty years. Brad MacNeil comes from theatre and improvisational comedy. Jennifer Cross comes from commercial and print. Chris Dainty comes from animation. Each writer plays to their particular strengths and as such we are able to offer clients a diversity of choice. When you’re dealing with heavyweights like Discovery Channel, Intel, Nickelodeon, Fox Entertainment and Wrigley, you’d better have some damned great creative to bring to the table.

The word on the street is that you’ve got a lot of writing experience under your belt. What are some past projects you’re most proud of?

My professional career dates back to the early eighties when I had a full head of hair and bashed my stories out on a manual typewriter. You name it…I’ve probably written for it or not gotten paid for it! It’s been an amazing journey so far from S&M Mistresses to professional wrestlers. It’s provided me a living and allowed me to hang out with the coolest movie stars from the 1970’s like Charles Bronson, David Carradine, and Michael Parks and even act in a ‘Z’ grade science fiction film with C. Thomas Howell and Ray Serra.

I’ve created a large body of work in a number of different media that I’m very proud of so picking out a just a couple would be difficult. I’m usually most excited by the projects I’m currently working on. I recently co-wrote a short horror film with director Chad Michael Ward that should be released later this year. Right now, Paul and I are in the process of creating some of our own film projects that will allow us to move beyond the writing into producing and directing. After hours, we’ve also been exploring other aspects of the creative process via photo-manipulation artworks and multi-media animations. Projects that allow creative freedom and the chance to push the boundaries will always be my favorites.

The Fuel projects I’m most proud of are the ones that have deeper story content, the ones that began life as full scripts and were designed as cinematic experiences. The incredible talent we have in the shop took our words on paper and created stunning works of art like Nokia: The Passenger, Deadwood: Dead Man’s Hand, and Reach: In the Mouth of Mystery.

At the end of the day, I don’t care how visually arresting something is, if there’s no story backing it up it’s just an empty experience. The lack of an engaging story and a decent plot is one of the major complaints currently heard throughout the game industry. We’re on a mission to change that.

Fuel is expanding into producing its own licensed properties. How has this added to your responsibilities?

There’s nothing I love more than creating an entire world from scratch. A large part of my career has been developing film and television properties, so it’s really exciting to be able to bring those skills to the forefront on the web. The internet is the future of entertainment. It’s the wild west of media. There really aren’t any rules or restrictions on what you can do, on what you can create. Every day is like being an explorer in uncharted territory.

Developing original licensed properties with Fuel has definitely added more to my plate, but I welcome the challenge. It’s an amazing opportunity to create characters, stories, and products that will reach out and literally touch millions of people. Fuel gives me unprecedented freedom to develop for this online medium. Every day I interact with some of the most amazing people in the industry on truly ground-breaking work. I’m extremely proud and excited to be a part of it all.

What was the first story you ever remember writing?

I honestly can’t remember the first story I ever wrote because I’ve been scribbling since I could hold a pen. But, I do recall writing a short film based on the song M.E.T.A.L. by Gary Numan. I’m sure it could use a rewrite or two!

Would you physically hurt me if given the opportunity and you knew nobody would find out?

Dare to call me a ‘copywriter’ and find out!