Matt Hartle is a writer, painter, director, designer, and VFX artist who began his creative journey in the late 90’s while he was studying Illustration at the Art Center College of Design. Over his career, he has worked on over 100 A-list features, with some career highlights being his work on SuperMan – Man of Steel, several Harry Potter films, the Sony Pictures Animation logo and the Lionsgate logo. Hartle is also an author, having recently published his first novel, Of Courage and Sacrifice – Book One of the Bot Trilogy.
Hartle resides in Montana with his wife and children.
What inspired you to write science fiction, and what do you think sets the genre apart from other types of fiction?
When I think of sci-fi, I have visions of spaceships and laser guns, but of course, that’s only a tiny part of the genre! Sci-fi allows for stories told in a heightened reality. I believe stories should have believable anchoring as it increases credibility, but ultimately there are no limits. For me, that makes it a very attractive space in which to tell a story. Also, I do love technology, and I enjoy imagining where things may be heading and the ways in which our world could be affected.
I think sci-fi also offers unique possibilities of originality. I like big thoughts and even bigger concepts; ideas that give pause and excite us to contemplate their feasibility and question aspects of our current reality. I remember reading ‘Snow Crash’ by Neil Stephenson and having my mind blown at how things he’d written about decades earlier were manifesting in our current world. That is the ultimate potential of sci-fi storytelling – to be almost a soothsayer and share imagined futures and possibilities.
In my writing, I work hard to create believability, even when imagining something fantastical. Concepts that are too far out there disengage me as a reader. I believe if you do a solid job of character and world-building, the audience will join you on the adventure!
How do you approach world-building in your writing, and what are some of the key elements you consider when creating new worlds and civilizations?
I believe world-building is about believability. The author’s task is to acquaint the reader with this new place, give examples of how it works and provide opportunities to see themselves within it. If your audience can identify and project themselves into your imagined reality, I think you’ve achieved something as a storyteller. Once you’ve helped your readers find solid footing, you can introduce them to more outlandish and chimerical concepts!
Something I try to do when developing a story is to give the characters and the reader anchor points. For example, in ‘Of Courage and Sacrifice,’ I spend a certain amount of time early on developing the conflict the characters will be dealing with throughout the book. This involves a lot of highly advanced technology, artificial intelligence, and robots! But to contrast that, the characters are dealing with very ordinary things: growing up, finding their place in the world, and navigating relationships. We can all identify with these things, and it helps to make the heightened aspects more relatable.
Also, I believe there needs to be a certain amount of logic to how the world is built – even the tallest trees grow from seeds. As an author, it’s crucial to develop those roots so that your story doesn’t feel too superficial and contrived.
Many people view the film industry as a place of glamor and glitz, but there are also many behind-the-scenes aspects to running a successful production company in the film space. What are some of the less glamorous aspects of your job, and how do you balance the creative and business aspects of your work?
What’s exciting about the film industry is that it does have the glamor and glitz; however, that is a tiny part of it. It would be nice if more industries could be similarly celebrated! As in many others, success in this industry is built on relationships, hard work, and long hours.
I have been fortunate to stay more or less focused on the things I enjoy doing, mainly being technical and creative. There have been times when I was being pushed into more producer-oriented roles, but I’ve managed to redirect myself. I think we all have a sense of how we can make the most significant contributions, and it’s essential to remain faithful to those instincts.
Creativity and business are different sides of the same coin. For an artist, I believe that means recognizing the practicality of a project and shaping your creative contribution accordingly. And for the business side, I think it’s important to understand that art and creativity are less linear than business tends to be. It can take time to develop ideas, and often it has to be nurtured. However, it is reasonable to have expectations, timelines, and benchmarks. It’s rewarding to work with an artist or team of artists to create and satisfy the requirements of a project! So, as with many things, it’s a balance.
Your work, ‘Of Courage and Sacrifice’ could go down a few different paths. Do you see it more as a feature film or more as a mini-series and why?
I believe either could be pretty exciting, but I’ve been thinking a lot about a mini-series because of the scale of the world I’m working to create across the three books. A series offers the opportunity to dig into and expand or explore a story. There are many characters, side stories, and aspects of the world that would make for exciting episodes! Also, the three books take place in varied settings and have different narrative arcs, which might nicely divide into episodic seasons. It’s exciting to dream about!
However, a film would be very exciting as well. The stories are quite relatable to a three-act structure, and as a trilogy, they would divide cleanly into three different films. I am excited to start working on the next installments in the series so people can begin to see how things roll out!
What drew you to the film industry, and how have you seen the landscape change since you first started working in the business?
I have always loved film, specifically the process of making them – the visual effects. When I first became enamored, things were done practically and optically, so that was the world I thought I would be getting into. As a kid, I loved building with model trains and playing D&D! My brother and I watched our bootleg copies of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films so often, the sound coming off the VHS tapes warbled as they played from being stretched out! My fascination always came from the behind-the-scenes bits and pieces I could find, and growing up in rural Montana in the 80s, there wasn’t much access!
One of the most inspiring things I remember was finding the book ‘Industrial Light and Magic: The Art Of Special Effects.’ I was able to order it through an inter-library loan. When it arrived, it literally took on an artifact-type status for me! I read the pages over and over, devouring every word until I had to return the book. I asked for it that year for my birthday, and to this day, it remains one of my most treasured possessions. To come full circle, I was recently working on a film and had the opportunity to collaborate with John Dykstra on a series of shots I was working on. What an extraordinary and mind-blowing experience!
As far as change, of course, the most significant thing has been having everything, all aspects of production, move into the digital realm, even how productions are organized! I remember working at Illusion Arts with the great Bill Taylor and Syd Dutton. The producers there had these large cork boards along the hallways with printouts for each shot and a color code system for tracking status. It was all very manual and looked tedious. Now, we use software that tracks moment-to-moment changes, facilitates online reviews instantaneously, and can be accessed anywhere there’s an internet connection. Incredible!
I never did have the opportunity to build models myself, but I did work with them several times, one notable occasion being when I was doing the title for Zathura. The floating house for that film was built practically as a model, and we spent several days on the stage at Star Gate shooting repeat passes on motion control.
Another significant shift was digital projection. Everything was still reviewed and finished on film for the first dozen years of my career. Reviews used to be substantial portions of the budget and scheduling process, as everything had to be filmed out before it could be projected. I do miss shooting things out to film – it always lent a certain patina to the images and helped to unify and smooth things out. There was also a bit of mystery to it. Sometimes chemicals or lights would be slightly different at a lab, so outputs would vary, and, colors always shifted, so you had to do wedges to get to the final looks you were after. It all felt more tactile and artful! However, there’s no doubt the ability to work with ultra-high-resolution imagery today and review it whenever we need to make a huge, positive impact on our work. I wouldn’t want to go back to the film process/pipeline, but I am grateful I could experience it!
From a family perspective and with summer around the corner, what are three dishes that you love to either make for your family or go and eat with your family?
Our family lives in a small town in the mountains of Montana, so good food around here is not always easy to come by. We all enjoy cooking and baking. Even my kiddos get into the mix, and of course, my wife is an incredible baker! Several years back, we built a pizza oven in our backyard. My father is a mason, and he lent expert insight! So, we always like heating up the pizza oven. Some of our favorites are simple ones like a margarita pizza with homemade sauce from my mother-in-law. We also make a pie with lots of sweet onions and an egg on top – something we discovered in Italy! Sausage and bacon from our pig are always favorites. I also enjoy smoking meat, and my kids are big fans! Several years ago, we had a bear venture onto our porch and ripped up our smoker. Now we have a bigger, sturdier one!
Lately, in an effort to eat lighter and more healthily, my wife and I have started having more fish. So, this summer, we’re looking forward to some good ceviche and fresh fish caught in the rivers around our house.
For More on Matt Hartle Visit his official website at http://www.matthartle.com
Click Here for your copy Of Courage and Sacrifice: https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Sacrifice-Bot-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B09KR3LR51
