15 years ago some nice people from an ad agency arrived at my house to shoot a bit with a script for me about how scary mothers are. “But that’s not the film,” I told them. “Then write a new script,” they said. So I did. youtu.be/HlCJu6zrB10?... - ThreadSky

neilhimself.neilgaiman.com • 385 days ago

15 years ago some nice people from an ad agency arrived at my house to shoot a bit with a script for me about how scary mothers are. “But that’s not the film,” I told them. “Then write a new script,” they said. So I did.

https://youtu.be/HlCJu6zrB10?si=qMaDFjuzJKgnxEg-

Comments

deskailee.bsky.social•385 days ago

i saw the original in theaters and followed all the lead-up to it....so i remember this quite well. oh dear~

theg3rman.bsky.social•385 days ago

Wow we are huge fans. My daughter will be very excited when I tell her about this! 😎 great work!!

theg3rman.bsky.social•385 days ago

Wait you wrote Coraline?

elibisme.bsky.social•385 days ago

Wow you with button eyes is scary! I still rewatch Coraline every year. I got a Coraline jacket with a button key zipper. Such a lovely unique book, so glad you wrote it.

fifthdreamtoday.com•385 days ago

I would watch commercials - and probably buy more things - if they were all like this.

mangoqueen.bsky.social•385 days ago

We need a coffee table book with all the easter eggs please 😭😭

ecmyers.com•385 days ago

This is marvelous and I can see you hosting one of those "unexplained mysteries" shows one day. I'm curious though: Did the ad agency pay you for your script?

chuckles4ever.bsky.social•385 days ago

Delightful! I would love to see more.

amyrlinstudy.bsky.social•385 days ago

Smile at the end of it Neil it's diabolical 😂😍

jimmyswings.bsky.social•385 days ago

It really was chilling, wasn't it? 😱

amyrlinstudy.bsky.social•385 days ago

😂

transsalamander.bsky.social•385 days ago

This video, if recall correctly, is why I know what the fear of buttons is called so thanks for that lol

nataliereed84.bsky.social•385 days ago

Buttophobia

transsalamander.bsky.social•385 days ago

I would love it so much if it was called that lmao but it's koumpounophobia, probably for Latin reasons

nataliereed84.bsky.social•385 days ago

It's all greek to me.

rincewind.run•385 days ago

I didn't think they could be so scary!

now I know

transsalamander.bsky.social•385 days ago

My favorite story about Coraline I heard from Neil was he went to a bookstore and asked someone there where the horror books for children are, and the employee's reaction told him he'd have to write it

storiteller.bsky.social•385 days ago

Oh and the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books! The stories weren’t all that horrifying, but those illustrations were nightmare-inducing. (And the Fear Street books were for older kids - I remember being too young for them and then being a little old for most Goosebumps.)

storiteller.bsky.social•385 days ago

If it was me, I would have recommended William Sleator, but I bet his stuff was sorted under scifi, not horror.

venandr.bsky.social•385 days ago

That's interesting because R.L. Stine sold 400 million children's horror books lol

neilhimself.neilgaiman.com•385 days ago

Fear Street and Goosebumps wouldn't start for several years after that. If Bob had been writing them in the early 80s I might never have written Coraline.

zellers.bsky.social•385 days ago

Your lack of obligation to genre & medium are probably the most compelling things about you as an artist. You don't do everything, but you will do anything.

akersley.bsky.social•385 days ago

First Goosebumps were published in 1992

lots42.bsky.social•385 days ago

My mom loves the Goosebumps aesthetic.

venandr.bsky.social•385 days ago

Fair play, I didn't know Coraline was in the works for so long. There must have been a lot of unrealised pent up demand for children's horror books in the market then.

macula.bsky.social•385 days ago

They didn’t have Struwwelpeter?

misterdevans.bsky.social•385 days ago

This is great. Made me smile.

silvergrafx.bsky.social•385 days ago

I have koumpounophobia and I've never been able to watch Coraline unfortunately. But this video did make feel seen. Although I've just tried to rewatch it and couldn't get to the end. 🥹 Oh well!

bremarie.bsky.social•385 days ago

This is why my oldest child refused to wear buttons! when she was 3 I got an A in my intro to psych class for “curing it” by working through her phobia. The last pic in my ppt was her in a button down shirt smiling but the buttons were secretly cut off. She’s 16 now not sure if she wears buttons yet

omensfan.bsky.social•385 days ago

But @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com isn’t that what the book is about too? Was the original script for he movie different? So confused now…

mummers.bsky.social•385 days ago

Lolol well done

11/10

pitaenigma.bsky.social•385 days ago

This ad made me think that if you wanted to, you could deliver a pretty good performance in a movie

itsabbyyep.bsky.social•385 days ago

Beautiful script, presentation and film ❤️

marvinbonney.bsky.social•385 days ago

Saw the film with my daughter who was 12 at the time and professed to like scary movies.

She didn’t come out of her room for two days after. 😊

ashhiggins.bsky.social•385 days ago

I read that story about the cat that that fought the demons (can’t remember the title) to my buddies kid and now they want TWO cats and I’m not allowed to babysit ever again.