Hey y'all! I'm Frank Wu, award-winning writer/artist. Just joined Stage 32 this week.
As a writer, I've had 8 stories in Analog magazine (which was the publisher for Dune, Foundation, the story that became The Thing, Ender's Game, etc. - and now me!). Of these, 3 have won Anlab awards for the best story in Analog - that's a 1.500 slugging average. Take that, Aaron Judge!
One of those Anlab winners is an original IP I'm pitching called "NO PEACE WITHOUT WAR." It's an "elevated space opera", which asks: If you can only have TRUTH or PEACE, which do you pick? Also: Would you betray your morals (or your friends?) to end a forever war?
As an artist, I've won 4 Hugo awards for my science fiction art - check out: frankwu.com
As background on me, here's a couple lists of my favorite movies. There are obviously great SF and war movies (Star Wars IV-VI, Star Trek II, First Contact; Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, etc.). But here are some more obscure favorites:
5 NON-OBVIOUSLY GREAT SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES
1. Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1972) - the third original Apes movie. How do you continue the series after you blow up the Earth in the second one? With clever awesomeness.
2. This Island Earth (1955) - the last 20 min is pure sci-fi drive-in movie candy.
3. Pi (1998) - brilliant; greatest shoestring budget SF movie ever made.
4. The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) - Producer William Alland said, “It would still frighten you, but because how human it was, not the other way around.” I wrote a whole article about this great movie: https://efanzines.com/DrinkTank/Annual-2008.pdf
5. Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969) - this movie is just fun, with a cool spin on the Nautilus and a scary giant manta ray!
5 NON-OBVIOUSLY GREAT WAR MOVIES
1. Execution of Private Slovik (1974) - Nobody really wants to execute this rando soldier in WWII for desertion, but will he fall through the cracks? Starring a young and terrified Martin Sheen.
2. Friendly Fire (1979) - Carol Burnett (in a serious role) is an Iowa man fighting the system to find out how her son really died in Viet Nam. Shocking.
3. Missiles of October (1974) - the third 1970's TV movie I'm listing, and second starring Martin Sheen (as RFK). Behind the scenes at the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is what leadership looks like.
4. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Maybe not so non-obvious. But Alec Guinness was a BAD-ASS 20 years before he was Obi-Wan Kenobi.
5. Kagemusha (1980) - what happens when political and military decisions are made solely for personal reasons. Visually stunning.
And one extra: the scene in Midway (1976) when a lowly radio operator follows a non-sensical order (to radio that the desalination equipment is broken, even though he knows it isn't). Because he followed this seemingly non-sensical order, the US was able to break the Japanese code and intercept and destroy their fleet at Midway, turning the tide of the war. That one dude literally saved the world by following a non-sensical order.
So... the next time your boss asks you to do something stupid, how do you know if you're the one saving the world... or if your boss is just being stupid?
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Hey Frank Wu great to meet you! Bridge of River Kwai is a GOATED movie - I'm curious what inspired you to write NO PEACE WITHOUT WAR?
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Hey Pat! OMG - Bridge on the River Kwai is so great. I guess what inspired me to write NO PEACE WITHOUT WAR was that I grew up on Star Wars - but I grew up. I wanted to combine something with all the fun / action / spectacle / really-cool spaceships with something more thoughtful. There's a three-minute scene in THE LONGEST DAY where Eisenhower is debating with himself about whether or not to launch D-Day or delay it - based solely on a sketchy weather report (they are making an ENTIRE MOVIE about this) - I wanted to explore some of that behind-the-scenes military-decision-making. Another thing that came into mind was how I have seen decisions made in business settings that were... purely personal. "We are NOT DOING THIS!" the boss shouts - and a gazillion-dollar decision is made, based on how the guy on the other side pissed him off when they were teenagers. It is amazing how often stuff like this happens in the real world.
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That's awesome. The Longest Day is always goated. Remember my brother and I had a stretch where we strictly rented old war movies from the library when we were kids - Dirty Dozen, Tora! Tora! Tora! were other favorites I can recall
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My dad has passed on now (it's ok he was old but I miss him) - but I have fond memories of watching Tora! Tora! Tora! On TV (CBS Friday Night at the Movies?) with him. For some reason he thought it was hilarious when the Americans were accidentally shouting at their own plane.
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So I see you are a writer liaison. What exactly does that mean? Are you working on your own projects?
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You can tell by the smell
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Frank Wu, Really interesting perspective, especially that truth vs peace idea — that’s a strong thematic conflict.
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Nice!
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Welcome Frank! — four Hugo Awards, three Anlab wins out of eight Analog stories, and an elevated space opera asking whether you would choose truth over peace or betray your morals to end a forever war is one of the most genuinely impressive creative introductions this community has seen. NO PEACE WITHOUT WAR sounds like exactly the kind of high-concept, philosophically rich IP that the right producer reads and immediately understands.
And that closing question — how do you know if you are the one saving the world or if your boss is just being stupid — is the kind of thing that makes a writer's voice immediately recognizable. We are very glad you are here.
The Writers' Room is a great place to connect with producers and executives actively looking for original science fiction IP. Come join us: https://www.stage32.com/writers-room/plans-vip
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As writer liaison, I help writers figure out the opportunities available to move projects forward and get them in the right hands. You can email me about your projects anytime at success@stage32.com
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Frank Wu Welcome to Stage 32! There's an abundance of opportunities and collaborations awaiting your journey. Bravo!
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Frank, it’s great to be able to connect. That’s one of the strongest intro posts I’ve seen on here.
“Truth vs peace” is a brutal spine for a story—in a good way. From an actor/director perspective, that kind of dilemma is gold because every choice costs something on screen.
Also great shout on Pi—perfect example of how far a clear vision can go without scale.
Just out of curiosity—when you’re building something like this, are you seeing it more as a character-first piece or driven by the larger world and idea?
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Frank Wu, that’s one of the strongest intro posts I’ve seen on here.
“Truth vs peace” is a brutal spine for a story—in a good way. From an actor/director perspective, that kind of dilemma is gold because every choice costs something on screen.
Also great shout on Pi—perfect example of how far a clear vision can go without scale.
Just out of curiosity—when you’re building something like this, are you seeing it more as a character-first piece or driven by the larger world and idea?
Hey Kyle - thanks! It's kind of both a character and a worldbuilding/idea piece. I remember seeing the 1936 movie THINGS TO COME (written by HG Wells sort of as a response to METROPOLIS (1927), which Wells thought was beautiful but dumb. THINGS TO COME has characters who aren't really persons who argue a particular point of view (e.g., possibly-dangerous-possibly-awesome-progress versus everything-was-fine-in-the-past). What if we had characters with both (1) a strong political POV but also (2) all the other stuff that goes along with it (full emotional package, crazy actions that make total sense from that POV). Sprinkle in a bit of monomania on everyone's part, and WHAM you have big ideas mixed in with strong characters.
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One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever got: Pick your POV character (or main character) as the person who would be most emotionally affected by your plot. For this story, the POV character - I envision Timothee Chalamet - is the naive guy who thinks everyone in the military is (a) working for the same goal (b) in the same way and (c) is a good person. He's crushed by the brutal reality of discovering that he can get (a) but (b) and (c) are not gonna happen.
I appreciate you asking, Kyle. What are you working on? Do you have a piece with a "dilemma"? Tell me a story!
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Frank Wu Welcome here!
Shadow, your name is BAD-ASS.