From Erin Fox's Blog:
Say your boss, director Chris Carter decides to give your first novel, your baby, a cameo inThe X-Files: I Want to Believe. What happens then? Tears? Gratitude? A slight bladder control issue? Nah! For Gabe Rotter, he felt nothing but thrilled and honored that his first novel, Duck Duck Wally, was given a moment to shine on the silver screen.
Jump the Shark wanted to meet the guy who had time to work 18-hour days and write a novel at the same time. Gabe was kind enough not only to discuss Duck Duck Wally – which is about a dorky Jewish guy who happens to get in a lot of trouble after becoming a ghostwriter for the biggest rap star in the world – but also to chat about working as Director of Development for Chris Carter’s 1013 Productions, his respect for avid X-Files fans, and what's next for this up-and-coming star.
Jump the Shark: How long have you worked for Chris Carter?
Gabe Rotter: I've worked for Chris for eight years. I went to work for him right out of college. I was a production assistant on The X-Files... I came on at the very end of Season 7 in the summer before Season 8.
Jump the Shark: How was it being a p.a. on that show?
Rotter: It was great – it was a great first experience. I was lucky, Chris is a great guy to work for – Chris and Frank (Spotnitz) really value hard work and I worked my ass off. I did everything as quickly and efficiently as possible and tried to show them that I wanted to be there... and it paid off. Then I became the writers' assistant on Season 9 of the show—
Jump the Shark: Was working with Frank Spotnitz in the writers' room awesome?
Rotter: He's an effin' genius... he's a remarkable person and to know him is to love him. And, for someone who hasn't been around him in a work capacity, they probably wouldn't realize how absolutely brilliant the man is.... And, he's the nicest guy in the world to boot.
Jump the Shark: What are your aspirations at 1013? Producing? Directing?
Rotter: I want to produce, and eventually I want to have my own show... create my own show.
Jump the Shark: Let's talk about the book that you wrote: Duck Duck Wally. Where did the inspiration for Wally Moscowitz (the protagonist) come from?
Rotter: It's embarrassing to say but the idea for a rap ghostwriter came from a lyric from a Diddy song (laughs) – you know, I like the hardcore gangster sh*t. He had a line in one of his songs a few years ago that said, "Don't worry, if I write rhymes, I write checks." And it got me thinking, "OK, who's writing these guys' rhymes, and wouldn't it be funny if it was, like, me? And, Wally Moscowitz came from that idea.
Jump the Shark: How did you publicize the book (before its cameo)?
Rotter: We had to get creative... we planted a rumor that the book was true, that I was a ghostwriter for rap and Gawker picked that up, and came to the book release party. We put fake missing dog posters all around L.A. with a million-dollar reward. It said, "My name is Wally Moscowitz and I've lost my dog, Dr. Schwartzman, and if you find him, please call me at..." and it was a Simon & Schuster number. You could leave a message if you wanted to win a copy of the book – which was really cool, because we got a lot of messages.
Jump the Shark: Duck Duck Wally: had a little cameo in The X-Files: I Want to Believe. It was featured on a table at Mulder and Scully's house and there was huge buzz about it on the fan sites. Did that help you sell a lot of books?
Rotter: I think so, but it's hard to track that. But I have also gotten a lot of Facebook and MySpace friend requests from X-Files fans.
Jump the Shark: What did you think about the new X-Files movie?
Rotter: I think it's a really smart, deep movie. It's different than anything that's being made right now.
Jump the Shark: Did you give the book to Chris to read? What did he think? Rotter: Yeah, I gave it to Chris and told him to read it at his leisure. He said he liked it.
Jump the Shark: Were you honored to have the book in The X-Files?:
Rotter: Yes! I was so excited about that; I couldn’t even believe it for a while.
Jump the Shark: Tell me about being a credited producer on Chris' new hush-hush movie, Fencewalker. How involved were you in the entire process?
Rotter: I was involved in the process from day one, and on the set everyday. Basically, myself and another producer prepped the movie while Chris was up shooting X-Files. And [Carter] kinda jumped into this right when he got back. I can't talk about it more than that (laughs).
Jump the Shark: Is there anything you're working on at 1013 that you can tell me about?
Rotter: We're working on developing several interesting projects right now... [and no] I can't talk about any of them.
Jump the Shark: [Curse you and your g-man-like secrecy!] Thank you so much for chatting with us today.
Rotter: Thank you!
For info on Duck Duck Wally, visit Gaberotter.com.
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