[Interview] Bartosz Sztybor, writer and CD Projekt Red narrative manager – We are delighted and enthusiastic about our exclusive interview with Bartosz Sztybor, writer of comics, films and narrative manager at CD Projekt Red. In this interview by me, Renan Alboy, we talked a little about his inspirations and recent work.
Moreover than his extensive experience in the literature of different genres, Sztybor is also the writer and producer of the animated series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The production will launch in 2022 on Netflix. Come check everything that was said!
Check out the interview:
1) First, we’d like to thank you for conceding this interview and ask you to introduce yourself to our readers.
Thanks for the invitation and the opportunity.
My name is Bartosz Sztybor, I’m a comic book and movie writer, and a narrative manager at CD PROJEKT RED. I was born and still living in Poland where I started writing almost 20 years ago and where I published more than two dozen comic books, several children’s books and wrote a couple tv shows and short movies. Few years ago I started expanding my writing to foreign markets, published first comic book issues and graphic novels in France, Italy, UK, Portugal, Hungary and the USA, and showed my movies at festivals all over the world.
2) What were your inspirations at the beginning of your career?
From early childhood I was watching a lot of movies, reading many books and comic books and playing tons of games. The cool thing was that I could start a day with a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie and finish it with a Lars Von Trier film. I really liked pulp, high-concepts and B movies but also a slice of life and character driven stories, experimental cinema. That’s why I like to mix those worlds in the things I write. It was my main inspiration when I started writing and it didn’t change until now.
3) We know you have worked with different genres in your career. Do you have a favorite among them? Which is more challenging to write about?
I really like creating genre-stories, I like to play with its mechanism and conventions, and I also love to mix genres. So I’m a genre creator, but I don’t have a favourite one, I just like genres in general.
That doesn’t mean every genre is easy to write. I think that the most natural for me is grotesque, mixing surprising violence with dark comedy. That’s why I’m a huge fan of movies by Coen brothers and Korean cinema. I’m also a big admirer of horror movies (especially indie and arthouse ones) but unfortunately I didn’t write many things in that genre. Upcoming The Witcher: Witch’s Lament will be the first proper one!
Writing about people’s emotions is always challenging and sometimes emotionally draining because I have to feel everything my characters’ feel to understand their path, goals and dreams. But it also pays off as anything else, because it’s so nice to see that your creations are not just flat drawings but they’re becoming living beings.
4) In The Witcher: Fading Memories, we see a plot about how the human attitude with what’s different makes us wonder “who are the real monsters” and this is a frequent topic in the franchise. However, Fading Memories goes deeper into this line of questioning, as we see with Geralt, the Fisherman, and the Sorcerer. How was developing the psychological side of the characters in this story?
The main idea for this series was showing people who are suddenly losing the ability of doing what they were good at. What would happen to the people that became unnecessary? Would they become monsters or fading memories of their younger selves?
It’s a very interesting theme for me as we’re living in a world that changes so fast and doesn’t care much about people that are left behind. Grim world of The Witcher and Geralt as a character are perfect to tell that kind of story. Geralt was always an outcast, created for one thing – hunting monsters, monsters that one day can disappear.
That’s why all the characters in The Witcher: Fading Memories are in the pivotal moments of their lives and I wanted to see what will happen to them. I like my characters to surprise me, that’s why I’m trying to think like them and become them for a moment to see where they will take me. Fading Memories had many different endings when the story was in development, but when I started becoming the witcher, the mage or the fisherman, their story emerged in my head. They showed me where to go with their tales. Becoming my characters is the best way of developing their psychological side and creating engaging stories.
5) What do you think of deeper approaches to the psychological and political side when writing?
Characters with psychological depth were and still are the most interesting for me to read and write. I prefer to watch and tell stories about a hero with flaws, urges and a moral compass because the choices they make are much more exciting. What’s great about psychological depth is that you can understand that kind of character, empathize with them. Even her baddest, most violent choices can be the ones you accept because you understand where they come from. Thanks to that the story becomes more ambiguous and that’s what I always search and try to create in my stories.
As for the political side, I’m always trying to be actual but not always about politics. I care about not only political, but also social, national and moral problems of today’s world so I like to comment on that in my stories. I don’t like to moralize readers, sell them one proper vision of my ethics. I prefer to create situations resembling the ones we have in today’s world and then learn what can happen with different approaches. I don’t like to give answers with my comic books, I prefer to ask important questions that will lead to an afterthought, a reflection. I also like to learn something myself from my characters and their choices. Sometimes they have a lot to tell, ha ha!
6) We are aware that the Comic Books end up becoming somewhat canon for their respective games, such as The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077. How do you see this kind of exchange between different media? Is there a way to know the exact balance between leaving easter eggs for those who have played the games without making new readers confused?
As you said yourself, the most important thing is to maintain balance between giving joy to the fans and creating something that new readers will fall in love with. When writing The Witcher or Cyberpunk 2077 comic books, I was always searching for crucial elements for each world but also thinking about an universal story that can take place in that particular world.
I wasn’t thinking about how many characters or places, or other easter eggs I should insert. I was looking for a core element and then I was writing an independent story that revolves around that element. When you read The Witcher books or played the game by CD PROJEKT RED, you knew that Geralt is somehow fated to hunt monsters. Him fighting monsters is the core element so I thought what if there would be less and less monsters for him to fight. A story that can be interesting for people knowing The Witcher franchise and for those who didn’t hear about him at all.
7) Since you work for Ankama, we have a little fan question about Dofus – did you know it’s quite popular here in Brazil? We’re curious if you’d be interested in writing any DOFUS & WAKFU mangas, seeing it has extensive lore and you could give it your personal spin.
Oh, I didn’t know Dofus is so popular in Brazil, that’s cool! Yeah, I could write Dofus & Wakfu mangas if I get the opportunity. But as you said, I should be able to give it my personal spin cause I need that kind of freedom to write good stories and I have it when writing The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077.
8) Now let’s talk a little about the new Cyberpunk animation that will be released in 2022 on Netflix – which you are the writer and producer for. Could you tell us how this project started and how did you end up involved? We’re excited to hear more about Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
The project was started by Rafał Jaki, business development director at CD PROJEKT RED, he’s the guy behind many cool projects here in CDPR. The ideas to create The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 comic books, tabletop games and other stuff came from him. So one day he just called me and invited me to write a test episode for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
Was extremely excited but also stressed if I manage to write a cool script that would fit the Cyberpunk 2077 world and anime style. Fortunately, Rafał liked my try so I started writing more episodes. After months of working together we saw that we have a similar vision on many elements so Rafał decided to appoint me to the position of producer, dealing mostly with the story elements. A dream job!
9) Still on the topic of Edgerunners, is there anything you can tell us about how it’s been working with Studio Trigger?
I’m trying not to tell too much as we’re still in production so I don’t want to spoil anything. Working with Studio Trigger is a new experience and an important lesson, but I think going into more details will be more appropriate when we’ll be closer to the premiere.
10) You also have more cyber surprises for us! What can the readers expect from the upcoming comic “Cyberpunk 2077 – You have my Word”? Are there more titles coming for this franchise?
Cyberpunk 2077: You Have My Word is a noir story involving a group of cyberpunks, Valentinos gang, Militech corporation and an old lady working in a diner that has a big secret from her past. I’m thinking of it as a character driven dark thriller with a strong action vibe.
Don’t want to spoil too much but you will find here a strong cast of exceptional characters, a handful of really difficult choices that will bring you to the edge of disliking your favourite hero and a lot of twists and turns that will make you see the bigger picture from a very different perspective.
Last but not least, it will be a story about trust. Not only who to trust in the year 2077, but also who to trust today, in our troubled world and pained society. If trust still exists or is it becoming another currency to get things done?
11) Last but not least, we’d like to ask about the new Witcher comic. Witch’s Lament will be released soon and by its summary, we can expect a complex plot. What can you tell us about Geralt’s new adventure? What can we expect from it?
It will be my tribute to a genre I really love: horrors. And by horror I don’t mean slashers like Halloween or Scream. I don’t mean monsters movies like the classic Frankenstein or Dracula. I mean the indie and arthouse horrors like Rosemary’s baby, Suspiria, Hereditary or The Witch that are using the genre to tell a story about moral or sociological problems.
The Witcher, it’s characters and the world itself have a great potential to tell a dark, scary and intelligent story about deep fears and problems of our society. So I decided to take Geralt on a journey into a new genre: indie horror.
The Witcher: Witch’s Lament will be something new – dark, dense, scary with Geralt’s going deeper and deeper into the mouth of madness. So get prepared to see burning witches, strange cults, terrifying nightmares and a few tales of vengeance and guilt. All these things look really horrific when drawn by the amazing Vanesa R. Del Rey and colored by the masterful Jordie Bellaire. I hope you’ll have nightmares after reading it, ha ha!
