JMS Usenet Posts - 8/8/2003
Dirk A. Loedding
>You've probably seen this, but it's worth repeating:
If you're a fan of the matrix, copy this into your inernet browser so
that windows media player will open it.
mms://wmt-od.stream.ne.jp/ntv/hkzkt/hkzkt10.wmv
nuff said.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers about the ComicCon:
:When will you be selling the autographed SiL scripts, Saturday only?
Yes. For whatever reason, the auto session didn't show up in the
program book, so I hope folks can find out about it.
jms
>Another ComicCon comment:
For those who will be at my talk on Saturday, or know someone who
will, Warner Bros. will be there with a film crew to interview fans
and tape material for the season 5 DVD, which at my request will have
a whole section on the fans, since that has always been an important
part of the show.
So if you're at the con, you may want to be sure to come by to get
into a little slice of B5 history.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
Just one correction:
:Sara (Samm) Barnes...has penned a few scripts for the first season and
:a few for the second. I believe Joe said she is now an Executive
:Procurer.
Negative. She is/was a co-producer on the show.
:Joe did not draw as big a crown as Angelina Jolie , (as expected, it's
:a hair thing)
Yeah, maybe, sure, but I look much more fetching in chiffon any day.
jms
>An article about JMS's panel:
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=001223
>About JMS and a 3rd season of Jeremiah:
There was a lot in that article on the Pulse that was really badly
reported, things were misphrased, two different sentences were put
into one, sections are wholly incomprehensible...it's just a train
wreck of a piece.
However, even though the article totally misstated the sentence so it
didn't make any sense, the last phrase is correct, in that I have zero
desire to return to a third season of Jeremiah. Showtime was great,
no mistake, but MGM has overall been the most heinous, difficult and
intrusive studio I've ever worked for. I've worked for, and had great
relations with, Viacom, Universal, Warner Bros., and a bunch more.
But I will never, ever, work for the present administration at MGM.
I didn't know why so many other writers had a problem there and never
wanted to go back. Now I do.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
:OK, it looks like B5 is gonna go the distance(all 5 seasons) on DVD,
:crusade is still in "being considered" limbo, and rumors are flying
:thick & fast on Jeremiah.
It's my understanding that if the sales continue as they have for B5,
they will indeed release Crusade on DVD.
I read on the net -- was never informed by MGM -- that Jeremiah will
be coming to DVD in January or February of next year, and season 2
begins September 19th on Showtime.
:What about the other B5 movies? I suppose Call To Arms might
:reasonably go in a Crusade set to bulk it up but that still leaves
:Thirdspace and River Of Souls. Are there any whispers/hints you can
:give on the possibility of them finding their way to DVD?
If things continue, I think it very likely from what they've said.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
:A couple of purely selfish questions, if I may... Did MGM's
:intrusiveness affect the Jeremiah story the way that TNT tried to
:affect Crusade?
No, but not through lack of trying.
:Did/does/will the second season end with a cliffhanger?
Yes and no.
:Why, when they've got somebody who's proven that he can tell a
:whopping good story _and_ handle their money responsibly, can't the
:studios just leave him alone to *do* it???
It's not something I understand either.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers about autographs:
>The value increases after the person is deceased.
........I'm feeling much better now....
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
:Joe, could there even *be* a third season of "Jeremiah" without you? I
:don't know how this works--i.e., whether MGM owns the show and could
:conceivably bring in someone else to keep it going.
Sure, they could definitely do so. At the end of their day, it's
their show, and if there should be a season three, they would have no
choice but to bring someone else in.
As an aside...none of this should be taken as a diss of the coming
season. I honestly think that the second season is miles better than
our first season. It's more consistent, takes more chances, it's
really a very strong season.
Thing of it is, you look at the quality of the work, and the amount of
blood on the floor in getting to that point, and have to decide if the
one is worth the other. The process is hard enough without others
making it even harder than it has to be.
And there we are.
jms
>Someone "rants" about how JMS seems to always wind up in fights with
>the suits, no matter what he does or where he goes. The poster is
>worried that JMS will develop a "hard to work with" rep, and that fans
>won't be willing to take the risk that anything JMS works on will wind
>up being completed.
I haven't really commented on this because others have addressed the
specifics quite well, I think. Of the projects cited, only two of the
TV projectrs ended with enmity, Crusade and Jeremiah. I'm on good
terms with SFC with Rangers, good terms with WB on the same basis
after B5...the problem with Rangers going down had nothing to do with
personalities or difficulties working with anybody and everything to
do with ratings vs. costs.
The B5 graphic novel has simply been waiting time for me to get it
done because of the number of commitments I've been dealing with.
So the premise is faulty to begin with. You (the original poster) are
asking people or myself to defend something when your premise is
misleading and untrue. There are FAR more difficult people, or people
who are perceived as difficult, out there working nonstop in TV. This
is a profession and a town where eccentricity and difficulty is pretty
much expected.
And part of your note proceeds, from my point of view, from fear.
There's this thing of, "Well, you shouldn't make trouble, you'll never
work again," which keeps people in bad places long after they should
go, or at least protest. I don't believe in that kind of weakness or
fear. By all rights, I should be hard-core unemployable. My rep for
being a perfectionist, and being a fighter, has been there from 1984,
when I started working in TV. But I've been consistently employed
more than any other writer I know in the field. With very few short
gaps, I've been working in TV almost nonstop for nearly 20 years.
That simply doesn't happen.
The reason it happens is because I'm known for being a pain...but also
for being good, very good, at what I do. After Murder, She Wrote
ended its run, they tried without success to get some MSW TV movies
going. It totally stalled out, script after script. Finally, one
day, they said, "Well, there's always Joe." Then they went to lie
down for a while, but they made the call, and I wrote a script that
got approved, got made, and broke the logjam.
Jeremiah had lain moribund at Showtime and Lion's Gate for *five
years*. They couldn't get it off the ground. Finally, they said,
"Well, there's always Joe." After the usual lie-down, they called...
and it went from a nearly-dead project to on the air for two years.
And as I write this, I have two new series in development, at least in
the formal pitching and development stage with studios attached, and
I've barely left Jeremiah. I've had to turn down other requests for
TV series development because you can really only do two max at a
time, one in first position, the other in second. No network or
studio will take you in third position.
I've *always* been very open about people or situations who piss me
off, but only after being pleasant and negotiating has proven useless,
and I've been the recipient of that lethal combination of arrogant
stupidity.
See, if a network or studio and I disagree, then we just disagree,
it's honorable, that's the give and take you *want* on a show. I have
a lot of respect for Showtime, because whenever I wrote a script and
kind of glossed over anything in the first draft, figuring I could
address it in the next pass, they always caught me at it. *Always*.
And as annoying as it was at times, it was also kinda cool and
gratifying to know that they were paying that kind of attention. And
we never, ever had a problem. Honorable people can have honorable
disagreements. When that happens, my rule is that I don't walk out of
the room, or let them walk out of the room, until either they convince
me of the rightness of their views, or I do the same to them. They
agree not to pull rank and I agree not to pull a prima donna.
And when you have a situation like that, as big as the arguments may
get, I never have a problem with it. I actually *enjoy* that.
I *do* have a problem with dishonorable behavior. Always have. When
someone lies to me, fucks me, or otherwise acts toward me in a
dishonorable way, then as far as I'm concerned the rules of engagement
change at that moment. And I do so unapologetically.
Why? Because it scares off the snakes. If you know that you're going
to be raked over the coals if you act dishonorably toward me, it
mitigates against those with such intentions, they think twice. Those
who are honorable never seem to have a problem coming to me. It's the
same reason I always tell every studio I work for my three rules: I
don't lie, I don't bullshit, and I never, ever bluff. And I expect
the same in return.
So no, as far as my work is concerned, it is not and has *never* been
a problem. And if it ever *were* to become a problem, I'd move off
into writing comics full time, or novels, or something else. I'm more
or less set in a variety of venues. The result is that I write what I
want, for whom I want, and I get paid for doing things I'd have to do
for free otherwise.
Your concern, really, is that *you* are afraid that *you* won't get
what *you* want. That ain't my problem. Nor will I allow your fears
to become my fears. I do what I like and I say what I like. I've
worked my whole life to get to that point, a point very few manage to
achieve, and if you think I'm going to change that because you're
concerned you might not get your fix of a certain kind of
story...dream on.
As per:
:So I comment on the side stories, and the DEVALUATION of JMS' brand of
:arc-based storytelling in the eyes of casual tv watchers and diehard fans.
It ain't my brand in the sense that I do other things, and I don't
think I have it in me to do anything of the complexity of B5 again for
television...to write 91 out of 110 eps and be that gonzo nuts in
every detail. It damn near killed me the last time; if I tried it
again, it *would* kill me.
It's great that you want the next thing I do to be the same as the
last thing I did. But that ain't why I'm in the game. I want the
next thing I do to be *different* from the last thing I did.
It's the difference between having ten years of storytelling...or one
year of storytelling ten times.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
:Correct me if I am wrong, but did TNT want more sex and violence in
:Crusade?
Yes.
:I read this from every news source out there so it must be true.
Well, the one does not necessarily follow from the other....
:How is it that a studio after seeing your work on Babylon 5 could have
:so little faith in your work?
It wasn't a matter of faith in my abilities, it was that they wanted
one kind of show, I wanted to do another, and there was no common
ground we could stand on.
:Couldn't they see where the story was going?
Yes, but it wasn't where they wanted to go.
:Are they totally out of creative mindset?
One assumes.
:Couldn't they see future profit in the series?
Networks don't get future long-term profit, they only get what the ads
bring in first run (and reruns on their network). Only the studio
reaps long-term profits.
:After all of the series box sets for Babylon 5 are all out will
:Crusade be released on DVD?
My unofficial understanding is that this will be the case, yes.
:And, if the sales go exceptionally well is there hope of reviving
:Crusade? I know that WB owns B5 but is there a chance?
Thing is, Crusade wasn't a show that went many seasons and then
disappeared with a strong fan base and a recognizeable name, both
elements necessary to a revival. It was shot through the head while
still in its metaphorical cradle, and didn't have the time to acquire
either of those.
So, bottom line, I really don't think it's ever going to happen. And
the more time passes the less likely it continues to become.
:If Crusade will never be revived will there be any future B5 projects?
That's a whole different subject, and there may be a few things in the
offing there, but I'm keeping a low profile on this in case it doesn't
go anywhere, which is so often the case with TV and such.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
>What happens if Jeremiah returns for a third season without you? I
>mean i guess a replacement could be find (i know hard to imagine but
>in this weird world anything seems to be possieble :) ), but the
>series would certainly have a different kind of feeling, who knows
>maybe even a different direction.
True. And who knows, it could be better or worse evenly, depending on
who they get. We'll just have to see.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
:Did you approach parts of the second season finale knowing that you
:wouldn't be doing the third season?
Yes. That thought was pretty much all that kep me going at the end.
:My question is whether there will be some sense of closure at the end
:of the second season. Will people be able to look on the first two
:seasons as some sort of whole project and enjoy it as such? Or will
:we be left hanging and wondering what might have been?
No, it actually does have some closure to it. So if that were to be
the last season, it would have a good end to it.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers about "Rising Stars - Bright":
>The last issue (#3) was back in the beginning of June, with no new
>issue in July and nothing listed on the Top Cow Web site for August.
>Is this yet another Rising Stars series that will be stalled by Top
>Cow?
I don't know, they generally don't keep me informed about this...but
Fi turned the scripts in months ago, for the full series, so any delay
would have to be on the TC side.
jms
>About Buddy:
Just to let folks know the latest...Buddy is still hanging fire over
in the guest bedroom, where he's had his digs set up. Gaining weight
and cuteness factors by at a frightening rate. Still looking for
someone trustworthy to adopt him. The cypress trees we dug up to get
him will never be the same again, I fear, but I'd rather have them
dead and him alive than vice-versa.
If somebody wants to put up some photos where people can see him, let
me know here and I'll send you some jpgs of His Unholy Cuteness.
One sidelight: a local cat and kitten rescue group has been extremely
helpful in dealing with all the other cats that moved onto the
property, getting the adults spayed/neutered, and finding homes for
the kittens. If any of the folks who've been following this story
want to make a donation in the name of Babylon 5 to this group, you
should certainly feel free to do so. Like any such group, they live
from hand to mouth (or paw to maw), and I'm sure they'd be happy with
any help.
They can be reached at www.kittenrescue.org and if you're looking for
kittens to adopt, they're the ones to contact. (Who knows, you might
get one of the kittens they rescued from Casa Straczynski.)
Main thing is...he's happy, and well, and bouncing around and refuses
to understand that we just *call* that thing at the other end of a
cable a mouse, it isn't *really* a mouse and PUT THAT DOWN....
jms
>And more:
The Buddy photos are now up at:
http://jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu/~bfrazer1/buddy/
And as requested, I took some of him under my desk.
jms
>JMS quotes and answers:
:He's a charmer for sure. And with all the cat toys in the photos...
:ball, bed, post, blanket, etc., it looks like he's planning on
:sticking around.
Yeah, turns out his suitcase was the second thing to come out of the
hole....
jms
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| Dirk A. Loedding <*> ju...@america.net |
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