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Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Two Summertime Questions
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>(1) Will the issue of *Rising Stars* numbered 1/2 that is due to be released on a general trade basis this week be the same as the original version issued by Wizard as a specialty item last summer, or will it contain new material? </font>
I believe it's pretty much the same.
<font color=red>(2) Is it still your intention that your only con appearance this summer will be at the San Diego Comicon, or is it possible that we might see you
either at Wizard World Chicago (August 17-19) or at this year's WorldCon in Philadelphia (August 30 - September 3)? </font>
SDCC is it. I'm just too jammed on deadlines for anything else.
jms
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From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Some general round-up things....
1) As folks sorta kinda know already, in addition to the B5 pilot movie, I'm doing another project (a series) which goes into full-blown prep in just a few weeks. Due to the air date being moved up a bit, and consequently the start of filming and prep being moved up, I'm going to be unable to make it to San Diego Comic Con this year. My apologies for those who were hoping to see some of the footage from Rangers that I'd planned to bring. (And with regrets, I can't let anyone else walk around with that stuff.) I've only missed it once before, due
to pneumonia, because it's my favorite convention and the ONLY big one I was planning to do this year, but the way the shooting schedule is laying out, I don't have any choice.
2) On the topic of the other, non-B5 project...which I *still* can't talk about by name because the deal hasn't been announced yet (it's making everybody nuts)...we're deep into casting, we've hired about 90% of our crew, and scripts for the series are well underway. We will be rolling film on the opening movie September 4th, finish that, then go right into filming the 18 episodes for a total of 20 hours.
3) The producer's cut of Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers is now in hand, and goes to the network and studio today. I think it's a really kickass movie, and in terms of general production, performances, and stuff like that, it's probably right there with In the Beginning (not in scale, of course, since ItB is just *huge* and sews up the B5 storyline in this big tapestry, they're two vastly different kinds of stories, but in terms of overall quality of
production and how well it works).
4) The latest draft of the Rising Stars screenplay, "Born in Fire," went to the producers the other day, and I think we're now in pretty good shape. As it turns out, there was an article in the Hollywood trades about a week or two ago, in which MGM talked to vendors (licensees) about their upcoming films for 2002, and Rising Stars was among them...so thats kinda cool. If the first film works out, they want to commission 2 more and make it into a trilogy that reflects the 3 act structure of the RS comics.
5) My new graphic novel from Top Cow, "Delicate Creatures," will debut in September at a bookstore near you. (I think it's coming out in hardcover.)
6) Jeanne Cavelos new installment of the Techno-Mage trilogy, "Summoning Light," is scheduled to be out July 1st but is already in some stores.
7) Talks have resumed on the third TV project that I had alluded to earlier, now that I've finished up enough stuff to clear the boards a bit, and I'll let you know more about that if and when it becomes a reality.
8) Because of all the stuff going on in 1-7 above, there have been some delays in the pub dates on RS and Midnight Nation. These are entirely my responsibility because I can only write one word at a time, but I'll be catching up shortly. Tow Cow has been very gracious in giving me the time I need to get deal with the TV/film stuff.
-- and two annoying little nigglies to round it out to 10 --
9) Folks have emailed to ask if I'm still lurking on the scifi.com/babylon5 board because I haven't said anything there in a while...the answer is no, because fan fiction began to show up, and where it is, I can't be. I do find this kind of awkward, because it's the one thing I've ever asked from fans: if you know I'm in X location, however infrequently, please keep fanfic away from
where I can see it, especially since I'm telling new stories now in the B5 universe and don't want to imperil myself legally by being exposed to fanfic. There are plenty of sites where that stuff is available.
9a) A subset of 9 and a request...I keep seeing posts from people who are freely exchanging textfiles containing the Crusade scripts that were posted on bookface.com. To those folks, the rest of you can move on...I don't think you've stopped to realize that what you're passing around so freely is my
property. It's not taking from WB, or TNT, it's taking from *me*. I own the scripts that I write, under the Writers Guild Separation of Rights provision. I allowed Bookface to put them up because they gave me assurances that they could not easily or well be pirated. (They clearly did not anticipate the ingenuity of some folks.) You are infringing on my rights, my copyright, my ownership, and causing me to regret my decision to let folks see them, such that I may never do this again because it greatly reduces my ability to ever sell them or publish them in book form in future. You have, in effect, stolen my property and are freely distributing same. That it's not available elsewhere is not the issue; we all want things we can't have, or which are not
currently available. I'm asking you politely, as the guy who *made* this show
and *wrote* those scripts (and *owns* those scripts) for you to stop. If it doesn't stop, I'm going to have to start taking action against those doing this. (I've been giving my attorneys quite a workout lately, inclusive of making sure that a certain individual who has been fabricating stuff about me for six years on the unmoderated group...will do so no longer.)
10) Last bit of annoyance...in that past, I've recommended various websites to folks as great places to shop or get free information...so it's only fair to report back when it goes the other way. In all the time I've spent online, the *worst* experience I've ever had has been with thinkgeek.com. They waited weeks to send out stuff ordered for next-day shipment, screwed up the order and sent the wrong stuff, spent weeks trying to get someone to talk to about it, got the proverbial buck-passing, assurances made that were not kept, and the
result is that it's now three months and I'm still nowhere on the problems. I've never seen a company this careless or inefficient or sloppy. If you're looking for electronics to buy...go ANYwhere else. Trust me on this one.
Which is about the longest posting I've written in almost a year, because I haven't had time to keep up on stuff...sorry for the frequent lapses, but as noted above, things have been mad beyond description this year in terms of the work involved, busier than at any other time in my life, so I've had to pull back...on the theory that I can either write about the work or do the work, and
at this moment the latter has to take precedence.
Things will, one hopes, lighten up soon....
jms
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<font face="Georgia">Posted on July 2
</font><font face="Verdana"><font color="red">Did they leave in the copyright notice?</font>
Yup.
jms
</font><font face="georgia">Just so ya'll know, that's the last posting JMS seems to have made. Quite a gap, but like he mentions in the previous post, it's been kinda busy...Wizz</font>
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Subject: new jms series announced
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Well, the moratorium on information is over now that MGM has announce the info at San Diego Comic Con (which, sadly, I can't attend due to the press of work).
It was previously announced that I was writing the pilot 2-hour opener for a series entitled JEREMIAH. What was not known, though speculated about, was the show going to series. We got the go ahead right around the end of the year, though I've had to be kinda quiet about it until now.
In brief: it's an order for 20 hours (the opening 2 hour movie and 18 hours to follow) for the Showtime Network. We start formal prep next Wednesday, and start shooting September 4th; after finishing the movie we then go right into shooting the series. We've hired all our crew, we're in the very last stages of casting (with several name actors up for various roles), and we're just
about ready to rock.
This is going to be a heavily dramatic series, character-oriented, with a measure of action and humor as well. Because this is pay cable, they've taken off the usual broadcast TV handcuffs and told me to take it to the wall creatively, no restrictions, so I plan to do just that.
The series will debut on Showtime in January with a huge PR campaign. I still kinda have to wait for Showtime before I can talk specifics about others involved (writers, directors, cast, and so on). But in my view it's a terrific team, and it's going to be a fun show.
jms
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<font face="verdana">To the various inquiries....
Yes, it will eventually be syndicated, but not for about 2 years.
Joe Dante is not involved due to other commitments, but another well known feature film director is now attached to direct the pilot movie. (Again, I can't give specifics on crew or cast until Showtime comes out with that
first...but I can say that there is a rather impressive pedigree of people both in front of and behind the camera).
It will air in prime-time, on the Showtime network, and we have a heck of a lot more money to play with than on B5...it's going to be a huge show.
jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Yes, what is it about? Science Fiction? Fantasy? Western? Who or what is this Jeremiah?</font>
Right around now in our timeline, a virus wipes out everyone on the planet over the age of puberty (figure around 12-13).
It is now about 15 years later. Those who were once children have now grown up and are in their late 20s on down. For 15 years, they have been living on the scraps of the old world; now they must either continue the downward slide, or begin to rebuild the world, taking responsibility for themselves and the world and each other.
It is, oddly enough, a post-apocalyptic series about *beginnings* rather than endings, about hope rather then despair. It is about the new world rising out of the ashes of the old world, what shape that world will take, and who will get to decide that shape.
More than that would be to give too much away.
jms
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<font face="Verdana"><font color="red">The best of your knowledge is only half the story apparently. You simply choose to believe the worst about CC, accusing her of lying, while in reality both JMS and CC could have been and probably were telling the truth as they saw it.</font>
I can't believe people are still debating about this...
Go down to the frikkin' bookstore and pick up a copy of the current TV Zone, issue 41...there's an interview with Claudia. In it she says it again, point blank: she CHOSE to QUIT the SHOW. Nothing about any kind of miscommunication, she CHOSE to QUIT.
Previously she said it was about money, now she says it was because she didn't want to keep doing a part where she didn't have much to do (odd since at the end of the last episode with her Ivanova was put IN CHARGE of B5), the story has changed here and there elsewhere, but either way, the end result is the same, it was her decision.
I told the truth. Deal with it.
jms
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Subject: Re: [B5JMS] new jms series announced
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
<font color=red>There is a post-apocalypse children series in excistence called "The Tribe" http://www.tribeworld.com/
Where A plague has wiped out all the adults on Earth, and the children must struggle to survive in a hostile world...</font>
Except this isn't about the children at that time, it's about the adults they have become...it's not about teens, it's about people now in their late 20s and below.
<font color=red>Will Jeremiah be filmed in Vancouver or LA?</font>
Vancouver.
jms
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Subject: Re: Legend Of The Rangers REVIEW online now.......
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
FYI there's a good article/interview on Rangers at:
www.prevuemagazine.com/Articles/Flash
jms
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<font face="Verdana"><font color="red">jms, I have a question about how you define copying. In the Crusade bible, it says that photocopying is out ... That's not what I want to do. The title page has your autograph on it. I would like to scan that and put it up on my webpage - none of the juicy bits inside, just the autographed title page.
Would that be ok, or would it be breaking the rules?
Thanks!!</font>
It's totally okay.
jms
</p>
</font>
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Subject: Official Jeremiah/jms Press Release
From: [email protected] (Jms at B5)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere, but here's the official release on the new series I'm doing for Showtime.
jms
New MGM Sci-Fi Series JEREMIAH Coming to SHOWTIME in 2002; Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner to Star
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) - Showtime Networks has greenlit its latest series from MGM, a new Sci-Fi series, JEREMIAH, starring Luke Perry ("Beverly Hills, 90210") and Malcolm-Jamal Warner ("Malcolm & Eddie"), it was announced by Hank Cohen, President of MGM Television Entertainment. Created for television by sci-fi icon J. Michael Straczynski (Creator & Executive Producer of "Babylon 5"), JEREMIAH is based on Platinum Studios' award-winning graphic novel series by Belgian author Hermann Huppen.
In his long anticipated return to series television, Perry will play the lead
role of Jeremiah. Warner, formerly of the critically acclaimed "Cosby Show" also makes his return to series television.
Stated Cohen, "We're thrilled to bring together such a powerful talent roster
that expands our strength as a leading provider of quality Sci-Fi programming."
Based on a European comic book, whose characters have achieved cult status in
the U.S and Europe, the 20-episode series is slated to debut in early 2002. JEREMIAH is being produced by Jeremiah Productions Inc. in association with Lion's Gate Television and Platinum Studios and will be distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution. This new series marks a continuing partnership between MGM and SHOWTIME on such highly successful sci-fi series as "Stargate SG-1" and "The Outer Limits," as well as the much anticipated "Leap Years" which debuts on July 29th on SHOWTIME.
Straczynski will serve as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Sam Egan, who has produced and written for "The Outer Limits" and "Northern Exposure." Russell Mulcahy (SHOWTIME's "Queer As Folk") will direct the two-hour premiere. The executive producers also include Luke Perry, Joe Dante
("Small Soldiers," "Innerspace," "The Howling," "The Burbs," "Twilight Zone:
The Movie"), Michael Finnell ("Teaching Mrs. Tingle," "Small Soldiers," "Twilight Zone: The Movie," "The Howling"), Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who developed the hit film "Men In Black," Ervin Rustemagic and Gregory Noveck, who are both co-producing several upcoming live-action features for Platinum Studios with Rosenberg. The creative executives for Showtime are John Vasey and Randy Runkle. For MGM the creative executive is Craig Roessler.
JEREMIAH is set in a future post-apocalyptic world where, almost a decade before, a deadly virus wiped out the world's adult population sparing only those who haven't reached puberty. Now in their 20s, the oldest survivors of the pandemic include Jeremiah and the colorful but cynical Kurdy. Jeremiah is on a personal quest to relocate a mysterious place called Valhalla, which his
father claimed might hold some hope for the survivors. As Jeremiah falls into a reluctant partnership with Kurdy, both explore new areas and encounter other groups of young adults who are divided into rival social groups. In the course of the season opener, Jeremiah's smaller personal quest is redirected when he discovers a group of highly organized survivors who want to enlist him to orchestrate peace among the warring factions and to try and prevent the killer
virus from returning.
MGM Television Entertainment handles television development and production for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (NYSE:MGM). Its series lineup includes the forthcoming
"Leap Years," slated to debut in July, "Stargate SG-1," "The Outer Limits," and
"Poltergeist: The Legacy," as well as original made-for-television movies such
as the upcoming "Oooph!," starring Paul Reiser, Joe Mantegna, and Christine
Lahti and "In The Time Of The Butterflies," with Salma Hayek and Edward James Olmos.
Platinum Studios, home to a growing library of over 1,000 international and
domestic comic book characters, is an entertainment and production company
focusing on comic book-to-film adaptations. The company was recently formed by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg following a successful high-profile career in the comic book industry as head and founder of Malibu Comics, which was bought by Marvel Comics. During his Malibu Comics tenure, Rosenberg discovered and published the property "Men In Black," which he then developed for feature film and television. The feature grossed nearly $600 million worldwide for Columbia,
with "MIB2" now in production. Platinum has a slate of live action feature film projects, which Rosenberg will produce along with video game tie-ins and soundtracks, at many studios including DreamWorks, Miramax/Dimension and New Line. The company is represented by the William Morris Agency and Ovitz's Artists Management Group.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc., owns the premium television networks SHOWTIME, THE MOVIE CHANNEL and FLIX, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME TOO, SHOWTIME SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME, SHOWTIME BEYOND, SHOWTIME NEXT, SHOWTIME WOMEN, SHOWTIME
FAMILYZONE and TMC xtra. SNI operates and manages the premium television network SUNDANCE CHANNEL, which is owned by SNI, Robert Redford and Universal Studios. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SET (Showtime Event Television) Pay Per View. Additionally, the advertiser-supported television network SHOWTIME EXTREME is available in Spain through a joint venture with Media Park and the advertiser-supported television network. SHOWTIME is available in Turkey through a joint venture with U.K.-based Zone Vision.
