JMS Speaks (again)

Newsgroup articles from JMS

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">In case you missed notice anywhere else, this Fridays (April 19) episode of Jeremiah on Showtime starts at 10:30PM eastern, not 10:45PM.

The movie Traffic runs until 10:30 and there is no Stargate SG-1 episode.
</font>

Wow, good catch, even I had not been aware of that. Thanks muchly.


jms
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<font color="red">Just got the new issue #18 of Rising Stars, if you open it from the back, it is a 3 page Preview of Jeremiah, but on page 1 and page 2, although the layout is different, the TEXT is the SAME! and on page 3, the interview just stops mid-sentence. someone royally screwed up on this one!! please let us know if the whole text would be available somewhere else.
</font>

You just got a printers error, all the others I have seen are correct. You can return it at your store for one without an error.

jms
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<font color="red">However, it has been said on one of the mailing lists that certain scenes are being reshot, with less sex and and violence, to be used in syndication. Obviously, you would not be able to syndicate the show without some editing; but, if you are actively refilming scenes with tamer content, wouldnt that suggest that the a lot of what we are seeing is gratuitous?
</font>

If that is what has been said then what has been said is erroneous.

We shoot both a syndication version and a pay cable version simultaneously, there are no reshoots after the fact, though some audio dubbing does happen in post.

Every movie and TV series does this to ensure the life of the series in domestic on-air syndication. No one makes a big budget movie or series without making an alternate version available. It is just pro forma.

jms
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<font color="red">Is there any set standard to decide what constitutes a season?
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Nope.

jms
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<font color="red">I was re-watching the pilot the other day with a couple of friends who had not seen it, and got to wondering: Are we going to see any more of Theo?
</font>
Definitely. She is in Thieves Honor, A Means to an End, and the two-part season finale Things Left Unsaid.

jms
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<font color="red">I would have thought that Showtime would have told you, but knowing the way television works, you would probably be the last one they would tell.
</font>

They did, actually, though I still heard about it first on this group.

Just a reminder for folks jumping in on this...the ep tonight at 10:30 is one of our best, I think. Very moving.

<font color="red">Working too hard? [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

It is a lifestyle thing.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and do not send me story ideas)
</font>

thanks

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Any news to share on the DVDs? </font>

There's nothing that I can share at this time that would not preclude others in the food chain from doing the same on this subject.


jms

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<font color="red">On what day will you be at Comic Con this year?</font>

Dunno, nothing's been set yet.

jms

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RE: "Rising Stars" Brings Peace to the Middle East
<font color="red">
I know it has been out for quite a while, and I haven't read the comic book myself, but I just have to comment about the laughable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict in one of the issues of "Rising Stars".

One of the heroes of this comic comes to the Middle East and makes the great desert land fertile again - thus bringing peace to the region. I love most of what JMS writes, but here he shows that he has no clue as to what's going on in this part of the world.

First of all, not all of the middle east is infertile desert. We've got a lot of green areas. We're even big exporters of fruit and vegetables - you may be familiar with Jaffa Oranges. The dispute is over land, nationalistic, and somewhat over religion. Making infertile patches of land fertile would only make the situation worse - each side would have even more reason to cling to its claims.

But hey, it's just a comic book. No harm done.
</font>
One of the heroes of this comic comes to the Middle East and makes the great desert land fertile again - thus bringing peace to the region. I love most of what JMS writes, but here he shows that he has no clue as to what's going on in this part of the world.

First off, the comic in no way indicated that this would solve the problem in its entirety, only that what happened would be a start.

Second, it wasn't just some guys coming in to make the ground fertile, it was that in a matter of a couple of hours the land was transformed as if directly by the hand of God, nobody knew it was the specials behind it, creating the impression of a newly minted miracle that favored EVERYone in the region, which would be enough to give anyone pause.

And given that this was expressed right in the book itself, quite clearly in dialogue, either you didn't read it, didn't understand it (and then go on to say that others don't have a clue) or just didn't care and just came in to poke.

Either way, what you present is a gross and inaccurate simplification of the story.

jms

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<font color="red">> And given that this was expressed right in the book itself, quite clearly in dialogue, either you didn't read it, didn't understand it (and then go on to say that others don't have a clue) or just didn't care and just came in to poke.

You must not have read his post, he says in the first sentence he didn't read it. You might note his country code .il is Israel, so it seems entirely appropriate that he post his conclusion contrasting the events in the Rising Stars issue and the real world. And this is valid regardless of what the comic book says in the dialogue.</font>

It cannot be a valid response if he didn't read the book. He is criticizing without knowing what he's criticizing, therefore his opinion is not valid. As Harlan said, you're not entitled to your opinion, you're entitled to your *informed* opinion. If he didn't bother to get informed, to just slag off the book without actually reading it, his opinion is not valid, I don't care what his country code is. That's not a justification for not doing your homework.

jms
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<font color="red">Is there any chance that we'll get more episodes of City of Dreams? As I recall, you wrote and submitted three scripts that haven't been produced. </font>

The sci-fi channel pulled its financing for most of its audio dramas, so that's pretty much that, though the episodes do remain at the site (and can be downloaded via audible.com).

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

<font face="georgia">
Just an FYI...my latest The Amazing Spider-Man hit comic stores today, the 8th, and the next Midnight Nation, issue 11 (one more to go) comes out next Wednesday.

jms

<font color="red">Is TC planning on doing a collected edition of MN when Issue 12 comes out? Would look great next to my copies of Rising Stars and Watchmen...</font>

Yup. It'll be out in September.

jms

<font color="red">Also Joe, will you possibly be doing any more creator-owned work, but from Marvel? </font>

Yup. My contract allows for both creator owned work as well as stuff inside the Marvel universe.

<font color="red">You mentioned in an article/interview some time ago about Joe's Comics plans for a Hard SF comic miniseries. Is that going to see the light of day, somewhere?</font>


Haven't decided yet.

jms
([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

</font>

<font face="georgia">Re: Smith to pen AMS; JMS to launch new Spidey comic

<font color="red">As you sit here for X number of hours every week, silently poring through the newsgroups, glued to the screen, pause for a moment and imagine Kurt and Priest and JMS (and your fellow posters) sitting, silently poring through the newsgroups, glued to the screen... Kind of eerie, isn't it?</font>

THE POSTS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! RUN! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! NOW!!

jms
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<font color="red">Spider-Man has been on time for 40 years, and lately he hasn't been.</font>

You gonna back that up with figures? You mean in 40 years it hasn't been late ONCE? Show your work, pal. It's one thing to come on here with broad proclamations, another to put your facts where your mouth is. Or didn't you expect anybody to call you on this?

<font color="red">It has understandably upset people.</font>

Is that why the circulation has more than doubled since issue 30 and is hovering just below the 100,000 per issue figure? Is that why it's currently the #4 book and creeping up on #3 fast?

<font color="red">The only thing to do now is to start putting the book out on time or fire the tardy people. That's the only way to rebuild the good will of spider-fans.</font>

Funny...I kinda thought that telling good stories was the way to go here. Silly me.

And again, how many times does it have to be said? The glitch was a one-off that had a temporary cascade effect. I'm now 4-5 issues AHEAD of schedule on scripts. Don't take my word for it, ask John Romita, Axel Alonso, Joe Q,
anygoddamnbody at Marvel. Not that the facts seem to matter here, but just for amusement's sake....

As for the goodwill issue...and please show cause why you should be entitled to speak for "spider-fans" as a group, were you elected, did I miss another primary?... as noted above, sales have almost tripled since the change-over, so I don't think the problem is with the fan base, which is only expanding, not contracting.

It's with a handful of very loud individuals who can't Get Over It, who have never ever been late with anything in their own lives, or else how could they justify bitching about somebody else getting hammered by deadlines so heinous that he missed a couple of deaDlines for the first time in 30 years with the result that they suggest that these people (viz: me) should be fired for being "tardy."

Some people like to demand in others a degree of perfection they do not require of or manifest in themselves.

The "spider-fans" you refer to, the 90% of them who send in emails and letters and the like, are generous, kind, understanding, and want to see their character portrayed in dynamic and interesting ways, they don't sit perched on the Diamond comics shipping list like demented vultures. (I've been reading comics for something lke 35 years and I never even knew what a Diamond shipping list WAS until I started writing comics.) They have criticisms, and they find goofs on my part, and I *like* that, because I learn in the process, so I can make the next script that much better for their insight. They're good, intelligent, informed *readers*.

You speak for them about as accurately as you speak for the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi.

As for the rest, as noted, I'm currently 4-5 scripts ahead. In another couple of weeks I'll be 5-6 scripts ahead.

But you'll always be a dunderhead.

I can live with that deal.

jms
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<font color="red">However, it should be pointed out that JMS has maintained a monthly schedule more often than not with his work on Amazing Spider-Man. Issues 30-34 came out on a monthly basis. Issue 35 was late, and issue 36 came out the next month. Issue 37 was late, but issues 38 and 39 were released in the following two months. Issue 40 was late. I count 3 late issues, and 8 issues maintaining a monthly schedule. I think this is an important distinction to make.</font>

One other thing, only because I keep forgetting to mention it...the publishing schedule was also kicked slantwise by a) September 11, and b) the desire to drop in the script for issue 36 as a memorial to same. We kinda dropped everything to make that work, and that also slowed things down on the production side.

jms
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<font color="red">As you well should know, the problem with putting things out on an erratic schedule is that you face the possibility that the fans will EVENTUALLY lose interest. Out of sight, out of mind. I would imagine that you wouldn't have been happy if the stations that were airing B5 were changing the broadcast time from week to week and not even showing it at all on three randomly chosen weeks out of every nine.</font>

Actually, the schedules *did* change on the stations on a regular basis, especially in places like Boston, and we just rolled with it...and episodes were held back and aired in only groups of 3 or 4 for ratings purposes every year...so there goes that analogy, which was totally not in the same situation to begin with. You're comparing apples and oranges. But for now I'll let you call oranges apples just to deal with this.

<font color="red">What would you have done if one of the scriptwriters for B5 gave you a similar sob story? Would you have held off on filming an episode until he could finish the script? Would you have told your distributor, "Harlan was really busy this week working on that V.I.P. script for Columbia, so we don't have a B5 episode completed for broadcast. Call us back in couple weeks when his schedule may have cleared up" ? If the distributor and TV stations complained, would you have pointed at the show's good ratings and told them to shut up? What would allowing something like that happen do to your professional reputation in the television industry, even if it happened only once?</font>

Unfortunately, once again the fact that you don't know what you're talking about is blatantly obvious. In a TV series you have a variety of writers doing a variety of scripts...and I've had EXACTLY that sitaution come up again and again on various series. If writer A has a real and serious problem and can't deliver, you drop in a script by writer B in its place. Hell, we did that on Jeremiah this year, when a freelance script came in late and we had to bump up another to fill its position.

Once again, apples and oranges. The comic book industry doesn't work that way. You can't compare the two.

<font color="red">Well good. I guess Spider-Man is no longer at the bottom of your list of priorities, at least for the moment.</font>

And THAT'S the line where you reveal yourself as a dickhead.

Spider-Man was *never* at the bottom of my list of priorities.

You, however, are.

jms
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<font color="red">The difference, it seems, between you and I is that while I, too, would wish the books weren't late, I evidently don't consider it as important as you do (this is just my guess based on your posting history recently and not meant as an insult) and don't turn any displeasure I have with the books being late into a personal attack, which is how you are coming across. </font>

Just as an additional FYI...ASM 41 is coming out next week (the 30th), which is about 3 weeks after 40. So we're now coming out early to catch up. 42 will also come out quickly, art schedule allowing. Not that this will make much difference to the usual suspects....

jms
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<font color="red">Hey, at WonderCon, JRJR said he has never met or spoken to you, outside of scripts, one angry email. That seems really odd. I don't know if you use a full script or a plot, but do you find it easier or harder to get your stories across like that? </font>

Actually, I can't recall an angry email, so he may have been joking there...as for the rest, we haven't met only because we just haven't been in the same space at the same time, I'd love to meet him at some point (and I imagine I will at SDCC if he's there).

As to the scripts, I write full, detailed scripts, it's just what I do...just as an example, from issue 42....

PAGE ELEVEN

Six equal sized panels, each a page in width.

PANEL ONE

Spidey's POV to the city in BG as he heads toward --

PANEL TWO

-- Jenny who is being drawn into the vortex. We may want to blur her and/or
the rest of this panel, to indicate motion blur, that this is all happening in
the same split-second --

JENNY
Let --

PANEL THREE

Same as panel one but closer to the target.

PANEL FOUR

On Jenny, still being pulled in, blurred --

JENNY
-- me --

PANEL FIVE

Same POV shot but he's now closer to the neighborhood --

PANEL SIX

On Jenny being pulled in, blurred --

JENNY
-- GO!


jms
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Re: ASM Question for JMS

<font color="red">Just wondering exactly how much creative control over ASM do u have? It just seemed the "Shade" was a forced super-villian. (How many drug dealers have supervillians?)</font>

Of course you're assuming he actually works for them instead of it being some other kind of arrangement, which will be explicated more in a bit....

As for the larger question...my deal with Marvel is basically I write what I want, they don't change it. They've been terrific in honoring that understanding, so basically the book is whatever I want to make of it.

I put the Shade into that issue as a way of talking about the tendency of society to not give a crap about homeless kids and runaways on the street, that someone can be preying on them and nothing can be done.

So he wasn't forced at all, just the way I felt best got me into the story.

The vilains I've introduced so far were not really meant by me to become part of the overall Spidey pantheon, which is why I got them off the board fairly quickly. They were there to let me explore certain parts of Peter without overwhelming him. I wanted to clear the air, give him something to work with but that wouldn't get in the way of focusing on who he is...rather than, say, villains who have a huge backstory that would lumber up the books at a time when I was trying to clear away the underbrush.

Having done that, I'm now looking to bring in both some more interesting new villains and some of the classic ones; just turned in a script today with Doc Ock in fact (putting me now at about 4-5 issues ahead of schedule).

Having grounded Peter's character, I'm now looking forward to expanding some of the rogue's gallery of characters, finding corners of their personality thus far unexplored. But I couldn't in good conscience do that until I'd refined and brought Peter's/Spidey's character into the foreground.

Because at the end of the day, the book's called The Amazing Spider-Man, not The Infamous Doc Ock.

jms

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(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
</font>

Subject: from jms: b5 quote book needs you

It had to happen sooner or later...with so many message boards and posts asking "What's your favorite B5 quote?" a book of Babylon 5 quotes was inevitable.

So "But In Purple I'm Stunning: Quotations from Babylon 5" is coming out from an independent publisher later this year. The book will also contain sections dedicated to fan choices for best/favorite quote. Fans of Babylon 5 are
invited to send in their favorite quote, and why it's a favorite. The best of these emails will be culled for the book, and along the way this will determine the #1 favorite quote.

In particular, the book will be looking for anecdotes/stories from fans about what a given quote, or what the show, meant to them in particular. There are a lot of people who have found comfort or meaning in the show, or found it helped them get through some of life's problems. (An example I sometimes cite at conventions was the young man dying of aids who asked his sister to put all of G'Kar's speeches about hope and never giving up on tape so he could listen to them at his bedside.)

It needn't be a heavy story, just one that has meaning for the person involved, can be a funny story, whatever. Basically the goal is to find the intersection where the show and its message and its words touched people.

All contributions will be considered free to use by virtue of being submitted for this project.

So if you have such an anecdote/story/message about a favorite quote or the show in general, send it to the following address (rather than replying to
this, since I'll just have to forward it on in any event):

[email protected]

Thanks.

jms

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(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd., permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine and don't send me story ideas)

<hr>
Subject: Re: JMS: If it were up to you...

<font color=red>In an ideal 'JMS sets the standards' world, what do you think would be the
optimum length for a television episode? What about the number of episodes to constitute a season? </font>

You have to understand that I'm a Russian, and we're not known for telling short stories. So for me an episode would be perfect at 60 minutes, no
commercials, and a season would have 52 episodes per year.

What can I say, I yammer....

<font color=red>Any chance of you giving us a 'State of the Straczynski-verse' note on what's
new, what's pending, what you can't talk about, how you're healing (fast and well, I hope) and all the other questions we keep asking?</font>

Jeremiah: finishing post production on our last batch of episodes, including the two-part finale "Things Left Unsaid," which Mike Vejar directed and it's just *killer*. Of all the things I've ever done, and I'm including B5 in this, on an invidual basis this may be the best thing I've ever done, certainly the most ambitious. It's just frikkin' HUGE, the performances are great, the story moves ahead by leaps and bounds, I'm just *real* happy with it.

(Another crucial arc story, "Tripwire," airs next Friday. This is one to definitely see if you're thinking of following the show.)

What's pending...I'm about 4-5 issues ahead on Spider-Man now, with another issue coming out next Wednesday...I've turned in the next draft on "Polaris" to the SciFi Channel, and that seems to be moving ahead nicely....

And there's another TV project that's been in the works for a while now that's also getting a bit toasty at the moment, but I can't say anything about it yet, not until the ink dries.

As for the healing...not great. The finger didn't heal right after the dislocation, and it looks like the emergency room doctor who put it on (who
said she hadn't done this sort of thing before) kinda put it on sideways...so it locks and hurts and when I went for a follow-up in LA, the doctor took one look at the thing and said, "Surgery." Looks like a combination of a ruptured tendon and some bone bits that got into the joint and have been sawing back and forth all this time.

So now I've got to go in and have the damned thing operated on, and there's a better than even chance that because of the surgery I may lose some function in the finger.

Sucks.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Is this a cliff hanging S1 [Jeremiah]finale? Is there (do you want there to be) a S2 planned?
</font>

Yeah, it's our s1 finale, as for a second season, that's in the hands of the TV gods.

<font color="red">I'd guess typing is really tough. Have you tried any of the voice recognition stuff out there? It's said to be getting pretty good, and with all your academic / scientific contacts, who knows, you might even get stuff earlier than the market</font>

Problem is, I think through my fingers, I can't dictate for squat.

jms

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and don't send me story ideas)

<font face="georgia">Re: from jms: b5 quote book needs you


<font color="red">Didn't know just how fine a split was being put on submissions. It'd be nice to be able to use quotes from Babylon 5, Crusade and Rangers.
</font>

They're all equally valid for the book.

jms

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permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

<font face="georgia">Spike Seldin, president of production for Top Cow comics, told the Comics2Film Web site that sibling screenwriters Anthony and Joe Russo have signed on to adapt J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars comic series for the screen. Babylon 5 creator Straczynski wrote a draft of the script, the site reported.

<font color="red">Was it your decision? Any Comments? Etc?</font>

No, this is pretty much par for the course for features, which is why I don't generally work there. Unless you're a writer/director, every script for every movie these days goes through diverse hands...writer a does the first draft, they give it to writer b for additional material, it goes to writers c and d for touch-ups, the director comes on, he has writer e do a few more tweaks...it happens to all movie screenplays these days, even to William Goldman. I did mine, now it's in the hopper. In features you have to learn to walk away from it after you turn in your draft.

jms
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<font color="red">In the recently aired Jeremiah episode "Tripwire", I noticed that there were two writing credits (please forgive me if they aren't exact; I'm posting from memory) :

Excerpts by J. Michael Straczynski
Written by J. Michael Straczynski

I suspect that the "excepts" credit was for the flashbacks from earlier episodes, but I'm a bit confused as to why they're credited separately, since they were all written by you.</font>

It's apparently a rule under the Writers Guild of Canada, where we shoot the series, to ensure that all prior work is properly credited, whoever the author might or might not be.


jms
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<font color="red">I was wondering if there was something edited out that would have shown us more about the Damien character. By the time we saw him onscreen, he was already making Lee Chen nervous.</font>

No, that's all there was. The nervousness was supposed to be more Lee's unease because of the way Lee's eyes looked, but the director shot the whole thing with his shades on, so you kinda lost that effect.

<font color="red">Also, was that his glasses broken on the desk behind Samuel when he was turning Markus and the TM crew away? </font>

Yes. The director basically shot it from as far away as possible without leaving the building, so it was hard to tell. We blew up the shot and repositioned it as best we can, but it was still kinda vague.

<font color="red">BTW, did you write the episodes after Ring of Truth? I don't see any info on them yet.</font>

My next ones will also be the last ones for this season, Things Left Unsaid 1 and 2. Between then and now it's Sam Egan and one more from Samm Barnes.

jms
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<font color="red">I went to Showtime's web site and found they have the schedule up for July. The very sad and disappointing thing that I noticed is that Jeremiah (and Odyssey 5 for that matter) are not on it. *sobs sadly*</font>

I think the site may just be in error, because the airdate schedule we have shows us going through July, with our last ep airing somewhere around July 19th.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">The jollies I'm getting right now is that it looks like DVD is for real....</font>

Yeah, it's real...I was holding off saying anything until WB or someone else could announce it, but since it's come up here via the captioning institute...yeah, as noted, it's real.

Season One will be out in a boxed set this Fall, and they're going to be including at minimum two commentaries from me, probably on Signs and Portents and Chrysalis (it's a matter of how much time and energy I can give to it given that there's no fees involved and I'm in the midst of Jeremiah), and if possible, Babylon Squared, maybe Sky Full of Stars. They'd also like to film an on-camera intro by me (but I guess folks will buy it anyway, even with that particular horror included).

They're pulling together a lot of stuff on this release so that there are plenty of extras this time around, now that the value of the DVDs has been shown by the first release
..

jms
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<font color="red">Have they decided on aspect ratio?
</font>

Widescreen.

jms
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<font color="red">Any chance of comentaries by any of the other writers? Or some of the cast or crew?</font>

They're currently investigating all possibililties.

jms
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<font color="red">What about the sound? Will they make me happy (and my neighbors mad) and give me Babylon 5 in Dolby Digital 5.1?</font>

The sound is being remastered to 5.1.


jms
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<font color="red">My question: True widescreen? The DVD of "The Gathering" and "In the Beginning" that we have is cropped at the top and bottom. I.e. - there are bits that are missing. I don't want the episodes with things missing. But if it is *true* widescreen, I'm there!</font>

The only things that I'm aware of that were cropped in those were the CGI and composite scenes, since we can't go back and re-render all that stuff.

jms

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</font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">I wonder: is there money for writers in DVD releases like this, some kind of residual? Is there a residual for any of the original production people, the actors, directors, producers?</font>

Writers, actors and directors get residuals on DVDs based on the VHS residuals formula which was put into place a number of years ago before the videotape boom and the Writers Guild didn't think there was any money in it. Consequently, the studios got a deal wherein basically the writers get something on the order of a penny a copy (or nothing, since it's based on net profits).

The guild, gotta love 'em....

jms
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<font color="red">Are other companies (such as Fox) paying people to do DVD commentaries? If so, it seems stupid that Warners doesn't do this, since they are part of that big AOL Time-Warner mega-corporation & should have the money.</font>

Many do, some don't, there's no industry standard on this. It's just one of those things, I'm not (too) bugged about it.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Thanks for the cool story. Midnight Nation is my personal favorive of your comic stories, being that it was more mystical, and less super-hero. The series had an early peak with issue #4, then just built steadily until issues #11 and #12. Wow, what incredible emotional impact #12 had.

Great job!

Can you tell your fans if there has been any interest in adapting Midnight Nation for TV or the big screen? Sometimes when I was reading it, I envisioned Robert Patrick as David Grey, and someone like Jennifer Lopez or Christina Ricci as Laurel. I know that's a pipe dream, but I would think there would be genuine interest from the film industry for Midnight Nation. Have you had any offers?</font>

Thanks. Midnight Nation is probably my favorite comics work to date because there's a lot in it that I consider personal, it's a personal kind of story in many ways. Even I can't read the last few pages, knowing what went before, without losing it.

There have been some inquiries about optioning MN, but I've deliberately held off listening to anything until the story was complete. I wanted nothing to get in the way of just telling this story. Now that it's done, I'll be happy to listen. It was a long journey and a hard write, but I think it was, and is, one of the more worthwhile things I'e done lately.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">The "previews of coming attractions" [Jeremiah] showed that next week is a repeat. Already?</font>

It's a repeat of "Tripwire," one of our better episodes, mainly because Odyssey 5 debuts that week and it's a two-hour slot. So they could either air a new episode at 11:30 or 12, or a repeat in that timeslot. I figured a repeat was preferable, particularly since that one sets up a lot of what's in the two-parter.

What's left at this point is "Out of the Ashes," "A Means to an End," and the two-part season finale, "Things Left Unsaid," the last of which airs July 19th (the website info on dates is not correct).

jms

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</font>

<font face="georia"><font color="red">Midnight Nation soars above just about everything that I have ever read or seen... B5 included.
It is a triumph of words and art; an utterly flawless story.</font>

Thank you. It's a story that I'm inestimably proud of; I still can't get through the last issue without falling apart, for some reason it just hits me hard. It's a very personal story for me, and there's a lot of me in the characters and what they're working through.

<font color="red">You wrote (or said) a couple of years ago that you will not reach your prime for at least "10 years." Reading that, then, it was hard to imagine that you could ever top B5. I was thinking in terms of the majesty of th e B5 story... Even with all it's flaws what could top it? And in short order you gave us Midnight Nation. </font>

It came out far better than I could've hoped, and it's definitely my favorite prose work to date. To compare it with B5, I dunno, that's kind of in a separate category from everything else. It's the old comparins apples and woodchucks thing.

BTW, two asides (and I'm putting this here because I generally am not posting as much while my hand goes through therapy, I'm trying to do only the typing I absolutely *have* to do)....

On the DVDs, last I heard they'll be out around mid-November, with the whole first season at about a hundred bucks. I did the commentaries on Signs and Portents and Chrysalis, and an on-camera intro and interview. They've also done new interviews with Rick Biggs, Claudia, John Iacovelli, John Copeland, Stephen Furst, Jerry Doyle and others. So it should be a pretty big deal overall, much better than the movie dvd.

Item two, just for the humor of it...when we finished B5, all the sets were demolished, no bits and pieces of it remain...with one exception, and it's a doozy. The last remaining set piece from not only the B5 series, but from the set of Babylon 4. An absolute rarity. I mention this because I just saw it come up on ebay (I'd handed it off as a souvenir some time ago). I especially liked the final line, where it said that the seller could not be held responsible for temporal abnormalities that make the buyer's house disapper mysteriously....

Funny stuff.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red"> I missed out on Midnight Nation (haven't read comics in a long time now), and I noticed that there doesn't seem to be a trade paperback of it. Is tracking down the comics one by one the only way to read it? Are there plans for a book at some point, now that the series is done?</font>

Yup. The whole thing will be out in one volume in September. Which is probably the best way to read the thing.

And Spidey 42 comes out today, about 3 weeks after the last one as we continue to catch up.

jms

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<font color="red">Now *wait* a minute. That means that we're getting the episodes, *and* extras, for about the same per-time price as the movie disc.
Anyone else here feeling gypped?</font>

The movies were limited in number, these are going to be printed in much larger amounts, the more you do, the more you can bring down the price.

<font color="red">Wait a second. Parts of B5 showed up on Crusade, though--and all of *those* sets were put into storage. So did they have to rebuild the sets for Crusade? (Especially since the "Value Judgements" script had a set that was supposed to be a redress of one of the B5 corridors...) And are those still around?</font>

No. Most of the B5 sets were scrapped after we finished production, in large measure because they'd just gotten trashed over 5 years of shooting, and because WB didn't want to pay to store tens of thousands of cubic feet of sets for a show that was done. (This is par for the course on all series, btw.)

We saved a small number of the B5 sets for Crusade (part of the zocalo, some conference rooms, a couple of quarters and a hallway, that's about it) since we were going to be going back and forth to B5. But when Crusade went down, those sets were also elimated, as were the sets for Rangers.

This may seem like a bigger deal than it is; TV sets are not like feature film sets, they are made from lesser grade lumber, and they're not finished to the same degree because TV is more forgiving visually. You can get away with things that will appear on a small set that you could never get away with on a big screen.

If someone said "Okay, do a new season of (fill in the name of the show)," the costs of building new sets would be probably about the same as if we'd stored all those tens of thousands of feet of old set for X number of years, and which would also have endured more wear and tear through the fold-and-hold process. Why pay all that money to get old sets when you can pay the same amount and get new ones?

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Fantastic! I will be buying that B5 boxed-set once it comes out. Nice to know that there will be commentaries from the cast, too.</font>

One error. Apparently Claudia had agreed to do the interview, then canceled at the last minute.

jms

<hr width="25%">
<font color="red">This just *has* to be a gag.</font>

I don't make jokes about things like this.

jms
<hr width="25%">
<font color="red">She cancelled at the last minute for her appearance at the final AgamemCon,too. I hope this isn't becoming a pattern for Claudia.</font>

Agamemcon, I believe, was June 8th. The cancellation was yesterday, Wednesday, June 26th. Just in the interests of accuracy.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Will there be trade paperbacks made out of your Spideys, or have some already been made?</font>

Yeah, one's already out, and I think another one's coming up fast. There's also a hardcover collection putting my stuff in with others as a kind of best-of thing.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">from the Forbidden Plane web site concerning a signing they had a few days back:

"Forbidden Planet International and James Marsters would like to thank the legions of fans who turned up to see him at the Leeds and Manchester stores.

"While the vast majority of you seemed to have a great time (James Marsters thoroughly enjoyed it also), there have been a few complaints levelled [sic] at one of the officials present at both events.

"FPI would like to state that the gentleman in question is in no way affiliated with the company. Please accept apologies on behalf of FPI and James Marsters for any incident that may have marred either event. FPI would like to assure our customers that this kind of thing will not happen again."

Care to guess which con-running studio break-in artist in question is being referred to as "The Gentleman"? </font>

You have GOT to be kidding me. Cooney again?

What the hell happened, anyway? Give.

jms

<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">12 issues later [Midnight Nation]
What a story, absolutely amazing, thought provoking, moving....</font>

Thanks muchly.

<font color="red">Is your work at marvel going to be solely within their universe and exisiting characters (Spidey is great too) or will you have the chance to craft some more stand alone work like Midnight Nation again?</font>

I have a three-pronged deal: stories with established characters in the Marven Universe, reviving dormant characters in the MU as well as creating new characters there, and creating wholly new characters in a non-MU situation allowing me to do pretty much anything I want.

Well, that's not absolutely accurate...when Kevin Smith came on board, he asked to be given dibs on bringing MJ and Peter together again, if and when that decision should be made. So in terms of that aspect, all I can do is kind of play around the edges a bit, the ball is well and truly in Kevin's court, he's the only one who can resolve and bring them together if that is the way Marvel wants to go.

I was gonna bring 'em together again shortly, because it was my intent to get them apart only for a while, but at this point it'll be an if/when situation between Marvel and Kevin.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Showtime has previously stated that they are not as swayed by Nielsen ratings as non-pay networks. Should we start writing letters begging them to renew Jeremiah? What can we fans do to help?</font>

Mainly put the word out to other fans to check the show out, especially over the next 3 weeks, which includes the season finale. I'll probably be doing a general note about this shortly, but basically...it'd be great to get the word out to the whole B5 fan community to check out these last three episodes, 'cause we end on a hell of a note. It's all a matter of the numbers.

jms

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Yo Wizz! So- Brian Cooney and some cock-up over signing in the UK. Was any more info forthcoming? I went to a convention run by this bloke a couple of weekends ago, and although it was OK it left a bit to be desired. Some folks were running around with a petition of complaint about not getting enough autographs, stuff like that.
What's the connection? How does JMS know this guy?More information, please!

Baze,
I don't know much more than what was in that cryptic note from the newsgroup. And, didn't know much about the fuss before. What I do know is that JMS used to attend con's in the UK in the past, but hasn't been out amongst the folk in the last two years very much due to lots of work at home (paraphrasing). I'll see if I can't dig up some more info...

<font face="georgia">You have GOT to be kidding me. Cooney again?

<font color="red">Darn. You guessed :-)</font>

What the hell happened, anyway? Give.
<font color="red">
Well, details are a little sketchy at the moment, but apparently he was doing his usual "once the guests have done the con, peddle them around a few signings to get some more dosh" trick, and for some reason didn't like the way the crowd in front of the Forbidden Planet shops was arranged.

In his usual subtle manner, he ended up shouting, and pushing & shoving people around. From what I am told, he "lost it" to the extent that it was borderline assault.

Which is what, I imagine, has prompted the rapid apology on the FP website and the promise that it'll never happen again.

The dossier grows just that little bit thicker. A few more incidents like this and I'll be able to produce my first million-seller book. Alternatively, I could just let Michael Moore loose on him! <grin!>

</font>
So, Baze...can you explain the phrase above "...get some more dosh"? I'm not familiar with it.

Wizz

Ah, the old "get some more dosh" trick. Means to get extra cash. You've flown the guests over for a length of time, not just an event, so you can then take 'em out to a few SF shops to do signings for maybe a tenner apiece. Most of which goes to the organiser.

Cooney's a notorious interferer. Can't sit back and let something run. I do wonder what run-ins he's had with JMS before though.

<font face="georgia">Okay, so here's the deal. There are now three episodes remaining of Jeremiah's first season, "A Means to an End," by Sara Barnes, and the two part "Things Left Unsaid" by yr obdnt srvnt.

The first is a quieter, more personal story but also sets up what's going to happen in the two-parter, and the latter (directed by Mike Vejar, our good luck charm on B5 who did our best episodes) is pretty much nonstop intensity and action and character stuff end to end.

Though we're already doing well, it would be great to go out on a real bang ratings wise, so I'm going to try an experiement. If every B5 viewer who sees this can get the word to every other viewer who gets Showtime normally (I wouldn't sign up just for this, that's fiscally imprudent) to watch the next three episodes, that would be terrific. I think that would be sufficient to kick us over the edge into a sure renewal for year two.

And they're fun episodes on their own rights, even if you haven't seen the show before. Though "Means" is, again, a quieter episode, there's one scene in it that will have just about any SF fan worth his/her salt rolling on the floor. I can pretty much guarantee you it's something you haven't seen before.

As for "Things Left Unsaid," of all the things I've written and produced, this may be the best thing I've ever been involved with, from a production standpoint and much of the writing. We kind of got pulled back a bit after the events of 9/11 put a damper on the television business in terms of the kinds of stories one can tell, but we really got this puppy back up on the rails again with the two parter, which is emblematic of what we'll do in a second year.

Anyway...just a call out from here to B5 fandom, to see if it's still there, so we can get together one more time on a biggie.

Thanks.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">don't you think people could afford the ten bucks to get Showtime for July?</font>

Yeah, but I don't like to presume on other people's wallets, especially for just three eps. I've always valued the B5 viewer base and try to avoid asking them to plonk down bucks unless necessary, on the theory that SF fans are in general pretty exploited that way.

jms

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<font face="georgia">Baze, ask and ye shall receive...I went to Google.com (Google is your friend!), selected "Groups", then put in "Cooney Strazinsky" in the search box. Out of many hits came the following:

Date: 09 Feb 1998 23:57:01 -0700
From: J. Michael Straczynski <[email protected]>
To: Bryan Cooney <[email protected]>
Subject: Claudia on "Highlander"
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>

Since you have now surfaced again....

1) Photos were taken of myself, cast and crew at your behest for a full print run, signed by everyone, for sale to benefit charity. You said that every person who participated would receive copies of this photo. To date, several of those involved, myself included, have not yet received copies. When do you intend to fulfill your promise?

2) These photos were to be sold to benefit charity. Can you supply me with the number of photos sold, and the amount of money raised, and to which charity they have gone? And how many others remain in your custody? As one of those who participated, at your request, I have the right to this information.

3) You have stated in the past that your books on charitable donations are open to inspection. I have now asked, at least half a dozen times, for you to provide me with copies of that information. You said after my last request that it would take several months for you to assemble that data. It has now been almost a year. I have not yet received the promised accounting on this, or the prior Wolf convention, where I participated to help you allegedly raise money for charity. When will this accounting be forthcoming?

4) You have been repeatedly instructed not to show, or facilitate the public showing, of episodes in the UK prior to their official airing. I am reminding you of your obligation not to do so, or to use clips from said unaired episodes at your conventions. If you do so, I cannot be held responsible for the consequences.

5) You stated that pirated merchandise would not be available at the prior conventions. Yet in both cases, substantial amounts of illegal merchandise was being sold openly at your conventions. Will you, or will you not, honor your obligation to keep out illegal merchandise in future conventions?

jms

I'm sure there's more, but it would appear from just this one post that JMS has some reasonable concerns
Wizz

Yeah. Seems like Cooney is a bit of a shyster at heart. It's a shame really- SF fans being exploited again. I've always wondered about "charity" auctions at cons. Maybe there was reason to be concerned!

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">I happened to watch an episode of "She-Ra" yesterday. they're doing re-runs here in Germany, on Tele 5, and I just happened to drop by. And then, watched it because in the titles, it said that the story of that episode was by "J. Michael Straczynski"???
</font>

It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

jms

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<font face="georgia">Today [July 3rd] we finished mixing the last of the Jeremiah two-parter. It's killer. Year one is finished; now we await word on year two.

For those who might want to take a look...I did a small piece for the San Diego Comic Convention website about, well, SDCC. It's a short but fun piece that should be up in the next day or so at www.comic-con.org

Also did an introduction to Fiona Avery's newest graphic novel, WITCHBLADE: OBAKEMONO, which hits comics stores soon. The novel is some of her best work to date, and the intro "Of Samurai, Bulldogs and Applied Mathematics" is just for fun.

If you haven't gotten in your story/email/message/whatever on a favorite B5 quote (what it is, why it resonated, what it or the show in general meant, what meaning can be derived from it) for the upcoming quote book -- "But In Purple I'm Stunning, Quotations from Babylon 5," the door on submissions will be closing soon. Notes can be sent to [email protected]

Finally, I'm writing an intro for the B5 DVDs, which are proceeding along well and this should prove to be a very nice little package.

(Okay, I lied, one last-last thing...after the 12th of July or so there will likely be a small announcement from WB that's B5 related. Can't comment more than that, and it isn't anything major a la a new series or a movie or the like, but I suspect a certain sub-set of B5 fandom will be most pleased by the information.)

As of this coming February 22nd, it'll be ten years since "The Gathering" aired. Boy, that damned tempus just keeps on fugiting, doesn't it?

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">I was disappointed not to see Michael O'Hare's name among those who were *definitely* doing interviews for the DVD, and even more disappointed when Ruth O'Hare confirmed that Michael hadn't been asked. I realize the Warner Home Video wouldn't go to the expense of flying Michael in from New York just for a short interview for the DVD, but surely the AOL/TW octopus has enough units *based* in New York that some camera crew or another could have grabbed a quick interview with him at the MTV studio or elsewhere. He was only the frickin' *lead character* for the entire first season. Not having him in the supplements on the DVD seems an odd omission, to say the least.</font>

WB was frantic to find Michael. They had no direct contact information for him. They went through SAG which said they didn't have a current listing for either Michael or his agent. They asked me for help, and I gave them a number which I had a while ago but didn't work. So next we tried Sandy Bruckner, who had another number for him, which I gave to WB, and they said they left messages at that number but never heard a reply. This was all at very short notice, and there was only a week to try and track him down. B5-DVD maven Scott Devine at WB can directly confirm that they were looking for him everywhere, but the clock finally ran out.

jms
<hr width="25%">
<font color="red">Just heard from Ruth. Seems that Michael did indeed get that phone message but decided against the interview (she didn't say if for scheduling or other reasons) and didn't call back. He also didn't mention the call to *Ruth*, who only found out about it when she asked him about it a short while ago.

Well, *I* feel like seven different kinds of idiot for opening up this whole can of worms.
*Never* miiiiiiiiiiind...</font>

This is why it's best, before raising the alarms, to simply ask what the situation might be. I'm pretty straightforward in answering these things.

jms
<hr width="25%"
<font color="red">[From Ruth O'Hare]
My mistake, I should have checked. When I mentioned this to Michael just now he said he HAD got a message on the answer phone this last week. </font>

S'okay...as I said, it was kinda short notice and I can understand the availability question. Please give Michael regards from myself and Kathryn.

Best to you both.

jms
<hr width="75%">

<font color="red">I don't suppose that all the material taped for the abandoned "Sciography" B5 episode for SciFi might be obtainable for the B5 DVDs?</font>

Doubtful since it was owned by SFC not WB.


jms
<hr width="25%">
"Doubtful since it was owned by SFC not WB."

<font color="red">It should all be owned by JMS! </font>

Unfortunately none of it is owned by jms. The ironic part of it is, I had my attorney recently review the B5 contracts I'd signed some years ago, in preparation for a possible audit, but he explained that under the terms of the contract, which was my first such created-by contract, with an agent who had not really done those kinds of agreements before, an audit really wouldn't make any difference....

....because as it's phrased, I will never, ever see a dime in profits from B5. Writers residuals, sure, though those gradually decrease with time. But not a dime in profits. Ever.

(And no, there's no point to litigation because that's only useful to find hidden profits; the way the contract reads and the amount of overhead and distribution costs that can be taken eats any and all possible profits.)

Which is often the case with first-time series deals, though this was a little more onerous than others.

Such is life. I didn't do it to create a sinecure, I did it to tell a story, and I'd do it again under the same deal.

And my contracts since then have been quite different.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">"She-Ra, princess of power,
You're my precious, precious princess of power.
She-Ra, princess of power,
I turn to you when my relationships sour."</font>

.......I'm in hell........


jms
<hr width="25%">
<font color="red">Seriously: I actually think it sounds like a rather pretty and catchy tune. It's nothing to be ashamed of.</font>

Actually, while working at Filmation I'd once put some words about a minor He-Man character to the tune of the theme music from "Bonanza" --

"Who is the man with the head of lead?
It's Ram-Man!
Who is as dense as a picket fence?
Ram-Man is his name!
Leaping here, jumping there, bouncing everywhere...."

-- which was as far as I got before everybody in the office dog-piled me to
stop the horror.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">It isn't really funny. This guy is infamous. Paul might catch you up but if he doesn't, do a Google search in this newsgroup for the name Cooney. [in the body, not the subject]</font>

I'm being a bit loquacious today, since my hand is doing a bit better today, so I thought I'd take a moment or two to offer some thoughts here on whys and wherefores and how-the-hells....

See, there's this syndrome Linda Ellerbee came up with a few years ago. It's called Riding the Elephant.

Whenever the circus comes to town, they have to move the trained animals across town to the site of the circus, and they make a parade out of it. Along the way, they get somebody -- usually the mayor, or an honorary mayor, or some other local person -- to ride the elephant. And people show up and they wave, and the guy on the elephant thinks, "Hey, they're waving at me!"

No, they're waving at whoever got to ride the elephant for a moment.

Some convention organizers suffer from Riding the Elephant Syndrome. A show comes along -- not just B5, but any show, and to be honest, not just this but other kinds of promoters -- and it brings in lots of people. The convention organizer stands in front of the crowd and thinks, "They're here because of me! They're here FOR me!"

Not understanding that they're there for the elephant.

In the end, the promoter in most cases is simply irrelevant to the process, and over time that knowledge comes to the forefront as the promoter gets addicted to public applause, to riding the elephant. Take the elephant away, and a lot of self-image and pouter-pigeon ego goes with it.

Which is one big reason why I stopped doing conventions after a bit, doing them with increasing rarity. My SDCC appearance this year is the only one this year (absent Loscon which is a local con). Because I didn't want to start wanting it. That's why I always pushed the actors out front whenever possible.

Because I know a lot of people who got caught up in the cult of persoanlity, and got crushed by the elephant.

So I don't ride the elephant.

I just feed her the peanuts.

jms

<font face="georgia">Re: Comic Con
<font color="red">So Joe, do you know yet what you'll be doing, when, and how long you'll be hanging out yet? </font>

Nope.

jms
<hr width="75%">
"So I don't ride the elephant.

I just feed her the peanuts."
<font color="red">
My, you *are* sane.
</font>

We all have our flaws.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">1) Was "She-Ra" so bad that nothing could have elevated it above the "waste of precious, God-given moments of life" level?

2) Did you, as a writer, phone it in?

If the answer to both questions is, "No", then you ain't got nothin' to be 'shamed of.
</font>

The answers are both no, as noted, and I never said I was ashamed of it...there was some good work done there within the limits of the form.

The chagrin is the same thing you get when somebody finds photos of you from 20 years back. Somewhere, deep in a closet, is a photo of me from the 70s in Angels Flight pants, a denim shirt and denim vest (with just a hint of fringe), a denim *cap* and shoulder-length hair (back when I *had* hair), an outfit that in retrospect is horrifying and even more horrifying to realize that a lot of that fashion has come BACK.

Writing, for me, is a snapshot of oneself, it says this is who I was at that time, and what I was thinking, and what I believed.

So SheRa, and that photo, get the same reaction out of me. And it sounds like ".....ook."

jms
<hr width="25%">
"Who is the man with the head of lead?
It's Ram-Man!
Who is as dense as a picket fence?
Ram-Man is his name!
Leaping here, jumping there, bouncing everywhere...."

<font color="red">LOL! Did you come up with other songs? [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

Not that I will ever cop to.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Just idle curiosity - are you going to ask Warner Home Video to finally put the episodes in the order you planned for them, with the small improvements in foreshadowing and "flow" that provides (and the major continuity glitch it avoids for "Day of the Day") or will you just let them go out in the airdate order we've all become accustomed to?</font>

I think to get them to restructure all their formats which have gone to stations and cable networks round the world would be more work than they'd be willing to do.

jms
<hr width="75%">
Re: ATTN JMS: Are you a millionaire ?
"You don't write for the money, because if you do, you're a monkey. You don't write for the fame, because if you do, you're a monkey. You don't even write because you like to write, because if you do, you're still a monkey. You write because to NOT write is suicide."

Stephen King
jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Any chance of more B5-related novels coming out? A series finishing off the Crusade story would be really nice.</font>

Nope, nothing's on the boards, and I think Del Rey's license has either expired or is about to expire, so any other company could certainly come in and make a case for picking up the license.

jms
<hr width="75%">
Re: JMS commentary and Paypal donation??
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...I must've missed the transmutation of threads to get to this point.

I've made it a point never to directly connect the financial dots between me and B5 viewers, I have 'way too much respect for them and I won't see them exploited for *any* reason, and this is an example of why.

I very much appreciate the gesture, but please do NOT do this. As I noted, if anyone wants to make a donation in my name to the local charity of your choice (if I can opt for a preference it should be a women's shelter), that's the best way to handle it.

That would be the best thing, honest and true.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Until recently, I didn't even know he had worked on He-Man, Ghostbusters,etc. Damn, I have been watching (and reading) this guy's work for my entire life!

Kinda scary. But thanks.</font>

Thanks...but just so you know, the next guy who comes up to me at a convention and says "I've been seeing your stuff since I was a kid" gets it in the neck.


jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">He has been lucky enough to be quite prolific in a high paying field for a number of years despite the pressure of TV writing being a young man's game. </font>

Harrumph...I'm still only 47, though I look about 60 in most photos.

<font color="red">would require that JMS is an idiot (something he continually disproves), has a monkey on his back (he has several, but can't say that I have detected one that is a particularly costly financial drain), or has been swindled by a CFO/Money Manager (events probably would have been leaked to CNN).</font>

The main monkey on my back is comics, comics related collectibles, and...erm...I think I just ran out of stuff.

Though I'm not going to get into the specifics of this discussion, one thing that needs to be factored into the overall understanding is that Los Angeles is a VERY expensive town in which to live and work, and the entertainment business
is a VERY expensive field in which to work.

Gas, food, restaurants, clothes, rent (average rent for a small two-bedroom apartment out here is about $1300 per month), mortagages (you can't find much anything decent in town for less than about $800,000 as your baseline, and for that you're getting maybe 1400 sq feet), it's just a money sink.

And very few people, especially writers, work year-round. You may have six months when you're flush, then six months to a year with nothing. The average WGA member makes one TV sale per year; the average WGA member makes less than your average elementary school teacher. Only about 2% of the WGA earns over $100,000 per year.

William Goldman is probably one of the best writers we have; after five years of big hits, he couldn't get arrested for nearly ten years. Then he became big again. Factor five years of income, however high, across 15 years total...you see the dilemma.

Income tax takes about 30-45% of any money you make in that tax bracket (however shortly you might be there), the agent gets another 10%, the attorney another 5%, so you're losing about 60% of your income right off the bat.

Which is why you can't let yourself get too caught up in the money part or you'll go insane. All you can do if you're sensible is focus on the art and the craft and hope for the best.

Here's the only thing I know that makes any sense when it comes to money: find what you enjoy doing, find what moves you to passion, find what you can't *not* do, and the miraculous thing about it is, if you're half decent at it, and dedicate yourself to getting better, and keep at it, after a while, sonuvagun, you can almost always find a way to make a living off it.

Well, before taxes, anyway.

jms
<hr width="75%">
Re: Season 1 DVD Box Art
There's a better picture at:

http://www.r2-dvd.org/pics/Sleeves/warner/b5-1.jpg

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">"Most writers use some form of character chart as a way to get to know their characters better. Basically, you're looking for something that's a cross between a police profile and personal. Keep completed character charts handy while you're writing; with these charts posted on your bulletin board or on your computer desktop, you can instantly find the detail(s) you need."

Do you do anything like this, or keep it all in your head?
</font>
I keep it all in my head.

jms

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<font face="georgia">"I keep it all in my head."

<font color="red">Have you always? Or, if I can broaden the question, have you changed the way you go about writing over the years? Sort of the way one gives up training wheels at some point? Or were you just born riding the 2-wheeler?
</font>
Yeah, pretty much...when I conceive a character, they're just sorta *there*, fully grown, and I no more have to write down their characteristics than I would have to write down the aspects of a friend I knew well, it's just the way I've always been.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">After viewing all the friday TV oevres for the second time, I want to cast my vote in favor of JMS's opinion about this episode of Jeremiah being his finest writing to date.</font>

Thanks...for me, it's the two parts combined as one big story that pushes it over the top for me. And part two is just freakin' huge....

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">In the light of actual knowledge of this topic, I would ask, why a women's shelter ? Are we not aware that DV is a 50/50 matter, where for every battered woman, there a battered man out there ? Why no concern for the need for places of safety for men ?</font>

Because someone asked what I personally would prefer. I answered. You don't have to abide by that, it's just my preference having seen too much of this stuff. If I'd seen a lot of the other side, I might have said otherwise...but I haven't. All the DV I've seen has been against women, and that's where my emotions take me, and my answer.


jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">A side thought. Jeremiah is being made in Canada. At what point does JMS have to start paying Canadian Income Tax?</font>

I was able to get a waiver on LoTR because it was a short-term engagement, but on Jeremiah I've been paying Canadian taxes (as well as American taxes) since day one.

Even so, my Canadian tax burden is still far less than the average Canadian has to shell out every year, percentage-wise. Though I'm still somewhat of a newcomer, my feeling is that, frankly, the Canadian people are getting hosed. I understand the dilemma of having a very large country and a very small population that has to support that infrastructure, but even so they're just getting hammered out of all proportion and reasonableness.

jms

<hr width="50%">
<font color="red">Don't forget we have more of a more generous social infrastructure, but nowhere near enough big profitable corporations to support it. Still, we like to think at least we're better off than the Finnish. :-)</font>

Yeah, in theory it's a generous social infrastructure, but it don't work. Between lower paying salaries and a tax burden that leads a lot of professionals in various areas like medicine to go to the US, you've got a brain drain and a resources sink that kills a lot of that infrastructure. (Which is why I spent 6 hours in the emergency room of Vancouver General Hospital, before being taken into the actual work room, and another 2 hours before getting worked on by a doctor, the day I dislocated my right ring finger...there was only ONE emergency room doctor on duty on a Saturday night.)

It costs less, but there's less OF it, and it's not terribly efficient, and doesn't give your average Canadian the value for his/her money.

Maybe I'm a bit more vocal about this than I should be, as an American (and knowing how much we've contributed to the problem) but goddamn, you guys are getting taken to the cleaners up there.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">It's interesting that the idea of civilians looking out for each other should fill some people with dread. I attribute the fear to the elitist perception that "I can handle responsibility, but everyone else is irresponsible". Certainly the best protection against burglars is a nosey neighbor.</font>

This misses the point by a mile.

What the Citizens Corps involves is the establishment of a branch of the government which will solicit information from various sources -- none of whom are authorized peace officers or in any way official individuals trained in detection -- and take that information, gather it, disseminate it internally, and track that information about people who may not have anything whatsoever to do with anything in the smallest regard concerning terrorism.

Who gets this information? What will they be doing with it? How will it be organized and disseminated? What stops someone from sending along unreliable or false information in order to get someone in trouble? Who decides what is "suspicious behavior?" And you the person being cataloged have NO way of knowing what's in that file or that there even IS a file...further, this agency will be free from FOIA discovery, so there's no way to determine what the government has on you, if anything. The potential for abuse is mind-boggling.

The way the country has always worked is that if someone sees something suspicious, they report it to the local police, who investigate it. That's how our system has functioned for a very long time and successfully.

The acts of 9/11 should not lead us to throw out the very aspects of our American system that brought their attack in the first place, the ideals that we are, in principal, defending.

We've seen this before, in the McCarthy period. I'd hoped we had become smart enough as a people not to fall for the okey-doke a second time. I was wrong.

jms

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<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Hmm, maybe there's hope of turning JMS into a libertarian yet. [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

I like to consider my mind an open door.

It's just not a revolving door.

jms

<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Please outline what enforcement powers this department has. Please show us the legions of jack booted thugs it employs to do it's bidding.</font>

Sure. Easy. The office of Homeland Security would have access to FBI and other resources. But more interesting, as per today's New York Times, Homeland Security head Tom Ridge suggested that one good solution would be to use the military in this situation. Further, Bush himself has requested a review of the Posse Comitatas rule, which forbids use of military forces for civilian arrests. Though Ridge says that these forces "might not be used," it'd be a good idea to have that power if needed.

<font color="red">OK - and anonymous calls to the local police can't be used to the same purpose!?</font>

Nope. Because if you call in a police report, they won't take it in most cases without your name and address. If it's an anonymous tip, it is, nonetheless, within the legal system and can be subpoenad and produced as evidence. Further, if someone files a police report on you, the police generally investigate and you'll know that the report has been called in.

In the case of TIPS, the information goes into a general database and there's no way to know what's being gathered on you, and the TIPS program as outlined is not subject to FOIA, so you might never know you have a file or have access to it (whereas you can get FBI files on you, albeit censored, via FOIA).

<font color="red">And by the way, if it *is* abused, there is an EXISTING mechanism to right the wrongs, on many levels. First, if you are actually prosecuted, and found innocent, you can sue for overzealous prosecution.</font>

Sue who? The government? Do you know for a fact that TIPS is subject to civil suit?

Further...even if we allow that they can, which hasn't been established here...sure, you could sue, after you've spent years having your reputation destroyed. A reputation, once hit by suspicion, is hard to rebuild again. And even if you win, you're looking at another three or more years in court, again defending your reputation because the defense will make your rep the point of their case.

I don't think the possibility of suing back is in any way the equal to six years of one's life lost, along with one's reputation. Not to mention the concurrent fallout on work, family, friends, relationships, career, you name it.

<font color="red">Second, you can sue the guy whio tipped. If you actually get into court, they have to produce the guy. rule of law...</font>

For starters, see above. Second, as of this point in time, TIPS is *not* subject to the same rules of evidence as any other agency. Thirdly, all someone has to do is say the information was given in good faith, that X happened...it's just in the *way* it was reported that the trouble started.

For instance...somebody subscribes to an Persian newspaper. We note this in somebody's home. The person also has a farm, and thus access to fertilizer. Trucker sees this, files the information, and continues to the next delivery. Now you have a file, and people are going to be looking for anything that might fit the profile, because you wouldn't HAVE a file if there wasn't something going on, right?

Or what if it's not a Persian language paper? What if it's another country altogether, but the trucker made a mistake? You can't sue over something like that.

And finally, somebody like that doesn't have deep pockets as a rule...so what do you do, sue for 3 years, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, to get nothing?

People who say "Hey, just sue the guy" have generally never been sued themselves, or had to sue, so they don't undersstand what's really involved.

<font color="green">No government agency should be allowed to strike with impunity; </font>

<font color="red"> Glad you agree. There are several provisions in constitutional law that make such actions illegal.</font>

Too bad that TIPS, as currently envisioned, has exempted itself from such provisions or made it difficult to even find out what's going on so that you could try and bring those provisions into play.


jms
<hr width=75%>
<font color="red">But I think it's a baseless, and, I might say, entirely inappropriate and distressing thing to say about "the Republicans," whose collective will is not as clear-cut as that.</font>

Yes and no...but a lot of the party's stands are in total lock-step.

For instance...I know somebody who ran for office as a Republican last year (jms looks around the audience with doe-like eyes of innocence, letting folks figure out the rest for themselves)...who told me that as part of running, the Party gave him a box full of notebooks that contained what was to be his stance on any number of issues. He was not to diverge from them.

But most troubling...he was given what was essentially a loyalty oath, stipulating that he would support George W. Bush in the forthcoming primaries *exclusively*, and not McCain, and if he didn't agree, the Party would withhold its financing from his election bid.

So much for the marketplace of free ideas.

jms

<hr width="25%">
<font color="red">Yes, yes, the "platform". Again, it begs the question, "What do the Democrats (or any other party) do differently, if anything?"</font>

I don't know. Does one legitimize the other? If both are doing something wrong, does it mean therefore that either are free from criticism? I've never understood this logic: "Well, HE does it too." So? And in this case we DON'T know if he/they do it too.

<font color="red">Same question, did not the Democratic party exact a similar loyalty oath for Al Gore from candidates?</font>

Dunno. Are you saying they did? If so, if you know that to be the case, I'd be interested in hearing about it. If you don't know it to be the case, then it's just pettifogging.

jms

<hr width="75%">
Re: Nicholas Charles Wilkes

<font color="red">I was saddened to see the dedication at the end of Jeremiah, Things Left Unsaid part 1 : to the memory of Nicholas Charles Wilkes, 1979-2002. Only 23 years old. I don't know who he was, but hate to leave that go by so anonymously, when someone clearly put his name there because they wanted him remembered. Can anyone tell me about him?</font>

Nick was a PA who worked on the series, and was well liked by everyone on the show. He died in a car accident on the way to work while we were shooting TLU part one. Everybody felt very strongly that he deserved notation here.

jms

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<font face="georgia">RE: Midnight Nation #12

<font color="red">I finally got my own copies of issues eleven and twelve. I had borrowed them from a friend before, but re-reading all twelve issues really left me with a desire to say: Thank you!

Now, I have a question about the newborn Laurel David passes on his way out of the hospital: her dad claims "It was a difficult birth. We almost lost her twice." Now, this probably refers to some specific points along David and Laurels journey, but I'm not sure where it would fit in. She was hurt fighting more often than two times, and those wounds didn't seem serious.

My guess would be that Laurel would have been 'lost' to her parents if David had agreed to let Laurel end his life. She would have returned to the void, waiting to be summoned again, and so couldn't have been born. However, Laurel asked David three times. I suppose if the first time was early in the journey, it would have been more than nine months before her eventual birth, so the parents could not have noticed anything.

So, did you have anything specific in mind with this remark? Or does anyone else here have a theory?</font>

No, basically it was just in reference to the birthing process...obviously her parents would in no way know about what went on in the other side.

And thanks....

jms

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<font face="georgia">Re: ATTN JMS: I'll help with commentary compensation

<font color="red">You guys do realize that *all* commentary work is 'free' right? jms isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. It's an industry thing.</font>

<font color="green">JMS said it varied by studio. Do you know otherwise?</font>

<font color="red">Nope, although this is the first I've heard of it.</font>

Yeah, actors in features often get it. And I'm told that some TV shows have done so as well.

Anyway...old news now.

jms
<hr width="75%">

<font color="red">One thing puzzles me is the way cell phone is still working in Jeremiah's world since all the station would be gone and there is no power left to transfer the calls. (I will leave the how does one calls out from a nuclear shelter with a cell phone question out.)</font>


The satellites are still in orbit, and still available to anyone with the power to get to them.

And as for accessing them from inside the mountain...in both cases, we clearly see Markus (or Lee) plugging the phone (a smaller version of the contemporary sat-phones) into a plug marked EXT. ANT. for exterior antenna.

So we covered that.


jms

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</font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">It was fantastic to see you again Saturday at Comic-Con. The panel was fun. I wanted to ask you if you have lost weight since I saw you last at Westercon in '98, because you looked great! I almost didn't recognize you when you came out onstage. </font>

It's funny, all during the convention, people kept asking if I'd lost weight...at one point, Peter David came up to me and said, "Joe! You lost weight! But you're in luck, I found it for you!"

When I'm in the midst of a series, I do tend to run around a lot. Moreso on Jeremiah than on previous shows because this is such an outdoors show...lots of running around the countryside, up and down hills, slogging through rain and mud and snow and yuck.

Also working a con takes a lot out of me; this weekend, as is usual, I lost 5 pounds between when I arrived and when I left, just from sheer running around, signing, the multiple panels (SDCC said I was the hardest working con guest there this year with the most panels/presentations)..I put a lot of effort into these things because I'm always worried somebody will come all the way from across country and not get his/her money's worth. I did a rough count and during the signing alone on Saturday I think I signed something like 3,000 autographs in two hours, though I really had to slam through them all to get it done and didn't have as much time as I'd've liked to chat.

<font color="red">Congratulations on winning the Eisner!</font>

Thanks...turns out it was the first time Spiderman has been nominated, let alone winning. I was utterly convinced that it was gonna be somebody else, probably Rucka, and twice had to fight the impulse to leave because I was just totally exhausted. I figured, why stay since there wasn't even a chance in hell of winning against such terrific competition? But I wanted to be a good sport and a good loser, so i stayed to the bitter end...almost three hours...and was wog-boggled when John and I got the Eisner. Still can't quite believe it.

jms

<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Just wanted to congratulate you and the rest of the creative team on winning the Best Serialised Story Eisner for Amazing 30-35. I knew it was a wonderful story when I read it, but the fact that it has achieved such success at the Eisners when Marvel has been more or less absent from the nominations for many years makes it all the more important.</font>

Thanks, it's a considerable honor.

<font color="red">I still love the book and can't wait for more, including the new title (arethere any firm plans on that yet?)</font>

Just what I've heard, that the new Spidey title will start somewhere in January or February, and the new secret project I'm doing for them will be out sometime in the fall/winter.
jms

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</font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">This hectic schedule you were on was why I felt bad about pestering you to visit the WETA guys. I knew they wanted to meet you, and I knew they were also very busy, but Daniel found the time to go to one of your panels. It was so funny to see how excited he was when you finally did turn up at the booth, and the fact that he brought his Gathering/In the Beginning DVD all the way from New Zealand made me realize that even though the WETA guys helped make a brilliant movie, they are just as much fan geeks as the rest of us.</font>

Thanks for doing it, though. They'd really like to find something we can do together, and I'm in the same boat, it'd be great to work on something, so we'll see what we shall see. It'd be cool, since we're both lovers of sagas, to see what we could come up with when we combine resources.

jms

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</font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">In it he states, "...Showtime's vaguely post-apocalyptic Jeremiah, which has just squeaked into a second season."
I am reporting the heck out of this bit of news and wondered if you were able to confirm this and make it more official. [img]wink.gif[/img] </font>

As I'd mentioned at ComicCon, MGM and Showtime are in negotiations but there has not yet been a formal, official notification of renewal. They still have to make the financial deal work.

jms

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