Here's a story that may best illustrate why I'm so happy about how the #B5AnimatedMovie came out and what fans have to look forward to. A few weeks ago, I and @boxleitnerbruce met to do an audio commentary for the movie. Bruce had not yet seen the movie, only snippets a few --
-- seconds long during the final voice session to do little fixes. When he sat beside me in the recording studio, and no one was around, he leaned over and said, "How is it, really?" with eyes that, like my own, had seen so much disappointment over the years.
I said, "Bruce --
-- it's the best thing we've done since the original show, hands down." He seemed pleased and hopeful but still cautious. Then they started the playback, and Bruce's jaw hit the floor and stayed there for the entire thing, punctuated by this great big grin of excitement at --
-- what he was seeing. He got so caught up in it that he kept forgetting to do the commentary, so if there's a lot of me and only some of Bruce in the final version, my apologies, but that's the reason why. He left that room as happy as I've ever seen him. *That's* what's coming
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It occurred to me that while I used to keep folks here updated on the latest work news, I haven’t posted one of those in a very long time. So for those who follow my work, here’s an update from the battlefield….
After taking a little more than two years away from my own work --
--to take care of the Harlan Ellison estate and publishing legacy (about which more later), I popped back in with the two-movie adaptation of Moore’s Watchmen and publication of my novel Together We Will Go and my writing book, Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer. --
-- I then adapted the novel One Second After as a feature (with Josh Holloway, Famke Janssen, and Hannah-John Kamen) which is currently in post-production, and the big-budget AppleTV movie Liminal, based on my graphic novel Telepaths, is now shooting in New York (with --
I actually discussed this quite a while ago, over a year, I think. I've always been frank with the fans whether it's good or bad. The short answer is no, at least not in this form. The problem we ran into was three-fold: first, it's rare when network A picks up a show from--
-- another network unless it's been a big hit or it has major talent attached to it. That wasn't the case here it was just a script. Second, the well-documented paralysis that would grip Hollywood for the next several years was already starting to make itself known and buying--
--was slowing down across the board. Third, that the project came from the CW was a liability with streamers who felt that a show that could air on the CW wouldn't work for them. But the studio believed in the project and felt it was important to try anyway. It took almost--
Sorry you got wound up. For whatever aid it may be in future, in general, here's how you can tell an actual entertainment news story from made-up clickbait. (Speaking here as someone who not only works in the business but was a reporter in this arena for many years.) /1
When a reporter for the LA Times or Variety gets wind of a breaking story, they will get confirmation from their sources, and say, for example, "There are initial discussions going on about a merger between A and B." They will generally cite the individuals involved in the /2
conversation. "The discussions, helmed by John Smith at A and Jean Smith at B, are aimed at..." They don't reveal their sources, but they a) identify the people involved, and b), most importantly, they say that this IS going on. They don't say "Well, this may or may not /3
Twenty years ago, publishing entrepreneur Jaclyn Easton came to me with a risky but innovative idea: , a publishing entity built around one show, Babylon 5, its participants and fans. This wouldn’t be what was usually done, aftermarket making-of books --B5Books.com
-- one-and-done and just kind of tossed out into the world. These would be curated books telling the story of the making of Babylon 5 from deep inside, which could only be done with unprecedented access to writers, producers, cast, crew, everybody --
-- along with scripts, photos, blueprints, artwork, it would be a massive task. This long-view approach to the show was as revolutionary as B5’s five-year arc.
Now, twenty years and seventy – count ’em, 70 – books later, the work is finished, and the site will be shutting down --
In the episode where Claudia breaks her foot, Ivanova has a line about the Drazi that it's like talking to her foot difference is she has a good relationship with her foot; in the episode where they're trying to get enough power to broadcast the Voice of the Resistance to Earth--
-- the day we went to shoot the scene where they say that, we lost power to the stage and had to bring in a generator. When I was trying to explain time travel to Jerry over lunch for Babylon Squared, I pointed to his plate and said "Imagine you get food poisoning from the fish--
-- and come back in time to warn yourself not to eat the fish." That night Jerry got food poisoning from the fish. When I wrote the episode where Delenn is pregnant, Mira was pregnant and didn't know it. This happened All The Time and weirded everyone out. At one point Mira --
Very saddened to hear of the passing of Jeri Taylor. Jeri was co-showrunner on Jake and the Fatman (with her husband David Moessinger) and brought me onto the show based on a script I'd written for another show. At the time, I had never been on a network series, and 90% --
-- of my live-action work was in half hour shows, a very different format. Which is why CBS didn't want me on the show. They didn't think I had the chops for a network series. But Jeri and David fought like hell to get me on that show, and eventually prevailed. Not only --
-- was it my first network gig, which was important, Jeri and David took the time to teach me all the things I didn't know about TV writing but thought I did. They were kind, patient, and damned good writers. So when a showdown came between Jeri and David, as the --