B5:TLT Actual DISCUSSION Thread

[Mindwalker]

JMS could always go on a bender and defacate on the CEO of WB desk...

[A_M_Swallow]

{snip}
For a direct to DVD project the actual content production costs obviously have to be factored in. But since, by definition a direct to DVD project is not a theatrical film and can't be "treate" like a theatrical film, your "10 times cost" figure can't even be considered an estimate since it isn't in any way based in reality.

DO NOT BE SILLY.

Of course it is a "film", films and tv programs are the only things that the production bureaucracy understands. Everything new has to be fitted into one of those two categories. It will be a few years before Direct-to-DVD is allowed to be a category in its own right.

The sales to a tv station may allow it to be passed off as a Movie of the Week but that hybrid is just a big tv program.

The advantage of a tv program is that the broadcaster is paying so Warner Brothers does not have to worry about losing the money, only any over spend. Consequently the sales required to make a profit are much lower.

The 4 times production cost to break even applies to films so the bureaucracy will expect to apply it to Direct-to-DVD projects paid for by Warner Brothers. A break even may be sufficient for the theatre film parts of Warner Brothers but being new the Direct-to-DVD needs to make a lot more money than that.

Studios use the profits from their hits to cross subsidise their losses and pay for new movies. Until it has a hit the Direct-to-DVD division of Warner Brothers does not have any money of its own. The Division can be killed by the holding company simply not lending it any more money.

With sales at 4 times production costs the B5:TLT movie(s) can repay the borrowed money, at 8 times the Direct-to-DVD Division can finance the sequels itself and at 10 times the company makes a profit.

Andrew Swallow

[Lousy_Dodgers]

Yeah, I know it is not rational to think they would cancel it after I pre-ordered it but I wanted to be silly. It is the weekend and I am trying to amuse myself by thinking of ways the universe could have fun at my expense...again

[Joseph DeMartino]

DON'T BE SILLY

Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot.

Look Andrew, if you don't understand anything about the American film and television industry just say so. Don't post long winded proofs that you don't.

You have put the Big Book of Made-up Statistics aside and are now simply pulling stuff out of your ass. Please cite one speicific source (other than your own imagination and "vast experience" in British - non-film and TV - business) for any of your statements in the preceding posts. Variety or Hollywood Reporter articles, books, anything.

I'll cite a few things for my understanding of how films and TV work:

The Making of Star Trek by Steven E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry - Excellent primer on TV production and financing in the early to mid 1960s.

Gene Roddenberry - pirvate conversation, NY Star Trek Convention 1975

Final Cut : Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists by Steven Bach

The Biz: The Basic Business, Legal, and Financial Aspects of the Film Industry
by Schuyler M. Moore

Several histories of the major film studios.

Former TNT executive, private correspondance and conversations, 1998 to 2001

One year gift subscription to Daily Variety.

The Complete Book of Screenwriting by J. Michael Straczysnki

Private e-mail correspondence with executive producer of a highly-rated sitcom currently airing on the ABC television network.

Regards,

Joe

[GaribaldisHair]

The Complete Book of Screenwriting by J. Michael Straczysnki

Without wanting to intrude ... it is actually The Complete Book of Scriptwriting. At least that is what my copy is called!

[Joseph DeMartino]

Without wanting to intrude ... it is actually The Complete Book of Scriptwriting. At least that is what my copy is called!

Yes it is. Thanks for the correction.

Regards,

Joe

[darth_librarian]

regardless of a contest to prove who knows the most about Hollywood (I know nothing, so its all informative to me! )I think we can all agree that we will be buying a copy and posibly some for our friends...

[Shaal Mayan]

Make me believe a project once I will believe you again, but fool me 50 times I won't believe a word you say


Okay I am sorry.I have personally gotten too excited about the possibility of seeing new Babylon 5 projects coming to the screen .And have been greatly disappointed in NOT seeing them come to furtation for one reason or another .To say that I am skeptical is putting it midly still.I WANT to see a continuation of the series that I love and adore that he created and gave us but am still holding back.

[hypatia]

Make me believe a project once I will believe you again, but fool me 50 times I won't believe a word you say


Okay I am sorry.I have personally gotten too excited about the possibility of seeing new Babylon 5 projects coming to the screen .And have been greatly disappointed in NOT seeing them come to furtation for one reason or another .To say that I am skeptical is putting it midly still.I WANT to see a continuation of the series that I love and adore that he created and gave us but am still holding back.

Which is fine. What got everyone's dander up was the suggestion that JMS had lied, somehow, in the information he's given to his fans.

As far as I have ever heard: he has never done this.

[Recoil]

I feel a lot like Shaal Mayan does. I have a friend who doesn't even want to read about this B5:TLT thing until he sees the DVD himself. However, I don't feel that JMS ever *lied* to us in the past, and I dont think Shaal necessairly meant that either. Its just that in the past a lot of us feel that he leaked a lot of informaiton and at times made things look a lot more encouraging than they were, so we got our hopes up only to have the projects fall apart. TMOS was a huge disaapointment. Its not that we think he lies, its just that many have lost faith in B5 projects coming to fruition.

That being said, I think with as much as I have been reading, Im personally convinced this one is really going to happen. We will see though, famous last words.