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JMS at SDCC - the news

Re: Update from JMS on Lost Tales

DaveC and Bester:

If you read the posts by Jade and myself you'll see we've already covered the most of the likely options for running time and time slot. JMS's description of the project as an anthology and "short stories" would seem to exclude the idea of intercutting the separate segments.

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: Update from JMS on Lost Tales

Thanks Joe,

Given that I don't remember reading either your or Jade's postings on this, I guess I must have read to the end of page 1 and then posted without realising there was a page 2 to go at. My bad.

I like the idea of a 2-hour movie split into 3 half hour (ish) stories plus ads etc., although that does have a "Twilight Zone: The Movie" kind of vibe to it.

Cheers,
 
Re: Update from JMS on Lost Tales

Thanks Joe,

Given that I don't remember reading either your or Jade's postings on this, I guess I must have read to the end of page 1 and then posted without realising there was a page 2 to go at. My bad.

I like the idea of a 2-hour movie split into 3 half hour (ish) stories plus ads etc ., although that does have a "Twilight Zone: The Movie" kind of vibe to it.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Precisely the reason to call it an anthology series.
 
Re: Update from JMS on Lost Tales

Precisely the reason to call it an anthology series.
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Right. Not only does it sound like it will be an anthology in that each broadcast/disc will be independent of the others, but each "unit" will be an anthology of different stories itself. (Although, again, a very flexible one. There's no reason why JMS can't do a segment in the fourth collection that is a sequel to one from the first.

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: Update from JMS on Lost Tales

I missed it because it was under the JMS Murder She Wrote Scripts? :rolleyes:
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Sorry, Mac. As I said in my first post reporting everything, I had to hijack a thread because the stand-alone SDCC thread I'd started that morning hadn't shown up yet.

And yes, the archives do seem to be running slow. I've mentioned it to DougO and he's checking on that. It shouldn't be more than a 4-hour lag before JMS's posts show up in the archives.

Jan
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Hey, I wasn't complaining, about anything really. I just had a hard time finding it in OE6, and didn't think of doing a search in rastb5m in either OE6 or Google Groups. No days off in I can't remember how long, and 14-16 hour days will do that to ya. Gotta run.
 
Re: News from JMS

JMS has a long post about how the sale of The Changling is affecting his professional life over at JMSNews. It is definitely worth reading in full. Here's a short excerpt:

When Imagine and Ron Howard bought that script, the effect was
electric. Suddenly everybody in town wanted to know who the hell was
this guy they'd never heard of who just sold a script to Howard and, in
essence, jumped the line from "who?" to A-list without much in-between.
Twenty years in TV, now suddenly an overnight success.

Within hours of the announcement, every studio in town was calling my
agent to get a copy of the script. As it got read, they started
calling to set up meetings. Not us calling them. Them calling us.

And then the offers started. Rewrite offers. Original film offers.
Adaptations. I've had no less than one and in many cases two or three
studio meetings every day for the last several weeks, and my calendar
is one big mass of black type for the next four weeks. A big-budget
feature that Sony wants me to rewrite because it has to go into
production fast, one that Universal wants developed, on and on and
on...all I have to do is say yes to whichever ones I want and they're
mine. Everything I've ever written is suddenly being pored over and
optioned.
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What's that old Chinese curse again? :D

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: News from JMS

With our luck he'll be to busy to do anything B5. We'll have the doldrums again. As always I'll keep waiting ;)
 
Re: News from JMS

With our luck he'll be to busy to do anything B5. We'll have the doldrums again. As always I'll keep waiting ;)
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When Woody Allen's career was just taking off he wrote the Broadway show Play it Again, Sam expressly as a starring vehicle for himself. (He wrote the character as looking and dressing exactly the way he did, so he could just show up at the theater a little before curtain. slap on some make-up and walk out on stage in whatever street clothes he happened to be wearing. :))

His first couple of films had done well, he had come to the notice of major producers, he was doing TV guest shots and still fulfilling commitments for stand-up comedy dates. As the start of rehearsals for the show approached and he looked at all his other commitments he suddenly realized he might not have time to prepare for his own play. "I had written the show for myself and it looked like I wasn't going to be available to myself." :)

He did ultimately do the show, and of course the film version based on it.

Regards,

Joe
 
Re: News from JMS

Yea, if JMS isn't careful, he'll get swamped.

That's a fantastic story, JoeD. Thanks for sharing it. :)

I gather Woody doesn't need much time to get into character when he basically always plays the same character. :)
 
Re: News from JMS

So, the bitter irony here is, after years upon years of JMS slaving away in television and comics, working minor miracles and going unnoticed, he gets his big break not because of the quality of his work.... but because he was nice to the father of a powerful person.
 
Re: News from JMS

So, the bitter irony here is, after years upon years of JMS slaving away in television and comics, working minor miracles and going unnoticed, he gets his big break not because of the quality of his work.... but because he was nice to the father of a powerful person.
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I don't think it's quite that simple. Sure, it helped. A lot, probably. But Ron Howard doesn't pick projects on that basis alone. He's too successful to be that much of a fool.

But yea, it's ironic the sudden "foot in the door" ended up being his hiring of Ron Howard's father. :)

Life is ironic. Let's be glad it's ironic in a productive way, for a change. :D
 
Re: News from JMS

I thought it was Buck Murdock :D

As far as the purchase of The Changeling goes, I haven't read anything that suggested Ron Howard wanted to do TC because JMS had hired his father on B5. That surely was just an exchange during a telephone call after JMS called him Mr Howard.
 
Re: News from JMS

As far as the purchase of The Changeling goes, I haven't read anything that suggested Ron Howard wanted to do TC because JMS had hired his father on B5. That surely was just an exchange during a telephone call after JMS called him Mr Howard.
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That's correct. JMS said at the con that his agent had first sent the screenplay to Spielberg's office, which loved it but didn't want to do a period piece at the moment. They told Ron Howard that he should read it and the script was messangered over to him whereupon he read the entire thing tht night.

I'll try to get started on the transcript this weekend...

Jan
 
Re: News from JMS

I thought it was Buck Murdock :D

As far as the purchase of The Changeling goes, I haven't read anything that suggested Ron Howard wanted to do TC because JMS had hired his father on B5. That surely was just an exchange during a telephone call after JMS called him Mr Howard.
Click to expand...

Sure Ron Howard would've chosen it based upon the actual writing, but, it's likely the connection with his father helped him decide to give it a look.

Just as getting any job, being so and so's son won't always get you the job, but, it's pretty likely to get you an interview.
 
Re: News from JMS

Sounds to me like the recommendation from Spielberg would have meant more than the Rance Howard connection. For one thing, you're assuming that Ron would have recognized JMS as being the same guy who produced B5, which he may well not have until long after he read the script and decided he was interested.

Here's how I imagine the conversation:

"Hi Ronnie, how's it going?"

"Pretty good, pop. Just bought a new script I might direct. Period piece like The Road to Perdition. Based on a true story. Steve turned it down, but thought I might like it."

"Who wrote it?"

"Some guy with an unpronounceable Russian name. Joe Straz-something. Signs his name as J. Michael."

"Oh, he's the guy that produced that Babylon 5 show I did a few times."

"No shit."

:D

Joe
 
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