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JMS at SDCC - the news

Jan

Regular
Here’s the news in the order JMS gave it at the panel. I’m posting it pretty much simultaneously to the moderated newsgroup and to JMSNews and B5TV.

--JMS sold a movie to Ron Howard. It’s a thriller/mystery movie set in the ‘20s in Los Angeles. They want to get it into production as fast as possible and JMS is flying up there on the 3rd to meet with Ron Howard and those guys to go over the script and make sure everything is where it needs to be. It’s going to be a big budget film. Ron Howard is a nice guy. The first time JMS had a phone conference with him about the script, JMS called him Mr. Howard and the reply was “You hired my dad on Babylon 5, you can call me whatever you want.” Possibly it could be in production by the first part of next year.

--JMS was up in Toronto recently and they did a 12 episode radio drama series for the CBC called the Adventures of Apocalypse Al. It’s kind of a film noir style comedy drama science fiction supernatural series a la Men In Black or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s in little 5 minute chunks and it’s fall-down funny.

--A pilot for Touchstone has started for a dramatic prime time network series called Borrowed Lives. It was actually sold last year but it was too late to go into development but now they’re actually in the script stage.

--Rising Stars is in development with Sam Raimi’s production company for a series.

--Midnight Nation is being bid on by two different studios for a movie.

--He pitched Dream Police to a major studio, they want to do a motion picture and they’re negotiating now for JMS to write it.

--And there’s something else…WB came to him as they do periodically wanting to do something with B5. They asked if he wanted to do a feature film but JMS declined mainly because he can’t yet picture structuring a B5 movie “…as long as Andreas and Rick insist on staying dead.” Maybe in a year or two he’ll be able to but right now he can’t do something big. What JMS suggested was a bunch of short films—little mini-movies, an anthology show set in the Babylon 5 universe. They said, “Okay.” There’s a network already interested in carrying them but they’re also planned for direct to DVD. This will be “Babylon 5 – The Lost Tales’, a lot of small stories that never made it into the series that he’s rediscovered notes for. And JMS wants no interference, complete creative support – in writing. They said, “Okay.” And JMS wants to direct them. They said, “Okay.” The first will be three individual stories about three of the main characters (to be determined). The plan is to shoot in September, post-production Oct.-Dec. and they’ll probably come out the second quarter of 2007.

I’ll attempt more of a transcript later on but that’s the highlights.

Jan
Woo-Hoo!
 
B5 Obsessed beat you to posting your own post, in the B5 World forum. But, this is where it belongs. Thanks for posting this so quickly, Jan. My reaction, in the words of Popeye the Sailor, Well blow me down!
 
Thank you for bringing us this information Jan. jms sure's got a lot going on (when does he ever not, really, eh?). There are some good sounding things up in this.

:beer:
 
Oh, Excellent news.

The B5 'Lost Tales' could have so many possibilities. If they could be set back in 2260, I wonder if a certain Ranger could make an apperance? :D
 
Did he stockpile all this news, or did it really all happen at once like that? I'm rather amazed. I'll feel better when there are release dates, though. I'm still leery of projects falling off the rails.

Now all I need is for my other creative hero to hurry up and finish Wonder Woman so he can write more comics.
 
He said that all of this has come down since February. As for falling off the rails, the treatment was accepted, the budget was accepted, they'll be starting to talk to actors in about 10 days, they're looking at soundstages.

Jan
 
Regarding the B5 thing I am still leary things can still fall apart.I won't get excited until I can either watch it or buy it.Until that time comes theres nothing to be excited about.
 
He said that all of this has come down since February. As for falling off the rails, the treatment was accepted, the budget was accepted, they'll be starting to talk to actors in about 10 days, they're looking at soundstages.

Jan

If you really want to be pessimistic: some films get made but never released. :LOL:

I think, Jan, that some people are just so fed up with the on again/off again plans for B5. I don't blame them for saying "I'll get excited when I see it's playing in the local theater". :)

I, on the other hand, need something to get excited about. :D
I've bought but not yet watched the new Battlestar Gallactica, and the new Who is great. :)

Apart from that, I find myself very uninterested in most television and movie offerings. But a movie whose script was written by JMS?

I'd go to see that even if it is horror. :LOL:

:beer:
 
I can understand people's reticence to believe this and be disappointed again, especially after the TMoS debacle, but...don't you think JMS learned something from those other almost-B5 incidents, too? My hunch is that he wouldn't be sharing this so widely (once it hits Comic Con, it's going to be everywhere) unless it were written in stone. As you say, of course something could still happen -- Warner Bros. could go entirely out of business, California could fall off into the ocean taking with it all of the actors and copies of JMS's scripts, Ant Overlords could take over the Earth - but short of something fairly unlikely like that, it looks to me as if this is really going to happen. Or at the very least go into production, which is, for all intents and purposes, the same thing.
 
Ant Overlords could take over the Earth

OK, who told her? Crap. Now we're going to have to change the whole schedule, have new calendars printed up, assign new codenames and passwords to everyone again. Can't anyone around here keep a secret for Pete's sake?

-- Ant High Command
 
AnlaShokGrey, are you confusing two of the many projects JMS was talking about?

The "done deal" one has nothing to do with B5. The "lost stories of B5" sounds like it's very much in the speculative stage.

Or did I misunderstand? (If I did, I'm sure there are about ten people around here who'll be able to correct me here. :))
 
Hypatia,
Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales *has* been greenlighted, the treatment approved, the budget approved. They're looking at stages, they'll begin talking to actors in about 10 days. It's slated to begin shooting in September, post-production the last quarter of the year and distributed in the second quarter of 2007. I'm sure that schedule might run over, but it's set to go.

Jan
 
Or did I misunderstand? (If I did, I'm sure there are about ten people around here who'll be able to correct me here. :))

OOooh! Can I be first? :)

As Jan related, WB approached JMS with a suggestion for doing something B5-related for an unnamed network. JMS then laid-down a series of requriements and conditions, each of which WB agreed to. Series of mini-movies, anthology format. Title B5: The Lost Tales. JMS to direct as well as write. The last line in her transcript of his comments is this:

"The plan is to shoot in September, post-production Oct.-Dec. and they’ll probably come out the second quarter of 2007."

"Which part of this progression escapes you?" :D

I think the directing thing is especially signficant. WB originally encouraged JMS to direct, of course. But now that he's moving into features to a much greater degree, he's working in a part of the industry where the director, not the producers, rules. The nearness of the passing of Rick, Andreas and Tim may not be the only reason JMS wants to postpone a B5 feature film. Since none of them are available anyway, but since WB is suddenly interested, why not use part of the necessary downtime to establish a track record as a director of TV movies and episodes - exactly the kind of thing that got Nimoy, Shatner, Frakes, et. al. the chance to helm Trek films.

If The Changling and the other projects go well JMS could go to Warner Bros. in a couple of years and say, "Yes, I'm ready to do a B5 feature, but only if I direct" and actually have the kind of total control he's always wanted over the project.

Just thinkin' out loud, here... : :cool:

Joe
 
I suddenly had a wild and crazy thought. Might the "Lost Tales" include Demon in the Dust, or whatever the sequel to Harlan Ellison's thing was supposed to be called?
 
Lots of great news in that post, thanks Jan.

Am I the only one here who is actually equally, if not more excited, that other JMS works are being looked at seriously?

It is good to hear the movie with Ron Howard looks to be a go, and will open lots of doors for JMS --- and perhaps even word of it is already opening doors.

I loved the comic series Midnight Nation. While studios are only "bidding" on it, its still exiting news, and again, maybe the Changling movie is getting people to take a serious look at his other works.

I also liked Rising Stars a lot and think its cool that they are looking to do a series about this. Wait a second...there already is one...its called The 4400! ;) Maybe I should make a post in the non-b5 forum about this, a couple guys had nailed some interesting parallels early on that are coming true.

I echo the sentiments of the others regarding the B5 project. However due to events with Ron Howard, I do think that things are being looked at far more seriously. This one sounds like it is almost starting to happen --- and JMS kept us in the dark about it this time (which is good) so live and learn I guess.

I guess I'm a little upset about his answer regarding not doing a movie without Biggs and Andreas. Life goes on. And there is plenty of B5 that doesn't require those two characters to be present. That being said, I think Joe D's explaination may be more to the point. Maybe he just doesnt want to do a B5 feature now --- rather let some of these other projects, including The Changling, get finished, then he will be in a far better position to do a B5 feature as he wants it done. Maybe its just a stall tactic to a degree.
 
Hypatia,
Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales *has* been greenlighted, the treatment approved, the budget approved. They're looking at stages, they'll begin talking to actors in about 10 days. It's slated to begin shooting in September, post-production the last quarter of the year and distributed in the second quarter of 2007. I'm sure that schedule might run over, but it's set to go.

Jan

Thanks, Jan. :)
 

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