lurkers-guide/ftp/GEnie/jms95-12

Compiled by David Strauss (dstrauss@netcom.com).


SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 31
Message 76        Thu Dec 07, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:04 EST
 
     Yes, from what Ivanova tells Lyta, about two weeks have passed since the
apprehension of Edward's killer; and yes, with slight modifications to prevent
mindwipes from running into one another, they usually use preset templates in
creating a basic history for the person to be wiped.

                                                                      jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 870       Fri Dec 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:06 EST
 
      Jose: "glad to have you back on rastb5 again"...huh?  I'm not on rastb5,
in limited fashion or otherwise.  Are you perhaps referring to the info group?

     Re: inspiration...in general this has meant people coming to me and
saying that because of the show, they've chosen to get involved in charities,
or social causes, or to register voters, or work in shelters; in Dallas at a
small convention I was at, a young man stood up in the seminar and said that
he was changing his major to social work because of the show...in email I
received a note from a fellow who, inspired by the notion that you can choose
a better life, relocated with his wife halfway across the country, against the
"advice" of everyone else, and created a new and better life doing *exactly*
what he wants to do with his life.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 879       Fri Dec 08, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 21:38 EST
 
       Hrmmm...it was my understanding that the reposts/answers would go on
the rastb5-info group.  I'll have to check this out.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 616       Sun Dec 10, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:48 EST
 
      Yes, "CoS" is a deliberate mirror-image of "Midnight," partly to
illustrate the notion that "the wheel turns," as G'Kar says...yes, it  does,
and if you forget that it eventually turns on *you*, you'll be ground beneath
it.

      I enjoyed Wing Commander 3, and will almost certainly buy WC3, but won't
play it until I've finished writing for the season, for obvious reasons....

                                                                   jms

(oops, meant to say WC4 above)
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 642       Mon Dec 11, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:34 EST
 
     jms does not do christmas, that's correct.

     BTW, B5's own conceptual consultant Harlan Ellison will be signing copies
of his new CD Rom game, "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" at Tower
Records/Video in two locations this week: from 6-7:30 p.m. on  Wednesday,
December 13th, at 8801 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco
on Thursday, December 14th, from 6-8 p.m. at 3205 20th Avenue.

                                                                jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 648       Mon Dec 11, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:32 EST
 
      Haven't tried the game yet, or ANY of the games now in my hands, or that
I'm intending to buy, 'cause if I get into them (like Mechwarrior 2) I know
that it'll take hours and hours from the writing; when the season's over, then
I can do that.

                                                                jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 661       Tue Dec 12, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:18 EST
 
     Jeff: yep, that was you I was thinking of...thanks for leaping up and
helping indicate I'm not senile (well, yet, anyway).

     Re: Mechwarrior 2...I don't have any first-hand experience with the game,
so don't take my purchase as recommendation; I'd just read some of the
reviews, and figured I'd check it out.

     Re: Sinclair as the One...funny how all this time very few folks have
really commented much on how it was that Zathras could look right into
Sinclair's face and say, "NOT the One."  

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 670       Tue Dec 12, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 17:47 EST
 
     Basically, she doesn't have any one style; it's whatever she feels like
that day.  The military rule is that the hair has to be kept either off,
above, or away from the rank insignia.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 687       Wed Dec 13, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:27 EST
 
     Actually, I tend to spend the same amount of time here as anywhere else;
more, in fact.  I inevitably log onto GEnie minimum of twice a day; I
sometimes go a couple/three days without logging onto AOL, for instance,
though then I post several messages at a time, so you get a flurry.  As for
CIS, bear in mind that I've been on that service LONG before GEnie even came
along, since 1984/85, and that has the benefit of using an offline
reader/posting program, Tapcis...I've tried Aladdin, and can't get it to do
the stuff I want...this isn't an invitation to teach me, I don't have time for
the learning curve right now...so everything you see from me here on GEnie is
written live, on-line.  That sometimes mitigates a *bit* against the number of
posts, but no more so than at any time before.

     The video thing didn't come out as an announcement, but rather as an
aside to an ongoing discussion that touched into this area.  It wasn't a case
of, "Aha!  I have this to announce, so I'll do it HERE rather than on GEnie." 
That's just where it occured to me in the natural progression of messages. 
Just like stuff gets mentioned here that sometimes doesn't get mentioned
elsewhere.  Which is why there are a number of folks out there collecting my
posts on various services and reposting them onto other services, because I
don't generally talk about the same stuff in all these different places.  If I
just did redundent postings, there'd be no need for that.

     Finally, if there *is* any numerical difference in postings -- and I
dispute that premise -- it may come from the fact that in general, on the
newer places, I tend to get a lot more specific questions than here; and most
of the ones here, or in general, tend to be "is this going to happen," or
asking for details on upcoming stuff, which I really can't answer often or in
great specificity.

     I still consider GEnie and CIS my two primary services, having been here
the longest...but let's not get proprietary here....

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 692       Wed Dec 13, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 15:12 EST
 
      The actor who plays Pinky, Maurice LeMarche, is a friend, so that may
explain the connection.

                                                                jms

     (Maurice also did the voice of Egon Spengler in TRGBs)
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 704       Thu Dec 14, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:04 EST
 
     I won't be finished writing this season's scripts until...right around
the first week in March, give or take.  At the end of a season, you generally
get an advance script order while you're waiting around for the official word,
usually for maybe 2 or 3 scripts tops, which comes around early April.  The
official writing season starts the day after the formal pickup, which is late
May.  

     So while the writing goes on to some extent year round, the really
intense period is from June through March.  Ten months, or about 42-44 weeks,
so you're looking at one script every ten days to two weeks; we usually like
to start filming with 4-6 finished scripts in-hand so that we have sufficient
lead time to prep.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 524       Thu Dec 14, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:07 EST
 
      Bear in mind that the Agamemnon now has a captain of its own, and that
captain isn't going to just turn over command of his destroyer every time
Sheridan wants to take it out on a joy ride.  Also, the really important
missions Sheridan might use it for are probably things that the EA military
division might not be comfortable with, and would never let  him just take out
a destroyer just like that.

                                                               jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 31
Message 105       Tue Dec 12, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:14 EST
 
     The Centauri did not steal the bag; he had left long before Edward lost
it (we see him drop and leave it behind in the hallway).  AS Garibaldi said,
someone found it and tried to sell it.  

                                                                  jms

SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 721       Fri Dec 15, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 18:22 EST
 
      Have listened to and enjoyed some of Enigma's work, yes.  Nice stuff.

      Can't predict fourth season script stuff at this early stage; one crisis
at a time.

                                                                    jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 734       Sat Dec 16, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 02:48 EST
 
     There are no plans for the foreseeable future of seeing Talia, so  it's a
moot point about the hair, I'd say....

                                                                 jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 747       Sat Dec 16, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:28 EST
 
      Well, bear in mind it's not just a matter of designating someone
"control," it's the whole implantation process that has to be done.  

      Re: Ivanova's hair...yes, whenever she's in the starfury, it's tied away
in back.

                                                                      jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 476       Mon Dec 18, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:17 EST
 
     What y'all have to remember is that we produce 22 shows a year.   There
are 52 weeks in a year.  That means that no matter how you slice it, you've
got 30 weeks of reruns in there.

     RE: Talia...look, you've kinda got to look at this the way I do.   Stuff
happens.  Yes, Talia was hoped for to be a key to the solution of the problem.
(Not the key, but a key.)  But if you do that, every single  time, you become
predictable.  It means you, the audience, can relax.   "Well, we know now that
Talia will always get through this because she's the one they're hoping for." 
Suspense: gone.  Story: suddenly predictable.  There's no rule that every
person who is hoped to help solve the problem in real life is gonna make it to
the end or BE that solution.  So if you delete that person, now it's "Oh,
hell, NOW what're they gonna do?" which is more intrinsically interesting to
me than the other option.

     Generally speaking, about once a year, toward the end of the year, I
kinda look around at the characters with a loaded gun in my hand, and say,
"Hmmm...if I take out *that* person, what happens?  Is there anyone here I can
afford to lose?  Would it be more dramatically interesting to have this person
alive, or dead?  What is the absolute bare minimum of characters I need to get
to the end of the story and achieve what I have to achieve?"

     It helps to really remember that this is a *novel*, and uses the
structure of a novel.  That means you have to have some real suprises as you
go.  Anyone is fair game.  To the question "Why did you get rid of Sinclair? 
Why'd you get rid of Keffer?  Why'd you get rid of Talia?   Why'd you get rid
of....oh, er, that hasn't happened yet...." there is only one answer: 'cause I
felt like it, and 'cause I thought it'd make the story a lot more interesting.


     The stories I like best are the ones that ratchet up the tension and the
uncertainty inch by inch until you're screaming.  This could apply to any of
Stephen King's novels (and recall that a lot of my background is in horror
writing).  Mother Abigail in THE STAND was supposed to be their hope for the
future.  So in short order she's vulture-food, JUST when she's most needed. 
*Because that's interesting*.  It makes you say, "Oh, hell, NOW what?" 
(Stephen actually does that a lot in his books, and it's a technique I've
learned as well.)  Boromir in LoTR was a capable, skilled fighter, deemed
absolutely essential to the Company of the Ring...oops, there he is by the
tree, full of Orc arrows.

     Stuff happens.

     Same here.

                                                                      jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 497       Tue Dec 19, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 01:02 EST
 
      There was always a Ranger going to be assigned to the station about this
time, yes.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 509       Wed Dec 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:44 EST
 
     BTW, here's humor...though at the same time understandable given the
penchant for some folks to abuse the nets by pretending to be other people...I
got a call today from Claudia, who was trying to take part in a B5 IRC and
kept getting booted out by folks yelling at her for the crime of pretending to
be Claudia Christian.  Nobody believed it was her.   Perhaps in future we need
to find some way to verify when this happens.

     (BTW, speaking of net abuse, I'm led to understand, from the sysadmin on
the server in question, that Theron Fuller is no longer being allowed access
to Usenet from his account.)

                                                                    jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 31
Message 117       Wed Dec 20, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 20:00 EST
 
      I'd say there were extenuating circumstances here that made it more than
just a simple murder (and not all murders get wiped, esp. in cases like second-
degree or manslaughter).  He'd stalked Edward for years; arranged to break the
mindwipe; and engaged in slow, deliberate, methodical torture unto death.  The
degree of premeditation is staggering.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 538       Thu Dec 21, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:41 EST
 
     On those other services, the sysops arranged for conferences with the
cast members involved.  That could be done just as easily for GEnie as others.
Just hasn't been done.  To my knowledge, no one's been invited.  (I think it's
been mentioned in my direction once or twice, but not for a while, and I don't
think anything was really ever pinned down, but my memory isn't all it
was...if it ever was....)

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 542       Thu Dec 21, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:30 EST
 
     You want to know how much Joe has been writing lately?  You want to know
the goofy side of it?  

     I write with keyboard in lap, leaning back, legs in a broken-4 position
(left ankle crossing right knee) to support it.  Well, I've been writing so
much, so *long*, lately that I recently discovered that there is now an actual
indentation in my left leg, just above the ankle, where it's been abraded by
cloth, and the circulatoin's been hindered, and there's been constant pressure
placed on it.  I've actually lost some sensitivity in that 5-inch section. 
THAT'S how much I've been writing this year.

     I need a vacation.

                                                                    jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 43
Message 1         Thu Dec 21, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 00:46 EST
 
     We hope to *FINALLY* be able to announce the formation of the  official
Babylon 5 Fan Club within the next 7 days or so.  From time to time, news
about this will get dropped here, and we can use this for notices relating to
the club, and information about joining and such. 

     We've been negotiating with WB for *over a year* to let us do this, and
it's taken a long time mainly because they didn't think anyone would be
interested in a fan club for something not ST.  (Sound familiar?)  But
finally, after much persistence, we're finally at a point where I can say I
think it's going to happen at last.  Stay tuned....

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 260       Fri Dec 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:12 EST
 
     Actually, bear in mind that the American system operates through a series
of checks and balances; there's freedom of speech, but there are penalties if
you use that freedom to write defamatory newspapers, for instance.  In
cyberspace, the checks and balances are more than a little overdrawn....

     Tom: to your question...I do know that Terry Nation wrote a full season
of Blake's 7, though I don't know how many episodes that was.  Some folks have
checked around, and as near as can be determined, in American TV, no one
person has ever singlehandedly written an entire season of a one-hour dramatic
series in the entire 50 years or so of TV history.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 280       Fri Dec 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:58 EST
 
     Kwicker & Jose: exactly my point.  Kelley *co-wrote* all of a season, or
all but one of a season, sometimes supplying the story, or rewriting another's
script...but no one's done it *singlehandedly* before.  

     So Nation did 13 episodes that season?  Well, then looks like that
record's been broken already; 17 this season already.  Plus 4 from the end of
last season, so when this is all over (year 3) that'll be 26 in a row,
unbroken.  (Or is it 27?  What aired before the final four?)

     This is probably the ultimate in trivial details, but it's the sort of
thing that helps me keep going.

                                                               jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 287       Sat Dec 23, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 06:26 EST
 
     Actually, in each TZ season, there were many other writers, though
Serling wrote the majority of each season (also, the lion's share of TZ
episodes were *half-hours*, not hours).  But fundamentally, what matters most
is not the volume or quantity of scripts, but the quality of what goes IN
them.  I'd rather write 1 good script than 4 mediocre scripts.

                                                                      jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 19,  Topic 31
Message 127       Fri Dec 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:50 EST
 
     Actually, in legal terms, in order to qualify for "a crime of passion"
there cannot be premeditation; it happens suddenly, in the heat of the moment.
By virtue of stalking Edward for nine years, the "crime of passion" defense
quickly goes by the boards

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 43
Message 6         Fri Dec 22, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:00 EST
 
     No, the club is designed for both on- and offline fans.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 297       Sat Dec 23, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:27 EST
 
      Actually, I always kinda thought that the people granted the people
their rights, then created the government to arbitrate in the dispute over the
use of those rights.  

      For a glimpse on how ST stories get written, btw, pick up the latest
copy of WIRED.  I know this kind of thing works for some folks, but it just
makes my hair stand on end.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 315       Sun Dec 24, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:37 EST
 
     I guess what amazed me most was either Berman or Pillar coming right out
and saying ST "is a formula."  Just that simple.  I about fell off my chair.

     BTW, on the question of effects...here's one that's kinda interesting, in
that I've seen a few comments here and there about how we must've mapped the
CGI fireball into the hallway in "Convictions" where Londo jumps into the
transport tube.  Some even offered you could tell the fire was CGI.

     Nooooooop.

     Here's how that shot was done: we built a miniature hallway (actually,
"miniature" ain't the right word; it was something like 30 feet long or more).
Painted it so that it looked exactly like the regular B5 hallways.  On film
you absolutely can't tell the difference.  Then we mounted the hallway
*vertically* alongside the outside of the main building here.  Set the camer
at the top, pointing down into the hall.   We built a firebomb and set it at
the far end of the hall (on the bottom, in other words).  We then set off the
firebomb (with all the proper authorities present), so that it shot up the
length of the vertical hall.   We overcranked the camera so it'd start in slow-
motion, then pulled the plug so that the camera slowed down to normal
speed...giving the sense of the fire swelling, then suddenly rushing forward
with a huge fireball.   So when it looks like the "hallway" is on fire...it
is.  Real fire.

     Next we shot Londo (Peter) against a bluescreen, reacting to this, then
diving to his left.  We then comp'd the bluescreen into the hallway, and used
CGI to build a transport tube door to Londo's left, which then closed just as
the fire reached it.

     It was an utterly immense amount of work for, basically, a five second
shot...but it looks 'way cool.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 328       Sun Dec 24, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:57 EST
 
      Effects shots like this one were/are supervised via our EFX supervisor,
Ted Rae, working closely with the director and folks from Foundation.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 357       Tue Dec 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 06:38 EST
 
     Now, kids, play nice....

     Sue: as you're looking at the fireball approaching toward camera, he
jumps to our left.  Trust me on this.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 304       Mon Dec 25, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 03:45 EST
 
     The comment is quite correct; we never once verbally identified
Londo's...extension for what it was.  We intimated, and left it in the
sophistication of the viewer to figure it out.  Same with the Talis (er,
Talia) situation.

                                                                 jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 370       Tue Dec 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 19:38 EST
 
      Re: formula...yes, but remember that all the shows you cite, THE
HONEYMOONERS, I LOVE LUCY, and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE were all shows of a  time
that lent itself to formula, all of the 50s and 60s.  You set a format and you
never wavered from that.  (But even in those, there was some room to maneuver;
remember the DICK VAN DYKE show which was one long dream about alien invasions
and closets full of walnuts?  Even there some were experimenting and pushing
the envelope.)

     Since then, television has grown, and changed, and the better shows tend
to be the ones that are most groundbreaking, least formulaic.  You look at
TWIN PEAKS, or NYPD BLUE, or PICKET FENCES, and they're fresh, innovative,
interesting.  

     This is probably the one area where I have my biggest beef with ST.   The
logic goes that if you're a new, untested show, you can't afford to take
risks, you have to build your audience.  But ST has, however you wish to
phrase it, a guaranteed audience.  It *can* take chances.  It *does* have the
money for big episodes.  But what it does is to stay within very strictly
proscribed boundaries.  It's like having this incredibly powerful, souped up
Porsche...and using it to drive around the block to the corner store for
groceries.

     ST is a program rooted strongly in the 1960s form of storytelling.   It's
frozen in time, I think, when it could be innovative, challenging, dynamic. 
It chooses, deliberately, not to be that.  And if that's what people like
about it, then that's fine.  I just think it's a tremendously wasted
opportunity to present something for the 90s that would be as innovative and
imaginative and challenging as the original ST was in the 60s.

                                                                   jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 380       Tue Dec 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:47 EST
 
     Actually, if you want to hold off a bit on the conversion, you may want
to consider using the first new ep coming in January, "Voices of Authority." 
It has elements of the sense of wonder, some good background on the show,
advances the storyline bigtime, and has some of the funniest stuff we've ever
done.  Something for everyone.

                                                                  jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 390       Wed Dec 27, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:58 EST
 
      Err...I think something may not have been understood, or maybe my syntax
was sloppy...what I'd intended, and what I think is still there in the
message, was that I'd hoped that ST today would be as exciting in the 90s as
it was in the 60s.  That was kinda my point, that ST in its first incarnation
*was* innovative and interesting and imaginative; I hope that wasn't
misconstrued.  

     (And Jose...yes, you're probably right on that distinction between the
two kinds of Trek.)

     Came across this in my email tonight (it's now a tick before 3 a.m.).

  This leads me to a request, which I am writing by email since I don't
  have access to CompuServe or GEnie, but please feel free to respond to it
  publicly rather than privately if you wish, since others may be interested
  in your response as well.  I would be fascinated, if you would care to
  talk about it, about your writing process.  Do you have a set time, a
  predetermined schedule in which to write?  Are you *able* to write like
  that?  Do you write rapidly?  easily?  enjoyably?  Do you read your work-
  in-progress aloud to hear the language?  Do you solicit feedback from
  others?  Do you revise?  much?  What kind of revisions are you likely to
  make?  And if you do make revisions, do they occur as you go along, or
  afterwards, or a combination?  And, finally, would it be possible for you
  to post (or email) any bits of writing showing the revision process?

  I'm refraining from asking all the related questions I'd love to know the
  answers to, but if this is a topic you'd be willing to discuss and think
  I/we would be interested in other details as well, please do talk about
  them.  Thank you so much.

Marcia Goldstein

     Since these were good questions, I thought I'd tackle them here.  To the
first: no, I don't have a set time, except that I pretty much end up writing
all the time...when I get up, when I'm fighting sleep to go to bed, in-
between...basically, I chew on a scene over and over in my head until I'm
satisfied with it, then I write it down.  Sometimes that process goes on at
the desk, or over dinner, or watching TV...but as soon as it comes through, I
get up and I write it.  Consequently, once I've thought it through, "seen" it
in my head a couple dozen times like watching a movie, the actual writing, or
transcribing, is fairly easy.  It's the thinking part that makes Zathras' head
hurt.

     Most of my revisions take place before anyone else sees it; I don't
generally turn over the script until I'm happy with it.  At that point, it's
published as an official first draft, even though it may have gone through
multiple revisions in my computer before anyone else ever saw it.   Sometimes,
though, I get it right the first time, and what gets shot is basically first
draft.  Once it's turned it, there are additional revisions, but usually of a
minor nature, changing sets to accommodate shooting, or just changing a word. 
(I've been known to reissue a full page when we get into blues or pinks *just*
to change a word or two.)

     I never read the words aloud because then they all come out sounding like
me; I can "hear" them better in my head, where I can hear the actual tenor of
Londo's voice.  I never solicit opinions on pages while I'm still writing,
only afterward, and mainly in terms of production aspects.  To do otherwise
risks you losing your direction and second-guessing too much.  

     Do I enjoy it?  Yes and no.  Writing is the one, the ONLY thing I'm good
at.  Writing is also the hardest thing I do.  I agonize over every word,
always fighting the fear that this one won't be as good as the last one, that
this time I won't be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat.   Sometimes, when
a scene comes through completely of its own volition, it's great fun; when it
doesn't, it's agony.  Sometimes I enjoy the writing process; sometimes I more
enjoy *having* written.  It's kinda like taking a portable speed drill with a
3/4" steel bit and driving it into the side of your head...it's painful, but
after the first four inches in, you kinda start to like it....

                                                                        jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 322       Tue Dec 26, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:48 EST
 
     Mike: suffice to say there are some...interesting moments coming up soon
between Refa and Londo.  There are a number of showdowns coming up this
season, between a lot of different characters, over stuff that's been building
up for a while now.  We'll see where this one goes.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 411       Wed Dec 27, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:01 EST
 
     Rick: exactly.  I think the show will thus be perceived differently when
its stripped daily, just as you mentioned.

     Executor: I have to take exception to the notion that it's not "written
by committee."  I happen to know many of the people who do, and have, worked
over there.  (And there is no one "script editor" you refer to there.)  On
every episode, once the freelancer or staffer does an outline, it's brought in
and the story is "broken" (their terms) by all of the available
writers/producers/story editors gathered into one room who invariably tear it
apart and rebuild it, with someone writing on a chalkboard where everything's
going, changing it as the group changes stuff.  Jeri Taylor confirmed this in
an interview with her; the Wired in-depth story does the same; and I know the
people who've worked there in this capacity.  And, I'm sorry, but a group of 7
or so people sitting around a room and throwing out ideas about how the story
should go *is* a committee.  Before you come back with this, I suggest you
read the article in question, lest you commit the crime you decry, that of 
speaking from ignorance.

     Sue: no, it's our left *and* Londo's left.  As the fireball comes toward
us, he's standing with his back to us, looking at the fire.  The door is to
his, and our, left.  

                                                                    jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 424       Thu Dec 28, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:29 EST
 
     YAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH.....

     Well, I *finally* finished writing the two-parter, "War Without End,"
which is probably the toughest thing I've written for the series to date.  
Given everything that has to fit in here, and the fact that it's the other
half of the B4 storyline (this ain't a spoiler, that'll be common knowledge in
ads and the like), it became a pretty difficult job, moreso than when I'd
originally thunk it up.  It's kinda like cramming 20 pounds of potatoes in a
10 pound bag...but I *think* I got it all in, even though the initial drafts
came out at about 7 pages too long.  As I commented to one person, "I'm
definitely dancing on the edge of my ability here."  But I'm pretty sure I
pulled it all off...and I think folks are going to be quite pleased.

     But *man* that was tough....

     Now, having written 16 and 17, only 5 scripts remain to be written for
this season.  And there's still an awful lot to fit in before the big season
ender, which I suspect will raise quite a few eyebrows.  

                                                                jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 2
Message 329       Wed Dec 27, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:03 EST
 
     Thanks.  Though I knew about the gaff a LONG time before it was to air
here in the US, I let the east/west thing go through as shot for the very
first broadcast because I was afraid that the loop might hurt the scene, and
it was *so* perfectly done.  That over, I decided it was worth taking a shot
at it.  If your friend didn't notice, then we did it right.   So now those who
taped the first broadcast have something that'll never be seen again (if I
have anything to say about it).

                                                              jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 43
Message 10        Thu Dec 28, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 04:20 EST
 
     The email response I sent is correct, the release is valid, just not
written the way I'd've preferred; it makes too much of the fiscal aspects of
the darned thing.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 446       Thu Dec 28, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 22:40 EST
 
     Kim: this was probably the most logistically difficult, since I had so
many elements "in play" at any given moment, and so many threads to deal with,
even though there's really just the one overall storyline (it's hard to
explain, you'll just have to see it).  Other things have been more difficult
for other reasons...either it was too emotionally close to me, or I've been
under a killer deadline, it varies.

     Pat: you fall into the trap of accepted cliche re: committee writing.  
That's the usual picture people have of TV writing, and frankly, in the case
of most dramatic TV, it ain't true.  For starters, two of the shows you cite
are sitcoms; sitcoms work differently from dramatic series in that there's
often (though not always) a gang of gag writers who work in tandem to come up
with an episode, with someone transcribing the jokes, around a basic premise. 
Other times you get a writing team, one knows structure, the other is funny;
ain't the same deal as dramatic writing.

     I've been involved in a LOT of dramatic television, from MURDER SHE WROTE
to WALKER to TWILIGHT ZONE and JAKE, and it's just not done by committee. 
When it comes to my scripts, as a staffer, I write them on my own, get my
notes from the exec producer, make the changes, and it goes into production. 
In the case of a freelancer, the outline and script come in, the writer gets
notes from the story editor or producer, does the next draft, turns that in,
and someone on staff then takes the script and makes whatever final changes --
minor or major -- are required to make it producible or a better story. 
Sometimes you don't touch it at *all* except to make production (set) changes;
sometimes it's more.  But you've got just the original writer, and usually one
staffer doing cleanup.  It ain't three, four or seven guys in a room throwing
around ideas.  If a staffer does a huge rewrite, sometimes you'll put in for
shared credit.   (The reason you see ten zillion writer credits in many ST
episodes is due to the gang rewriting/writing process.)

     I'm not saying it doesn't happen at all in dramatic TV, because that
wouldn't be true...only that it's not the rule, and is much rarer than you
might think.  Not one of the dramatic series I've been involved with has ever
worked that way.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 1
Message 473       Fri Dec 29, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 23:40 EST
 
     Let me see if I've got this straight...Executor says that ST is not
written by committee...I say that it is...he says it's not, and that "reality
doesn't care" if I take exception to his statement that ST is written by
committee...and then he states that ST *must* be written by committee, and
thus it IS written by committee, which means I was correct and reality is on
my side.

     At some point here I think somebody fell down the rabbit hole....

     And then I'm contradicted quoting the "script editor" for ST, when I say
there IS no such creature working on the show, and in fact despite being told
I'm wrong by Executor, he turn turns around and reveals that the "editor" in
question is John Ordover, who edits the BOOKS, not the show, and is NOT a
script editor, which I said doesn't exist, which again shows that reality is
on my side....

     This is makings Zathras' head hurt....

     Re: the "stupid thread," and the "effective end of similarity" being that
the two shows were set on space stations...oh, you mean absent the fact that
the two shows both were helmed by commander ranked officers who had survived
major and emotionally devastating battles, both had female seconds-in-command,
both had a shapeshifter in their pilots, both had the female second leading a
counter-attack to a massive attack in that same pilot, and a lot of other
stuff in common....oh, you mean absent all THAT it's the "effective end of
similarity."  Gotcha.

     "Writing teams can come up with ideas better than one writer."  Well,
THAT should certainly put Hemingway, and Shakespeare, and Dickens, and Wilde,
and Borges, and Faulkner, and Dostoeyvsky, and Marlowe in their place,
yessir...and I'm sure you are now prepared to name the committees of writers
that have come up with better than individual writers.  I eagerly await them.

     As for your comments on how TV writing and production works...rarely have
I seen misinformation so breathtakingly portrayed.  Saying it's so doesn't
make it so.

     Finally, as for being bugged by email, I almost always see this when
somebody gets his or her hide branded in public forums; if you have these,
notify GEnie.  Otherwise, it leads me to doubt if they exist, and to consider
that you're just saying that to get sympathy on your side, 'cause the *facts*
sure as heck aren't.

                                                                     jms
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SFRT II RoundTable
Category 18,  Topic 43
Message 16        Sun Dec 31, 1995
STRACZYNSKI [Joe]            at 05:54 EST
 
      One other aspect I forgot to mention is that if we do the tapes, there
are residuals and royalties to pay to actors, writers, directors as well as to
WB and elsewhere.  The more you put on a tape, the more residuals you end up
paying per tape...and the more the prices is going go up.  It's not the same
as copying a bunch of tapes for a friend; we have to pay everyone who
participated in the episode.  

                                                               jms
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