lurkers-guide/ftp/Usenet/jms96-07-usenet

JMS Usenet messages for July 1996.

Date: 2 Jul 1996 01:18:41 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn: JMS - Director's cut of re-runs

Can't be done; also, there is no previous cut, only avid-generated
computer files with the images, not film...and they wouldn't be director's
cuts, but producers' cuts.


 jms




Date: 5 Jul 1996 05:02:38 -0400
Subject: Re: If you had one question to ask JMS

"How has the response of fans to B5 been different from what you had
expected?  What fan response has most surprised you?"

Probably the extent to which fans have formed strong communities around
the show, and gotten together.  That's probably the main thing.


 jms




Date: 3 Jul 1996 01:02:38 -0400
Subject: Re: attn:JMS please deny

No, I had no idea that scientologists used an alien group called Markab,
and frankly would've changed it if I had known.



 jms




Date: 1 Jul 1996 23:58:05 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN: JMS: Position on Captain Power?

I was the story editor on Captain Power.  The show was created by Gary
Goddard, not by me.  I was brought in to basically run the story part of
it once he had sold it.  In that capacity, I was more or less left alone,
and could do what I wanted (though the first episode has a lot of Gary's
fingerprints all over it).  Some of what we did there was pretty good; in
other cases, I wouldn't mind if the negatives fell off a pier somewhere
and were never seen again by humankind.


 jms




Date: 7 Jul 1996 01:05:38 -0400
Subject: Re: B5 slips under Time Magazine radar

"I find it interesting that the article talks about SF's "comeback" where
I really didn't see it diminish (at least in the last decade or so)"

Here's what happens, having been part of a whole lot of these articles
over the years:several new SF shows come along.  You get called for
interviews about this sudden explosion of SF.  Six months go by.  The
shows disappear.  And now you get calls for interviews about why SF
doesn't seem to work on TV.




 jms




Date: 9 Jul 1996 00:44:30 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Road Trip/Babylon 5 Parties

I'm glad to hear it's been a great experience...and take care of yourself
out there on the road.



 jms




Date: 9 Jul 1996 00:44:37 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: New Merchandise - legal or not?

"BUBBLE BATH??!!"

The stuff is being sold under the overall heading "BUBBLE BUDDIES."

How could I *not* approve something like that?

I brought one back with me from SDCC (no, I hadn't gotten one yet), and
our co producer George Johnsen did fifteen minutes on that one.




 jms




Date: 10 Jul 1996 22:03:18 -0400
Subject: Re: General Note from jms

In October you'll get the final 5 from this season, then 4 or 5 more from
year 4, so that's 9-10 in a row.


 jms




Date: 8 Jul 1996 20:57:41 -0400
Subject: Re: Con Report: JMS at San Diego Comic Con, July 6, 1996

Well...suddenly I don't have anything to say at conventions, since all my
best gags have been listed...sigh....oh, well.



 jms




Date: 18 Jul 1996 01:35:05 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Happy Birthday, Joe! - 1996

                                          ...humbug....



 jms




Date: 19 Jul 1996 04:03:51 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Directing B5?

"Specifically: in an ep like "Severed Dreams" where cgi effects take up
literally almost 1/4 of the script, how much input does the director have
on "camera" angles, close ups of 'Fury pilots, and the way in which the
SFX is intercut with live action?  Or is that entirely your job?"

Generally, a lot of that material is either storyboarded, or supervised by
our on set EFX supervisor, who determines the angles to be used.  This is
especially important in an episode like Severed Dreams when you have to
make sure that the pilots are oriented the right way on camera (i.e.,
going from left to right, and facing left to right) if that's the
direction their ships are going in; otherwise you'd have to flop the film
to make it match.  In larger set pieces, using virtual sets and composite
shots, the director has more influence.

"Also: when dealing with an ep with a lot of flashbacks or reused footage
(WWE, especially part 2), how much freedom does the director have?  Does
he/she have to match the style of the previously show footage (in terms of
angles, close ups, pacing, etc), or is there more room for the director's
own style?"

In the case of WWE, you had to match lighting and composition pretty
closely.  That's about the only time it's really become an issue.

"(one more question: if someone other than you had written "Babylon
Squared", would they have to be paid royalties for the reuse of parts of
that episodes script and footage in "War Without End"?)"

Anyone who writes a scene which is reused gets residuals.  Doesn't matter
if it's me or anybody else, as a Writers Guild member, it's guaranteed and
required.  Also the actors, the director, and others get re-use fees of
varying amounts depending on how long the sequence is.


 jms




Date: 19 Jul 1996 04:07:38 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: The University of JMS NOW Babylonian Ranch

"More concretely, however -- any chance of Babylonian Productions doing a
series of workshops (directing, acting, SFX, costuming -- I know *you*
couldn't do writing, because of the story idea thing) at a convention? Or
*as* a convention?"

This is only something we've discussed in relation to a convention.  If we
were to put on a B5 convention, via the fan club, one of the things we'd
do would be to make it an informative experience.  Each of our
departements -- makeup, costume, EFX, others -- would give presentations
to folks interested in those areas (you could probably pick 2 or 3), so
you'd have something a bit more than the usual, "Okay, I'm on stage, what
do you want to talk about?"  Again, the goal is to help folks understand
how this TeeVee critter works.


 jms




Date: 19 Jul 1996 04:24:15 -0400
Subject: Re: Can't WB Home Video at least release the PILOT on video?

The videotape situation has absolutely *zip* to do with the Turner
situation.  We got a reading on this from WB long, long before the Turner
deal was even a glimmer in Wall Street's eye.  Basically, it's an in-house
problem.  Most of the studios have a philosophy of, "If someone's going to
do something with one of our shows, we should do it through an internal
branch of the company."  But if they themselves don't want to do it, they
tend to hold onto it even if someone else wants to do it NOW on the theory
that they themselves MIGHT want to do it in future.  

It's a territorial thing.  We have the right to do this, and we won't
surrender that right, because our division refuses to lose that control,
whether we actually ever do the project or not.

This is, remember, a business where people running studios pay vast
amounts of money for things they know they'll never do.  It's always less
about money than about pride, jurisdiction and control.

In our case, "proper channels" for B5 would be Warner Home Video.  Unlike
Fox and Paramount, WHB doesn't generally release TV series on video.  They
tend to look more to big-deal movies, documentaries and miniseries.  And
they tend to do the big-ticket items that they know will sell millions of
copies (like the Batman movie, and some of the animation stuff, which has
a different agenda).  They look at a syndicted show, and shrug.  

Warners International, on the other hand, is by their mandate set up to
handle the release of whole series on tape, and that aspect wasn't a
problem in the UK.

So we've been negotiating with them for almost 2 years now to do the
videos ourselves.  There's been some movement, gradually, but it's been
the kind of movement associated with glaciers.  Eventually we'll get
there; we just have to keep saying "yes you will" one more time than they
can say "no we won't."


 jms




Date: 19 Jul 1996 19:35:06 -0400
Subject: Re: Unexpected Straczynski writing credits

EEK!



 jms




Date: 19 Jul 1996 20:10:37 -0400
Subject: Fan Club Email Address

Jim Lockett, head of the Official B5 Fan Club, just got himself an email
address.  So if you haven't yet received one item or another, or have any
inquiries regarding the fan club...he can be reached now at the following
address: 

                                 JPLB5@AOL.COM.



 jms





Date: 22 Jul 1996 05:17:08 -0400
Subject: Re: Still haven't got my fan club stuff yet, what's up?

Write to jplb5@aol.com, and they'll get right on it.



 jms




Date: 22 Jul 1996 06:04:33 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN:JMS Redemption

Thanks.  From where I sit, you can't just play the damnation card in
drama; you have to also play the redemption aspect.  When you look at the
early Twilight Zones for instance, you see redemption there as much a key
issue as a Bad Guy getting what's coming to him.



 jms




Date: 22 Jul 1996 06:04:35 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Blatant Plug time - When is your screenwriting book coming into print?

Yes, at this point, the Hugo-nominated script for "The Coming of Shadows"
will be in the new edition of my scriptwriting book.  


 jms




Date: 24 Jul 1996 01:10:16 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Concerns about "Shadow Dancing"?

"You've mentioned a couple times that the upcoming "Shadow Dancing" will
be 
quite violent.  Should I be concerned about, say, my two-year old watching
it? 
She's as hooked on the show as I am, and would probably feel quite left
out..."

This is a tough one...I've given it a lot of thought since I saw this, and
my sense is to advise the following:

If you possibly can, videotape the episode.  Get the time code on the
various pieces.  We cut in and out of two stories, an A and a B story. 
One is violent, the other is not.  You don't have to see the one, or see
much of it, to follow the other.  For someone as young as 2, I'd suggest
fast-forwarding past the B story stuff.  It's still within what's
generally permitted on TV, but it is kinda harsh.




 jms




Date: 28 Jul 1996 02:06:13 -0400
Subject: Re: JMS: Question, "Hour of the Wolf"

"Have you ever contemplated doing an episode of B5 that unfolds in real
time (i.e. one minute of screen time is one minute of plot time, as done
in the movies "Miracle Mile" and "Nick of Time"), or would that be
counterproductive to the sorts of stories you're trying to tell?"

Actually, yeah, I have considered doing that...it can be a very limiting
structure, and the story has to be just right for it to work.  Haven't
quite worked out all the snags yet.

"Or is "Hour of the Wolf" a story of that particular variety?"

Nope.




 jms




Date: 29 Jul 1996 04:02:28 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Found any of these people?

I found Sherilyn and Marcus, but not any of the rest.  Ah, well, gave it a
good shot, and had some great help.


 jms




Date: 29 Jul 1996 15:05:09 -0400
Subject: Re: Attn JMS: fan club problems

Karen: we recently found that the post office sent back whole *packages*
of the fan club material to us, which they held onto for almost two
months.  We used two different post offices for the mail drops; we used
the same amount of money for the mailing on all the mail drops, what the
first one told us it should be, and that was fine...the second decided it
should be more, never told us, and just sent the stuff back after a while.

There've been similar problems with the mailings, though many people are
now getting their stuff.  Jim's been flooded with messages -- he showed me
a stack two inches thick -- and he's processing them as fast as he can. 
Better to solve the hassle and get them out again than answer each one of
the emails.  

This is a new venture, remember, there's some shakedown time.  Jim's
dancing as fast as he can.  You'll either get a reply or a packet soon.


 jms




Date: 30 Jul 1996 17:37:34 -0400
Subject: Re: ATTN JMS: Directors for 4th Season

"Do you have directors lined up for the first few episodes of the fourth
season yet?"

Mike Vejar is going to do a bunch, we've got Jesus Trevino, David Eagle,
and are currently setting up some new directors on the show.

"Also, do the directors for B5 have contracts that they will direct X
number of episodes in a season, or are they on a verbal agreement type of
thing, or is it something else?"

It's never verbal, that's too easy to abuse on either side.  It's all done
via deal memo, usually one or two at a time, or if we know the director
well, for several at once.




 jms