TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello reports that VERONICA MARS creator Rob Thomas has considered continuing the cancelled series a comic book…but has been warned off the project by the WGA. Thomas says:
"I had a second meeting with DC comics. I heard that the [WGA] didn’t
want [TV writers penning TV-based] comic books during the strike as it
would promote a network property. We’re investigating whether there are
similar hurdles for a defunct TV series like Veronica Mars. Naturally, I won’t be writing it if the Guild doesn’t want me to, but we’re hoping that’s not the case."
I am a strong supporter of the WGA and of the strike, but if what Thomas says is true, the Guild is going way, way too far. The Guild has absolutely no jurisdiction over any writing that their members do in the publishing industry. It would be a big stretch, legally and ethically, for the WGA to call writing a VERONICA MARS comic book, or a MONK tie-in novel for that matter, an activity that undermines the strike effort in any way.
In my case, if I used the WGA strike as an excuse not to honor my publishing contract to deliver my next MONK novel, then Penguin/Putnam, which has no ties whatsoever to the AMPTP, would sue me… and win.
(Thanks to TVSeriesFinales for the heads-up and to Aintitcool for the graphic).
Barring WGA writers from working in other media would ultimately help the AMPTP — because it would prevent those writers from earning any money from sources other than TV.
Further, as Thomas says, there’s a difference between a comic based on an ongoing TV series (like IDW’s CSI comics) and those based on a defunct series (like the Dark Horse BUFFY SEASON EIGHT series). The latter benefits from the TV series; but there’s no TV series to benefit from the comics.
On the other hand, considering how few people read comic books these days compared to TV viewership, is any comic series really adding to the audience of any TV show?
I totally agree with you here, Lee. I am all for the WGA in this fight, but trying to tell writers what they can and can’t write for print–that’s too much.