Current Affairs

Jumping into the Frying Pan

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Bryce Zabel gives readers an inside look at the development and production of M.A.N.T.I.S., the first TV series about a black superhero.

Anyway, the deal was, "M.A.N.T.I.S."
had started as a two-hour pilot, written by Sam Hamm (“Batman”) and
directed by Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man”). The two Sams had a disagreement
with Fox about how the series should go, and walked away from their own
project. Fox still wanted to do the series, but somebody needed to make
the changes and run the show. Both Hamm and Raimi were extremely
gracious and understanding in the transition, nothing was made
personal, and the series lived.

For me, that’s a pure TV moment. Bryce mentions it casually…but it’s outrageous and insane. And yet, this kind of thing happens so often in TV, we take it as normal. But think about it: Two guys create, produce and direct a pilot, praying that it will sell…and when it does, they end up walking away from the show. And Fox, who ordered the pilot and bought the show based on their vision, lets them go.  Now the studio and network have to scramble to find someone else… who wasn’t involved with the show before… to take it over and supply a new, creative vision. Fast.  It’s a thankless, no-win situation for the new showrunner but Bryce took it on and made the show his own.  Because he’s a pro.  I’ve been in a similar position two or three times myself (SHE-WOLF OF LONDON, MARTIAL LAW, etc.) and you just dive in, do your best with as much enthusiasm as possible, and try not to think about all the landmines in your path.

She Really, Really Cared

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Tari Akpodiete pointed me to this posting on BoingBoing:

SF writer Lynda Williams sez, "My daughter (18) cared SO much about the ending of the Animorph series ‘selling out’ the readers that loved it with a nasty ending, that she has taken a whole year off school (sigh! be careful what you model!) to write an alternative ending as good as the books ever were! And she did it despite knowing it had to be considered fan fic and couldn’t be a way to start a writing career — just because she really, really
cared."

She took a year off school to write fanfic? Good God, how stupid.

I’m sure some of you will say that I’m being a jerk, that the girl took a year off to hone her writing skills and complete a novel.

And to you, I say, it’s fanfic.  I can see how you might write a short piece of fanfic for yourself  (ie not posted on the Internet or distributed to others) as a writing exercise. That could be useful and instructive. But spending a year toiling on a fanfic novel? That’s just pathetic.  It’s one step removed from becoming a Jareo.

It’s shame her mother, a professional writer,  couldn’t have given her daughter better guidance instead of encouraging her in this masturbatory and pointless pursuit (and, worse, being proud of it). 

Williams could have taught her daughter something about intellectual property, copyright and the importance of respecting the creative rights of other authors. It doesn’t say whether the work was posted on the Internet…but I hope it wasn’t. But if it was, I hope that Williams didn’t congratulate her daughter on that, too.

Williams could have encouraged her daughter to channel her passion for "Animorphs,"  and the way she felt the story should be told, by creating an entirely original work of her own that perhaps embodied the same ideals and explored the same themes. That would have been a worthwhile, enriching, constructive use of her time, effort and passion.

Wouldn’t it have been great if Williams’ daughter took a year off and ended up with a finished novel of her own?  Now that would be something to be proud of. 

But an 18-year-old spending a year on fanfic?

I wouldn’t be proud of that. I’d be embarrassed. 

The Name of Noir is Marlowe

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Duane Swierczynski pointed me to an excellent Mystery File article about author Dan J. Marlowe. Duane writes:

Marlowe’s life story has enough twists and turns for at least three or
four Gold Medal novels. Marlowe was widowed at a young age, became
close buddies with one of the most notorious bank robbers of the 1960s,
and later in his career, suffered a stroke that wiped away his
memory–but not his writing ability. Somehow, through all of this, he
wrote some extremely fine hardboiled novels, the best being his first
two Earl Drake books:  THE NAME OF THE GAME  IS DEATH and ONE ENDLESS HOUR. 

Duane is a right — those are two great books. But if you read NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH, and you must, be sure to get the first version, not the subsequent rewrite where some of Earl Drake’s very, very rough edges were smoothed out so he could become (following ONE ENDLESS HOUR)  the improbable hero of a series of secret agent novels.

Man Titty

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Deathunsung_1
The hilarious Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels are at it again, reviewing some terrible book covers:

Sarah: It is a moderately-known fact that I had a breast
reduction 11 years ago. 7+ lbs. of tissue were removed. I think he
received in transplant what I had taken out.

Now, do you need inflated man-titty to be a demon hunter? Perhaps if I’d kept my old boobs, I’d be a demon hunter now.

Candy: If I were him, I’d be so worried about scratching my
chest with those talons on my hands. I mean, what if I puncture
something? It’s hard to be appropriately terrifying when there’s a jet
of saline squirting out of one’s (rapidly deflating) chestal region.

Psyched up

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The premiere of the new USA Network series PSYCH is the highest-rated opening episode of any new basic cable series this year. Bill Rabkin & I wrote an episode for PSYCH that will be airing later this summer.

In all, 6.1 million total viewers tuned in,
scoring USA’s best numbers since the two-hour "The 4400" debut
harvested 7.4 million viewers in July 2004.

The news wasn’t so good for MONK, which kicked off with strong ratings but they were the lowest season debut numbers since it’s first season. One reason for the dip could be MONK’s new timeslot — the series was shifted an hour earlier to accomodate PSYCH. Bill and I have also written an episode of MONK, which airs July 28th.

The Lion’s Share

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There’s an article in today’s Los Angeles Times talking
about how Lions Gate Television, my former employer on MISSING, manages to make
a profit on their cable television shows.

But by employing financing formulas it has used to make and distribute
such profitable, low-budget movies as "Madea’s Family Reunion" and the
"Saw" horror franchise, Lions Gate not only covered its costs on
"Weeds" but also cleared what industry analysts estimate was about
$100,000 per episode of pure profit.

[…]By cobbling together money from license fees, income from international
sales, state and local tax rebates and subsidies, Lions Gate has at
least broken even from day one on all nine of its shows — a rarity in a
business where most network shows begin in the red.

It’s interesting stuff. The TV
division is run by the impossibily energetic Kevin Beggs, easily one of the
brightest, friendliest, and most creatively supportive execs I’ve ever worked with. It’s nice to see him
getting the recognition he deserves.

Emmy Nominations Announced

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For the most part, it’s all the same faces and all the same shows in the Emmy nods this year.  I was really hoping that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA would get the recognition it deserves…but the conservative Academy members just aren’t ready to embrace a genre show (as far as I know, BUFFY was largely ignored by the Academy, too). I’m sure it’s the name of the show that makes them cringe and the fact that there are space ships in it. A show with a name like "Battlestar" can’t possibly be worthy of an Emmy statuette for anything except special effects…right? And what about DEADWOOD?

The best drama nominations went to GREY’S ANATOMY, HOUSE, THE SOPRANOS, 24 and THE WEST WING. No surprises there (though they are certainly all deserving of the honor). But c’mon, is there some obscure Emmy rule that THE SOPRANOS and THE WEST WING have to be nominated every year? Those two shows have received accolades again and again… yes, we know they are great shows. It sure would be nice to shake things up a bit and acknowledge other great shows… like BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and DEADWOOD.

That said, I am thrilled to see my friends Terry Winter (SOPRANOS), Howard Gordon (24), and Matt Witten (HOUSE) up for statuettes and to see Tony Shalhoub getting another not for his  great work on MONK.

 

Head Shots

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Posterwire explains the arcane picture approval process for movie posters, which can lead to an actor’s approved head-shot being grafted onto several different bodies.

B0006b2a2o01_ss500_sclzzzzzzz_v109967533Using the same head on different bodies isn’t uncommon (and sometimes a necessary evil).

[…] Most well-known movie stars have approval (either contractually or as a
professional courtesy) over ALL photography of themselves available to
a film’s marketing campaign. For example, when images from a film (in
unit shots, special shoots, etc.) become available, the images are first given to the actor for approval. Contact sheets (also known as proof sheets)
of all the photography are sent to the actor, which are then sent back
with a lot of red Xs — known as "kills" — marked through photos that
the star (or more likely, their manager) don’t want used. This can be
frustrating for designers working on the project if some/most/all of
the best shots are "killed". This power to "kill" can be taken a step
further when a star (or producer, director, etc.) has approval over the
movie poster design of the final one-sheet. This is why one of the
first questions asked by many art directors on many key art projects
is: "Who has approval over this movie poster?"

What I don’t get is why they sometimes airbrush the actor’s face to the point that they barely resemble themselves. Take, for instance, the picture on the left of Tony Shalhoub (click on the picture for a larger image) from one of the Monk DVD sets.  What have they done to his face??

UPDATE 7-7-06: Here’s the original version of the photo used on the DVD box.Monktape_1