London’s Calling

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Much to my surprise, it turns out that London was more of a paradise for books than Hay-on-Wye was.  I went a little crazy…and sent back two boxes of books to Los Angeles from my binges at Foyles, Murder One, and a bunch of other  bookshops. I also went into a frenzy buying DVD boxed sets  of British TV shows, like the complete  series of THE SWEENEY, which is worth the purchase  price for the extras alone. I had to restrain myself from buying the complete SAINT and RETURN OF THE SAINT boxed sets, too. 

Yesterday morning,  I finally stopped my shopping spree.  Some production personnel from Germany flew in from Cologne to meet with me and go over production details on my movie/pilot, then  we took a long walk in the cold and rain through the city. Last night I got some take-out Chinese, sat in my hotel room, and worked on my MONK book.  I would have liked to take in a show while I was here, but there just wasn’t time…and it would have felt a little odd going alone.

In an hour, I am getting on a flight to Stockholm and next Saturday, finally, I will be returning home. Three weeks is too long to be away from my family.

You are Art

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My sisters Karen Dinino and Linda Woods were interviewed this week by the
Santa Clarita Valley Signal. It’s not The View (where they recently were guests), but every little bit helps.

Expression and individuality were coin of the realm in the universe
where Dinino and Woods grew up. Their father Alan Goldberg was a
newscaster for KPIX Channel 2 in Northern California and a documentary
filmmaker, and their mother, Janice Curran, is a reporter for The
Desert Sun in Palm Springs. Dinino was a journalist for Newsweek on
Campus. Both brothers, Lee Goldberg and Tod Goldberg, are writers. "In
our family, if you’re not published by the time you’re 40, you’re
kicked out," said Woods.

Misrepresented

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There’s an interesting article in Reason Magazine about fanfic. The only problem with it is that the writer Cathy Young completely misrepresents my views on the topic.

The vehemently anti-fanfic writer Lee Goldberg, who blogs at
leegoldberg.com, is the author of several authorized novels based on
the TV shows Monk and Diagnosis Murder—a contradiction he defends on the grounds that he does it only for the money.

So I wrote a letter to the editor:

A number of people have sent me Cathy Young’s thoughtful and
interesting article
about fanfiction.  I have written extensively on my blog about
fanfiction, particularly my view that the practice of publishing it in
print and on the Internet infringes on the original author’s creative
rights (not to mention the trademark and copyright issues). I’ve argued
that fanfiction writers should get the permission of the author or
rights holder before distributing their work. If the original author or
rights holder  has no problem with fanfiction based  on their  work,
then I don’t either. I have also said that licensed tie-in fiction,
which I have written, differs significantly on ethical and legal
grounds from
fanfiction because it is done with the consent, participation and
supervision of the original author or rights holder. At no point have I
*ever* expressed the views that she incorrectly (and I have to assume
deliberately) attributed to me. It’s a shame, because her article would
have been far more informative, and fair, if she’d bothered to
accurately reflect my actual opinions on the subject.

I look forward to seeing a correction in the next issue of REASON.

Do you think they will have the journalistic integrity to run a correction? Or should I assume that they have the same standards for accuracy as  Cathy Young?

UPDATE 2-8-07:  Cathy Young has responded to my email and still misses the point.  I’m not surprised.  She argues that because I said I wouldn’t have written the MONK books unless I was hired to do so proves her argument that I believe the only difference between fanfic and  tie-in work is that I’m getting paid for it.  I replied:

I want to thank you for your lengthy follow-up to my email. While I
stand by everything you’ve quoted this time (accurately, I should say),
I still take issue with your statement above. I have never said that I
write them only for the money. While it’s true that I’ve said I
wouldn’t have written the MONK or DM novels unless I was hired to do
so, I don’t think getting paid is what separates fanfiction (the theft
of an authors’ work without his or her permissions) from licensed
tie-ins or other derivative works that respect the original authors
creative and legal rights. It’s not PAY that is the defining element —
it’s PERMISSION. Fanficcers routinely and blithely disrespect an
author’s creative and legal rights on the grounds that they aren’t
getting paid for their work.

She also makes the same old, weak excuses for not seeking permission before publishing fanfiction. Like other fanficcers, she takes no responsibility for violating the  creative and legal rights of authors and rights holders — instead, she believes the  burden should be placed on authors or rights holders to issue a blanket approval or disapproval of fanfiction (not that fanficcers would honor such a statement anyway).  Sadly, her bitter disrespect for creative rights, trademark and copyright are all-too-common among the fanfiction community. 

Read more

Disneyland of Books

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Greetings from the Grannery Pub in Hay-on-Wye,  the Disneyland for book lovers. This tiny village is devoted almost entirely to bookstores. I have shown super-human restraint and have only bought about a dozen books, which I have shipped back to the US by goat and freighter…the package should arrive in six months. This pub is apparently the only place in town with an Internet connection, so I am sitting here, eating an amazing Chicken Pie, catching up on 200 emails and trying very hard not to dribble gravy on my keyboard. Tomorrow it’s  off to London and, after three days there, on to Stockholm.

Life in Lohr

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The third Writers Room seminar has ended and, at least from my point of view, was a great success. The writer/producers I worked with here not only enthusiastically embraced the four act structure, but were eager to put it to use in their current series and pilots. Coincidentally, one of the major German newspapers reported yesterday that, with the exception of Action Concept’s ALARM FOR COBRA 11, home-grown German shows are bombing.  American shows are thriving here — the highest rated programs on German TV are HOUSE, CSI MIAMI, MONK and CRIMINAL MINDS.  The networks believe one reason for the failure of German drama programming is that their series aren’t structured and run the way American shows are. As a result, Pro7/Sat1, one of the biggest networks here, announced yesterday that they would no longer buy any series that isn’t run using the American "showrunner/writer’s room" system.  That’s a seismic shift for the German TV industry…and I think my friends at Action Concept can take a lot of credit for that, thanks to their very aggressive efforts over the last six months to convince all the networks here that the "showrunner/writer’s room" approach is the only way to go.

Tomorrow I am off for six days in the UK…where I may or may not have Internet access…and then on to Sweden for another session of "The Writers Room" seminar next Saturday.

I may also have some very good news (for me!) to share with you by then…

To Sir With Love

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The third Writers Room "showrunner" seminar got off the ground yesterday here in Lohr, Germany, taught by me and my friend Matt Witten.  The way we teach together, it’s less of a lecture and more of a day-long discussion about various aspects of writing and producing episodic television shows. Lots of anecdotes and experiences are shared along the way between us and the students.  It was fascinating for me to learn more about the differences between the German television industry and ours — and discovering common ground. Things that are second-nature to us — like the four-act structure —  are new concepts to the writer/producers here and it’s exciting to see them embrace it with genuine enthusiasm. We’ve watched and analyzed both good and bad episodes of US television shows, some times stopping after every scene to discuss it.  I am having a great time…but it’s also very exhausting to be "on" from breakfast clear through drinks in the bar late at night (in fact, it’s often during the those casual conversations outside of class where the real progress is made). And before crawling into bed, I try to make some progress on my other work. (Thank God they’ve got Diet Coke here!) It will be very interesting to compare and contrast this experience with the one I’m going to have  in two weeks when Bill Rabkin and I teach the course in Sweden.