quote:

To the other questions that have arisen: we're looking at 3 half-hour episodes/stories for the first DVD, with additional features and the like in the other half hour. Each story will be worked around a given established character, the specifics of which are still TBD contingent upon availabilities and other issues.


We have a budget, we're greenlit, we're going.

quote:

am living in such strange times right now. So I figured I'd share them.

Prior to the announcement of "Changeling," my film agent tried to get me to understand what would happen in the aftermath of that announcement, even though he said "you really won't get it until you're in it."


I had no idea.


See, there's a real class structure to this industry. A list directors only buy scripts from A list writers. That's kind of the rule, with very few exceptions. I've been working in the TV business for over twenty years, but in features I'm kind of an unknown equation. Always have been, mainly because I really haven't sought it out much; I figure films are like going to Vegas, you can invest years in one shot at the dice. So I stick to TV. I thus have not been in that class of A list
writer. Nowhere near.


When Imagine and Ron Howard bought that script, the effect was electric. Suddenly everybody in town wanted to know who the hell was this guy they'd never heard of who just sold a script to Howard and, in essence, jumped the line from "who?" to A-list without much in-between.
Twenty years in TV, now suddenly an overnight success.


Within hours of the announcement, every studio in town was calling my agent to get a copy of the script. As it got read, they started calling to set up meetings. Not us calling them. Them calling us.


And then the offers started. Rewrite offers. Original film offers. Adaptations. I've had no less than one and in many cases two or three studio meetings every day for the last several weeks, and my calendar is one big mass of black type for the next four weeks. A big-budget feature that Sony wants me to rewrite because it has to go into production fast, one that Universal wants developed, on and on and on...all I have to do is say yes to whichever ones I want and they're mine. Everything I've ever written is suddenly being pored over and optioned.


I have never seen anything like it. I've read about this sort of thing, but to experience it personally is...strange, so strange. The stuff I've had out there before, the novels and short stories and the like, are all exactly what they were before this...the words didn't change on the page, the stories didn't alter, but suddenly the *context* in which they are being seen has changed radically.


I'm being very, very careful and very selective in what I say yes to, because I want to make sure whatever I take on adds to rather than subtracts from the momentum we've now achieved.


The really odd thing is that I'm not running around, jumping up and down, celebrating or hooting or hollaring or any of that. It's moved me in the other direction, I've gotten really, really quiet, and careful. It's like all of my antennae are up. Everybody around me is thrilled, and can't figure out why I'm being so reserved. I'm not really sure myself, to be honest. Just a strange sort of wariness, like when I'd move to a new neighborhood as a kid and I'd go quiet while I sussed out the area.


Odd. Nothing bad, it's all to the good, lord knows. Just odd. Very odd.


jms

quote:

I just got back today from two days spent at Ron's farm up in Connecticut going through the script and doing what's necessary to get this thing up and on the rails with him and several of the brass from Imagine, and boy, I gotta tell you, it was maybe one of the best creative experiences I've had in a long time. To work with guys who really know story, who when they discuss the script it's all about what makes sense rather than giving notes out of agendas or egos...it's like a breath of fresh air, and nice people on top of that.

It's all very exciting, they're already budgeting and doing schedules, talking to actors, and talking about the film as a prestige project. This was my first meeting with Ron, and it confirmed everything that I'd heard: level-headed, incredibly smart and creative, grounded, friendly, it's all about what makes the best story, the best scene, the
best shot.


As if this were all not enough, late Friday, after a number of conversations with a major studio about another project -- a big-budget historical action piece, think something along the lines of Braveheart or Gladiator -- they called to offer me the gig. I accepted, and we're off to the races. My first priority of course is to Changeling, but once that's up and moving ahead, I go right to this and B5:TLT.


The script for Borrowed Lives will be going in this week to Touchstone,
and we'll see what follows thereafter. But I'm very happy with the
script at this point.


Amazing times....


jms

quote:

Boy howdy, has it been a hectic few weeks.

Okay, where to start? The second draft of the script for Ron Howard will be going to him next week, and sometime in September we'll learn where this all lands in terms of production schedules. It's looking very good at the moment.


Hot on the heels of finishing that script, we've closed the deal for me to write another feature for Universal, the big-budget historical/action film alluded to earlier. That deal is now set, and I'll be starting the writing shortly. So that's two firm done-deals in feature films in the last few months, and if a recent meeting at Paramount provides the expected results, I may have a third deal in hand for the coming year, another big-budget film to be based on a novel coming out in September.


I've also started in on the writing for the first B5: Lost Tales script, and we've now spoken to several of the original cast members, who are on board with the idea. It's still going to be a factor of what deals can be made and with whom, as well as story elements that are now being worked out, but things are moving ahead. Because some of the crew and others we wanted won't be available until October, we've pushed a bit, which is fine, since it gives me a bit more time to get the script where it needs to be and start laying out my shot list as director.


The pilot script for "Borrowed Lives" has been very well received by Touchstone, and with a few minor notes we should be able to get this in to the network in a few weeks. Then we shall see what we shall see, but it looks promising for now.


For the comics fans out there...the solicitations went out this week for the first issue of my miniseries "Bullet Points" for Marvel. I'm really, really proud of this thing, and I commend it to you highly. So if you're interested, let your comic store know to set aside copies, because I think it's gonna sell out fairly quickly.


I should be receiving the approval CDs containing the final versions of "The Adventures of Apocalypse Al" this week from the CBC. Assuming no tweaks are needed, that should be it. I think they're talking about October for an airdate, but that depends on their scheduling windows. After that, as noted previously, it goes to Sirius and a bunch of overseas markets.


Finally, I've cleared out a window of time so I can get the next B5 script book out the door on schedule. It's the only thing that I've had any flexibility on in terms of deadlines, so it got pushed, but I'm now in a position to come up for air a bit.


As you can guess, the last few weeks have been nonstop meetings and nonstop writing. This is the busiest I've been since years 4 and 5 of B5. It's been pretty breathtaking at times, a lot of deadlines that I wasn't always sure I could make, but in the end it seems to be laying out pretty clean. The best part, to be honest, has been working with Ron Howard and the Imagine folks on the script. When I've heard people say "Each draft got better than the one before it," I've never believed it because my experience of studio people was that each draft generally got stupider. Not this time. It really has gotten better with each iteration, more filmic, for lack of a less moronic term. I like learning from people, and the learning curve here has been both steep and deeply satisfying.


So I'm very happy. Tired beyond description just now, but happy nonetheless.


jms

quote:

Tonight I sent this note to all parties with whom discussions are or have taken place concerning convention appearances through the rest of the year.

With regrets to all concerned, the crush of work has left me no choice but to cancel all convention plans through at least February '07, and potentially beyond that. This is something I have been agonizing over for some time, but recent events have left no room for maneuvering.


My sincere and profound apologies to all concerned. I hope you will understand that this was not a decision made lightly, and it is my hope that we can reconvene in the future.


With regrets --


jms

quote:

Peter Jurasik (Londo) confirmed during a panel at Dragon*Con that he has talked with JMS, and will be in the Lost Tales. The other 3 actors (Julie Caitlin Brown, Stephen Furst, and Mira Furlan) either didn't know, or couldn't say anything about it.

Peter confirmed that the first set of three stories will be about the Humans, and he will not be involved in those. The second set of three stories will be about aliens, and Londo will be in at least one of those stories.

quote:

Originally posted by Mickey:
Coo, look. A visitor!

Get the box sets! It's a great show to watch again all the way through.

____(OO=[II]=OO)___ (O=0000=O)



Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ...He's a mile away and you've got his shoes.

quote:

I'm kind of up against it right now on an assortment of deadlines, so this'll be quick, but I did want to address some of the questions that have been asked.

Yes, we're shooting this HD, so this is going to be quite a learning curve for me as a director, since I've never shot HD before. There's also a HUGE amount of green-screen involved, so again, lots of learning to be done.

For those who are getting the B5 scripts books -- and eventually the B5:TLT scripts will be released -- you'll notice a substantial difference between them and these scripts in that I decided to kind of direct them on the page more than usual: calling out specific angles and camera directions, locations and setups more than in any prior B5 script. It probably resembles an animation script more than a standard TV script, because it incorporates my directorial notes, shot for shot, as we go.

The first three-segment DVD is called "Voices in the Dark." We've narrowed down the cast, and hope to have their deals closed this week. There are already ten crew members working on this thing up in Vancouver, pulling together stages, offices and other prep work. The first day of shooting will likely be either November 13th or 14th (due to a Canadian holiday). The last twiddlings to the script should be done by this coming Monday. Storyboarding starts the end of this week.

It's balls-to-the-wall right now, but it shouldbe fun in the end.


jms

quote:

Just a quick follow-up...I'm in Vancouver (coming back in 24 hours) finishing up a round of final staff interviews for B5:TLT. Thus far, we've hired two other producers, a script supervisor, a post supervisor, the editor, a production manager, a conceptual artist/storyboard guy, an art director/production designer, a first assistant director, and closed several cast deals, with the rest probably to be closed next week, at which time I may be able to say who they are. Pending final negotiations, Chris Franke has agreed to come on board to do the music. We're interviewing CGI houses up here to decide which to go with. The three scripts have been completed, and are now being storyboarded. We've narrowed down the director of photography options to just a few last guys, and should have that decided by week's end. We've also locked down the stage and have started putting together our package (camera, lights, grip and electrics).

By this time next week, about 80% of our crew will be in hand, the rest coming aboard during the start of prep.

jms

quote:

Fast follow-up....

Just got back tonight from Vancouver, and we've now nailed down/hired nearly all of our key department heads and the Director of Photography who I'll be working with closely during production. We spent today in the first informal production meeting going over how we're going to shoot this, reviewing the storyboards, determining what's going to be green screen and what's going to be practical set...this should be a pretty cool looking project, with some sights we haven't really seen before as well as some more familiar sights.

What I can say about the three episodes is that we go to Mars, Minbar and of course B5, we introduce a new kind of Minbari cruiser, and there's a rather startling sequence on Earth. I've decided to shoot each segment a little differently from each other, so they each have their own visual style that complements that particular story. On Monday the B5 team up north will be checking out the stages, and about a week or so from now the actual B5 offices will open up and folks will start moving in.

It's starting to feel a lot like fun.

We'll also be working with WB to put together a special reel from the shoot that we can bring to debut at San Diego Comic Con next year.

Meanwhile, not only has the Universal feature deal noted in another thread been finalized, so I'm writing that now, but the Paramount feature deal has *also* been closed, so now there are two big-budget feature screenplay assignments that I have to write, the first due by late November/early December, the second one sometime to be delivered shortly after the first of the year. A third assignment is kind of nibbling around the edges which could be very cool, even though I couldn't start writing it until I finish the other two, which means it'd have to be spring 2007 to turn in the script if the assignment comes in.

Finally, now that Ron has said it's okay to bring in other directors on Changeling, there's been a small flood of a-list directors coming around to try and pick up the assignment. Part of the attraction is not just the script, but the acting talent involved...as noted in the LA Times piece, Reece Witherspoon (and two other oscar-winning leading female actors) are extremely interested in the lead role. I imagine we'll start having meetings in the next few weeks to narrow down the list of directors.

It's crazy-busy, but good.


jms