ATTN JMS: What *would* you do with serious $?

[b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu]

Subject: ATTN JMS: What *would* you do with serious $?
+  1: Nov 20, 1995: snotley at gpu4.srv.ualberta.ca (Stephen Notley)
*  2: Nov 22, 1995: straczynski at genie.geis.com

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From: snotley at gpu4.srv.ualberta.ca (Stephen Notley)
Lines: 31

I seem to recall perhaps this question being asked before, but I don't 
remember what you said, if you said anything, if the question even got 
asked. Or something.

But I'm curious: let's say a meteorite wiped out the upped echelons of 
Warner Bros and PTEN and after the rubble cleared and corporate healing 
had done its magic, there were a bunch of people in charge who loved B5 
and believed it could be as big as Trek if properly promoted,
and wanted to give you a DS9-like budget. What kind of things would you 
be able to do that you don't do now? 

I mean, I can guess-- more sets, bigger-ticket guest stars, more CGI. But 
what kind of priority would each area get, or are there subtler things 
you can spend money on to improve the show that I wouldn't guess because 
I don't work in TV? More dolly shots?

It's just that the show is so ambitious *now*. I never would have guessed 
at the big scene in "The Fall of Night" because I would have just written 
it off as too difficult to do. Kinda like "wouldn't it be cool if [FON 
spoiler] Sheridan was in the shuttle and he had to jump out because there 
was a bomb, and he'd just float because he's just in the core of a 
rotating cylinder in free fall? Yeah, that'd be cool. Too bad it would 
cost $3 million." But damn your eyes, you did it anyway. What *would* more 
money allow?

Stephen
snotley at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
"Yeah, well, I'm not too thrilled about my User ID either..."




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From: straczynski at genie.geis.com
Lines: 14

     First thing I'd do is increase the fees paid to the cast and crew,
who deserve to share in what they've done.

     Then I'd allocate the rest to: expanding and improving our sets and
costumes; renting a secondary stage facility to give us more blue screen
potential, where can get further back from the subject and create better
looking composites...and build more standing sets rather than switching
sets in and out of the stage; I'd do more planetside stuff, and more CGI
in the course of a season.

     It wouldn't so much change the show as make us able to more fully
realize the story visually.

                                                                   jms