ATTN JMS: Haig, Talia contracts? (spoilers for Severed Dreams)

[b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu]

Subject: ATTN JMS: Haig, Talia contracts? (spoilers for Severed Dreams)
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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+  1: Apr  9, 1996: eric at berkeleyic.com (Eric Lowell Davis)
*  2: Apr  9, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: eric at berkeleyic.com (Eric Lowell Davis)
Lines: 33

Attn JMS:
(Severed Dreams Spoilers Below)













Severed Dreams was excellent as are most episodes.  I was particularly
impressed by the scene where the dead from both sides are mixed together. 
However, I was a little upset at the death of General Haig's character. 
I'm tired of getting used to characters only to have the actors leave the
show.  Can't you get better contracts with these actors?  (I know, if it
were that easy you would do it)  The quality of this show is so remarkably
high I think it approaches literature (or what literature should be on
television).  This apparently unplanned coming and going of actors hurts
that standard.

Keep up the great work!

-Eric

Eric Davis
eric at berkeleyic.com
Berkeley Internet Connections
http://www.berkeleyic.com

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 19

"I'm tired of getting used to characters only to have the actors leave the
show.  Can't you get better contracts with these actors?"

Regarding Talia...our contract was ironclad.  If we had wanted the
character to continue, it would have.  

Regarding Hague...it's much harder to hold an actor on a once-in-a-while
basis.  Every show is hostage to that.  It's a reality of life.  We don't
have contracts with folks who play one or two parts a year.  Screen Actors
Guild doesn't allow that; you make deals as they come up.  You can't stop
an actor if he wants to jump ship under those conditions; and if you try,
you have an unhappy actor on your set who'll just walk through it because
he or she doesn't want to be there.



 jms


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