JMS on CompuServe (Jan 02, 1997) POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Fri Jan 3 01:30:14 EST 1997

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 [ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
    Sb: #633006-The Alliance (UK Con)
    Sb: #633349-From jms re: yr 4/5
    Sb: #633362-From jms re: yr 4/5
    Sb: #633409-Something . . .

 [ Summary: Comments that JMS seemed picky about English food last time he
   came to visit. ]

 #: 633288 S5/Babylon 5: General
    01-Jan-97  22:28:58
Sb: #633006-The Alliance (UK Con)
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Actually, I rather like most British cooking.  My problem at the last
Wolf was that the dining room was open for only -- what? -- 15 minutes at a
shot, and never when I was either awake or not on a panel, so all I had for
four days, except for when we chose to go elsewhere (and that was difficult)
was fish&chips.  Four days of fish&chips.  It will drive you mad.  So finally,
on Sunday morning, after the restaurant had closed (having expended its fifteen
minutes of food) I planted myself in the restaurant regardless, and explained
that unless I had a proper breakfast I was going to go out into the hall and do
my version of Night of the Living Dead and start eating the flesh off the first
person I encountered.  They saw the crazed look in my eyes, and wisely fed me.

                                                                    jms

 #: 633349 S5/Babylon 5: General
    02-Jan-97  06:36:19
Sb: #632449-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: SCOTT BAKER

>>        I saw most of it all at once, and spent the better part of a year
getting it all down on paper. <<

The entire 1000+ years at once?  What were you doing when that happened?  So I
am assuming the details have come as you've written the episodes and it was the
overall scheme of things that came to you?

When did you see the end of the story?

Thanks for taking the time with these questions.

--Scott

 #: 633471 S5/Babylon 5: General
    02-Jan-97  15:20:01
Sb: #633349-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      I saw mainly the multi-year storyline of B5.  The rest I filled in as I
went, in terms of the backstory and forestory of the B5 universe.

                                                                    jms

 #: 633362 S5/Babylon 5: General
    02-Jan-97  07:26:17
Sb: #633211-#From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: SCOTT BAKER

>> Two primary reasons why it was a hard sell: 1) SF has *always* gone way over
budget.  The "V" series singlehandedly nearly destroyed Warner Bros.
Television.  Producers always said they could do it, and they lied, and the
studios and networks were very skittish. <<

Ok, now you got me really curious, what is your budget and do you ever run
over?

>>      2) They're skittish about SF in general, and space stuff in particular.
We were told, repeatedly, in verbatim terms, "No space series other than ST has
ever survived more than a couple of sesaons.  There is no market for space SF
other than Star Trek.  The market won't sustain it, isn't big enough to sustain
it."  That was, hands down, our single biggest stumbling block. <<

So what finally convinced WB to do B5, especially after V?

--Scott

 #: 633472 S5/Babylon 5: General
    02-Jan-97  15:20:03
Sb: #633362-From jms re: yr 4/5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      Our budget is under $1 million per episode, and we have run slightly
UNDER budget every season, which I think is a first for any SF series.

      To convince WB we first had to make the pilot, show we could do it
responsibly, and get the ratings, THEN we got the series order.

                                                                    jms

 #: 633409 S5/Babylon 5: General
    02-Jan-97  11:13:18
Sb: #Something . . .
Fm: ROWAN KAISER

I've been meaning to ask for a while . . .

How do think that your participation on the nets has affected you, your
writing, and B5 as a whole?

Earthstar and the Drifters    T minus ?? days
"Silly customer!  You cannot hurt a Twinkie!"
Babbler, SOLD!, KP, SP, Montie, SPAMM, etc.

 #: 633473 S5/Babylon 5: General
    02-Jan-97  15:20:06
Sb: #633409-Something . . .
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

      It's affected me in that it has put me in touch with the audience, which
is a rarity in TV, where all you usually get are the raw numbers.  It's given
me a sense of the room, as it were.  It's kept me answerable and responsive,
and that has the side effect of keeping you modest and honest.

      It hasn't substantially affected the B5 storyline because the story is
the story; any big committee, network or otherwise, will only work against you
at the creative level.

                                                                    jms

[END]
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JMS on CompuServe (Jan 02, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

JMS on CompuServe (Jan 02, 1997) POSSIBLE SPOILERS