JMS on CompuServe (Mar 05, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Wed Mar 5 21:37:30 EST 1997
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
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Note that JMS has expressed his public permission
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the right to revoke this permission at any time.
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #654282-TNT Air Order
Sb: #654330-email part 2
Sb: #654333-Atonement again
Sb: #654231-Offensive Advertising
Sb: Atonement
Sb: #654396-<Atonement>
Sb: #to sfwa from jms
Sb: #654419-#to sfwa from jms
#: 654282 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Mar-97 17:49:07
Sb: #653685-#TNT Air Order
Fm: SCOTT BAKER
>> And I've been kicking myself ever since. I should've followed my instincts,
but instead I deferred to the director's cut. <<
Is the directors cut typically different from a producers cut? Is there a
differnce between TV and Movies on how they would differ?
--Scott
#: 654405 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Mar-97 23:27:11
Sb: #654282-TNT Air Order
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
A director's cut can be the same as, or vastly different from, the
producer's cut, depending on what the director does, and how much in sync the
director is with the producer. But the producer gets final cut in TV, whereas
the director gets final cut in films (unless the studio or a big name producer
has it contractually otherwise).
jms
#: 654330 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Mar-97 19:19:00
Sb: #email part 2
Fm: CATHERINE BECIC
We know how much time you spend answering email questions. Does that mean that
snail mail people are out of luck? Do you also respond to those? You must be
writing (series, book, email) 25 hours a day.
Catherine Becic
#: 654406 S5/Babylon 5: General
04-Mar-97 23:27:13
Sb: #654330-email part 2
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I try to reply to snail mail as I can, though it's certainly easier to do
so in email.
jms
#: 654333 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
04-Mar-97 19:25:37
Sb: #Atonement again
Fm: CATHERINE BECIC
OK, someone did find your response in an old B5JMS digest. I asked if Delenn
was a descendant of Valen and you said "Valen had no children". Now in the
past you have just been ambigous with your answers. So how come this one
turned out to be a lie/deception? Just wondering why this one slipped through
the jumpgate.
Catherine Becic
#: 654407 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
04-Mar-97 23:27:15
Sb: #654333-Atonement again
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Those Minbari...I tell you, you just can't trust 'em....
jms
[ Summary: Points out that the CIS "Member Services Announcement" page
contains the phrase "Kick-Ass." Wonders where to send complaints about
the foul language. ]
#: 654416 S5/Babylon 5: General
05-Mar-97 02:58:44
Sb: #654231-Offensive Advertising
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
That is kinda funny, since I was sent a private message here a month or
two ago by, I believe, Chaffee, chiding me for using the term "pain in the ass"
in a public forum...and here that word is used in a Member Services
announcement.
I guess that means that they can't promote the Member Services
Announcements in the Member Services Announcements section anymore.
jms
[ Note: The next original message isn't referenced by JMS' reply, so I
can't find it, but by the context, I'd suspect that the original message
pointed out JMS' earlier posting (in August, 1996), in which he stated
that Valen had no children. ]
#: 654417 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
05-Mar-97 02:58:46
Sb: Atonement
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
What airs is considered canon; in 15 years, nobody's gonna be hauling
these messages around. But the show will still be on the air. If it airs,
it's canon.
And in another one of those posts, I did mention that on just a couple of
small occasions, I have fibbed when asked major story arc questions to protect
future storylines from being deflated....
jms
[ Summary: Wonders if Sinclair could have changed the course of events
if he had left a message for Dukhat. ]
#: 654418 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
05-Mar-97 02:58:47
Sb: #654396-<Atonement>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
He could have left Dukhat a message...but tampering in the future is VERY
chancy business, and could even make things worse, for all we know.
jms
#: 654419 S5/Babylon 5: General
05-Mar-97 02:58:52
Sb: #to sfwa from jms
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
(The following material -- which will be posted to other forums -- is
submitted on the theory that I apparently haven't gotten in *nearly* enough
trouble lately. So I may as well go for broke.
jms
John J. Miller
SFWA Secretary
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
(address deleted for privacy)
Dear Mr. Miller:
I am in receipt of your recent letter inviting me to rejoing SFWA.
While others who have either resigned from SFWA or let their
memberships lapse have received similar letters, I note that you
added, in handwriting, the following: "Michael - We're particularly
interested in encouraging writers of your stature and experience to
rejoin."
I'm posting this, my reply, both online as well as in standard mail
to you, because the issues at hand affect others in the industry;
because it is a good subject for public debate; and because SFWA has
to this date refused to publish my letter of resignation from SFWA
in its membership publication; even now, years after the fact, SFWA
does not choose to recognize the boorishness of its behavior toward
those of us who work in television, film and other media.
To recap, for the benefit of those looking on, and for the purpose
of historical accuracy: a number of us were troubled by the fact
that SFWA allowed TV and film scripts in the SF genre to count for
membership, so that our dues could be accepted, but that these very
same scripts were not considered "real" science fiction...and thus
ineligible for consideration for a Nebula Award.
An attempt was made to restore the Dramatic Nebula, given in years
past, in order to achieve equity with other forms of SF. Those
involved in the attempt included myself, Harlan Ellison, David
Gerrold, D.C. Fontana, Michael Cassutt and others. We believed,
foolishly in retrospect, that SF writers -- presumably forward
thinking and progressive -- would understand that stories can take
new and different forms, that SF for television and film was a
perfectly valid form. It's still SF; it simply uses a new kind of
technology to facilitate that storytelling. Since SF is often
about the foolishness of small-minded people when faced with
changing technologies, and generally the impact of technology on
people and art forms, we felt they would agree that the time
was right for the reinstatement of the Dramatic Nebula.
We were wrong.
We were greeted by an outpouring of such virulent bigotry, such
undisguised hostility, and such abuse as to numb the senses. There
was hate mail, name-calling and dead-catting; we were called (in
person, and in SFWA's publication) "hacks" and "no-talents" and
told that scripts aren't stories...obscene and threatening messages
were left on my answering machine...hate mail arrived at my home...
and the most nakedly straightforward one stated, "I work my ass off
for a few pennies a word, while you Hollywood hacks earn big bucks
for turning out crap. You'll never see the Dramatic Nebula back as
long as I'm alive."
To help defuse some of the tempers, many of us were willing to
disqualify ourselves from ever being eligible for the Nebula, should
it be reinstated, to remove any suspicion of a vested interest. It
was the principle that concerned us.
For an organization claiming forward-thinkers, there was more fuzzy
thinking and illogic pouring out of SFWA than at any average meeting
of the Flat Earth Society. "Why should SFWA give scriptwriters a
Nebula if the WGA won't give awards to prose writers?" some yelled
at us, which granted was at least an attempt to put together a
comprehensible sentence.
"Because the WGA is *form* oriented, and SFWA is *genre* oriented,"
we said, "that's why. Any genre script can win a WGA award, as long
as it's in the right form. And any form of SF should be able to be
considered for a Nebula, as long as it's in the right genre."
Our point, in the final analysis, was simply this: If SFWA will not
recognize scripts as SF for the Nebula, then they should not qualify
for membership in SFWA. If SFWA *does* recognize them as SF for
purposes of membership, then they should be eligible for the Nebula.
It was real simple: you can't have it both ways. Pick one.
But that didn't happen...the illogic, the contradiction was allowed
to continue, with SF scriptwriters held as second-class citizens
within SFWA. In theory, a GOR novel could be considered for a
Nebula...but a Babylon 5 script could never even begin to be
considered because according to SFWA, it isn't a story, it isn't
real writing, it isn't literature, it is absent of quality, and
fundamentally, it ain't SF.
It was this issue that finally compelled me to resign from SFWA,
as had others before me. That, and the insults, abuse, veiled
and not-so-veiled threats and harrassment I received from many
in SFWA over this issue.
And now you come to me...and you ask me to rejoin. You say this
is because of my "stature and experience"...but what use can that
be to SFWA if my work and the work of every SF writer working in
television or film is dismissed as lacking in merit by virtue of
the form in which we work? Since the bulk of my work is in TV,
how can SFWA consider what I have to be "stature" if it does not
recognize that there is any quality work in SF being done in TV?
I don't believe in stature, particularly and especially my own.
I'm still the same person I was when I resigned, for good or ill.
The only thing that matters to me, that has *ever* mattered to
me, is the work. The storytelling. This genre. I love SF. I
love the community of fandom that has embraced it, and given it
life. I love the sense of wonder that is SF.
[More]
There are 3 Replies.
#: 654420 S5/Babylon 5: General
05-Mar-97 02:59:00
Sb: #654419-#to sfwa from jms
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
[Continued]
In order to rejoin SFWA, I would have to accept the tacit
implication that my work is NOT SF...and this I will never do.
Last year, I realized a lifelong dream, and we received the Hugo
award for an episode of Babylon 5. And I'll tell you a true
thing: I'll take the Hugo over the Nebula any day, because it
comes based on the quality of the work...it comes based on the
understanding that fans have that SF is SF, regardless of the
medium. Where the pro community throws up barriers, and tidal
waves of snobbery, and play political games by defining SF as
whatever is most convenient for them, the fan community is open
to the free debate of one singular question: "Is it good SF?"
In light of that, what possible reason could I have for wanting
to rejoin SFWA? To associate with writers who disdain the form
in which I work? To try and educate them? We tried that...and
got our heads handed to us.
It's not just the Nebula that's the concern...as before, I'm
willing to permanently disqualify anything I write, now or in
the future, from Nebula consideration, to set aside allegations
of self-interest; it's the principle of the thing that matters,
the desire to make this better for the next guy to come down this
road; and it's the attitude behind the current situation that
rankles, that worries me; the open hostility and prejudice
against those working in the visual media.
So thanks, but no thanks.
SFWA has chosen to ostracize film and television...and in the
end, has only hurt itself. By sticking its head, ostrich-like,
in the sand, it has failed to come to grips with these new
media...has become isolated, so that no one in Hollywood thinks
of SFWA members, because SFWA thinks nothing of Hollywood.
The result? Where once many SF novels were chosen as fodder for
movies, now movies and TV shows drive a substantial portion of
the novel market through licensing. All too often now, books are
based on movies, when it *should* be the other way around, which
means that the audience is deprived of visual medium access to
some truly excellent work. The publishing industry has become
more like Hollywood in many ways now, looking for the blockbuster,
losing the midlist, one megacompany swallowing up another. We've
been there, done that, and could've helped.
(Now *here's* an irony I hadn't considered before just this
moment: while an episode of B5 is not eligible for a Nebula, a
novel based on B5 *is* eligible. Where is the logic in that
one? And here's another irony: one of the members who most
vociferously opposed the Dramatic Nebula on the grounds that
everything SF that came out of Hollywood was crap...well, his
name showed up recently on a list of writers asking to be
considered for an assignment to write one of the Babylon 5
novels.)
Because of SFWA's provincial attitudes toward those of us who
work in TV and film, it has lost access to secondary markets
and opportunities, costing its members potentially hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
If parts of this letter seem angry, or frustrated, you should
understand that the two areas of my life which have always meant
a great deal to me are my work in television, and SF as a genre.
I'm proud, have always been proud, of both. Many producers
assigned to SF series deny they're doing SF, as though they were
ashamed of it. I've always embraced the idea. I was proud to
be a member of SFWA. I was proud to write for television. But
finally I had to choose between them, and that was a very
difficult, painful thing for me. It still is. It's like having
divorced parents; you want desperately for them to get along with
each other, somehow put it together again...but it doesn't happen
and doesn't look like it will *ever* happen. So you get upset.
I'm not upset with you, John, or even many members of SFWA, a
number of whom weren't even members when all this went down a
few years ago. It's simple frustration with a system, and a
certain loud proportion of the membership, that is provincial
and parochial. A great deal of good could come out of a tighter
coordination between those of us working in the visual media,
and print authors. To see that frittered away is maddenning.
Television and film are as valid a forum for the exploration
of science fiction as any short story or novel. As long as
SFWA persists in saying otherwise, I will never rejoin that
organization.
Let me know when you folks get serious. Let me know when you
are willing to consider that what we do in TV and film counts as
SF. Then we'll talk.
But not before.
J. Michael Straczynski
Executive Producer/Creator/WRITER
Babylon 5
[END]
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