[B5JMS] Babylon 5 Scripts Site Nearly Ready, And More!

Sat Oct 22 04:30:12 EDT 2005

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:39:14 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 70

First, an advance word to those who are looking on...as noted here
earlier, all of the B5 scripts that I wrote are going to be published
in book form via www.babylon5scripts.com (a clever and inventive
title), and I just had it confirmed to me that the site will be going
on line right around the 28th of this month, give or take a day or so.

There will be 14 volumes, containing all the episodic scripts that I
wrote, plus "In the Beginning" (in the 14th) and in volume 1 the
ORIGINAL 1989 version of "The Gathering" that was used to sell the show
but which was massively changed prior to production, which features
different characters and gave Kosh a life-mate named Velana.

The 15th volume will be given without charge to those who pick up all
14 volumes...even the shipping charges will be covered.  That volume
will contain the lost Soul Hunter script (well, not lost, I recalled it
because I'd unwittingly written a Star Trek style script instead of a
B5 style script), a never-before-seen draft of Midnight on the Firing
Line written a YEAR before we got the go-ahead for the series to show
WB how the series would work, which is *massively* different (and a bit
more surreal) from what was filmed...the original B5 series bible...the
5 year arc overview given to WB before we started filming season one to
show how the series would work (and which followed Sinclair's character
all through those five years on B5)...and the script used in the
now-famous (or infamous) practical joke played on Andreas and Peter
which had G'Kar changing genders and ending up in bed with Londo.

Each volume also has an original introduction from me, and a lengthy
discussion of each episode, averaging about 40 pages per book, with a
lot of behind the scenes information never revealed before, along with
what went into the writing and producing.

There will also be a collection of B&W photos from my private
collection taken behind the scenes, which have never been seen by
anyone before.  (Some books will have more photos than others,
depending on how often I made it to set that week.)

As noted before, for the first week or so after each new volume is
released, they'll be knocking ten bucks off the price of each volume to
reward the B5 community for keeping an eye on this.  And yes, they do
ship internationally.

Moving on to other topics for a moment....

The same week, the 26th, will also see the publcation of issue one of
"The Book of Lost Souls," the new comic I'm doing with Colleen Doran,
and published by Marvel.  This book is not like anything I've ever
written before (the closest would be Midnight Nation), and it's
definitely not like anything else Marvel is doing, and it's just
gorgeous to look at (and not bad to read, either).  No spandex, no
costumes...a kind of modern dark fantasy, very adult, sometimes very
dark but ultimately hopeful...and best of all, it has a talking cat
named Mystery who is modeled after Buddy the Miracle Cat, so really,
how can you go wrong?

Finally...and I almost hate to type these words for fear of jinxing
anything...but in addition to the network project in development, I've
been offered show-runner on another series which should, if all goes
according to plan start shooting up in Vancouver in the spring.  That's
all I can say about it for now, except that I've accepted the offer and
we're now concluding negotiations.  More on this as it develops.

jms

(message content (c) 2005
Synthetic Worlds, Ltd.
Reprint permission specifically
denied to SFX magazine)

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From: Jan <janmschroeder at aol.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:53:17 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 55

In article <1129764849.706698.82480 at f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
jmsatb5 at aol.com says...

<snip script book info>
>
>Moving on to other topics for a moment....
>
>The same week, the 26th, will also see the publication of issue one of
>"The Book of Lost Souls," the new comic I'm doing with Colleen Doran,
>and published by Marvel.  This book is not like anything I've ever
>written before (the closest would be Midnight Nation), and it's
>definitely not like anything else Marvel is doing, and it's just
>gorgeous to look at (and not bad to read, either).  No spandex, no
>costumes...a kind of modern dark fantasy, very adult, sometimes very
>dark but ultimately hopeful...and best of all, it has a talking cat
>named Mystery who is modeled after Buddy the Miracle Cat, so really,
>how can you go wrong?

Did you provide pictures of Buddy to Colleen?  Looks like it from the sample
pages I've seen. Handsome lad, isn't he?  And Jonathan's yummy, too.

Something that was mentioned on another site was that, since this *is* something
new and different for Marvel, those who generally wait for graphic novel
releases might want to buy individual issues at first while the book is under
closest scrutiny as to whether it'll be deemed successful.

>Finally...and I almost hate to type these words for fear of jinxing
>anything...but in addition to the network project in development, I've
>been offered show-runner on another series which should, if all goes
>according to plan start shooting up in Vancouver in the spring.  That's
>all I can say about it for now, except that I've accepted the offer and
>we're now concluding negotiations.  More on this as it develops.
>

This is where I always get confused.  At what point of 'in development' would
the offer to be show-runner happen?  From the outside, it seems like there's
still a good chance that the show in question still won't happen.  How tied up
are you once you've accepted an offer like that? You've mentioned before that
'in development' is a long process, but are we talking a matter of months or a
couple of years?

I know, too many questions.  I guess what I'm asking for is a 'primer' on How
Things Work.  When you've got a minute, that is...<g>

Jan

-- 
Here, gathered together in common cause 
We agree to recognize this singular truth 
and this singular rule: 
That we must be kind to one another.
                           G'Kar (J. Michael Straczynski)

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 03:17:36 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 30

Jan wrote:
>
>
> This is where I always get confused.  At what point of 'in development' would
> the offer to be show-runner happen?  From the outside, it seems like there's
> still a good chance that the show in question still won't happen.  How tied up
> are you once you've accepted an offer like that? You've mentioned before that
> 'in development' is a long process, but are we talking a matter of months or a
> couple of years?
>

I think the point of confusion is that there are two shows here, one
that's in development for next year, which I created, and the other is
a series wherein the people doing it came to me about running it.  This
was similar to the Global Frequency situation last year, which I
would've worked on had the pilot been picked up.  In this case, the
folks involved are already doing one series, for which this would be a
companion series, and 99% of the financing is now in place.  Should
that last 1% go as planned, the series would prep in January and shoot
starting in March.

> I know, too many questions.  I guess what I'm asking for is a 'primer' on How
> Things Work.  When you've got a minute, that is...<g>

We learn by doing.

jms