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	The Zocalo Newsletter!

JMS Speaks

UPDATE FROM JMS

I snatched this from the B5 moderated news group this morning:

It's been a while, I know...but things have been awfully crazed at this end of the modem.

I was there for the premiere of Changeling (no the name isn't going to change) at Cannes, and it was, overall, perhaps the most surreal experience of my life. I was ensconced at the Hotel du Cap overlooking the French Riviera, just abaft from Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Mick Jagger (who came to dinner with the bunch of us that Friday) and surrounded by sights I could never have imagined myself seeing. Day-trip drives into the South of France for shopping, into Monaco and Monte Carlo where I dropped five hundred Euros at the casino because, well, you pretty much have to...and the premiere.

Imagine for a moment: a procession of twenty one cars preceded and followed by French police running lights and sirens to get the motorcade through the streets of Cannes en route to the press conference and, several hours later, the premiere. A sea of popping flashbulbs. Paparazzi and TV cameras and microphones, reporters from all over the world, and everyone shouting questions, to look this way or that way. The red carpet, long and broad as the ocean. The theater, three thousand seats filled with tuxedoes and gowns and stars. Smiles and tears at the right moments as the film rolled by. A ten minute standing ovation. Proclamations and prophecies of Oscars.

Surreal. Dream-like. Impossible. Was any of this really happening? To me?

Impossible. But there it was.

Then: after more days of interviews and press and screenings and stunningly positive, glowing reviews, on to Berlin, where my script for Ninja Assassin was being filmed. Brilliant stunt work. Dinners in the cool German evening. Then off again to London for meetings with several production companies regarding TV projects, and a meeting with director Paul Greengrass on They Marched Into Sunlight, for Tom Hanks' company, before flying back to LA for four days of massive jetlag.

Never give up, folks. Never stop trying. Never surrender dreams.

Because sometimes they come true.

Two asides before I crash.

First, on the plane ride home, I'd picked up the July issue of T3 Magazine, which contained in the mylar packet a subsidiary slim issue about future tech and jargon and looked ahead to gadgets yet to come. I meant to take it with me off the plane for research on another project, but left it behind and it doesn't seem to be available anywhere here; I may have missed the issue. Point being, could one of our UK friends scan that magazine (it was only like 20 pages) and upload it to me? If you do volunteer, could you note it here first to avoid lots of folks duplicating the efforts? Accept my thanks in advance.

Second, keep an eye out for Daily Variety on June 19th. Another surprise yet to come.

This is the dream. This is the fairy tale we all expect but so rarely get. I am at peace. Go figure.

jms

NINJA ASSASSIN

Ranger Gordon alerted me to this WB announcement:

''Ninja Assassin'' Starts Production in Berlin
Rain Stars in the Film under the Direction of James McTeigue

Rain BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filming is underway on “Ninja Assassin,” being directed by James McTeigue (“V for Vendetta”) from a screenplay by Matthew Sand and J. Michael Straczynski. Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski are producing, with Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni and William Fay serving as executive producers.
“Ninja Assassin” stars Korean pop star Rain (“Speed Racer”) as the central character, Raizo; Naomie Harris (“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”) as Europol researcher Mika Coretti; Ben Miles (“V for Vendetta”) as Europol Agent Ryan Maslow; legendary martial arts performer Sho Kosugi (“Revenge of the Ninja”) as the ruthless leader of the Ozunu Clan; and Rick Yune (“Die Another Day“) as Raizo’s rival, Takeshi.
Principal photography is taking place at Babelsberg Studios and on location in various parts of Berlin.
“Ninja Assassin” follows Raizo (Rain), one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them… and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge.
In Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has stumbled upon a money trail linking several political murders to an underground network of untraceable assassins from the Far East. Defying the orders of her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), Mika digs into top secret agency files to learn the truth behind the murders. Her investigation makes her a target, and the Ozunu Clan sends a team of killers, led by the lethal Takeshi (Rick Yune), to silence her forever. Raizo saves Mika from her attackers, but he knows that the Clan will not rest until they are both eliminated. Now, entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse through the streets of Europe, Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive…and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan.
The behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Karl Walter Lindenlaub, production designer Graham “Grace” Walker, costume designer Carlo Poggioli and editor Giancarlo Ganziano. The Wachowski brothers’ longtime stunt coordinators Chad Stahelski and David Leitch are also on board as second unit co-directors.
“Ninja Assassin” is a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation in association with Legendary Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment.

JMS

UPDATE FROM JMS

THE CHANGELING

I don't know about you, but I have been watching reports from Cannes all week. THE CHANGELING is getting fantastic reviews and here are some pictures from a recent press conference where JMS is featured. We've known of JMS' talent for years -- it is just now coming to the attention of others.
THE CHANGELING PRESS CONFERENCE
Ranger Regis sent along a link to the video of this Press Conference from Cannes http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/mediaPlayer/9426.html. The entire 40-minute press conference (with translation in French) can be seen at http://cannes2008.canalplus.fr/film-changeling-20-mai-2008-page1.aspx?PlayVideo=4.

Ranger Mike sent in the following clipping from IMDb:
Movie Reviews: 'Changeling'
Clint Eastwood's Changeling has drawn some of the strongest early reviews yet at the Cannes Film Festival. (Critics were unsure what the actual title was. The festival said on Tuesday that it had received a written notice from the studio that the title had been changed to The Exchange, aligning it with the French title, L'Échange. But at a news conference Eastwood implied that he had not agreed to a such a change, and the daily festival program, after revising the title on Tuesday changed it back to Changeling today.) Geoffrey MacNab in the London Independent called the film a "magisterial piece of work." While predicting that the movie won't become a big box-office success for Eastwood, he concluded that "in its unfussy craftsmanship and emotional punch, it shows him still at the peak of his powers." Writing for the British trade publication Screen Daily, Mike Goodridge predicted that the movie will "go all the way from the Palais to the Academy Awards." Several critics attending the screening came away forecasting an Oscar nomination not only for Eastwood but also for the film's star, Angelina Jolie. "She is the entire, anxious point of Eastwood's film," wrote James Christopher in the London Times, "and absolutely terrific." Todd McCarthy in Daily Variety called her performance "top notch." And Kurt Honeycutt wrote in the Hollywood Reporter," Jolie puts on a powerful emotional display."
Another article noted is at http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/56129.html

Ranger Jim found this article that includes a quote from JMS:
"I was so astonished by the extent to which she suffered by asking one simple, clear question: What happened to my child," said J. Michael Straczynski, who researched Christine Collins' ordeal and wrote the screenplay for "Changeling." "She did all the heavy lifting. I just wrote it down."
From a longer article at http://movies.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=315022.

Variety has reviewed the film as well. You can read all about it at http://www.variety.com/VE1117937210.html

The Hollywood Reporter's review can be found at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=11148&imw=Y

Over at http://blogs.amctv.com/shootout/ you will find an interview with J. Michael Straczynski, screenwriter for THE CHANGELING.

I know I've been absent here for a long time, but it's been necessary to getting out from under a number of deadlines and personal stuff that's been going on which basically put me into (or undre) the bunker to focus on getting things done. There was a two week period where I didn't leave the house other than to get mail. At all.

But with so much going on at the moment, I felt obliged to come in and put out some information, with the note that there will be more to come in the next week or so.

To the question of Emerald City Con, yes, I will still be attending, though I don't yet know the schedule. I imagine they'll mainly have me doing stuff on Saturday just because that's the main day for the con, but that's conjecture on my part.

Yes, I will be attending the Cannes Film Festival with Changeling along with the rest of those involved in making it. The announcement was just flat-out stunning.

On the work side, in the post-strike environment, I've 1) sold two original screenplays, 2) was hired to rewrite/basically write a new script for a project for the Wachowskis, 3) have just finished a deal to work on a project with Wolfgang Peterson, 4) have another spec script going to auction around the end of May, 5) just closed the deal on another assignment which is based on a very influential series of SF books, 6) have one more deal to write a remake of a nearly legendary SF movie that will close in a few days, 7) there's a deal on the table for both Dream Police and Rising Stars which I'm considering right now...all this in addition to writing The Twelve and Thor (which remains in the top 5 of best-selling comics) and getting the script books out the door.

Which explains why nobody's heard a peep from me in ages.

Now I need to take a nap.

jms

JMS UPDATE

JMS NEWS AT WONDERCON

Ranger Jan sent in this report:

JMS had his spotlight at WonderCon today and there's news and updates on *lots* of things!

- Book of Lost Souls: JMS is waiting on a determination on the status of this. The Icon line is sort of reserved as a prize for Marvel's exclusive writers.
- Dream Police: Ditto
- B5 comic with Wildstorm: JMS is looking to turn that in within a couple of months.
- Squadron Supreme: JMS decided to stop and regroup after he felt that he'd lost track of the story after the move to a team story rather than the focus on Hyperion. To be revisited later.
- Rising Stars Compendium: He doesn't know anything about it.
- Asked about more Lost Tales: No new word on more. JMS retold how WB had started talks for more but refused to accellerate the process, thinking that there wouldn't be a writer's strike. The good news is that WB is now starting to realize that they've really got something in B5 ('bout time!). JMS told us why there were sock puppets sprinkled in the Lost Tales Diaries: When JMS was told the budget he'd have to work with, his response was, "For that amount of money, I can do it with sock puppets, not people."

- Asked about working with DC: JMS didn't give any specifics on titles though he mentioned that people who know the characters who've influenced him will know what he's interested in (I'd guess that to mean Superman).
- He does have a deal to write two creator owned titles for Image. One is called "Justice" and the other "Ten Grand".
- Now that the writer's strike is over he's got seven other feature films lined up, two of them genre from film and print. When asked for hints, he simply mentioned how nice it was that Ron Howard had acquired the rights to the "Lensman" series.
- JMS is starting his own production company named "And the Horse You Rode In On Productions". I believe that he's looking to bring "Midnite Nation" and "Rising Stars" into this company.
- World War Z, the adaptation that he's written from the Max Brooks bestseller is, if production goes as currently planned, slated to be a big tentpole production with a possible 100 million dollar budget.
- The Silver Surfer movie he's written will be an origin story which is why that wasn't in the FF movie.
- For Marvel, he's got two miniseries planned: one SubMariner and one Captain America.
- Asked if he might ever write an autobiography, JMS told of having begun the "JMS Historical Reclamation Project" a while back by asking fans for pictures of the many places he'd lived as a child and that he's begun writing an autobiography focusing on how, if he could become a success, anybody can.
- He continued on by pointing out that he never sits when doing his spotlights, hasn't for a long time. The reason for that is because you always stand when reporting to your superiors and that's those of us in the audience who he looks to to create the next great stories.
It was a fun panel, as usual, with lots of joking and fun with the audience.

Go over to www.Newsrama.com and read the entire article. It talks about Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, The Twelve, Bullet Points and Silver Surfer: Requiem. For comic book lovers, you'll want to know if JMS is continuing his efforts on these books.

JMS HISTORICAL RECLAMATION PROJECT
Though in this case the historical entity being reclaimed is...well, me, basically. I'll explain in a moment.

First, an apology and explanation for being absent for so long. The last few months have been probably the most hectic in terms of deadlines and work in the history of my career. The work has been great, but there's just been a bucket of it and it's all been due at once. I've turned in the latest draft of World War Z and it's now going out to directors, I'm now on the third draft of the Silver Surfer movie which is also being fast-tracked, Changeling starts shooting in almost exactly two months, I'm hip deep in comics work and finishing the final touches to a TV project that we will be taking out to sell early September, and I've started the screenplay for They Marched Into Sunlight for Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks company. All of this, in addition to a personal tragedy - the recent loss of my father in law - has put me way behind the eight ball of late. But I'm finally digging out from under...which brings me to this note.

While I was growing up, my family moved around a lot. Sometimes as often as two or three times in a year, sometimes staying put for as much as eighteen months. (No, we weren't a military family, it's a long story.) Every six months on average we were in a new town, city, state, new school...it became a blur after a while.

So when I turned twenty-one, I asked for only one gift on my birthday: I wanted my past. I wanted a list of where I'd lived and when so I could start putting together something vaguely resembling a sense of continuity. It took a long time to get that information together, and some of it was still sketchy, but at least I had something in hand.

And promptly proceeded to lose it.

I literally just found the envelope with the information in a box that hadn't been checked properly and had been sitting around for years...simply years, I tell you. I've gone on-line to try and find photos of some of those places, but obviously it's difficult at best, most people don't generally run around taking photos of the front of their houses or places of work and put them on the nets for all to see.

Then it struck me: invariably, at conventions and the like, I see B5 fans and others who tell me what the show has meant to them, and is there anything they can do in return. I've never had a really good answer to that question. I do now.

So I put this proposition out into the ether to see what happens.

Appended to this note is a list of places I've either lived in, gone to school at, or in general am trying to get a handle on from my past. I may, in time, use this information and these photos in an autobiography (yes, I'm giving it some thought, no promises). If you reading this live in the vicinity of any of these places and want to take some good digital pictures of them and send them along, that would not only be great, but if I do write that book, and use the photos there, though there won't be a payment for them, I will be sure to give a proper photo credit with your name at the back of the book. (So BE SURE that the filename for any photos sent along has your name included for reference later.)

Honestly, I'm very curious to see what this turns up. Here goes. Again, some of these are general, I don't have street addresses for a few of them, so just a photo of the residential parts of the street in those cases would be great. These are all places I lived in (plus some schools and a couple of other places) from the start until shortly after I graduated high school, in chronological order.

I don't want anybody going out of their way on this stuff...if it's convenient and you're in the area and can grab a good shot, terrific, but honestly, this is an indulgence on my part and a favor on yours, so don't over-extend.

LIST OF LOCATIONS

Graham Avenue, Paterson, NJ

East 11th Street, Paterson NJ

River Street, Paterson NJ. (Looking for not only a sense of the residential area, but my grandmother used to own a bar on River Street, don't know if it might still be there or not.)

Van Houton Avenue, Paterson NJ

Hamilton Avenue, Paterson NJ

275 Dakota Street, Paterson NJ

Blessed Sacrament School, Paterson NJ (three blocks from River Street)

Clarence Street, Los Angeles

Utah Street School, 174 North Utah Street, LA CA

Grape Street, Los Angeles

St. Aloysius School, 2023 East Nadeau Street, LA

Pine Street, Napa CA

St. Stephen School, possibly located at 131 Midland Avenue, Kearny NJ

Butler Street, Paterson NJ

Our Lady of Lourdes School, 186 Butler Street, Paterson NJ

Clifton Avenue, Newark NJ

Summer Avenue School, 257 Summer Avenue (now Roberto Clemente) Newark, NJ

Aberdeen East Apartments, L-11 Sutton Drive, Matawan, NJ (Now Long Brook Apartments) (Note: I THINK this is the right place, but the name change has thrown me and I can't tell from the online real estate shots...it was called Aberdeen East Apartments when I was there, that much I know for sure.)

St. Benedict School, 165 Bethany Road, Holmdel NJ

Lloyd Road Intermediate School 401 Lloyd Road, Aberdeen, NJ

Barrington Gardens Apartments, 129 Belaire Court, Matawan, NJ (there are two apartments side by side there...I was in at the end of an apartment building that faced out onto a courtyard bordered by another building, and when I looked out my window on the other side I could see into a big forested gully)

Matawan Regional High School, 450 Atlantic Avenue, Aberdeen NJ

323 Main Street, Matawan, NJ

Inglewood High School, Inglewood CA

Lennox High School, 11033 S. Buford Avenue, Lennox CA

1250 Fifth Avenue, Chula Vista, CA

Chula Vista High School

First Baptist Church, 494 E Street, Chula Vista CA

310 North Convent Street, Bourbonnais, Illinois

Kankakee Community College (especially looking for any shots from 1972)

900 West Spring Valley Road, # 148, Richardson, Texas

Richland College, 12800 Abrams Road Dallas TX

555 Naples #304, Chula Vista, CA

65 Mitscher Street, Chula Vista, CA

Southwestern College, 900 Otay Lakes Road Chula Vista, CA

3987 Debbyann Place, San Diego, CA

J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI - NEW PROJECTS
If you hop over to www.imdb.com, you'll see some pictures of JMS with Doug Netter & Tracy Scoggins. However, the big news you'll see are all the announced projects!

# World War Z (2008) (announced) (screenplay)
# They Marched Into Sunlight (2008) (announced)

JMS indicates that he is writing the screenplay from an outline by Paul Greengrass, who's also directing.
# The Changeling (2008) (pre-production)
# Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark (2007) (V) (completed)
We all know about The Lost Tales -- hopefully JMS will be able to tell us about WORLD WAR Z; THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT and THE CHANGELING soon.

THE CHANGELING: Shooting is likely to start in September. I'm supposed to meet with Clint (Eastwood) sometime this month go go over the script with the goal of starting prep sometime in July. Angelina (Jolie) is still a go.

The news seems to be everywhere now, and Fox hasn't said anything about NOT commenting on it so...yes, I'm writing the Silver Surfer movie. (Have written, actually, being the more correct form...the script has already been turned in.)

Overall, this has probably been the most extraordinary year of my career. There's Changeling with Eastwood/Jolie/Howard slated for 2008...the Silver Surfer movie, which is going to be a big film, also looking at 2008...They Marched into Sunlight with director Paul (Bourne Ultimatum) Greengrass, based on a historical novel by a Pulitizer prize winning author, for Tom Hanks' company, open date on when it goes... World War Z for Brad Pitt's company, also potentially 2008...the King David script for Akiva Goldsman....just the company of those names alone is astonishing. I am, as they say, in the tall grass now.

And there are still at least two, and possibly three major announcements yet to be made at Comic Con, which regardless of whether one is a TV or movie fan, an SF fan or a comics fan...are gonna pin people's ears back.

There isn't a day when I don't feel as though I woke up in somebody else's life.
jms

Here's the cored of it, and what people looking in need to understand.

Basic stats:
Fifty percent, half the Writers Guild, is unemployed, at any given time.

The majority of WGA members sell maybe one or two TV scripts per year.

The same majority of WGA members earn less than 45K per year, less than many grade school teachers.

Most WGA members have to work daytme jobs to supplement their writing work.

And the percentage of WGA members who earn six figures and up accounts for less than 1% of all WGA members.

Those are not rosy stats.

Leaving out the aspect of deferred compensation...residuals exist to help writers stay alive and available between assignments. If you only make one or two sales in a year, the residuals for what you sold last year will help pay this year's bills and allow you to keep writing. Take that away, and the bulk of the writers working in TV would have to drop out of the business.

Writers, directors and actors have, until recently, been able to get residuals on the various venues through which their shows are seen (broadcast and cable TV, overseas exhibitions and theatrical distribution). But virtually everybody in that group gets nothing out of the distribution means that were not covered by those long-ago contracts (the last real negotiation was in 1988). DVDs, Xbox, Itunes, bittorrent, most satellite systems, Joost and other internet distribution systems do not pay anything to anyone in those three categories. In theory they should get something, the foundation is there in the old contrats, but the formula used to determine residuals based on VHS sales can be adjusted infinitely to ensure nobody gets anything.

We're not talking here luxurious terms for luxurious circumstances; we're talking about the basic necessities of life that will help writers, especially newer, retired or struggling writers, keep their homes and pay their bills. Bread and butter issues. If you're a writer making six figures plus in sales per year, residuals aren't that big a deal...it's everybody else, everybody who's just making ends meet, who live or die depending on the small residuals check that comes in from time to time, helping out when bills come.

Just so everyone's clear on the concept.

jms

COMIC BOOK UPDATE

Q: Will there be any books or comics coming out in conjunction with B5 Lost Tales?

A: No plans for any as such, though there may be a mini-comic included in the DVD, but that's still in the yes/no stage.

Q) Is Thor your only ongoing at Marvel right now? What other comics are you writing right now?

A: I'm still finishing up on Amazing Spider-Man, with 2 of the regular book and 2 of the "One More Day" mini to write, and then I'm off. One more issue of "Ultimate Power" to write before handing the baton off to Jeph Loeb to finish the mini (Bendis did the first 3, I'm doing the middle 3, with Loeb last in rotation). Working on Thor as an ongoing title, the only monthly in addition to The Book of Lost Tales, which will be coming back shortly. Also doing a 12 issue maxi series tentatively called "The Twelve" that will be bringing back a bunch of WW2 era Marvel heroes not seen since then.

Folks --

For some time now, I've been alluding to several major developments which I haven't been able to describe while they were ongoing. Well, that's now no longer a problem with one of them, because the news has finally been released.

I won't even tell you here what it is...just click on the link and go.

Trust me.

This one's worth it.

Clint Eastwood http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960798.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Another kick in the shin to the naysayers.

March 17, 2007

Over the weekend, there was a link on-line to a podcast from the NYCC where JMS conducted a panel discussion. Here, from JMS, is the reason the podcast was pulled:

Yeah, I had the piece pulled because a) I hadn't been told they were going to be taping the appearance and putting it up there, and b) there's stuff from the blogs that should not be out there because they're still in progress. (The delay in posting the blogs has been in waiting for the final CGI to be delivered in those cases where we have before and after shots...which is nearly all of the blogs.)

Still catching up on deadlines here, not helped by the fact that on Tuesday last I took quite a spill and in addition to banging the hell out of both knees and spraining an ankle, ended up fracturing two ribs (the 4th and 5th lateral ribs on the left side, for those keeping score). So I'm alternately a) in pain and out of it, or b) gooned on vicodin and tylenol and likewise out of it.

More when the colors around me become recognizable again....
jms

Here's hoping JMS has a speedy recovery.

Date: December 31, 2006 3:12am

Periodically, at conventions, people ask me, "What movies do you watch or grow up watching? What's in your collection?" Having just gone through and for the first time itemized my DVD collection, I figured I'd upload it for those with a morbid curiousity about such things. It's mainly movies and television, some documentaries (admittedly left-leaning), some funny things and just weirdnesses...so if you want to know what a TV writer has in his collection (and yes, I know it's a long list, I like to own my DVDs rather than rent them, and I have lots of room on shelves for them), and what informs his (my) brain when working on stories...here's the list.

It's a weird compendiium of shlock 50s movies, classics, highbrow-stuff, and the sort of movies you'd expect a 13 year old to buy...but it's what my tastes call home.

God help anyone who actually goes through and reads this whole list....
jms

-----------------------------------------

"4D Man"
"7 Faces Of Dr. Lao"
"12 Angry Men"
"13 Ghosts"
"20 Million Miles To Earth"
"21 Grams"
"28 Days Later..."
"The 39 Steps"
"The 40 Year Old Virgin"
"100 Years Of Horror"
"1776"
"1984"
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
"2010: The Year We Make Contact"
"Abominable Snowman"
"Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Special (The Last Shout / In New York)"
"Absolutely Fabulous: The Complete Series"
"Absolutely Fabulous: Series 5"
"The Abyss"
"The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen"
"Adventures Of Superman: The Complete 1st Season"
"Adventures of Superman: The Complete 2nd Season"
"Adventures of Superman: The Complete 3rd and 4th Seasons"
"Adventures of Superman: The Complete Fifth and Sixth Seasons"
"Advise And Consent"
"Aeon Flux"
"Aimee Mann: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse"
"Airplane!"
"Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill, Live"
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One"
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two"
"Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts"
"Alien"
"Alien Planet"
"AVP: Alien vs. Predator"
"Aliens"
"All That Jazz"
"All The President's Men"
"Almost Famous"
"Amadeus"
"American Graffiti"
"American Splendor"
"America's Atomic Bomb Tests #1: Operation Tumbler Snapper"
"America's Atomic Bomb Tests: The Collection"
"An Inconvenient Truth"
"Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy"
"The Andromeda Strain"
"Angry Red Planet"
"The Animatrix"
"Annie Hall"
"Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier"
"Apollo 13"
"The Apostle"
"Armageddon"
"Army Of Darkness"
"Arsenic And Old Lace"
"Assault On Precinct 13"
"Atomic Cafe"
"Atomic War Bride / This Is Not A Test"
"Attack Of The Crab Monsters"
"Avengers '66 Set #2, Vol. 3 & 4"
"Avengers '67 Set #1, Vol. 1 & 2"
"Avengers '68 Set #4, Vol. 7 & 8"
"The Aviator"
"Babel"
"Bad Day At Black Rock"
"Bad Seed"
"Batman"
"Batman and Robin"
"Batman And Robin: The Serial Collection"
"Batman Begins"
"BBC History of World War II: Hiroshima"
"Beast From 20,000 Fathom"
"Beatles: Hard Days Night"
"Beatles: Help!"
"Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour"
"Beatles: The First U.S. Visit"
"Beatles: You Can't Do That: Making Of A Hard Day's Night"
"Beckett On Film"
"Beginning Of The End"
"Bela Lugosi Collection: Murders In Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven / The Invisible Ray / Black Friday"
"Bellboy"
"Ben-Hur"
"Berkeley In The Sixties"
"Best Bits Of Mr. Bean"
"Best Of Bud Abbott & Lou Costello #3: Meet Frankenstein / Mexican Hayride / Meet The Killer, Boris K"
"Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Vol 4"
"Best Of Ernie Kovacs"
"Best Of Fractured Fairy Tales"
"Best Of Red Skelton Show"
"Big Buy"
"Big Trouble In Little China"
"Billie"
"Billy Joel: Essential Video Collection"
"Billy Joel: Greatest Hits #3: The Videos"
"Blackadder: The Complete Collector's Set"
"Blackboard Jungle"
"Blade"
"Blade II"
"Blade Runner"
"Blazing Saddles"
"The Blob"
"Blue Vinyl"
"Bogie & Bacall"
"Bonnie And Clyde"
"Boogie Nights"
"Das Boot"
"Boris Karloff Collection"
"The Bourne Supremacy"
"Bowling For Columbine"
"Braveheart"
"Brazil"
"Bringing Up Baby"
"The Brothers Grimm"
"Bruce Almighty"
"Bubba Ho-Tep"
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection"
"Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Complete First Season"
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season"
"Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid"
"Cabaret"
"Call Northside 777"
"Camelot"
"Candidate"
"Capote"
"Carnival Of Souls"
"Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers"
"Carpenter Collection: The Thing / They Live / Prince Of Darkness / Village Of The Damned"
"Casablanca"
"Cat Ballou"
"Cecil B. Demented"
"Century Of Science Fiction"
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
"Chasing Amy"
"Chicago - The Razzle-Dazzle Edition"
"Chicken Run"
"Chinatown"
"A Chorus Line"
"Christine"
"A Christmas Carol"
"A Christmas Story"
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"
"Cinderfella"
"Citizen Kane"
"Close Encounters Of The Third Kind"
"Collector"
"Comedy Of Terrors / The Raven"
"Complete Superman Cartoons: Diamond Anniversary Edition"
"Conspiracy Theory"
"Constantine"
"Control Room"
"The Core"
"The Corporation"
"Crash"
"Crawling Eye"
"Creature Comforts - The Complete Second Season"
"Creature Comforts: The Complete 1st Season"
"Creature From The Black Lagoon: The Legacy Collection: Creature From The Black Lagoon / Revenge Of The Creature / ..."
"Crimson Tide"
"Crop Circles: Quest For Truth"
"Crosby, Stills & Nash: Acoustic"
"Crosby, Stills & Nash: CSN"
"Crosby, Stills & Nash: Daylight Again"
"Curse Of The Demon / Night Of The Demon"
"Daily Show: Indecision 2004"
"Damn Yankees"
"Danger Mouse - The Complete Seasons 5 & 6"
"Danger Mouse: Seasons #3 & #4"
"Danger Mouse: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2"
"Daredevil"
"Dark Water"
"Darkness"
"Das Boot - The Original Uncut Version"
"Dawn Of The Dead"
"Day Of The Dead"
"The Day The Earth Stood Still"
"Dead Poets Society"
"Deathtrap"
"Delicate Delinquent"
"Demons"
"Denis Leary: Complete Denis Leary"
"Destination Moon"
"Destination Tokyo"
"The Devil's Advocate"
"Dial M For Murder"
"Dick Cavett Show: John Lennon & Yoko Ono"
"Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons"
"Dick Van Dyke Show : Season 1"
"Dick Van Dyke Show : Season 2"
"Dick Van Dyke Show : Season 3"
"Dick Van Dyke Show : Season 4"
"Dick Van Dyke Show : Season 5"
"Die Another Day"
"Disorderly Orderly"
"Do Not Adjust Your Set"
"Document Of The Dead"
"Donnie Darko"
"Don't Look Now"
"Don't Raise The Bridge, Lower The River"
"Doom"
"Dr. No"
"Dr. Strangelove"
"Dracula"
"Dracula: The Legacy Collection: Dracula / Dracula's Daughter / House Of Dracula / Son Of Dracula"
"Duel"
"Dune"
"Dunwich Horror"
"The Eagles: Farewell Tour: Live From Melbourne"
"Eagles: Hell Freezes Over"
"Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers"
"Easy Rider"
"Ed Wood"
"Ed Wood, Jr. Collection: Glen Or Glenda / Jail Bait / Bride Of The Monster / Plan 9 From Outer Space"
"Edison: The Invention Of The Movies"
"Edward R. Murrow Collection : This Reporter / The Best Of 'See It Now' / The Mccarthy Years / Harvest Of Shame"
"Elizabeth"
"Elton John: One Night Only: The Greatest Hits Live!"
"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"
"Enter The Dragon"
"Errand Boy"
"Escape From New York"
"Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind"
"Eurythmics: Peacetour"
"The Evil Dead : Book Of The Dead"
"Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn"
"Excalibur"
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose"
"The Exorcist"
"Exorcist: The Beginning"
"Eye"
"F For Fake"
"Fahrenheit 451"
"Fail Safe"
"Pit And The Pendulum"
"Fall Of The House Of Usher"
"Fantastic Four"
"Fargo"
"Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection"
"Fiddler On The Roof"
"Field Of Dreams"
"Fiend Without A Face"
"The Final Countdown"
"Finding Neverland"
"Firewall"
"First Men In The Moon"
"First Spaceship On Venus"
"Flags of Our Fathers"
"Fleetwood Mac: Tango In The Night"
"Flowers Of St. Francis"
"The Fog"
"The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara"
"Forbidden Planet"
"Foreign Correspondent"
"The Forgotten"
"Forgotten Silver"
"Frankenstein - The Legacy Collection"
"Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man / House Of Frankenstein"
"Freaks"
"French And Saunders: At The Movies"
"French And Saunders: Back With A Vengeance"
"French And Saunders: On The Rocks"
"French And Saunders: The Ingenue Years"
"From Hell"
"From Russia With Love"
"The Fugitive"
"Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"
"Futurama, Vol. 1"
"Futurama, Vol. 3"
"Galaxy Quest"
"Gangs Of New York"
"Ghostbusters 1 & 2"
"Ghosts Of Mars"
"Give My Regards To Broad St."
"Gladiator"
"Glory"
"The Godfather DVD Collection"
"Godzilla"
"Godzilla And Mothra: Battle For Earth / Godzilla Vs. King Ghidora"
"Godzilla: King Of The Monsters"
"Gojira"
"Good Night, And Good Luck"
"The Good, The Bad And The Ugly"
"The Graduate"
"The Grapes Of Wrath"
"The Great Dictator"
"The Great Escape"
"The Green Mile"
"The Grudge"
"Guide For The Married Man"
"Gunga Din"
"Hair"
"Hamlet"
"Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Vol. 1"
"Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Vol. 2"
"Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Vol. 3"
"Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire"
"Haunting"
"Hell House"
"Hellboy"
"Helter Skelter"
"Henderson Monster"
"The Hidden Fortress"
"High Noon"
"High Plains Drifter"
"A History Of Violence"
"Hooked Generation / The Psychedelic Priest"
"Horror Of Dracula"
"Hospital"
"Hostel"
"House Of Flying Daggers"
"House Of Wax"
"House On Haunted Hill"
"Howl's Moving Castle"
"Hunting Of The President"
"I Confess"
"I Married A Monster From Outer Space"
"Ice Age"
"Image Of An Assassination: A New Look At The Zapruder Film"
"In Cold Blood"
"In Good Company"
"The Incredible Adventures Of Wallace And Gromit"
"The Incredibles"
"Independence Day"
"Indestructible Man / Amazing Transparent Man"
"Inherit The Wind"
"Innocents"
"Inside The Actors Studio - Icons"
"The Interpreter"
"Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles"
"Invader Zim #1: Doom Doom Doom"
"Invader Zim #2: Progressive Stupidity"
"Invaders From Mars"
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers"
"Invisible Man: The Legacy Collection: Invisible Man / Invisible Man Returns / Invisible Woman / Invisible Agent / ... Revenge"
"It Came From Outer Space"
"It! The Terror from Beyond Space"
"Jack Paar Collection"
"Jaws"
"Jerry Maguire"
"Jesus Christ Superstar"
"JFK"
"Jiminy Glick In La La Wood"
"Joe And Max"
"John And Yoko's Year Of Peace"
"John Denver: Wildlife Concert"
"John Fogerty: Premonition"
"John Ford Goes to War"
"John Lennon: Gimme Some Truth: The Making Of Imagine"
"John Lennon: Lennon Legend: Very Best Of John"
"Johnny English"
"Jonathan Winters: Rare And Riotous"
"Joseph Campbell And The Power Of Myth"
"Ju-On"
"Kagemusha"
"Kill Bill: Volume 1"
"Kill Bill: Volume 2"
"King Kong"
"King Of New York"
"Kingdom Of Heaven"
"Kinsey"
"Knightriders"
"Kodo"
"Kronos"
"Kumars At Number 42"
"Labyrinth"
"Ladies In Lavender"
"Land Of The Dead"
"Landmarks Of Early Film"
"Larry Sanders Show: 1st Season"
"The Last House On The Left"
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien - The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog"
"Laugh-In: Boxed Set 1: Best Of Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In"
"Laugh-In: Boxed Set 2: Best Of Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In"
"Lawrence Of Arabia"
"A League Of Their Own"
"Left Of The Dial"
"Legend Of Hell House"
"Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events"
"Lewis Black: A Pair Of Lewis Black Shorts"
"Lewis Black: Black On Broadway"
"Lewis Black: Unleashed"
"Lion In Winter"
"Little Caesar"
"Local Hero"
"The Longest Day"
"Look, Up in the Sky - The Amazing Story of Superman"
"Looney Tunes: Golden Collection, Vol. 2"
"Looney Tunes: Golden Collection: Volume Four"
"Looney Tunes: The Golden Collection, Vol. 1"
"Looney Tunes: The Golden Collection, Vol. 3"
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring"
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King"
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers"
"Lost Horizon"
"Lost In La Mancha"
"Lost In Space"
"Lost In Space: Season 1"
"Lost In Translation"
"Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra"
"Lost: Season 1"
"Mad Max"
"Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior"
"The Magnificent Seven"
"Magnolia"
"Malcolm X"
"The Maltese Falcon"
"The Man"
"Man From Planet X"
"Man On Fire"
"The Man Who Would Be King"
"The Man With No Name Trilogy: A Fistful Of Dollars / For A Few Dollars More / The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"
"The Manchurian Candidate"
"Manhattan"
"Manhunter"
"Manster"
"March Of The Penguins"
"Mark Twain Tonight!"
"Mark Twain's America"
"Mars Attacks!"
"Marx Brothers Collection: Night At The Opera / Day At The Races / Night In Casablanca / At The Circus / Go West/The Big Store"
"Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection: Duck Soup / Horse Feathers / Monkey Business / Animal Crackers / The Cocoanuts"
"Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World"
"Master Of The Rings: Unauthorized Story Behind J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings"
"The Matrix"
"The Matrix Reloaded"
"The Matrix Revisited"
"The Matrix Revolutions"
"Mean Girls"
"The Meaning Of Life"
"Meat Loaf: Bat Out Of Hell: Classic Albums"
"Meat Loaf: Hits Out Of Hell"
"Meat Loaf: Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra"
"Meat Loaf: VH-1 Storytellers"
"Melissa Etheridge: Live... And Alone"
"Memento"
"Memphis Belle"
"Men In Black"
"The Merchant of Venice"
"MirrorMask"
"Modern Times"
"Mondo Mod / The Hippie Revolt"
"Monster"
"Monster That Challenged The World"
"Monsters Crash The Pajama Party: Spook Show Spectacular"
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
"Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #1, Vol. 1 & 2"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #2, Vol. 3 & 4"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #3, Vol. 5 & 6"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #4, Vol. 7 & 8"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #5, Vol. 09 & 10"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #6, Vol. 11 & 12"
"Monty Python's Flying Circus Set #7, Vol. 13 & 14"
"Monty Python's Graham Chapman: Looks Like A Brown Trouser Job"
"Moulin Rouge"
"Mr. Smith Goes To Washington"
"The Mummy"
"Mummy: The Legacy Collection: The Mummy / The Mummy's Hand / The Mummy's Tomb / The Mummy's Ghost / The Mummy's Curse"
"Munchhausen"
"Munich"
"My Favorite Year"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection #3: The Atomic Brain / The Unearthly / The Sidehackers"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection #4: Girliin Golden Boots / Hamlet / Overdrawn At The Memory"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection #5: Merlin's Shop Of Mystical Wonders / Touch Of Satan / Timechasers / Boggy Creek II"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection #8"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 9"
"Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Essentials: Santa Claus Conquers The Martians / Manos, Hands Of Fate"
"Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Set 7"
"Naked City: 1st Set"
"Naked Lunch"
"The Name Of The Rose"
"National Geographic: Egypt Eternal: The Quest For Lost Tombs"
"The Natural"
"Neil Young: Heart of Gold"
"Network"
"Neverwhere"
"Night And Fog"
"Night Gallery: The Complete 1st Season"
"Night Of The Living Dead"
"Night Stalker / Night Strangler"
"A Nightmare On Elm Street"
"The Ninth Gate"
"No Direction Home: Bob Dylan"
"Notes on a Scandal"
"Notorious"
"The Nutty Professor"
"The Office: The Complete First Series (UK)"
"Oldboy"
"Olivier's Shakespeare - Criterion Collection"
"The Omega Man"
"The Omen"
"On The Beach"
"Once Upon A Time In America"
"Once Upon A Time In China"
"Once Upon A Time In Mexico"
"Once Upon A Time In The West"
"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
"One Step Beyond #01"
"Orson Welles: The Stranger / Orson Welles On Film"
"Outer Limits: The Original Series: Season 2"
"Pale Rider"
"Patsy"
"Patton"
"Paul McCartney: In Red Square"
"Paul Simon: You're The One: In Concert From Paris"
"Payback"
"Penn & Teller: Bullsh*t!: Season 1"
"Penn & Teller: Bullsh*t!: Season 2"
"Perfect Candidate"
"Petrified Forest"
"Phantom Of The Paradise"
"The Philadelphia Story"
"Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon"
"Pitch Black"
"Planet Of The Apes"
"Platoon"
"Police Squad!"
"Portishead: Pnyc Roseland"
"The Poseidon Adventure"
"Predator"
"Pressure Point"
"Prince Of Darkness"
"The Princess Bride"
"Prisoner #1: Arrival / Free For All / Dance Of The Dead"
"Prisoner #2: Checkmate / The Chimes Of Big Ben / A, B And C / The General"
"Prisoner #3: Schizoid Man / Many Happy Returns / It's Your Funeral"
"Prisoner #4: Change Of Mind / Hammer Anvil / Forsake Me / Living Harmony"
"Prisoner #5: Girl Who Was Death / Once Upon A Time / Fall Out"
"The Producers"
"Proof"
"Psycho"
"Psych-Out / The Trip"
"Public Enemy"
"Pulp Fiction"
"Pulse"
"The Punisher"
"Quatermass 2"
"Quatermass And The Pit"
"Quatermass Set"
"The Quiet American"
"Radar Men From The Moon"
"Ray Harryhausen Science Fiction 5-Pack Giftset: It Came From Beneath The Sea / Earth Vs. The Flying"
"Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection"
"Red Dragon"
"Red Eye"
"Red Skelton"
"Reefer Madness"
"Ren & Stimpy: The Complete 1st And 2nd Seasons"
"Reservoir Dogs"
"The Right Stuff"
"The Ring"
"Ringu Anthology of Terror"
"Ripping Yarns: Complete"
"Riverdance: Live From New York City"
"Robbie The Reindeer: Hooves Of Fire / The Legend Of The Lost Tribe"
"Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon A Time In Mexico"
"Robot Monster"
"Rocketship X-M"
"Rocky"
"Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 3"
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show"
"Roger And Me"
"Rolling Stones: Voodoo Lounge"
"Rome: The Complete First Season"
"Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"
"Ruling Class"
"Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming"
"Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch"
"Salem's Lot"
"Saw"
"Schindler's List"
"Sci-Fi Classics"
"SCTV #1: Network 90"
"Seabiscuit"
"Secondhand Lions"
"Seconds"
"Secret Agent #1"
"Secret Agent #2"
"Secret Agent #3"
"Secret Agent #4"
"Secret Agent #5"
"Seven Days In May"
"Shakespeare In Love"
"Shaolin Soccer"
"Shaun Of The Dead"
"Shock Corridor - Criterion Collection"
"The Shootist"
"Sid Caesar Collection: The Buried Treasures : The Impact Of Sid / The Legend Of Sid / Shining Stars"
"The Silence Of The Lambs"
"Simon & Garfunkel: In Concert"
"The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season"
"The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season"
"Sin City"
"Singin' In The Rain"
"Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow"
"Slaughterhouse-Five"
"Sleuth"
"Solaris"
"Some Like It Hot"
"Something Wicked This Way Comes"
"Something's Gotta Give"
"Somewhere In Time"
"Soupy Sales Collection: The Whole Gang Is Here!"
"South Park: The Complete 2nd Season"
"Spartacus"
"Spawn"
"Spellbound"
"Spider"
"Spider-Man"
"Spider-Man 2"
"The Spy Who Came In From The Cold"
"Stalag 17"
"Star Trek V: The Final Frontier"
"Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete 1st Season"
"Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete 2nd Season"
"Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete 3rd Season"
"Star Wars Trilogy : A New Hope / The Empire Strikes Back / Return Of The Jedi"
"Star Wars: Episode II: Attack Of The Clones"
"Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith"
"Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back"
"Stardust Memories"
"Starsky & Hutch"
"Stigmata"
"Stooge"
"Strange Case Of The End Of Civilization As We Know It"
"Strangers On A Train"
"Stupidity"
"Superman Cartoons Of The Fleischers"
"Superman II"
"Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut"
"Superman Returns"
"Superman: The 1948 & 1950 Theatrical Serials Collection"
"Superman: The Lost Episodes"
"Suspiria"
"Sybil"
"Syriana"
"Tales Of Terror"
"Tales Of The Unexpected: Set 1"
"Tales Of The Unexpected: Set 2"
"Target Earth"
"The Terminator"
"Terminator 2: Judgment Day"
"Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines"
"Testament"
"Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse"
"Thank You for Smoking"
"That's Entertainment! #1"
"That's Entertainment! #2"
"The Addams Family - Volume One"
"The Beatles: Anthology"
"The Big One"
"The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection"
"The Dick Cavett Show - Comic Legends"
"The Fly / Return Of The Fly"
"The Iron Giant"
"The Jacket"
"The James Stewart Hollywood Legend Collection"
"The Mummy"
"The Premiere Frank Capra Collection"
"Seven Samurai"
"The Twilight Zone - Season 5 - The Definitive Edition"
"The Victor Borge Show Collection"
"The Wild Wild West: The Complete 1st Season"
"They Might Be Giants"
"The Thing"
"The Thing From Another World"
"Thir13en Ghosts"
"This Divided State"
"This Is Your Life: Ultimate Collection"
"Three Faces Of Eve"
"Thriller: Season 1"
"THX 1138"
"Time After Time"
"Time Bandits"
"The Time Machine"
"Tingler"
"Tombstone"
"The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre"
"Trilogy Of Terror"
"Trinity And Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie"
"Triumph of the Will"
"Trouble With Angels"
"Troy"
"Turbulence"
"Twelve Chairs"
"Twilight Zone : Season 1"
"Twilight Zone : Season 2"
"Twilight Zone : Season 3"
"Twilight Zone : Season 4"
"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"
"Twin Peaks: Pilot Episode"
"Twin Peaks: Season 1"
"Ugetsu"
"Underworld"
"Underworld: Evolution"
"Unforgiven"
"United 93"
"The Untouchables"
"V for Vendetta"
"Val Lewton Horror Collection: Cat People / Curse Of The Cat People / I Walked With A Zombie / The Seventh Victim / ..."
"Vertigo"
"Village Of The Damned / Children Of The Damned"
"W.C. Fields Comedy Collection: Bank Dick / My Little Chickade / You Can't Cheat An Honest Man / It's A Gift / International ..."
"Wag The Dog"
"Walking With Dinosaurs"
"Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"
"Wallace and Gromit In Three Amazing Adventures"
"The War of the Worlds"
"War Of The Worlds (2005) (2-Disc Limited Edition)"
"War Room"
"Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection"
"Warner Gangsters Collection 6 Film Set: Little Caesar / Public Enemy / Petrified Forest / Roaring Twenties / White Heat / ..."
"Warrior, The"
"The Warriors"
"Weather Underground"
"Westworld"
"What the #$*! Do We Know!?"
"When Worlds Collide"
"Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows"
"White Noise"
"Who Killed the Electric Car?"
"Why We Fight"
"The Wild Bunch"
"The Winds of War"
"Wishing Stairs"
"Wizard Of Oz"
"Wolf Man, The"
"Woodstock: Three Days Of Peace And Music"
"World Trade Center"
"Wrinkle In Time"
"The Wrong Man"
"Wyatt Earp"
"X the Unknown"
"X2"
"X-Men: The Last Stand"
"Yakuza Papers, Vol. #1: Battles Without Honor And Humanity"
"Yellow Submarine"
"You Bet Your Life : The Lost Episodes"
"Young Frankenstein"
"Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman / Sonatine"
"Zombie"

Update from JMS:
Date: 10/26/2006 1:01:01 AM

Well, tomorrow I head back to LA for meetings on other projects for two days, then it's back to Vancouver again on Sunday to continue prep. So far everything's laying out very cleanly. We have an EFX house on board now, which was the last big step to be undertaken. It wasn't until the last day or so that we could really get into the CGI issues, which are huge on these stories.

And in regard to that...the initial goal was to try and do three big stories in one DVD. So I wrote three scripts, featuring Sheridan, Lochley, Galen and Garibaldi. (I wanted to focus on the human characters initially so we'd have more time for prosthetics R&D for the next one.) The stories, as noted previously, were huge...all over the map, from Minbar, to Earth, Mars, the future, the distant past, as well as B5 itself obviously. We're also going to be trying some new production technologies, again trying to stay ahead of the tech curve, the way B5 has always stayed ahead on these things.

And over the last few days, as we began to bring on crew and lay out the production, looking at just how complicated these mini-movies were going to be, the idea of making three of these monsters began to become a bit much for us to pull off on out first time out the gate, especially since I'm still kind of new as a director. So we decided to postpone one of the three to the next DVD, and lengthen the other two to make up the difference. GIven that the Garibaldi story was the most complicated visually and technically, also the most difficult from a CGi perspective, that's the one that got pushed until, potentially, next time.

And if the sales are anywhere near what WB expects, and I think they will be, there's no question that there will be more of these down the road. So we're gong to focus in on those two stories and knock them out of the park. Same length, same running time, and now even bigger than at first anticipated since the budget on number three will now be applied to the other two.

Part of what we're doing is to re-think the look of B5 to some degree. The show was created using 1993 technology, video toasters and amigas, and was to some extent limited by the paradigms and production methods we used in that. But it's now 13 years later, and while I will keep the feel of the show the same, and the silhouettes and designs, there's no reason to limit the look of the feel to what we could do six years ago (from when we stopped). So we're going to invest a lot of time, effort and money into really re-imagining some of the visuals at the present level -- looking at shows like Battlestar and the like -- and bringing those tools into B5 while still maintaining the feel of the show.

I also managed to work in a nice nod to Andreas and Richard in the two mini-movies.

So with that...the team is now in place, the last personnel have been hired, and as soon as I get back to Vancouver, I get to take off the producer's hat and put on the director's hat.

UPDATE FROM JMS

Date: 10/22/2006 10:46:51 PM
BABYLON 5 OFFICES ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., the Babylon 5 TLT production offices in Vancouver will officially open up next door to the stage we're using. The crew has been hired, Chris Franke is on board for the music, cast deals have been set.

Interesting times all around.
jms

October 14, 2006
Fast follow-up....

Just got back tonight from Vancouver, and we've now nailed down/hired nearly all of our key department heads and the Director of Photography who I'll be working with closely during production. We spent today in the first informal production meeting going over how we're going to shoot this, reviewing the storyboards, determining what's going to be green screen and what's going to be practical set...this should be a pretty cool looking project, with some sights we haven't really seen before as well as some more familiar sights.

What I can say about the three episodes is that we go to Mars, Minbar and of course B5, we introduce a new kind of Minbari cruiser, and there's a rather startling sequence on Earth. I've decided to shoot each segment a little differently from each other, so they each have their own visual style that complements that particular story. On Monday the B5 team up north will be checking out the stages, and about a week or so from now the actual B5 offices will open up and folks will start moving in.

It's starting to feel a lot like fun.

We'll also be working with WB to put together a special reel from the shoot that we can bring to debut at San Diego Comic Con next year.

Meanwhile, not only has the Universal feature deal noted in another thread been finalized, so I'm writing that now, but the Paramount feature deal has *also* been closed, so now there are two big-budget feature screenplay assignments that I have to write, the first due by late November/early December, the second one sometime to be delivered shortly after the first of the year. A third assignment is kind of nibbling around the edges which could be very cool, even though I couldn't start writing it until I finish the other two, which means it'd have to be spring 2007 to turn in the script if the assignment comes in.

Finally, now that Ron has said it's okay to bring in other directors on Changeling, there's been a small flood of a-list directors coming around to try and pick up the assignment. Part of the attraction is not just the script, but the acting talent involved...as noted in the LA Times piece, Reece Witherspoon (and two other oscar-winning leading female actors) are extremely interested in the lead role. I imagine we'll start having meetings in the next few weeks to narrow down the list of directors.

It's crazy-busy, but good.
jms

Date: October 12, 2006
JMS writes:
Just a quick follow-up...I'm in Vancouver (coming back in 24 hours) finishing up a round of final staff interviews for B5:TLT. Thus far, we've hired two other producers, a script supervisor, a post supervisor, the editor, a production manager, a conceptual artist/storyboard guy, an art director/production designer, a first assistant director, and closed several cast deals, with the rest probably to be closed next week, at which time I may be able to say who they are. Pending final negotiations, Chris Franke has agreed to come on board to do the music. We're interviewing CGI houses up here to decide which to go with. The three scripts have been completed, and are now being storyboarded. We've narrowed down the director of photography options to just a few last guys, and should have that decided by week's end. We've also locked down the stage and have started putting together our package (camera, lights, grip and electrics).

By this time next week, about 80% of our crew will be in hand, the rest coming aboard during the start of prep.

THE CHANGELING

Here's an update from JMS on THE CHANGELING project:
Just to clarify before the wrong impression gets out there....the project has not been back burnered. First, Imagine owns the script, they bought it, they want it, they want to see it made, so does Universal. When Ron decided to go with the Frost/Nixon thing first, one option would have been to hold onto Changeling until he was free to direct it. But with the Forst/Nixon thing going first, Changeling couldn't be shot until 2007...so Ron is going to produce, with Imagine, and they're going to get another a-list director to come on board and shoot this thing asap. The only thing that got back-burnered was Ron, Imagine still wants to make this, and Ron has been gracious enough to allow another director in, but still produce it, so it can get filmed this year.

The draft is now ready to go, there are five a-list directors who have said they want to come on, it's been budgeted, and the president of Imagine called today *specifically* to say that they want to put this thing into high gear now that Ron's made up his mind. They'd like to see this thing going before the cameras by Spring.

A question was posed to JMS comparing the B5 script books to the new Star Trek Script Books coming out. The ST books include scripts from other writers. JMS response addresses that question -- and provides a quick update on his recent activities.

"Which kind of goes to the core of what I wanted to do with the B5 script books, to make the maximum amount of information and the maximum number of scripts available for as little as possible. This way, when all is said and done, you have a real sort of holographic snapshot of the making of the show from pretty much every angle.

To the larger question above...it's my understanding -- and I could be wrong, but this is what I've heard -- that the Roddenberry estate made a deal with the writers to sell their scripts some time ago. Whether that was a one-time payment, or there's some sort of residual, I don't know, but there does seem to have been permissions involved.

Speaking of...I plan to get volume 9 done and up for the last week of this month. It's been kind of crazy of late, as noted earlier, but I'm coming into a smooth patch for a bit where I can catch up on that and some Marvel work. The last draft of Changeling has gone in to the studio, so we're now awaiting a decision concerning production...Touchstone has responded very well to the Borrowed Lives pilot script...and I just got back from two days in New York meeting with the director and producers on the next feature that I'll be writing for Universal (one of them being Akiva Goldsman, a very nice man). Also got to meet Will Smith in the production offices of I Am Legend while I was there. Also seemed like a very nice fellow."

BABYLON 5: LOST TALES

Following the announcement of this project by JMS at San Diego Comi-Con, JMS posted the following information in the B5 moderated newsgroup:

To the other questions that have arisen: we're looking at 3 half-hour episodes/stories for the first DVD, with additional features and the like in the other half hour. Each story will be worked around a given established character, the specifics of which are still TBD contingent upon availabilities and other issues.

We have a budget, we're greenlit, we're going.

As for what prompted the interest now at WB...it's only recently that they've finally run through all 5 seasons, which for many years now has been a constant source of revenue, and I think they would love to have something to continue to with. The recent news re: Changeling probably didn't hurt, but the deal was actually being negotiated long before there *was* a feature film deal with Imagine. As I recall, we finalized the deal right around the time that the Imagine news was announced.

It was a rather extraordinary 24 hours.

I held off saying anything until I was cleared by WB to announce it as a go project. Ultimately, whether we shoot in Vancouver or elsewhere will be a function of the deal that gets made locally.

For more on the San Diego Comic-Con, go to Reports.

JMS AND CONVENTIONS

Tonight I sent this note to all parties with whom discussions are or have taken place concerning convention appearances through the rest of the year.

With regrets to all concerned, the crush of work has left me no choice but to cancel all convention plans through at least February '07, and potentially beyond that. This is something I have been agonizing over for some time, but recent events have left no room for maneuvering.

My sincere and profound apologies to all concerned. I hope you will understand that this was not a decision made lightly, and it is my hope that we can reconvene in the future.

JMS UPDATE

From: jmsa...@aol.com
Date: Tues, Jul 18 2006 4:22 am

Readers of this newsgroup have noted, and asked about, the reason why my postings here have been on the steady decline for some months now.

The reason is that I have been reading, and thus replying, less than before, because it seems that nearly every thread have a posting by an individual who has dedicated himself to the task of insulting me on a constant basis, on a personal and professional basis. This nearly pathological obsession has manifested itself as, for lack of a better term, the death of a thousand papercuts. Each post is, on its own, as irrelevant and unimportant as he is, but in the aggregate becomes a constant note of insult. He remains in this group not to participate in the discussion, but to find some way to work an insult or derogatory comment about me at every possible opportunity. He is, for lack of a better term, going out of his way to shit on me in a place where he knows I have to read it...because that is his goal, to insult me where he knows that I hang out...because he's too much of a coward to do it to my face.

I'm not talking about critical opinions of a show, or disagreements, I'm talking about bald-faced insults, affronts, digs and offense on a personal and professional nature that have no business here.

I have discussed this previously with the moderators, who say they are powerless to keep him out, that he has made it clear to them that he does not and will not respect the will of either the moderators or the members of this newsgroup, who he views with utter contempt, as evidenced in the many messages in which he has described the members of this group as "joe worshippers" and terms too vile for me to repeat. He has stated to the moderators that if he is forced to leave, that he will simply join again under a different ISP or a different name, that the group must and will be held hostage to his conviction that the moderators have no authority over him, that he can ignore the purpose of this group, which is in part to provide a buffer zone between me and net-stalkers, and that his right to be here outweighs the right of the group or anyone in that group to keep him out, myself included.

A writer has only three resources: time, energy and visceral material, and when those are being spent being pissed off, when every message thread you'd otherwise like to participate in gets hijacked and polluted by a dozen new insults, snide asides or affronts, you just stop reading because life's too short.

Since the moderators cannot remove this individual due to his threats to remain no matter their actions, or the intentions or guidelines of this group, it seems that I therefore have no choice but to absent myself from this group. It is for this reason that I have already mainly stopped reading and posting, and the members of this group, who have participated in good faith for so long, deserve an explanation.

With luck, my departure will remove this individual's reason for being here, and at least the group can return to a discussion of the pros and cons of the show without his presence, because my absence will have taken all the fun out of it.

jms

On the front page of the June 27 Variety:

"Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have purchased J. Michael Straczynski's thriller "The Changeling," which is being eyed by Ron Howard to direct. Project, to be produced by Brian Grazer, joins the shortlist of pics Howard is considering as his next endeavor.

Story, billed as based on actual events, is about a mother who prays for the return of her kidnapped son. When her prayers are answered, however, she begins to suspect the boy who comes back is not her child."

From JMS:
It is, without question, the biggest deal I've ever made, and with Ron directing (everyone is talking about it as though he's going to do it, though that has not been stated officially by anyone), and it moves me from being marginally known in the film business right into the catetory of a-list writer overnight, which parallels what happened with Akiva Goldman. I'm thrilled that Ron is involved, because I've always thought he had amazing story sense and he's one of the directors I most regard in this business.

Those involved were great in the deal making, and this stands to be a huge movie.
jms

CONGRATULATIONS from everyone here at The Zocalo Today. It is about time that a LOT more people discover the wonder of you writing -- that B5 fans have known for a long time..

From B5 moderated NewsGroup:

For the local B5 folks in and around Charlotte...I'll be there for the Heroes Convention the weekend of June 30th, doing a lot of signing, some panels, my usual one-person song and dance (minus the singing and dancing, natch).

Also, being up to my tuchis in deadlines and general nonsense, I forgot to put out a note that volume 8 of the B5 scripts went up yesterday, which has the last few scripts from season three, including obviously our season finale "Z'ha'dum," and the first batch of scripts for season four. What's really cool is that, in addition to the new intro -- which reveals for the first time how we literally nearly lost the show because of an accounting error, among other cool stuff -- features a bunch of full pages of Peter Ledger's original concept art for B5, including the first drawings of our characters at that time, as well as the world of B5 itself. Most of it has not been seen before, certainly not in anything more than postage size images on a PTEN flyer.

There may also be some interesting announcements coming soon on the film/tv front. Whether or not I will be able to talk about them by Heroes Con, I don't know, but if not, certainly by San Diego (by which time a lot of it will have been announced in the trades anyway). No fair guessing, because trust me, most of this is stuff that can't be guessed.

Keep an eye on the Hollywood trades for the coming week. (It could slop over into the following week, but I doubt it.)

One of the biggest things to happen to my career is about to happen.

JMS ON CRUSADE
From the B5 moderated newsgroup:
When asked if JMS would tell us what he had planned for Crusade, his response was:

JMS: I haven't written that intro yet, but my sense is that yeah, I will go into some of the detail on that aspect of it. There's certainly nothing to be lost by doing so, and I think people will find it interesting...because the show as it would have eventually morphed resembled the show that began almost not at all.

UPDATE FROM JMS ON MONGOOSE BOOKS

From: jmsatb5@aol.com
Subject: Re: An Open Plea to Mr Straczynski
Date: 5/21/2006 9:24:47 AM

Matthew Sprange wrote:
> Hello to all.

> > I would like to start by saying that I am very, very sorry to have to > conduct any sort of discussion in this manner. I feel I have been forced to > do so because Mr Straczynski has not answered any of our direct emails for > some time.

No, that is not the case. This is public because you have been making public claims about my involvement, which led fans of B5 to ask me about it in a public manner, to which I responded.

> From our perspective, there is nothing we would like > better than to be on speaking terms with Mr Straczynski, whose work we have > the deepest admiration for and, indeed, we have been immersed within for the > past four years.

Funny way of showing it.

> I fully understand that Mr Straczynski may be unaware of the processes > involved in the approval process at Warner Brothers for publishers such as > ourselves, particularly after the recent changes in their procedures.

I have been dealing with B5 licensees for ten years. I think I understand the system, which has not changed overmuch.

> However, everything (and I mean _everything_) we publish or manufacture for > Babylon 5 is approved by Warner Brothers, via their Burbank offices.

Curious, since on contacting some of the folks at WB licensing they don't seem to be aware of any recent submissions for approval.

> Let;s bury the hatchet and begin > to work together, as I have a feeling our goals are much the same. The > Babylon 5 fans are still out there. Let us do something great together for > them.

JMS UPDATE

April 7, 2006

Here's an update from the B5moderated newsgroup:
A few things here and in the link need to be clarified.

First...I've tried to post here a few times in the past, but it always got bounced by the software, so I've been basically hanging fire until it got resolved. With luck, this will get through; I'd hate to have to retype this all over again.

I've also been up to my ears in work, of which some points follow, and that has taken me a great deal off the beacon of late.

First, to the matter at hand...and just to get one error out of the way...Robert Sheckle's "Watchbird" was adapted by me alone; Mike Cassutt is adapting Varley's "Persistence of Vision." The press release conflated the two. (I didn't know about the release until Mike called me, chagrined, but I told him not to sweat it, errors happen. This is now in the process of being corrected.)

The anthology is a by-invitation deal, it's just me, Mike, Harlan Ellison, Michael Tolkin, Ray Bradbury and a couple of others who, for whatever bizarre reason, sombody decided would constitute the scripts half of the Masters equation (the other half being the original short story).

Last summer, I was called into a meeting with the MoSF folks and offered the show runner position. It would be a short order show, maybe 6-13 episodes, to shoot in the fall. This happened at roughly the same time that I placed a development deal for my own series with Touchstone, which would not go to the next level until the next May. So the timing could not have been better. I would be able to go in, tackle this, and be done with shooting by the time development moved ahead on the Touchstone series.

But it took MoSF longer than expected to close the deal with ABC, and now they're going to be starting production in May, which conflicts with the Touchstone deal. Because there are contractual limitations regarding what you can do or develop on show B while you're working on show A, if I did the former, it would prohibit me from the work and meetings necessary for the latter, especially since the former is in Vancouver and the latter is in LA. So it came down to choosing between a short-order gig running someone else's show, and my own series, and though it was a painful decision, I have to go with the Touchstone deal. Everybody understands the situation, and everybody's fine with it.

So I got the "Watchbird" script in asap, and that will be one of the first scripts into the production pipeline as soon as they can lock down a director. I may or may not be able to be up there for filming because the same time as they shoot *that,* we have to do post-production and mixing on the 20 episode radio series I'm doing for the CBC in Toronto, and that *has* to be finished at that time in order to be available for broadcast in the late spring/summer and it's a huge amount of work to get done, so I may have to opt to be in Toronto rather than Vancouver (if this keeps up I may have to change citizenship).

Then later in May the Touchstone deal kicks in, and that will take up a huge block of time. I've also been approached by a major director (one of the biggest in town) who wants to go in and pitch a project of mine at the networks for a series, and if that that goes into development I'm going to be up to my ass in alligators for some time...all of that on top of the comics work, of course.

I also just finished writing a screenplay (historical drama, very serious, based on a true story) that is getting some serious heat and name people attached to it, so we'll see where that goes as well.

Point being...with all this work on my plate of late, particularly the TV stuff, I've been kind of off the radar screens for a while, and may have to disappear from time to time over the course of the next few months. But I'm around....

jms

Next week three jms comics hit the stands, the third (and best of the first batch) issue of "The Book of Lost Souls," which I'm very happy with, the next "Fantastic Four" issue, and the next "Supreme Power: Hyperion" issue. It's sort of an all-jms-all-the-time thing (which would have to be the most boring network on television, but there you are).

In addition to the other books I'm doing for Marvel, I'm set to do two more mini-series in 2006, neither of which I can discuss at the moment.

Also, now that the CBC strike is over, "The Adventures of Apocalypse Al" has been picked up again, and we're looking to do the voice tracks in February. The 20 five-minute radio drama episodes should air a few months thereafter, to allow time for post and publicity and the like. I believe it will thereafter show up on BBC Radio, Radio Ireland, the US market, and a number of other places before ultimately being released on CD.

It would seem that everything is now in place for the TV series that hired me as show runner to go ahead, and I'm now starting on the first script, which is due late January. Other writers have also been quietly put to work. I don't want to say too much else about this because there's still one last detail that needs to be ironed out at a much higher level regarding the venue and the like, and I've had too many things that were 99% go sideways at the last second for me to not approach this like a Lucy-and-the-football situation...so we'll see, but at the moment, things look like they're moving ahead.

As for the other series, the one I created, I can say this much now: it's been purchased for development by Disney's Touchstone Television, and we will be bringing it out to the networks this coming June at the start of development season.

Two different studios are currently in negotiation to pick up the film rights to "Midnight Nation," and another studio has offered to pick up "Rising Stars" for a series for next year, but we'll see where that goes...not all options go anywhere. "Dream Police" is now also in development with another studio, and I've turned in a detailed outline for the feature. They're now looking to pair up the material with the right director so they can take it out formally to the film marketplace.

WB has begun making inquiries here about doing a B5 DVD trivia game, but that's still very much in the preliminary discussions stage, so we'll see. (This would mainly utilize existing footage from the series and TV movies.) I've also been consulting with them about the coming debut of B5 on AOL in January, and several related areas.

Volume 3 of the B5 script books (which got a great review on www.cinescape.com) will hit around the first week of January. Because there's SO freaking much material in this one -- an 18,000 word intro plus 30 pages of memos PLUS all the scripts -- we've had to push the photos to volume 4, or risk making something so large that it might not come out right. This is my favorite so far, the most personal in many ways, the funniest, and the most informative on behind-the-scenes stuff. I'm nearly done with the volume 4 intro, which I like, but v3 remains my favorite so far. We should be able to debut new volumes around the first week of every month, so all 12 of the remaining 14 primary volumes would be finished by next December.

Convention-wise, in March 2006, I think I'm slated for a convention in Hungary, work schedule permitting, and the convention in New Zealand in October 2006. Other conventions include World Con in Anaheim in August, San Diego Comic Con in July, and Heroes Convention in North Carolina in June.

There's other stuff as well, but those are the high points for the moment.

jms

JMS UPDATE

From: jmsatb5@aol.com
Date: 11/9/2005 3:45:53 AM Over at the B5 moderated newsgroup, someone asked:
... if this exercise (bringing the Babylon 5 scripts to publication) has a degree of closure about it for you?

A: It certainly puts full stop to the work done on the original series. If anything else comes after, that's all well and good, but by putting this out is the last thing I knew I had to do with the original show. Make the show, do the trick, then open up the magic box and let everyone poke around inside to see how the trick was done...so that somebody else can learn from it and do the same down the road...which was always the intent, as I've said many times over the years.

Not to be morose -- though being russian that's nearly unavoidable for me -- but I've been thinking about this since your question, and see, the thing is...before I did this five year arc thing, nobody else really had, y'know? Not quite like this. And I'd like to leave behind the blueprints, the bread crumbs that led me through the story, so somebody else can come along and beat me at my own game someday...do something even more elaborate, more insane. I'd love that, more than I can tell you. But the thing is, and this is something that's been on my mind since we lost Richard, and for other reasons of late...none of us lasts forever. And I didn't want my notes to just get filed away at some university, or reconstructed afterward by someone who didn't really understand what it was all about, who wasn't there, who wouldn't understand what it all *meant*, in the end, what it *felt like*...so I wanted to make sure these got out there, while I still could, y'know?

This amazing online conversation, this dialogue, started over twelve years ago, and the road between there and here has been the most remarkable of my life; the road has taken me, taken us, to breathtaking places...through the most important thing I've written to date in my life, the one thing that they'll put on my obit when the day comes, and so it seems right to bring that conversation full circle with this, putting the whole damned thing out there. It's the closest I will come to going to everyone's house one night, one at a time, and saying, "This is what happened, once upon a time...."

I'd even be inclined to try it, but there are far too many of you, and as noted above, nobody lasts forever. So these rather massive letters, tossed into the great unknown, will have to suffice.

And no, don't worry, I'm fine...russian, and therefore fatalistic, but fine...it's just something that's been on my mind of late, and was one of the reasons I wanted to do this. It is closure, in that sense. That was a good call on your part.

jms

October 2005:
Here are a few segments from the B5 moderated newsgroup I think you will be interested in reading:

Update from JMS:
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.

insert from a later message for clarification:
Yes, they will be released one volume at a time, every two or three weeks. The 15th volume will not be available until after volume 14 has been put out there. This creates a level playing field between those who can only pick up one book at a time, and those who'd dive in and get them all at once.

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.

Q: Whatever happened to the B5 Quote Book?

A: The book was going to come out from Simon and Shuster under Byron Preiss' ibooks imprint...but just as things were being finalized, Byron was killed in a car accident, and the whole reason I'd placed that (and the other books of mine) with ibooks was because of Byron being there. So when he was gone, there was no reason to keep it there, and I'm not sure what the future for ibooks is going to be without him there to oversee it.

We are, however, considering bringing it out via the same venue as the B5 script books, should that initial publication work out as planned.

And speaking of...the babylon5scripts.com site is scheduled to go live at the end of the month. I've finished writing the last bits -- captions for some of the behind-the-scene photos I took back then, including the first makeup tests of G'Kar, Londo and Delenn, candid shots of the cast and crew, the first time we assembled everyone...it's quite a cool look back, and stuff nobody's ever seen.

But the main thing, again, is the publication of the scripts. It's been an exhaustive process, gathering up all the script files, cleaning them up, and writing introductions for all of the episodes. (The intros are now averaging about 40-50 pages each per volume...so that by the end, there will be enough new content in the intros to make a whole book all by itself.) It's a real chance, with the passage of time, to talk about stuff I could never talk about before, and other stuff I can now discuss in more detail than could be possible in an article or a convention appearance.

So keep an eye out...the site goes live in about ten days....

Babylon 5 Books by Mongoose
Mongoose asked me to consult with them, since they are doing just a couple of books and as I understand it ONLY for release in the UK...asked if I could help come up with some stories for them, or provide material from myh notes, proofread the manuscripts, make corrections, maybe write an intro, and do lots of other stuff...and I said okay, great, what are you going to pay for my work?

At first, silence. As if they were stunned that I would actually ask to be paid for my time and work. Then finally, they came back with...five hundred bucks per book.

To which I responded, "You have GOT to be kidding me."

I have, subsequently, washed my hands of the Mongoose books. I haven't seen anything, don't know what they're doing, so sure as hell it ain't canonical.

This is getting annoyingly commonplace. I got an email from the Warner Bros. division handling the German DVD superbox, for instance, wherein they said, very happily, that they were figuring on getting maybe six to ten million bucks for this new edition, and would I help them to make sure everything was right, to consult with them on the design, the packaging, the text, the artwork, the docs, a bunch of stuff. So I said, again not unreasonably, "And what is WB's standard fee for this consultation?"

To which WB responded that they don't pay people for the honor to be involved in these DVDs. But he's getting paid, the guy who did the artwork is getting paid, the only person who's not getting paid is the guy who made it. So I declined. They replied with ominous words suggesting that it would be bad if I let the fans down...but I don't bow down for emotional blackmail.

Writing is a job no less than being a carpenter. All a writer has, at the end of the day, is time, energy and visceral material. And right now, there's an awful lot going on career wise, and my free time is at a premium. You pay for someone's time if you have them consult, or write, or research for you, or if you otherwise engage their professional services. That is pro forma for every profession on the planet...except, it seems, for writing, where they think you're so glad to be asked to the ball that you'll go along with being treated unprofessionally.

Pass.

Date: October 3, 2005
JMS On Writing with Outlines

Ranger Jan asked: How about the outline for "In the Beginning" (Or another of the TV movies)?

There isn't one. There aren't any for pretty much the whole of Babylon 5, at least in terms of my scripts.

I don't write outlines. Ever, if I can avoid it.

This is for one singular reason: my outlines suck. For me, the characters aren't the characters until I'm in the script and hearing them speaking. Otherwise it's all just moving pieces around the plot-line. I write probably the worst outlines in the history of really bad outlines.

So I don't write them. I tell the people I work with that I will write the first draft as the outline for purposes of money and notes (meaning I won't pull a "well, it's already written, so I can't change it" if the studio has notes).

They're often a bit nervous about this initially...but very soon they get on board with the idea. Because a script I write from an outline is always, ALWAYS inferior to one written on the fly, because I lock into what I thought of when I was just moving pieces around.

So I think there are a few from the very first season, but just the most basic, shorthand kind of synopses...a page or two, just saying what it's about and what the major themes are, not beat-by-beat.

Once they got past the anxiety of not getting outlines, I was free to fly.

B5, Crusade, Jeremiah, on and on...I just don't write outlines. I sit down at the computer, type FADE IN..and the rest follows. I've said it before, I open up a window on that place and that time and just write down what happens. I blast through to the end...type FADE OUT and out the script goes, usually with only minor changes thereafter, usually to accommodate production changes.

So all those scripts you have, Jan, that have FINAL DRAFT was also my first draft and also the ONLY draft to that point...I would literally start in on page 1 on a Monday, hit page 48 on a Tuesday or Wednesday, hand it over to distribution...and what you have, is what came out, as it came out.

I'm not even in the same state let alone the same ballpark, or even the same league, or even the same *planet*...but the only time I ever heard someone describe the creative process the way it is in my head -- for good or ill -- was the first time I saw Amadeus. There's the part where you see Mozart composing, and it's all just *there*...he's writing, and it's playing in his head...he gets interrupted, he looks up, the music stops, he talks to someone, then goes back to it...and the music just starts playing again, every note in place. And when he hit the end, he was done, no revisions. Again, I'm not making a comparison, I ain't that stupid, but in terms of the *process* that's identical to the way I work.

So in terms of outlines...there just aren't any.

BABYLON 5 SCRIPTS

Here's a note from JMS regarding Babylon 5 scripts. Go to www.babylon5scripts.com and sign up to be notified when the Babylon 5 scripts are available for ordering. From the notes read at the B5 moderated newsgroup, response has been tremendous. The poor system was blown out after 48 hours of activation with everyone signing up for notification. This alone shows that Babylon 5 is STILL very much a favorite.

The special items JMS mentions below sound marvelous and even if you have most of the scripts already, there will be a few that you will need to add to your collection because this version is different from any others made available.

So read on -- I've added a few more recent items on the Babylon 5 scripts issue, so that you are up to date on that. Enjoy!

J. Michael Straczynski JMS UPDATE
Date: 9/12/2005 5:32:38 PM
Here is an update from JMS pulled from the B5 moderated newsgroup:

Okay, I've given it some more thought, and there are a couple of things that I can say...but again, I have to keep some of this close to my vest for a while in terms of details, at least in the first regard.

I've just had a treatment purchased for series development by a major studio/network. (This is non-B5.) The cool thing is that this is for one of the major broadcast networks and, if it ends up going ahead, would be for a prime-time series. But I have to attach all the usual caveats: the process is this...you write the treatment, then you write the pilot, then if the network likes the pilot script, they produce the pilot, and then if they like the pilot they give you the series. It's a very, very long process and like 90% of all development deals in town it can stop at any given point.

But I'm very pleased about it because it's a major studio, major broadcast network, and that's terrific. More than that I absolutely can't say because everything about the story being developed is totally confidential.

Now, that said, there's a little something else....

For years, I've been at conventions and had fans come up with photocopied scripts they'd purchased from script stores or dealers for $20 a pop, many times in poor condition...with loose or missing pages, hard to read, and thought, there has to be a better way for fans to get these scripts without paying that much for copies that are often inferior.

So now, at some point in October, we're going to fix this.

All 91 Babylon 5 scripts that I wrote are going to be made available through an ndependent publishing firm in trade paperback form. We're still working out the final details in terms of how to put the scripts together, but right now the plan is to do 7 scripts per book, each volume released every two weeks or so, at a cost of about $29 per volume if ordered in the first week or so it comes online) or $39 per for those who buy later. That's four bucks per script if purchased early, about five per script if published later...which saves fans a HUGE amount of money.

There will be 14 volumes in all, each again containing 7 scripts AND newly written introductions and commentaries about each episode that are thus far averaging about 30 pages per book, telling some of the behind-the-scenes stories that have never been told before (and some that have), talking about the writing process, how the arc was created and maintained, anecdotes about cast and crew, what went into the stories...enough so that at the end, at 30 pages over 14 volumes you get about 420 pages of new material on the making of B5...a book unto itself.

On top of THAT...some of the books will contain rare b&w photos from my own personal archives, taken by me on set, which have never before been seen by anyone else.

The very first book will have the Gathering script, plus 5 additional scripts (to make up the 7 hours of material) BUT...and this is the cool part...the script of the Gathering included in this volume will be one that has NEVER BEEN OFFICIALLY RELEASED BEFORE.

See, when we went to sell Babylon 5, I wrote a pilot screenplay to take around. When we made the deal, the notes process began...and the script went through considerable changes. But this is the ORIGINAL draft, the one only seen by the studio and the other producers on the show.

What's different? How about Garibaldi trying to get hold of his dying father back on Mars...how about a shape-shifter instead of a Minbari assassin with a changeling net...Londo as a part-time pick-pocket...Dr. Chakri Mendak instead of Dr. Kyle...new scenes between Lyta and Laurel, Delenn and others that were later cut...a LOT more character scenes with Sinclair and Garibaldi...a discovery about Delenn's lifestone and what that means to the Minbari...where Sinclair is NOT put on trial, but finds a whole different and more interesting way to solve the mystery of Kosh's assailant...and the introduction of Kosh's life-mate, Velana, who plays a very important role in the script. (Didn't know Vorlons had life-mates, did you?)

This script is HUGELY different from the one we filmed -- funnier in places, with more character moments -- and it has been kept under lock and key all this time. Now, for the first time, it will be officially released in the first volume of this set.

And here's the coolest part...as a gift for the fans...a FIFTEENTH volume will be given FREE to those who pick up the other 14. And what is IN this 15th volume, you ask?

Remember the lost script for "Soul Hunter," of which only 5 copies existed before I pulled them back, destroyed all but one copy for my files, and wrote a brand new script to replace it...all because it felt too much like a Star Trek script? Well, THAT one is in the free fifteenth volume. It also features a comic sub-plot concerning B5 being audited.

As if THAT wasn't cool enough...nearly a YEAR before we began writing episode scripts, before we HAD the series commitment, WB wanted to see what a typical episode might look like. So I wrote a draft of "And the Sky, Full of Stars," one of our most important episodes, that is massively different from what we would later produce...including fantasy sequences with Knight Two as the proprieter of a dark carnival of sorts.

It will also contain the Babylon 5 writers bible...the production draft of "The Gathering" as a companion to the original draft offered in volume one...and something very special.

For over ten years, fans have asked "What would Babylon 5 have been like had Sinclair stayed?" Well, that question will be answered in this volume.

After we finished the movie, but before we got the series going, WB asked to see a breakdown on this five-year arc thingie. So I wrote a six or seven page, single spaced outline of the ENTIRE FIVE YEARS with Sinclair still in place. The document makes for fascinating reading when compared with the series as it developed. NOT ONLY THAT, but the same document has a brief outline for A POTENTIAL BABYLON 5 SEQUEL SERIES, which would have been entitled BABYLON PRIME.

Again, that's what will go out FREE OF CHARGE to those who pick up the full set. While obviously all these volumes can be purchased a la carte for those who don't want all the script, this fifteenth volume will ONLY be sent out free, it cannot be purchased directly.

So for roughly a quarter of what fans would spend to buy the scripts individually from dealers, which are often poorly photocopied or otherwise in bad shape, you get uniform trade (large-ish) very handsome paperback editions, WITH the introductions, photos, and the bonus book.

(Doing the math more specifically...to purchase all the scripts one at a time would cost nearly $2,000. Here, if copies are purchased as the script books first come online, the full set would cost around $420; if purchased after the discount period, we're talking about $560...which is, again, for 15 volumes counting the free one, amounting to nearly FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED PAGES OF MATERIAL.)

I'll post another message when they officially go online at babylon5scripts.com but in the interim...know that they are coming.

When asked about additionial scripts being made available, JMS responded:

Should these first volumes go as planned, then we will look to release more down the road, including "Crusade."

The site has now gone up, at least insofar as it now has a page there where folks can sign in their email addresses in order to be notified when it goes fully online. It's both babylon5scripts.com and b5scripts.com

It would be great if all the folks seeing this could pass along the word to the various other websites and newsgroups where Our People are still hanging out, to get the word out...though the funny thing is that when the sign-up page went up for 30 seconds just for a test, 5 people signed in within 30 seconds....

Ranger Jan, always jolly-on-the-spot with the question everyone is dying to ask -- did just that to JMS. How many names did it take to break the system?

I don't know the figure...I know that by the end of the first day it passed the one thousand mark, but where it cracked the mainframe beyond that I don't yet know. Also, the main one to use for email addresses is the babylon5scripts.com address, the b5scripts.com should not be used for now to help their system handle it all.

The other good thing about getting folks in early is that we've discussed internally the idea of limiting the period during which these scripts will be available. We've talked about doing this for just one year so that they have value as limited editions so that they can be a real investment, vs. a two-year window, vs. an open-ended situation. We're still backing-and-forthing on this one. We've also discussed limiting this to a 5,000 or 10,000 print run, but I don't know if that's practical since some will want the full set and some won't and we might get some lopsided results. Either way, if we do go for a short window of one sort or another, it's best to get everybody in sooner rather than later.

(As noted, we're doing 7 scripts per book, so it starts with the original draft of "The Gathering" plus 5 episodes, through "Mind War"...continues cleanly until the end of the series, where there are only 5 episodic scripts remaining, so we'll be putting in "In the Beginning" to round it back up to 7 again.)

jms

JMS ON SHORT STORIES AND TWILIGHT ZONE
August 11, 2005:
Q: I wonder if you (or anyone here) could give me some insight to SF short story writing.

A from JMS: For me, the nature of the story determines its length. It's really a matter of how much time it takes to tell, and how much effort you have to put into the characters and details for the greatest impact. There are some things you know are just not long enough to sustain a novel.

A short story is meant to do one thing, and do it well..whatever that one thing happens to be: communicating a theme, creating a character, hitting with an interesting plot or gimmick or device. It's like a drive-by shooting, you get one shot and you have to hit the target. By con