Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread (Page 35 of 39)

Okay, new flooring in the computer room so I can finally set up my computer and check FIYH... oh hell so many posts.

Hi again everyone!

Warner Brothers, having all their big series end on them, apparently is going to try adapting Ann McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books. I'll be interested to see what they do with them, who they put in charge (Ronald Moore of Star Trek and Galactica fame was a day away from filming on a TV series when he pulled the plug over refusal to let the network turn it into a teen drama). I LOVE the first six or so books, but continuity is an unholy mess, the author's attempts to fix things not working imho. There is a lot to draw from, though, and if they can get the characters right...

Oh, I wish I really knew. I found three or so production drawings someone in the forum here pointed me too, but I would love to find a script for the pilot or a series bible. Find out how exactly they were going to tackle it as an ongoing series (and if the gay issue was going to be addressed at all, as while it's hinted at in the books it's ignored apart from one couple in Dragonquest). However, we do know why the series died.

http://www.annemccaffreyfans.org/forum/ … php?t=2151

As quoted from Moore's bog:

The second encounter occurred years many years later after I had become an established writer and had been invited to participate on a panel at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills along with several much bigger names, including J. Michael Straczynski and… Harlan Ellison. It was the first time I’d met the man and in all honesty, I was too embarrassed to say very much, to him lest I start to gush, so satisfied myself with a simple “Hello, I love your work” and then we went into the panel.

Now, this panel occurred at a very particular moment in my career. I was working on “Roswell” as an executive producer, but I was deep into preproduction on the ill-fated pilot I’d written for a series based on Anne McCaffrey’s “Dragonriders of Pern” books. It had been a difficult and unhappy development process, but we were only five days away from the first day of principal photography. A major problem had arisen, however. The network had commissioned another writer to rewrite my draft over my objections and in my opinion, had eviscerated everything that I loved about the project. I didn’t want to shoot that draft and they did. As I drove into the parking lot of the Museum I learned via a cell phone call from my agent that a critical conference call with the network was scheduled to take place the next morning which would determine the fate of the entire project, and when I took my seat on the panel I was frankly distracted by the thought that my very first pilot, my very fist shot at running my own series was in serious jeopardy of coming to ruin right before my very eyes unless I “played ball” as they like to say.

The panel discussion was fun and interesting and after a while I forget my Pern problems and simply enjoyed being on the same stage with some legendary figures of the genre. At the end, the final question was put to all of us was “Do you have any advice for young writers starting out?” It’s a familiar question, and to be honest, I have a stock response, (which I will someday bore readers of this blog with when I really need material) and I gave it in my usual inimitable fashion, congratulating myself on having held my own throughout the night.

But when the question came around to Harlan, he leaned forward into the microphone, and with all the passion and ferocity I remembered so well from that convention stage in Stony Brook he said:

“Don’t be a whore!”

The world quite literally spun around me under the hot lights and it felt as though the Universe was conveying a message directly to me. It was so simple. “Don’t be a whore!” Don’t write crap because they pay you well. Don’t put your name on something that you know will suck. Don’t sacrifice whatever integrity you have as a writer for a check.

The next day, during the infamous conference call, there came the point my agent had warned me would come, when I either played ball and went with the script I knew in my heart was terrible or my beloved pilot was going to die, and when that moment came, Harlan’s words rang in my ears like the church bells above Quasimodo’s head.

“Don’t be a whore!”

I wasn’t. The project died. And I have been grateful to Harlan Ellison ever since.

Meh. 99.9999% of the world does stuff they don't like so they can get paid.

90% of stuff done by people who are trying not to suck still sucks. Nobody knows at the time which 10% is going to turn out well.

Joe Dante, Ron Howard, James Cameron, and Francis Ford Coppola never lost any sleep over how bad their early efforts under Roger Corman were. Commercial success buys plenty of opportunity to rehabilitate your artistic integrity.

Despite his devotion to artistic integrity, Harlan Ellison doesn't enjoy a sterling reputation.

Last edited by Zarban (2014-09-10 02:00:50)

This. Soderbergh makes movies for cash all the fucking time, and he's still one of the best directors working because he treats all material with the same level of creative effort.

Ditto Cameron with Terminator 2 (he needed a safe hit after The Abyss bombed), didn't stop him from bringing his A-game.

Well part of any artwork is the aspect that some of it will suck, regardless of who is paying for what. You have your "Star Wars" and you have your "Damnation Alley" neither of which were expected to do what they did, as a quick off the cuff example.

I'm always amused by the idea that somehow if you are paid to do your art then it must suck. There is always the aspect of sponsorship, funding, and the like since, forever, really.

Unless there's a "random talk about the podcast" thread that I've missed, I'll put this here:

Sometimes my mp3 player gets glitchy if I don't add files in a really specific way and it does weird stuff like mix up names and running times or plays half of something and finishes with half of something else. And sometimes the play speed bugs out and speeds up. In the latter case, it's done this a couple of times with WAYDM, when Eddie's been on the show. My first thought is always "why does this sound like four chipmunks and one normal guy?"

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful

"Dear Star Trek Reboot: Please Pay Attention to Dr. McCoy, Now". McCoy has always been my favorite Trek character, so of course I'm intensely sympathetic to this. The fact that it's right doesn't hurt either. The relationship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy is vital to the series, and removing one third of that equation just doesn't work.

Last edited by Abbie (2014-11-25 16:06:31)

Ouch. That one'll obliterate you.