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LegalDispatch 0.94

Mar 22, 2024

Ooof. Busy week.

The thing taking up the most time of late is a rewrite on PROJECT MARBLE. This is a feature script originally written by another writer, but now I’m doing producer notes on my revisions — so it’s a rewrite of a rewrite. It’s a lot of fun and I’m really having a blast with it. The subject matter is right in my wheelhouse.

At the same time, I’ve definitely noticed that — for some reason — I find it easier to write a first draft than revise something I’ve already written. Although the blank page can be intimidating, it’s also freeing, knowing that anything is possible. Revising, on the other hand, means that I’m coming to something that is constricted by its own existence.

Sometimes, I’ll cheat myself around this problem by opening up a new, blank file and re-approach the scene in question with the notes/revisions in mind, but as though a previous draft doesn’t exist.

It’s a fun little hack. Give it a try.

1,000 SUBSCRIBERS

Last week, I wrote that we were fast approaching 1,000 subscribers (or, as I like to call them, “self-esteem points”), but I didn’t foresee how fast. This humble newsletter hit this milestone yesterday afternoon with the addition of…

…drumroll please…

…JASON CONWILL.

Thank you for subscribing, Mr. Conwill. As our one-thousandth subscriber, you will receive… I dunno. I’m open to suggestions. Or you can email me at legalscribeentertainment@gmail.com.

Leave a comment

Q&A

Lots of engagement in the Comments this past week. Let’s dive in…

William Fordes writes:

I suggest for you 1000th Sub festivities you take all your subscribers out of dinner at Le Bernardin in NYC! Just a thought!

Hmm. I’ll think about it for sure, but that sounds like it might be a little expensive?

(For the uninitiated, I worked with Bill on Law & Order. He remains as funny as ever, although with an inflated sense of my financial wherewithal.)

Norman Anderson writes:

It’s always fun to get your insights from Arrow and the Arrowverse in general. Thank you for sharing the pictures as well. Very very cool! Arrow is my absolute favorite series of all time. I love the stories, characters, fight sequences, film style, production level, and the music. Speaking of music from the series, do you have any specific memories from that side of the show? Blake Neely is a favorite composer of mine. Thanks again for sharing all of this with us.

Thanks for the kind words, Norman! As a television fan myself, comments like yours are always incredibly humbling.

I’ve been working with Blake since Jack & Bobby (20 years ago!) and he is as wonderful a human being as he is talented. And my wife has worked with him as well. However, I don’t have any stories, per se. I can tell you that watching him work is like watching a magic trick. You sit in his studio with the episode running on a big monitor over his keyboard/workstation. You give a note and then he recomposes the entire cue in real time, right in front of you. It’s insane. He’s preternaturally talented.

Chancellor writes:

I didn’t include the exact quote in the cover, but I remember Berlanti telling me that things like Homeland and The Bourne Identity were notable reference points for Arrow Season 1 almost as much as like comics.

Hey, Chancellor!

No lies detected, man. Homeland and Bourne were definite touchstones. In fact, I’d even go one further and say that Tony Gilroy’s writing style on Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum were a huge influence in the writing of the action sequences.

Chris Baldit writes:

The Arrow Cave. “We call it the...it's the Bunker, but...yeah.” Thanks for sharing that amazing stuff from Arrow, including the Amazo set photo. I doubt anyone is building sets like that anymore for a TV show.

We built a similar set for the first episode of Carnival Row. Money is still being spent on certain high-end shows. But the thought of such a build for a network show is unthinkable these days.

I already have more questions but I do not want to wear out my welcome here at the LegalDispatch.

Not possible, Chris!

I did finally read X-Men: Days of Future Past - Doomsday and it was pretty phenomenal, as well as very sad. The artwork was just as spectacular.

Thank you for the kind words. And for reading!

When I first started reading it, I had expectations of a “What If...?’ story, but that soon dissipated. Those original books from the 1970s were exciting but with one issue to tell the story, it was always a bit too compressed.

Agreed. I love them, but agreed.

(For the uninitiated, over the decades, Marvel has published — in various iterations — stories that take place out of regular continuity prompted by provocative questions such as “What if Uncle Ben had lived?” or “What if Daredevil became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

A number of years ago, I had the honor of writing the lead story in the 200th issue of the series:

(And, yes, that’s my name on the cover alongside Stan Lee’s.)

These books were hardly that. You did stick to the time-travel maxim when Kate returns from the past to find timelines are set and she could not change it by going back. I’m sure you went through a few packs of post it notes to plot out that storyline with so many moving parts.

You’re absolutely right, Chris. Although the original Days of Future Past storyline only ran two issues, the continuity has been built upon and retconned numerous times over the years. I had to create two documents — one, a spreadsheet — to keep the entire chronology straight in my head.

How long have you had the idea to write this and what was the original code name for this project?

Doomsday was a work-for-hire project. Marvel came to me with the premise — i.e., write a prequel that delves into how the circumstances depicted in the original Days of Future Past came to be.

The codename for this one was PROJECT HOURGLASS (because, y’know, time).

Have you ever met Chris Claremont or shared your idea with him?

I’ve had the privilege of meeting Chris twice. The first time was back when I was an intern at Marvel. The second time as during my run on X-Men Gold. I did an X-Men signing with Chris at New York ComicCon. My 10 year-old self could hardly believe it. Still cant.

MHKhan writes:

You really don't know your history about the Middle East, but that's not surprising given your hawkish views.
"The war began on June 5, 1967 with Israeli preemptive air strikes that destroyed 286 of Egypt's 420 combat aircraft."
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hijacked-wars-threats-responses/

Thanks for writing, MHKhan. I wouldn’t describe my views vis a vis Israel as “hawkish.” The truth is, I think that the situation in the Middle East, Israel, and Gaza is far too complex to be reduced to a single view or word.

But I absolutely take your point about history. Without conceding that you have a superior grasp of the history of the region — though that is indeed possible — I will certainly admit that the history of Israel is not something I am even close to expert in.

That said, for better or for worse, we live in a time when being an expert in something is not a prerequisite for having an opinion on that thing. And I defy anyone who is a citizen of the world to not have an opinion on what is going on in Israel right now.

And certainly my views on the current conflict in Gaza have evolved the further in time we get from October 7. I will be among the first to say that Israel has since lost the moral high ground. At the same time, I am craving a distinction between the actions of a government/administration and a judgment against that government’s citizens. (This might have something to do with myself not wanting to be judged by, say, the actions of a future Trump administration.)

Despite the “rules” of our current social discourse, I actually think several things can be true at once, and I’m able to hold multiple thoughts in my head simultaneously. Specifically, I think it’s possible for the Netanyahu-controlled government of Israel to have vastly — if not immorally — overreacted while at the same time recognizing that his government’s actions have given some people license to finally voice their anti-semitic views. I think it’s possible to condemn the way Israel has treated its Palestinian citizens with the same vigor used to condemn the barbaric actions of Hamas without falsely equating the two. I think it’s just to demand a cease fire while also requiring that it be contingent on the release of hostages.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where nuance is misinterpreted or misappropriated as false equivalence and bothsidesism, so let me be very clear on a few points:

A two-state solution is the only solution.
There is no equating Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust. None.
There is, however, a parallel between Israel’s response to 10/7 and America’s response to 9/11.
If you think the terrorist actions of 9/11 and/or 10/7 were somehow warranted or justified, we have nothing more to talk about. (And if you don’t think 10/7 was a terrorist act, then you’re really not qualified to make moral judgments whatsoever.)

Like many of my friends, Jewish and otherwise, I am terribly pained by what’s happening in Gaza and would like to see Netanyahu removed from office.

Jon Auerbach writes:

Thanks for the shout-out Marc and for subscribing!

It was the least I could do once I realized that your wife was the person who slaughtered me in tennis. (Though, in my defense, Jon’s wife is an Olympic-level player.)

It seems like a bygone era where we had big concept sci-fi shows on network TV every year (remember Terra Nova?). Now that has mostly migrated to cable/streaming.

Agreed. And, of course I remember Terra Nova. My wife Tara worked on it for a hot second while she and her writing partner were under a deal with the studio. I kept pushing for them to rename the show Tara Nova, but that idea never gained any traction…

RETROSPECS

Here’s something really fun: Writer Ben Blacker organizes something called Retrospecs wherein he pulls together professional actors to perform live table reads of spec scripts by pro writers.

For the uninitiated, in ancient times, aspiring TV writers wouldn’t write an original pilot as they do today. Rather, you were expected to write a sample — spec — based on an existing show.

When I first moved out to Los Angeles in 2000, I wrote a spec West Wing. Ben was kind enough to select it for the next Retrospecs event, where it will be read live alongside a spec Big Bang Theory episode.

The event will be at 2-4 PM on Sunday, April 21, at the Elysian Theatre in Frogtown, Los Angeles. If you’re interested in coming, you can purchase tickets here.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

I’ve been having fun placing little nuggets from my Arrow files in recent editions of the newsletter, so I’m looking to continue doing that. Normally, I strive to find something that connects with a reader’s question or comment, but nothing jumped out at me this week.

Back in the days when we shot the Arrow pilot, our studio — Warner Bros. — would burn DVDs of their finished pilots and distribute them to the producers regardless of whether the show was picked up to series or not. Obviously, those days are long since gone. But for posterity, here’s the artwork that Warner Bros. created for the Arrow pilot DVD:

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE - ECHOES

Next Wednesday (3/26), the trade paperback edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Echoes drops. You can buy it on Amazon or at your local comic shop (if you’re so inclined).