DOLLARS & SENSE

LegalDispatch 0.87

Howdy.

I missed last week’s edition due to a combo platter of being busy yet not really having anything new to write about. The post-strike landscape in Hollywood remains apocalyptic. A friend just told me that Disney is “closed for development” for the next three to six months. Apple just canceled the third season of one of their shows — despite having the entire season’s worth of scripts already written.

In other words — and if you work in Hollywood you already know this — it’s pretty goddamn bleak out there.

As I’ve often said, writing without a reader/viewer is just a grocery list or diary entry. Writing requires at least one other person’s pair of eyes the way fire requires oxygen. That, I think, is at the heart of the frustration most entertainment industry writers are feeling these days: It’s bad enough not to have money coming in, but it’s even worse to feel like your work — even if paid for — will never see the light of day (e.g., the aforementioned Apple series). If you sense discontent seeping out of Hollywood these days, I suspect that that’s the reason why.

You’re not alone. You’re not crazy. Calm down, buckle up, stay strong.

With such few things getting sold much less made, I’ve found myself really jonesing to create something. Yes, comics absolutely scratch that itch but my present comic book work is all in liminal states — waiting on art, waiting on publishers, waiting on pitches, etc. — at the moment.

Accordingly, in the past few weeks I’ve decided to creatively “pay myself first” by not beginning the day’s work on other projects until I’ve written 1,000 words of a new novel. Like PROJECT FROST, this one’s based on a spec screenplay that has yet to find a buyer. And, like FROST, I’m finding that using the script as a kind of “super-outline” seems to be a good process for me when working in prose. Bottom line, I’m having a ball. We’ll see what comes of it. Worst case, I’ll start serializing it here.

“NAZIS. I HATE THESE GUYS.”

In the last Dispatch, I said I’d be tackling the cheery topic of Nazis. Specifically, I’m talking about the recent discussion regarding Nazis being platformed by Substack, a topic first raised by The Atlantic. Several writers have already left. Others are considering doing so.

Here’s a discussion of the topic that I found instructive:

Some thoughts on the Substack controversy

Before commenting further, I will confess to a certain amount of what I’ll call “moral decision fatigue” as a consequence of living in the 2020s.

I’ve also noticed that, like most issues, this is a nuanced and fluid one. (For example, between my last Dispatch and this one, Substack de-platformed five Nazi publications.) Some additional remarks from Substack (where else?) on the issue follow below:

These Rules About Platforming Nazis Sure Seem Arbitrary and Incoherent!

There Are Major Factual Issues With Jonathan M. Katz’s ‘Atlantic’ Article, “Substack Has A Nazi Problem”

Bottom line, I’m waiting for some degree of finality and clarity before making any decisions.

If I do end up moving this newsletter to another service, however, the impact will be de minimus. As of this writing, 97% of you read LegalDispatch (and thanks for reading!) from your email in-box, any change in publication/distribution would only impact 3% of you. As a related point, I won’t be making the decision whether to stay with Substack out of a concern for losing subscribers.

To be continued. Watch this space for more.

OKAY, THAT’S ME. BUT WHAT ABOUT ACLU?

All this thinking about Nazis made me thing — naturally — of my eighth grade social studies teacher. Or she might’ve been my seventh grade social studies teacher. All I really remember about her being fairly obsessed with trying to find a Cabbage Patch Kids doll for her daughter.

Actually, that’s not quite true. I also remember her talking about Nazis. Specifically, she taught a lesson about how, in 1978, the ACLU defended a Nazi group that wanted parade through Skokie, Illinois, a Chicago suburb where many Holocaust survivors lived.

No, you read that right: The ACLU was on the side of the Nazis. Per the ACLU:

The decision to take the case was a demonstration of the ACLU’s commitment to the principle that constitutional rights must apply to even the most unpopular groups if they’re going to be preserved for everyone. Many now consider this one of the ACLU’s finest hours.

And that was also the point of Mrs. Cabbage Patch Kids’s lesson: That I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

And, being raised that way, I still believe that.

I think?

Because, my friends, I’m here to tell you that it’s one thing to defend the First Amendment rights of Nazis from the safety of the latter half of the 20th Century, but it’s a whole other matter in a post-Trump Presidency I, post-Charlottesville, pre-Trump Presidency II world.

I think?

I mean, one can argue — as I’ve argued to myself — that defense of the Constitution is easy when the stakes are low. But our commitment to the rights inscribed in it is only meaningful when those rights are vulnerable — in other words, when we have real skin in the game.

And so, I’ve been forced to reckon with my seventh grade feelings about the First Amendment rights of Nazis in light of the recent rise of antisemitism and the fact that the GOP’s presumptive nominee for President is indulging in Hitler rhetoric.

In other words, there’s some real skin in the game now. What would Mrs. Cabbage Patch Kids say?

PAYMENT$

Well, no one can say I don’t have a sense of irony. Despite all the foregoing, I decided to enable payments for the newsletter. Why? To be honest, I don’t really know. It was a knee-jerk reaction to an email I got from Substack offering me the option. It was less of a case of “Why?” and more of a case of “Why not?”

I didn’t start this newsletter as a money-making venture, but I’m deeply appreciative of those of you who pledged money to support it. I don’t know what I’ll do with the dollars and cents that may start to come in, but it’s likely I’ll put them to some charitable use because, like I said, LegalDispatch isn’t intended as an income stream for me.

To that point, I have no plans at the moment to place any content behind a paywall. In the event I do, it’ll only be after we’ve exceeded 1,000 subscribers and — more importantly — once there is content that I think is worth paying for like a serialized novel or completed comic.

Again, thank you to those who have already pledged. It’s much appreciated.

HOW TO SURVIVE THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD LIFE OF AN ARTIST

My friend Cole Haddon has a most excellent Substack of his own called 5AM StoryTalk about screenwriting. Cole is better than me at most things including, as his publication bears out, having a newsletter. He routinely gets accomplished artists to contribute interviews and other useful pieces of information. (In other words, his newsletter is far less fly-by-night than mine is.)

His latest feature is a compilation from “twenty-five filmmakers, authors, and comic book writers from around the globe [who] weigh in on how they endure self-doubt and grueling anxieties of life in the arts.”

Self-doubt and grueling anxiety? Finally! Subjects I’m qualified to expound on!

Which is to say that I’m one of the aforementioned twenty-five people Cole spoke to.

The article is well worth your time. You can read it here:

How To Survive The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Life Of An Artist

MY PERFECT SUNDAY

Star Wars writer extraordinaire Cavan Scott is one of those writers who recently moved his newsletter off of Substack. As part of the move, he’s taken his “My Perfect Sunday” series out from behind its paywall.

You can read the entry he did with me here.

COMIC BOOK NUMBERING

Craig Byrne wrote in with a new question:

I know comic book companies have their own marketing plan, but as someone who has long loved comics, does the issue number matter to you? Is the new jumping on point important, or is there a part of you wishes, say, that you could write Uncanny X-Men #712?

For sure, I’d love — as a writer — to write Uncanny X-Men #712. No question.

But your question relates to one that is presently really consuming the comic book industry: In a world where series are being constantly rebooted with new “number ones,” does numbering even matter any more?

There are a lot of different ways to frame/articulate this question. Another is: Is rebooting with multiple number ones hurting the industry as a whole?

The overall issue is, I think, an important one because — to my mind — it relates to a problem that I’ve spoken about here before: How difficult it is for readers to pick up new series.

Here’s a relevant anecdote: The other day I was chatting with a friend of mine who used to be an editor for Marvel comics. They said that they’d fallen off of reading Marvel titles and was looking to get back into them, but didn’t know where to start. For example, which Deadpool #1 should they read first?

Again, in a world where we need to make buying comics a frictionless experience, I consider this to be a real problem.

On the other hand, the phenomenon of rebooting series with new number ones is largely due to readers being intimidated by coming onto a series with its, say, 712th issue. Does that mean they have to read the previous 711? Ideally, every issue should be written so it can be someone’s “first” but we know that comics rarely (if ever) operates that way. New “Number Ones” provide a clear demarcation for what is a true “jumping on point.” But like my friend was complaining, how do you know which Number One to read first?

Thinking on this, I’ve come around to the belief that television is instructive. Instead of constantly rebooting series with new Number Ones, instead release them as “Seasons” — or, if you prefer, “Volumes” — so that readers know when they can safely come on to an ongoing book. I doubt the present day viewers of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit feel the need to watch the show’s previous twenty-four seasons in order to tune in for the first time today.

I’d even like this convention to be applied retroactively as new collections come out. Again, this is all under the heading of giving readers an idea of where they can join the narrative tapestry in progress. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that it would actually increase back catalog sales: You’ve finished Deadpool Vol. 4? Great. Here’s where you can find Volumes 1-3 — and know which order to read them in.

Food for thought.

Thanks for the question!

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to do more personal appearances related to my comic book work. I’ve got two coming up:

ARSENAL COMICS (Saturday, January 20)

I’ll be joining Patton Oswald and a veritable army of comic book creators from 11 AM to 4 PM (I’ll probably be there from 12-3 PM) tomorrow in support of Arsenal Comics in Newbury Park.

Arsenal is a GREAT shop with WONDERFUL customers. It would be great to see you there.

MEGACON ORLANDO

I’ll also be tabling at Megacon Orlando from February 1 thru February 4. In addition to having plenty of comic books and graphic novels on hand to sign, I’ll also be traveling with access to a con-exclusive preview of PROJECT FROST.

You can buy tickets to the con here.

Oy, that felt like a long one. This is what I get for skipping a week. Sorry ‘bout that.

See you next week.

Be good to each other.

Best,

Marc

Encino, California

1.19.24