FALSE EQUIVALENCY

LegalDispatch 0.97

May 03, 2024

Howdy.

A bit of a busy week with work on PROJECT MARBLE, PROJECT ATLANTIC, outlining a new comic series (PROJECT COUNCIL), and reaching the halfway mark on a new novel.

Folks have been wonderfully chatty in the comments. So let’s dive in…

Q&A

Norman Anderson writes:

I’m with you on everything you mentioned at the beginning of the newsletter. The Hawkman and Hawkgirl helmets looked pretty cool to me, also the wings! I’d have loved to see a bit more of them, but overall was satisfied by their characters and story arcs. I’ve probably mentioned this too often in my comments, but I am always up for more Arrow and Arrowverse content. Thanks for sharing your updates and thoughts with us.

Well, thank you for engaging! I have another item from the Arrow vault a little later in the newsletter.

Holly writes:

OMG. I cannot count the number of times I shouted into the void about the lack of Legends (esp. Beebo) merchandise. Just baffling.

It truly is. It’s almost like Warner Bros. and DC don’t like money…

Chinyere writes:

Back from your travels, and back in the thick of it! You always stay so busy, but I'm glad you haven't forgotten TV. Sweet, sweet television. 😁 Keep us posted!

Hah! No, I haven’t forgotten TV (though how ‘sweet’ it is these days is up for some debate). PROJECT ATLANTIC is a TV project. And I have several pitches locked and loaded and waiting for the market to show some signs of life.

As a slight digression, though, I’ve been encouraging fellow TV writers to try to expand to other mediums until the TV landscape is a bit less post-apocalyptic. And I’m walking my own talk. On Monday, I have a meeting about a potential project in a medium that I’ve never written in before.

Speaking of the current (lousy) state of affairs in television, I provided the following quote for a piece in The Ankler earlier this week entitled “TV Writers' New Strategy, Struggle: ‘Everyone is Looking for Work’“:

“Most everyone I know, at every level, is looking for work,” says Arrowverse co-creator and showrunner Marc Guggenheim. “It feels as though the entire town is holding its breath, waiting for the studios to figure out what they want to do. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard ‘survive ‘til ‘25,’ I could buy a meaningful stock position in all the major studios.”

The article is, unfortunately, paywalled, but you can find it here if you’re so inclined.

Leave a comment

This next one requires a touch of context. Last week, I wrote that Trump is likely to be reelected due to the lack of support for Biden among Gen Zers. Abh remarked in reply:

Don't lecture us on Trump while Biden is funding and completely supportive of genocide of Palestinians and suppressing student protests.

Thank you for engaging, Abh. There’s a lot to unpack here. My first impulse is to say that this is the very definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. At a minimum, it’s a remarkable example of false equivalence.

Either way, while I’m with you in being horrified by the situation in Gaza, I’m not sure how returning a feckless, corrupt, and incompetent would-be dictator (and traitor if you consider fomenting an insurrection treason) to power in America helps the cause of a group of people in another country.

As for your assertion that Biden has suppressed student protests, I haven’t seen any evidence of that. The involvement of law enforcement (e.g., the NYPD at Columbia University) has been at the state — not federal — action. This is an important distinction. What we’ve seen on certain campuses isn’t the same as — and, of course, I’m being completely hypothetical here — having the National Guard (a federal body) firing tear gas on BLM protestors so that the president (again, federal) could walk to a church for a photo op.

But, of course, such a thing would never happen.

Harvey Hamer writes:

Congrats on everything you're working on. PROJECT COUNCIL... hmm... Great to see more of the Hawks. Speaking of Beebo, any Beebo-TS (BTS) to share? I'm definitely going to check out those scripts when I get the chance (perfect for me as someone trying to multihyphenate as a writer). As for 100th edition, maybe some giveaway of some sort, anything you don't mind parting with, or some sort of guest star celebration à la Legends Ep. 100.

I think a giveaway is a great idea. I will cogitate on what would be a worthy prize and how best to figure out a recipient.

As for some BTS material related to Beebo, your request is granted below…

THE SUCCESSFUL SCREENWRITER

Man, but these days does that sound like a contradiction in terms. A couple of weeks ago, I had a really engaging conversation with Geoffrey Calhoun of ‘The Successful Screenwriter’ podcast. Our discourse really ran the gamut. You can check it out here.

(Geoff, I still have notes on your pod’s title.)

FROM THE ARROW VAULT (BEEBO’S VERSION)

This is a fun bit of history/synergy. Originally, Legends of Tomorrow Ep. 309, was conceived of as a story involving a young Martin Stein moving heaven and earth to find the latest in vogue toy for Christmas for his daughter Lily (named after my daughter). Elmo would then get displaced in time and, basically, become a god of war

This was, as I recall, the brainchild of future Legends showrunner Keto Shimizu. Given the time period of the episode — the 1990s — the toy we had in mind was Tickle Me Elmo. Of course, we knew that we’d eventually have to change the toy to something that wouldn’t get us sued. And thus Beebo was born.

(Though if you’ve ever wondered why Beebo always refers to himself in the third person, you now have your answer.)

Obviously, a new toy/character required a new design, something that would evoke Elmo without angering lawyers. At the time, I was also producing Trollhunters, so I reached out to Linda Chen, one of our amazing concept artists, and she was kind enough to whip up the following potential designs: