HNY

LegalDispatch 121

Well, it’s 2025.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I was really blindsided — I can’t think of another word for it — by the arrival of the end of last year. I really lost the latter half of the year in an election-induced haze. My primary New Year’s resolution for ‘25 is to keep that from happening again. Elections aside, the older one gets, the faster time moves and I’m determined to slow things down this year by trying to focus on things — including work — just one day at a time.

As I digression, I’ll note that it doesn’t help that the pace of the entertainment industry has slowed to a glacial crawl. I’m not talking about the aforementioned and often discussed contraction that has made jobs scarce. Rather, I’m talking about how it just takes so much longer these days to get an answer on anything: a pass, a sale, notes, feedback, a deal…

Put it all together, I’m living in a weird paradox where time whips past at blazing speeds while my business moves in ketchup-drop increments. Consequently — and, yes, paradoxically — my second New Year’s resolution is to try, within my limited power, to move the business side of things faster for me while simultaneously trying to slow down the rest of my life.

Pray for me.

WORK UPDATE

I’d tell you that I haven’t touched the keyboard over the past week-plus, but you know me better than that. I wrote the first draft of Star Wars: Jedi Knights #8, which is easily my most ambitious of the run. There are still bits and bobs to dial in — particularly the ending — before it’s due next week, but I’m really excited about how this issue is shaping up.

I also did a wholesale rewrite on a very old project of mine, Ascension. There’s a fun story behind this one (which I’ve shorthanded in a previous newsletter): Back in 2011 (!!!), I wrote a spec feature which was optioned by Fox 2000. It’s a grounded thriller that, admittedly, was a bit heady and (dare I say) ahead of its time. Those familiar with the now-defunct Fox 2000 might wonder why they’d option an original spec given that their whole business was adapting books to film. Well, I’d done the adaptation of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters for them, so there was some good will there, both for me and for the producer who was attached to the project.

I did a couple of drafts for the producer and the studio, but nothing ever came of it for the aforementioned reason. The option eventually lapsed. Over a decade then passed and I’d been thinking about just posting the script to this very newsletter when I got a phone call from director David Barrett. Dave had directed Arrow’s pivotal second episode as well as its first epic season finale and we’ve remained friends. He asked me if I had any un-produced action or thriller scripts on my hard drive.

I told him no.

About a week later, however, I remembered Ascension and sent it off, promptly forgetting about it again. David flipped for the script and shared it with a couple of producers who similarly flipped. By this point, it was April of 2023 and the WGA strike was looming. Just prior to the strike deadline, I did a much-needed pass (on the pre-Fox 2000 draft) to update the technology (and lack thereof) in the, at that point, 12 year-old draft.

Anyways, obviously the strike ended and David and the producers have been working diligently to attract talent and secure financing. My manager sent the script to another producer to get his thoughts. His response was interesting: He thought the draft was solid (in some places, more than) but felt like I wrote it 13 years ago. (Which, in my defense, I did.) However, he wasn’t referring to the technology issues which I’d previously addressed. Rather, he meant it literally: That the draft reads like someone with 13 years less of experience had written it.

He was right.

And thus I embarked over the holidays on an interesting exercise. I approached the draft as thought I was doing a rewrite of another writer’s work. Which, in many ways, was exactly the case. I’m no longer the person or the writer I was back in 2011. And I’m quite confident that I’ve leveled up as a writer many times in the intervening 13 years. Current Marc was going to rewrite Younger Marc.

So, I did the first thing I always do when undertaking a rewrite gig: I broke the draft out into beats. This exercise helps me wrap my arms around the entire story and often reveal structural and dramatic issues.

And such was the case now.

The overall story and structure was sound, but the way in to the high concept — and elements of its execution thereafter — were needlessly murky and complicated. So to was the protagonist’s emotional journey. What was needed was a wholesale clearing out of all the crap that didn’t work and replacing it with a simplified (but not simplistic), streamlined approach with greater narrative and emotional clarity.

So, that’s what I did. And I’m uncharacteristically happy with the results. The draft is currently with David for his thoughts. Stay tuned…

IN ANY LIFETIME

Last newsletter, I mentioned that we were really close to 6,000 (!!!) Amazon reviews for my novel, In Any Lifetime. Well, we’ve broken that threshold now with room to spare.

The level of engagement for my little book is humbling.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can now read it for free on Kindle Unlimited or on your Kindle for the low, low price of $2.49 by clicking here.

FROM THE VAULT

Thinking about Percy (see above), made me recall a script for a “motion comic” I wrote to help promote the movie. Sadly, the motion comic project was scrapped, but you can check out the script by clicking here.

Be good to each other.

Best,

Marc

Encino, California

1.3.25

COMING ATTRACTIONS

A regularly-updated list of upcoming releases and events:

FAN EXPO NEW ORLEANS (January 10-12, New Orleans, Louisiana)

STAR WARS CELEBRATION: JAPAN (March 18-20, Makuhari Messe, Japan)

STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS #1 (March 5, 2025)

STAR WARS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2025 (May 5, 2025)

GALAXYCON DES MOINES (September 12-14, Des Moines, Iowa)

GALAXYCON ST. LOUIS (October 10-12, St. Louis, Missouri)