ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS
LegalDispatch 159
Greetings from 36,000 feet, where I’m flying back from the table read for PROJECT DEFIANT. More on that project below, but first:
FEEDBACK
There was a lot of great feedback on the last newsletter where I posed the question of whether Trump is making us all a bit like him in subtle ways:
Don’t Bother Reading makes a fair point:
If your readers were like Trump, then we wouldn't be so happy for you!
That’s true. And thank you.
And just to flesh out the point I was making in the last newsletter, I believe that Americans — of either political leaning — subconsciously take on the qualities of the current president. I probably developed this theory back when I was an attorney. I practiced in the wake of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. Bill Clinton was infamous for parsing language to a nigh-ridiculous degree, saying things like, “It depends on what you definition of ‘is’ is.” And I’ve gotta tell you, but taking a witnesses deposition during that time was infuriating in the extreme. Consciously or not, intensionally or not, it seemed like every witness thought they could evade questions like Bill Clinton.
Norman Anderson writes:
Congratulations on all of the positive things that have and are happening to you in the industry.
Thank you! Everyone’s support really does mean a lot!
I’d like to say that I don’t think those of us who are good people have changed that much, other than maybe we are hyper aware of the greedy and corrupt that have always surrounded us.
I think that’s true, too.
William N. Fordes writes:
We are not Trump. Most people are kind and decent and caring (Studio and Network Execs, not being human, are not subject to that analysis). Most people loathe Trump, as they should. We will get through this, and put Trump, his foul spawns Diaper Donnie Jr and Eric the Dim and Ivanka the Whore in jail. Hang in there, everybody, and remember, we are not Trump.
Dear God, Bill, how I wish I shared your optimism. Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the past ten years that suggests to me that justice or karma or anything resembling either will come for Trump or his crime family. Nothing would make me happier to be wrong, however.
Marcie Campos Mayhorn writes:
Marc, I have literally been having the same feeling re: that selfishness you’re speaking of. I felt it a lot on my recent trip as I reconnected with a friend in Vienna. She spoke so highly of her city, and often referenced how the mindset there is very “community first” focused. I know so many people here in the U.S. have a similar mindset, but it for some reason never seems to come through within our societal and economic structure. So your post REALLY has me side-eyeing this feeling in a way I hadn’t before. 🤔
Well, thank you for reading!
Jeane Phan Wong writes:
Scary way of putting it re: individualistic thinking. I worry more about this with new generations who are seeing foul examples of leadership now.
Yeah, the scary part is that there are teenagers all over the country, who have only known America under Trumpism.
J. Lincoln Fenn writes:
There’s a wave of people now who think empathy is a ‘mind virus’ but I don’t think they realize the degree to which they depend on it.
If the “it” you’re referring to is empathy, I agree. But that’s the bully/narcisist mindset: They expect and demand the very empathy they deny giving others. They hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance doesn’t bother them.
KentL writes:
“What if ten years of Donald Trump in our lives have made us just a little bit like him?”
Sadly I think you’re right, but not necessarily because of a desire to be like him. For his first term, I found myself reacting to everything his administration was doing with anger and frustration. It was exhausting, and while I didn’t always agree with the decisions made by the Biden administration, the relative normality of that time was a welcome respite. This new term is on a whole other level. Every day seems to bring something new that is designed to hurt people they don’t like. As much as I want to fight everything they’re doing, I just don’t have the strength. Which leads me to the same reaction every time I hear about some new evil they’ve unleashed on the world: How does this directly affect me and my family? I hate that feeling. I hate myself for that feeling. Mostly I hate them for putting us all in a position where that feeling is now my first reaction.
If it makes you feel any better, I think that feeling is very much by design and so you absolutely shouldn’t hate yourself for it. Trump has made it so that the only sensible way of dealing with his particular brand of evil is to focus on yourself and those closest to you. Put your oxygen mask on first.
Zoraida Córdova writes:
Leading by example is no joke. He’s out for himself and reaping the benefits. I think we have to strive harder to push back against his influence. And congrats, Marc!
Thank you!
Nandini Bapat writes:
Yes and no, I think to answer your question. Yes, I think American society is becoming more and more individual-focused which leads us to shun community and focus on our isolated worlds. There’s certainly a more idaf vibe happening in American society. But also, I don’t think this is caused by Trump. I think Trump is a symptom of a larger social problem in America.
To give context, my parents are Indian and immigrated to the USA before my birth. We would often visit India and they both moved back a decade ago, so I have the fortune to live in two worlds as a result. In India, people live in communities surrounded by family. Most children live with their parents until they get married, and then after marriage you live with your parents or your in-laws. It’s rare for a couple to just buy a place on their own or live independently of any family. (Even if they don’t share an apartment, the parents or in-laws are often in the same building or apartment complex.) It is even rarer and shocking to live alone in your own apartment or home, by yourself. College kids who go to school away from home will often be a “paying guest” and rent a room in another family’s home.
In America, that is unheard of if you have the money to leave. I know so many people who left home at 18 and never looked back. Living with your parents as an adult is “shameful” and a sign of social deviance or that someone in your family needs a caregiver. Personally, I wonder if capitalism is the cause of this (spend more money on your own household!) or if it a societal thing because the USA is a ‘country of immigrants’ (leave home and start your own, like your parents did. Pick up those bootstraps!). But I think the result of this social paradigm has left us as tiny islands in the middle of an ocean. If you don’t live with your family or near them, your kids are raised by strangers while you work. You work longer hours and need two incomes to afford the cost of housing and living, especially if you are not living in a home that your parents bought or your grandparents bought. Capitalism pushed us to create driving cities, so half the country needs a car to get everywhere. Without a public transit culture, we sit isolated in our cars. You don’t see your neighbors walking down the street or chat casually with them while waiting at the bus stops/train depots. We don’t work where we live, so we don’t spend our days with our neighbors, we spend them with people from all over. Remote work killed casual socialization and phones are making this even worse, so we don’t even talk to people we are right next to.
Is it any wonder that Americans are selfish when our lives are designed to isolate us and keep us from engaging with our family, friends and the communities we live in? If you do not know your neighbor, how can you feel empathy for them when ICE comes to their door to take them away? If you don’t care about the people beneath you because they aren’t just an employee, they are your neighbor or a cousin’s friend or someone you saw at your second cousin’s wedding with their whole family, why would you care if their job disappears tomorrow?
Trump was chosen by Americans who voted for him or did not vote at all because they didn’t care enough about how his reign would affect their neighbor. Empathy has been removed from the fabric of American society, so isn’t it any wonder that it chose a leader that lacks it entirely?
You raise many, many good points. And I 1000% agree with you that America has an empathy — really, a lack thereof — problem. If it were up to me, schools would pick a number from one to twelve and that’s the grade that would all get calculators. Long division can suck it for a year while the kids are taught about basic empathy which, not for nothing, they’ll have a lot more real world use for.
Chinyere writes:
BOOM! Congratulations on the Persona sale! Very, VERY NICE!
Thank you!
Re: the Trump in all of us, I think good and decent people are exhausted by the vociferous idiocy and casual cruelty that permeates our current hellscape. There’s a buzzing dis-ease that circles us, and we contract our world to stop the “Game over, man! Game over!” zipping around in our heads like Sha’Carri Richardson. On a loop. Ad infinitum. It makes us sad to realize that the ‘unaffected’ CHOOSE to stay unaffected, and that personally makes me mean, such that I wish massive, unavoidable, and stark consequences on these glib, ‘I got mine,’ jackholes. I actively check, distrust, and judge them... and I have no idea if I can or will change back to my sunny self in the future.
It sucks. For us, and hopefully for them. And for all, because it’s now US and THEM.
Well said.
PROJECT DEFIANT
In a previous newsletter, I mentioned I was working on an independently produced and financed pilot. Because I see this endeavor as pushing back against the fact that the legacy studios seem uninterested in making television these days, I gave it the codename PROJECT DEFIANT.
Today, we made the official announcement of Public Interest. Here’s how Variety describes it:
“Public Interest” is set at a nonprofit public interest law firm in Washington, D.C., and follows Patricia Heaton as Ingrid Erickson, “an attorney unexpectedly thrust into the firm’s top leadership role after its longtime president suffers a sudden heart attack, and her unconventional team as they fight for everyday people facing impossible odds. As the attorneys navigate high-stakes legal battles, they must also contend with office tensions, personal relationships and the emotional toll of trying to do the right thing in an increasingly complicated world.”
So, yeah, another law show. The pilot was written by David H. Steinberg & Keetgi Kogan and I’ve done a rewrite on it. If you know me, you know law shows are near and dear to my heart. Moreover, back in law school, I was Managing Editor of the Public Interest Law Journal, so this particular area of the law holds special appeal for me.
The pilot starts shooting tomorrow.
You can check out the whole article here.
AN INNOCENT GIRL
They say that as one door closes, another opens. That’s particularly true this week because as Public Interest is entering production, filming on An Innocent Girl has wrapped.
THE WHISPER WAR
Next Tuesday (6/9) sees the release of the fifth and final issue of The Whisper War. Freak Sugar has the preview which I’ll shamelessly reproduce here:
You can pre-order The Whisper War #5 by clicking here.
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM
As I said, as one door closes, another opens. As The Whisper War ends, a week later, my new series with Tom Morello and Szymon Kurdanski premieres.
Here’s the description:
In Leviathan Freedom, the galaxy is divided by civil war. And the profound human cost of conflict is felt not in the war rooms but by the Doldrums, the laborer caste essential for the war machine – until one man decides to stand against it.
IGN has the preview:
You can pre-order the first issue by clicking here.
EMPIRE
My friend Mark Waid is republishing his masterwork Empire with Barry Kitson through the Zoop crowdfunding platform.
In a career of brilliant work, this series is a high water mark, which is really saying something. The high concept is viscerally simple: What happens to the world once a super-villain takes it over?
I highly recommend checking out the book by clicking here.
PROJECT STRING THEORY
In the last newsletter, I talked about the sale of Persona to 20th Century Studios. But buried in the article was a mention about The Measure (aka PROJECT STRING THEORY), the pilot I’ve been writing for NBC and Higher Ground productions.
The Measure is based on the bestselling novel by Nikki Erlick of the same name about a worldwide phenomenon where every adult on Earth receives a string that predicts how long they have left to live.
I’m still at the outline stage on this one.
Be good to each other.
Best,
Marc
Air Canada Flight 0795
COMING ATTRACTIONS
A regularly-updated list of upcoming releases and events:
THE WHISPER WAR #5 (June 9, 2026)
SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE Vol. 2: Life & Death Choices (June 9, 2026)
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM #1 (June 16, 2026)
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM #2 (July 14, 2026)
SAN DIEGO COMICCON (July 23-26, 2026)
THE WHISPER WAR: Digital Collection (August 4, 2026)
WHAT IF…? CAPTAIN AMERICA (August 5, 2026)
STAR WARS: DARK DROIDS OMNIBUS (August 18, 2026)
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM #3 (August 18, 2026)
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM #4 (September 22, 2026)
NEW YORK COMICCON (October 8-11, 2026)
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM #5 (October 20, 2026)
LEVIATHAN FREEDOM: Digital Collection (December 8, 2026)
Congratulations Marc!
Congratulations!! I'm so excited to follow your journey on PROJECT DEFIANT. Seeing your most recent success and now blazing this trail is inspiring. Break a leg!