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LegalDispatch 131
Howdy.
Happy Birthday to Billy Joel.
It’s been a while since the last newsletter, so I have a packed one for you this week…
FEEDBACK
Eva writes:
You clearly don’t understand the amount of work a writers’ assistant or script coordinator does. So a job that already runs 14-16 hour days and often means very late nights and weekends should have more duties and responsibilities added to it? Shows that already do this don’t pay those people more (or promote any faster). And they’re rarely “kids.” As someone who came up through this (broken) pipeline, almost all WAs and SCs I’ve worked with, met through unionization efforts or on the WGA strike picket lines (in total, a hundred or more) were 30s+. It already takes years to staff (7-10 for most drama writers) thanks to short orders, less overall pick ups, politics, and showrunners who dgaf about their support staff… Making those years more even more exploitative isn’t the answer.
It’s funny, but I thought that the idea that assistants should be paid more for doing more work/having more responsibility was so obvious that I’d included it in my original “proposal” but I checked and — lo and behold — I completely failed to mention that. But, yes, part of the whole rationale for what I suggested — combining multiple assistant responsibilities into a single job — was to give one assistant three times the salary.
As for the idea that I don’t understand the amount of work a writers’ assistant or script coordinator does, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with you on that. I mean, yes, I can see how that was the case back when there were 22-episode broadcast seasons, but even broadcast shows don’t run that long these days (with the arguable exceptions of shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).
I also think that the writers assistant’s responsibilities need to be seriously overhauled — and not just to make my “proposal” work more efficiently. The idea that a WA’s job is to take down every single thing said in a writers room and then compiled into notes that no one ever reads is not only out-dated, it’s a massive waste of time and effort (and always has been).
In the room I’m currently running for PROJECT VISTA, we’re taking an entirely different approach. First, the script coordinator and the writer’s assistant responsibilities rest with the same one person. And I’m not requiring her to take traditional (i.e., all-encompassing notes). Rather, she’s producing a 1-2 page doc at the end of the day that memorializes just the big decisions and ideas made in the room that day as well as the “open loops” that we need to focus on for the following day.
Freeing the assistant up from the (ridiculous) obligation to take down every word also frees up time. Time that can be spent on script coordinating duties as well as participating in the room as an actual writer as opposed to being a stenographer.
Nandini Bapat also wrote in:
おかいりい! (Welcome back!) The convention looks fun, glad you had a great time!
Thank you!
Per your suggestion about combining the script coordinator, writer's assistant, etc. jobs into one: I have heard from several assistants and former assistants that they would sometimes take on a combined job like that and it was too much work for one person. Is that true? Or is it doable to do all of that as one person?
See above, but in general I think one person could do the job if the job responsibilities were more reasonable and efficient.
And in your proposal, would that combined solo job combine the pay as well, so the assistant would have a livable wage?
Yup. As above, the whole point would be to pay support staff a proper wage.
(Because that makes so much more sense and reasonable! One of the reasons I can never go the assistant route is the low pay. I can't imagine many folks who are changing careers mid-life or folks with financial responsibilities, can afford to take a full time + overtime job at barely minimum wage. If combining means 1) a reasonable wage and 2) a solid opportunity to move up to staff writer eventually... yeah I think that seems like a great idea.)
Exactly. For all the talk about improving diversity in Hollywood, the fact that you can only afford to take a job as an assistant — i.e., access to the on ramp to becoming a professional writer — is if you come from wealth is, I think, one of the biggest things holding back the effort to diversify the writer ranks.
THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES MONARCH
I’m so bad at self-promotion. Would you believe that I had a brand new creator-owned comic book — The Adventures of Ulysses Monarch — released a couple of weeks ago and completely forgot to mention it here?
Well, I did. It’s available digitally through Comixology as a Comixology Original. The series is about an archeologist in the far future, who is hunting for relics from an ancient civilization — ours. Imagine if Indiana Jones and Star Wars had a baby.
The gorgeous art is by Harvey Talibau and Mark Englert.
I’ve been doing a whole mess of interviews to promote it:
You can order the first issue here.
IN ANY LIFETIME
My friends at Nerd Initiative were kind enough to read and review my novel In Any Lifetime.
All in all, this was a fantastic read. It had an overarching story that was beautifully told, and filled with some intense action scenes, and thought provoking plots. While it traveled the multiverse, it was also incredibly down to Earth, and had some intense real moments. In Any Lifetime sucked me right in, and didn’t let go until the very end.
You can check out the whole review by clicking here.
And, of course, you can purchase In Any Lifetime by clicking here.
BEEBO!
This is fun:
Lynda Chapple, Legends of Tomorrow’s amazing Prop Master, talked to the prop masters trade publication about the creation of Beebo:
SPEAKING OF BEEBO…
…Kevin Shinick, the writers of the Beebo Saves Christmas Christmas special, has a really cool new project up on Kickstarter. It’s called Host Mortem and sounds absolutely amazing:
LA Confidential meets The In-Laws as two real life game show hosts from the 1990s attempt to solve a series of murders in the 1940s.
You can learn more — and back the project — over at Kickstarter.
BRING ON (MORE) BAD GUYS
Marvel released information — and covers — for the final three issues of the Bring On The Bad Guys event. Here’s a look at the covers by Lee Bermejo (with their release dates in the captions):
SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE
The first issue of Spider-Man & Wolverine comes out on May 21. Here’s an interview I recently did with Dynamic Forces to promote the series: Click here.
Be good to each other.
Best,
Marc
Encino, California
5.9.25
STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS #3 (May 13, 2025)
SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #1 (May 21, 2025)
STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS #4 (June 4, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DOOM (June 18, 2025)
SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #2 (June 25, 2025)
STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS #5 (July 2, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: GREEN GOBLIN (July 2, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: ABOMINATION (July 16, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: LOKI (July 29, 2025)
SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #3 (July 30, 2025)
JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK TOMORROW (July 30, 2025)
STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS #6 (August 6, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: RED SKULL (August 13, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: DORMAMMU (August 20, 2025)
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: MEPHISTO (August 27, 2025)
STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS #7 (September 9, 2025)
GALAXYCON DES MOINES (September 12-14, Des Moines, Iowa)
NEW YORK COMIC CON (October 9-12, 2025)
X-MEN BY MARC GUGGENHEIM Omnibus (October 14, 2025)
STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS Volume 1 (November 4, 2025)
First issue of Ulysses Monarch was super fun!
Hey, how far do you have Jedi Knights planned out?
Also those Bring on the Bad Guys covers are great