WITHER 2022

LegalDispatch 0.42

“You’re not crazy. It’s fucking awful out there.”

This is what one of my friends in the comic book industry told me last week, but believe me when I tell you that it goes double for the entertainment industry. And likely other industries as well.

2022 was supposed to be the year we turned all varieties of corners. Covid was supposed to be gone. Trump was supposed to be gone. Everything was going to be coming up roses.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t exactly work out that way for most of us.

For myself, I’ve absolutely noticed that it’s harder than ever to sell a TV show or get a movie made. The current landscape in the entertainment industry is very fraught at the moment due to an inflationary economy, continual and lingering fallout from various industry-contracting mergers (I’m looking at you, Warner Bros. Discovery, but also Disney and 20th), and — last but certainly not least — The Great Streaming Correction.

Plus, we also have a potential Writers Guild Strike to look forward to.

Still, if you’d told me that in 2022, I’d write and produce an episode of LA Law, I’d have said you were crazy. In the middle of our shoot, I left our set to go see the first issue of a Star Wars comic with my name on the cover (Han Solo & Chewbacca). It’s hard not to say that 2022 was a pretty good year on balance.

Yes, LA Law didn’t get ordered to series, which remains an open wound (and probably always will if I’m being honest), but the experience of working with an incredible cast and crew is a highlight of my career. And yes, the number of feature projects on my desk which I’ve been sent back to the drawing board on is now up to four — but I’m insanely grateful that I have four movies I’m working on. Many, many writers I know aren’t nearly as lucky.

So, bottom line, I’m ending 2022 with a lot of gratitude and appreciation. Water may be in short supply these days, but my glass is more than half full.

HAN SOLO & CHEWBACCA

Speaking of Han and Chewie, my friends over at starwars.com put up a preview of Issue 8, which you can check out here or below:

TORRENT

I’m excited to say that the incredible Rick Leonardi (Cloak & Dagger, Spider-Man 2099, X-Men) is providing variant covers for Torrent which homage some of his most famous work.

I’ve been a life-long massive fan of Rick, so having him aboard is a special thrill for me. Here’s his cover for Torrent #3 which self-homages his iconic Uncanny X-Men #201 cover

Art by Rick Leonardi. Coloring by Rico Renzi. Design by Keith Wood.

YEAR IN REVIEW

Towards the end of 2020, I was starting to truly feel the monotony of the pandemic. Although I was being productive, I felt as though I was running in place. Thus, one of my resolutions for 2021 was to track what I was writing so I could look back at the end of the year and acknowledge that I had, in fact, been productive. (Yes, I’m well aware of how neurotic this sounds. One of my resolutions for 2023 is to go a touch easier on myself.)

At any rate, here’s the rundown of what I’ve written in 2022:

JANUARY

• Too Dead To Die (completed graphic novel script)

• Yoda (pitch and outline for 3-issue arc)

• Project Granite (revised TV pitch; project subsequently abandoned)

FEBRUARY

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #4

MARCH

• Torrent #5

• Yoda #7

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #5

• Han Solo & Chewbacca (outline for "Dead Or Alive” — Issues 6-10)

• Prophet (revisions per Jake Gyllenhaal)

APRIL

• Star Wars: Revelations (pitch)

MAY

• LA Law (final cut)

• PROJECT SPECTRE (first draft of feature spec)

• PROJECT QUARTZ (TV pitch; subsequently abandoned)

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #6

JUNE

• Yoda #8

• Green Lantern Ep. 108 (co-written with Geoff Johns)

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #7

JULY

• PROJECT MONARCH (completed graphic novel script)

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #8

AUGUST

• PROJECT MARBLE (outline for feature film)

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #9

• PROJECT EVERGREEN (pitch for TV series)

• Star Wars: Revelations

SEPTEMBER

• PROJECT RAMBLE (outline for comic book series)

• Han Solo & Chewbacca #10

OCTOBER

• Too Dead To Die (screenplay)

• Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace (outline)

• Yoda #9

NOVEMBER

• Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace (script)

• PROJECT ARTERY (stuff I can’t talk about yet)

• PROJECT TWISTER (pitch for TV series)

• PROJECT RAMBLE #1

• PROJECT HOURGLASS (pitch for comic book series)

DECEMBER

• PROJECT HOURGLASS (outline for comic book series)

This list isn’t 100% comprehensive. I’ve left off various rewrites, both major and minor, and some projects that are in such early stages it’s not even worth giving them codenames.

2023

As we head into 2023, I’d love suggestions for what you’d like to see from this newsletter in the new year. Stuff from ill-fated projects? More discussion of writing process? Less? Less Writers Guild commentary? More? Something else I’m not thinking of? Please don’t be shy…

Well, that’s it for 2022. Thank you for reading my missives — and (to those of you who do) for subscribing.

Be good to each other.

Best,

Marc

Encino, California

12.16.22