Babylon 5 Novels and Graphic Novels - at Mongoose

[SpooRancher]

Next they will be expecting these folks to appear at conventions for free.

[Night Marshal]

I'm starting to see why JMS has been so short of subject of B5 when it come to new matierals outside of his control. Its really to bad I was hoping for some new B5 novels. oh well i guess I just wait for the script books come out.

[Jan]

The notion that they should be further insulted annoys me quite a bit.

Amen. Quite a number of us on the moderated group were annoyed to find that nobody was compensated for the commentaries. Face it, the DVD extras are often what tips the balance for a buyer to replace a previous version of shows or movies. They add value to the product and should be paid. Seems so basic...

Next they will be expecting these folks to appear at conventions for free.

In many cases the actor isn't actually compensated by the convention. Often the con will provide airfare and accommodations but the only compensation involved is what the actor makes at the autograph table.

Jan

[Dr Maturin]

Seems like they could have come up with a percentage thing. That way, if JMS's involvement were to increase sales, then his payment would increase accordingly.

[Night Marshal]

Judging from all the comments I have seen over the years WB doesn't want to Give JMS anything more than what they payed him while working on the series. He doesn't make any money on DVDs, doesn make any money on books or anything else with a B5 logo on it. So unless there is a movie the only thing that we do by supporting B5 is help WB bottom line. I guess in the era where movies are making less and less at the box office that studios feel they don't have a penny to spare.

[Satai Delenn]

Since were talking money here I will throw in my two cents worth .I can see both sides of the table regarding an actor or a creator receving money to do a commentary .I can see WB's reasoning why should they have to pay actor a fee when they were paid while the show was on the air .On the other hand it is the actor's personal time I can see why they should have some money come there way cause it is what they do for a living .But if a studio starting paying for interviews on DVD sets then they would have to charge more money for the sets in order to makeup for what they had to pay an actor etc etc.As for the novels would have been nice I will admit to having JMS so some kind of work on the novels but at least for me ,I will be buying them when/if they come out it doesn't matter to me wether it is cannon or not.And am really surprised at the number of b5 fans who automatically aren't interested in a book just because it isn't penned by him.So in the end if the book interests me I will buy it assuming I can find someone to ship it across the pond .

[Joe Nazzaro]

I'm not sure if I can agree with all of that. Would a studio have to charge more, or would they maybe have to settle for a slightly smaller profit margin? I have a feeling that supply and demand will eventually set prices- now that the entire Buffy set is being sold for about $125, maybe fans will be reluctant to pay higher per/season box prices, reasoning they'll wait until the whole thing comes out. And Warners have obviously taken notice of price too, which is why they've suddenly put out the first seasons of West Wing and Friends, which you can get this week for $16 at Best Buy. The only exception is maybe the grossly overpriced HBO DVDs, which show no sign of coming down.

And secondly, the actors negotiated a fee to act on the series, which does not obligate them to come back half a decade later to do a commentary free of charge. By that line of reasoning, the original cast of Lost in Space should come back and do a free commentary for the DVD because they were paid to work on the series, notwithstanding the fact that none of them have gotten a dime of residuals for something like four decades. Let the actors get what they want, if they can get it, because as it's been correctly pointed out earlier, their new contribution gives added value to the overall package.

But having said all that, I can see why a lot of movies and television shows are not building the commentaries into the production period, so that maybe the cast and crew still have some financial tie to the project. Not to mention it's a lot easier to talk about something you've just finished, as opposed to returning months, if not years later.

I suppose there may even be some appeal to the actors in getting back together for a reunion of sorts, maybe with a nice dinner or a bottle of wine and look at something they did together, but otherwise, their reason to do the commentary is... why?

[Jan]

I suppose there may even be some appeal to the actors in getting back together for a reunion of sorts, maybe with a nice dinner or a bottle of wine and look at something they did together, but otherwise, their reason to do the commentary is... why?

A lot of people would say 'for the exposure' or 'for the sake of the fans' and there's some merit to the latter, perhaps. Since the 'exposure' isn't likely to be seen by whole lot of people who can provide jobs for the actors or directors or other folks doing commentaries, though, that point is moot.

One question, Joe. Should

But having said all that, I can see why a lot of movies and television shows are not building the commentaries into the production period, so that maybe the cast and crew still have some financial tie to the project.

perhaps read "...shows are now building..."?

Jan

[cornholio1980]

And am really surprised at the number of b5 fans who automatically aren't interested in a book just because it isn't penned by him.

Well, I absolutely loathe the first six Dell novels, that were published with little influence by JMS. And even THOSE he did at least proofread and thus was involved, if slightly. So... after hating the direction those first 6 novels took, telling stories with no relevance what soever to the overall arc and not fleshing out any of the characters, why should I buy new novels that seem to go into that direction? Especially if I'm waiting for new interesting books since a couple of years and the possibility would be there to give the B5-fans what they want (or, since I don't want to speak for everybody: Give me what I want), but because of financial reasons the new publisher decides not to follow that path? Why should I support such behavior by buying those books, if it goes against everything I hoped for when those novels were first announced?

[Joe Nazzaro]

Thanks for picking up the typo Jan; that's exactly what I meant to say. And going back to something you were saying, it would be nice to think the actors wanted to do a commentary for the fans, but in the end, a job is a job. That's not a dig at anybody, certainly not the B5 actors, who went way out of their way to promote the show and stay in touch with the fans. I can't tell you the number of cast members who shlepped all the way out to Sun Valley to do an interview on their day off just because I was there, and I'm sure that was true for other journalists as well. When we did our B5 cast interview for the first issue of the B5 Magazine, probably half of the actors who partipated in the group interview had the day off. There was no obligation to take a big chunk out of their day; they did it because they felt a strong commitment to the show, and I suspect that is one of the reasons for doing the commentaries as well.

Thanks again for picking up my typo, Jan; I'm working on the laptop today, and my fingers are too small for the keyboard!

[Dr Maturin]

And from what I understand, these Mongoose publications will expand the B5 universe. They don't necessarily need JMS to do so, as the stories will not involve the main characters. Now, IF they were to get somebody who knew their B5 (and clearly, the editors of the RPG material do not) then we'd be okay. But I doubt that they will. They will hire someone who "knows the RPG/publishing business" or some crap like that.

If they were to do stories that involved simultaneous occurences with B5 episodes, then the episodes themselves, this site, and the Lurker's Guide would be great alternatives to JMS himself when it comes to questions.

[Jan]

Just found this on the newsgroup:

Title: Re: JMS: Re: Babylon 5 Universe Novels?
Author: "Matthew Sprange" <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:34:21 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>




> At first, silence. As if they were stunned that I would actually ask
> to be paid for my time and work. Then finally, they came back
> with...five hundred bucks per book.
>
> To which I responded, "You have GOT to be kidding me."
>
> I have, subsequently, washed my hands of the Mongoose books. I haven't
> seen anything, don't know what they're doing, so sure as hell it ain't
> canonical.

Hi guys,

Okay, I have a slightly different recollection of events. There was no
silence at first - we had quite a rapid exchange of emails. I never
expected anyone to work on this project for free but I believe I was very
honest when I said I had no idea what your time was _worth_. No idea.
None. Never worked with anyone in your position before. Furthermore, that
offer was not the final one - we offered 10% of the revenue, the same
portion that Warner Brothers gets for the novels.

That is when the silence kicked in - you did not get back to us, did not
discuss it. We could have tried to work something out.

The important thing to remember here is that Mongoose is not Warner
Brothers. We are a small company employing 20 or so people. We cannot
throw money around with abandon on any project, especially as we are limited
to the UK market only (I believe it is Del Ray who have the US licence).
There is no guarantee that a new range of Babylon 5 novels will prove
successful in the UK and, at the end of the day, we have a business to run.

To put things into perspective, if we were to print and sell an entire print
run of, say, 10,000 novels, the profit is only a few thousand pounds after
printing and distribution costs. That is if we sell all 10,000. Sell half
that and we are at a loss. This is before Warner Brothers comes along and
takes their bite, plus any percentage we offered to Mr Straczynski. I must
point out, it is not the profit I have my eyes on with these figures but
whether the project would end up costing more than it would bring in - which
is obviously a huge problem with a business.

I can say that everyone at Mongoose is greatly dedicated to Babylon 5 and,
in our own way, we have been carrying the B5 banner for the past three years
with our games and a range of over 20 sourcebooks. I believe (I may be
wrong) that we have printed more Babylon 5 material than any other
publisher. We take this universe seriously.

I would like to extend an offer to Mr Straczynski to re-open negotiations
and, if there is a way we can find to work together, we would like to move
forwards. We have a lot of very exciting ideas for Babylon 5, across a
variety of media, that we would like to discuss. We very much want to carry
the banner further and I believe we have a lot to offer fans of the series.

You have my email. Please give me a shout.

Matthew Sprange
Mongoose Publishing

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com

[cornholio1980]

Well, there may be some hope after all. Now we can only hope that JMS and Mongoose will be able to work out a deal...

[Dr Maturin]

Oh yeah, I was going to bring that point up, too...that Mongoose probably doesn't have the dough to toss around like the guy said. That's why I came up with the percentage idea, which this chap also said they offered JMS.

[Night Marshal]

JMS has always said he is like to help the little guy to me Mongoose Publishing and Mr. Sprange seem to fit the bill. I have been I friend of might showed me the The Babylon 5: A call to Arms miniatures game. I also think its cool that all this talk is coming about because we the fans are talking about it and two groups that listen to the fans have started talking about this issue. I hope JMS will find it in this big heart to help make this happen.

As a side note I thinks it a good sign that JMS has about 5 or 6 repies on the newgroup after Mr. Sprange post with no mention of him. Which to me says they are talking again.