"Changeling" news.

[FuryPilot]

Just saw this article... http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,7962434.story

Aparently Ron Howard will be directing other projects, so Changeling is again on the back burner.

FP

[Satai Delenn]

Doesn't surprise me one bit that it got put off ,maybe next B5 TLT will be as well.

[Jan]

Again? When was it delayed before? This may simply mean that Howard himself won't be directing it, not that it won't be made any time soon.

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Doesn't surprise me one bit that it got put off ,maybe next B5 TLT will be as well.

Don't jinx it!


Jon

[Jan]

JMS's response to a post on the Moderated Newsgroup:

Just to clarify before the wrong impression gets out there....the
project has not been back burnered. First, Imagine owns the script,
they bought it, they want it, they want to see it made, so does
Universal. When Ron decided to go with the Frost/Nixon thing first,
one option would have been to hold onto Changeling until he was free to
direct it. But with the Forst/Nixon thing going first, Changeling
couldn't be shot until 2007...so Ron is going to produce, with Imagine,
and they're going to get another a-list director to come on board and
shoot this thing asap. The only thing that got back-burnered was Ron,
Imagine still wants to make this, and Ron has been gracious enough to
allow another director in, but still produce it, so it can get filmed
this year.

The draft is now ready to go, there are five a-list directors who have
said they want to come on, it's been budgeted, and the president of
Imagine called today *specifically* to say that they want to put this
thing into high gear now that Ron's made up his mind. They'd like to
see this thing going before the cameras by Spring.

jms

Like I said...

Jan

[Joseph DeMartino]

Again? When was it delayed before?

That's what I was wondering, too. The project was never delayed before - for one thing it was still at the script stage and pre-production hadn't even started and no dates were set. How do you "delay" something that has no start date?

Doesn't surprise me one bit that it got put off, maybe next B5 TLT will be as well.

Well, luckily you're 0 for 2:

Just a quick follow-up...I'm in Vancouver (coming back in 24 hours) finishing up a round of final staff interviews for B5:TLT. Thus far, we've hired two other producers, a script supervisor, a post supervisor, the editor, a production manager, a conceptual artist/storyboard guy, an art director/production designer, a first assistant director, and closed several cast deals, with the rest probably to be closed next week, at which time I may be able to say who they are. Pending final negotiations, Chris Franke has agreed to come on board to do the music. We're interviewing CGI houses up here to decide which to go with. The three scripts have been completed, and are now being storyboarded. We've narrowed down the director of photography options to just a few last guys, and should have that decided by week's end. We've also locked down the stage and have started putting together our package (camera, lights, grip and electrics).
By this time next week, about 80% of our crew will be in hand, the rest coming aboard during the start of prep.

jms

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Regards,

Joe

[Jan]

With the new information JMS posted, I've gone ahead and changed the tread title so new readers won't get upset before reading the thread.

Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

I guess that resolves the discussion we were having a week or so ago about any LA crew people coming aboard. To me, it always seemed pretty obvious that it was going to be a Vancouver-based production, but that may because I cover this stuff for a living. Having said that, I'm not denigrating the Vancouver crews in any way. There are some damn good people working there and with the amount of SF television being produced there, the talent pool has obviously grown considerably.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Good news from JMS all around! I'm jazzed about TLT...especially with the music news. But it's good about the changeling too. I think Joe, you posted a reply to me on the newsgroup saying that it would probably get picked up by another director and produced by Ron Howard, or that it would be pushed back. Good to see you were right about the first one.

Jon

[Jan]

I think Joe, you posted a reply to me on the newsgroup saying that it would probably get picked up by another director and produced by Ron Howard, or that it would be pushed back. Good to see you were right about the first one.

Joe did...I did.... Knowing that they'd *bought* the 'Changeling' screenplay, it didn't add up that the project would fall through completely. Buying it outright is much more costly than optioning it. I'm also glad to see that it looks like Imagine is respecting JMS as a creator, with the president of the company calling him.

Jan

[Satai Delenn]

Originally Posted by Satai Delenn
Doesn't surprise me one bit that it got put off, maybe next B5 TLT will be as well.




Well, luckily you're 0 for 2:

I am glad to hear it may still be coming but with JMS's track record .I am not holding my breath .Make me believe a project once I will believe you again ,but fool me 50 times I won't believe a word you say .Unless I can see it or buy it .

[Jan]

Name the 50?

I understand healthy caution but it's a shame that you're cheating yourself of then enjoyable anticipation.

Jan

[Satai Delenn]

Name the 50?

I understand healthy caution but it's a shame that you're cheating yourself of then enjoyable anticipation.

Jan


The 50 was a figure of speech with as many of B5 related projects that have gone off the rails at various stages of development.I have a high dose of skeptiscm when in regard to JMS or any of his projects.As for anticipation there is very little I do,the day will get here soon enough .I enjoy life and am thankful for each day that I am alive.what's that line in titanic " To make each day count ".

[Joseph DeMartino]

The 50 was a figure of speech with as many of B5 related projects that have gone off the rails

"Many"?

B5 pilot. Made, aired sold.

B5 series. Runs all five years. Produces 3 additional original TV movies.

First B5 home video releases. Despite WB's reluctance and skepticism, the show is released on U.S. home video. First under license by Columbia House (VHS) and Image (laserdisc), then by WB itself (VHS) These releases are cancelled when news leaks that WB is considering a DVD release and VHS and LD sales plummet.

B5 books - 7 mediocre non-canon novels, 2 good ones, 3 canonical trilogies.

Crusade series. Gets half-season order and produces 13 episodes before network politics shut it down.

Second B5 home video release. In an attempt to shut up annoying B5 fans and prove once and for all that there is no market for the series on DVD, Warner Home Video executives finally decide to issue a barebones "double feature" disc with "The Gathering" and "In the Beginning" in North American and Australia/New Zealand. (Don't ask.) One Warner Rep actually tells fans in an on-line chat, "We're giving you this disc. If you don't buy it, there won't be any others." The disc, despite a total lack of advertising and promotion, sells an astonishing number of copies, paving the way for...

The third B5 DVD release. WB releases full-season sets, adding features and reducing the interval between sets as sales continue to soar.

Proposed spin-off Legend of the Rangers. Pilot film produced and aired. Sci-Fi channel passes on series when Warner Bros. refuses to share ownership.

B5 Quote Book, Dell passes on concept when sales for novels fall of with show off the air. Rights in limbo as WB and JMS consider other options.

The Memory of Shadows - proposed feature film. Independent producers unable to raise sufficient funds, WB not interested in producing as it would not own project and it hasn't yet received detailed analysis of B5 DVD performance. Rights for feature film revert to JMS when option expires, actual script remains property of producers.

B5: The Lost Tales - Greenlit by studio when JMS declines to pursue feature film (Warner Bros. first idea) at this time. Staff hired, studio space secured, script written and paid for, negotiations on-goind with actors and other talent.

By my count, in the nearly 20 years since the earliest word about a new SF series that JMS was trying to get off the ground surfaced on the 'net there have been exactly two B5 projects that can fairly be described as "going off the rails". Four if you want to stretch matters and include Crusade and the un-made Rangers series. And in no case did JMS "fool" anybody as to the status of a given project, the likelihood or otherwise of something getting made or the obstacles that lie in the path of any production in Hollywood. So, like everybody else, I fail to see where the evident bitterness and hostility are coming from.

Regards,

Joe

[Shabaz]

I said this at B5TV, but I cannot with the best will of the world see how you can accurately typify what JMS has been saying about TLT as fooling us. He always has talked about this just being 3 stories of about 30 minutes each. Unless something crazy happens, Voices in the Dark, that first disc, is being made. WB has freed up the money, and it is being spend at the moment, and contracts are being locked down. Unless JMS lying about this. And there is a very strong hint in your comments that you feel he is, and that these contracts are being signed in some JMS fantasy land, but what you're accusing him of here is not anything he has done on any of the projects that did fail, in some way.

As for TLT as a longer lasting product, he has never "fooled" or lied to anyone about this either, by talking about it as a certainty, but always as a conditional based upon the level of success of the first disc. That's being honest and realistic and fair to the fans, the exact opposite of fooling or misleading anyone.