JMS AT RASTB5M SAID:
DEC.15.2003
Isn't there some kind of protocol, though, who the studio should
be making calls to/giving notes? I'd've thought that sort of direction should only be given
to the Producer level at the lowest?
Yup. Therein lay the silhouette of the problem.
Ignorant question here: Why? [re: no requirement to consult]
A very well written contract.
DEC.14.2003
And so do they have any info in regards to where you wanted to
take the show after season 2?
No. Studios are remarkably short-sighted as a rule; they only want to see what's in the
pipeline for that season. In the case of Jeremiah, I did not write any notes for after season
2, which is actually pretty much pro forma, B5 being the exception to the rule. You have it
in your head, but that's it.
Regardless of what's been left behind for them to try to work with, would you have any
interest or desire in letting the new showrunners in on any of your ideas?
No. Nor would I think they would want them. MGM would take the show in a vastly different
direction, such that any thoughts I would have had would no longer apply.
Emblematic of some of the studio's notions is a call made by the studio to my casting
director, stating -- of the paucity of babes -- "I don't care if she can act, I want her
cute."
Would you consider being hired on as a consultant to the show if asked?
If there were a third season, the studio would have to pay me a consultancy fee but there
would be no requirement to actually consult.
NOV.11.2003
He obviously had very bad feelings about how MGM was trying to
change the show, and with JMS gone, surely they WILL change the show however they please.
(And if JMS didn't like the notes they were giving him, I suspect I will not like them
either.)
To be fair, there is truth to that. There's no question, to my mind, that if a S3 is
commissioned, they will put in someone more compliant with notes and their preferred
direction for the show, as they did with Dead Like Me, which is why the second half of the
season looks very different from the first half. They took out one show runner, and put in
another who would do things as directed.
SEP.27.2003
As stated, I've opted not to return if there's a third season, but a)
that has nothing to do with the quality of this season, which is terrific, and b) what some
people, from the postings I've seen, don't seem to quite get is that this is more the norm
than not. Lots of people come on, create a show, get it up and running, and either leave
after the first season or the second, sometimes even just launching the show and moving away
in the first season. That's the nature of TV. You generally do a couple of years here and
a couple of years there. There are exceptions to this of course, situations where creators
opt to stick around for the duration, but in most cases people move on. So this ain't a big
deal.
JUL.31.2003
Did you approach parts of the second season finale knowing that you wouldn't be doing the
third season?
Yes. That thought was pretty much all that kep me going at the end.
My question is whether there will be some sense of closure at the end of the second
season. Will people be able to look on the first two seasons as some sort of whole project
and enjoy it as such? Or will we be left hanging and wondering what might have been?
No, it actually does have some closure to it. So if that were to be the last season, it would
have a good end to it.
JUL.31.2003
What happens if Jeremiah returns for a third season without you? I mean i guess a
replacement could be find (i know hard to imagine but in this weird world anything seems to be
possieble :) ), but the series would certainly have a different kind of feeling, who knows
maybe even a different direction.
True. And who knows, it could be better or worse evenly, depending on who they get. We'll
just have to see.
JUL.25.2003
Did/does/will the second season end with a cliffhanger?
Yes and no.
JUL.25.2003
Joe, could there even *be* a third season of "Jeremiah" without you? I don't know how
this works--i.e., whether MGM owns the show and could conceivably bring in someone else to
keep it going.
Sure, they could definitely do so. At the end of their day, it's their show, and if there
should be a season three, they would have no choice but to bring someone else in.
As an aside...none of this should be taken as a diss of the coming season. I honestly think
that the second season is miles better than our first season. It's more consistent, takes
more chances, it's really a very strong season.
Thing of it is, you look at the quality of the work, and the amount of blood on the floor in
getting to that point, and have to decide if the one is worth the other. The process is hard
enough without others making it even harder than it has to be.
And there we are.
JUL.24.2003
However, even though the article totally misstated the sentence so it
didn't make any sense, the last phrase is correct, in that I have zero desire to return to a
third season of Jeremiah. Showtime was great, no mistake, but MGM has overall been the most
heinous, difficult and intrusive studio I've ever worked for. I've worked for, and had great
relations with, Viacom, Universal, Warner Bros., and a bunch more. But I will never, ever,
work for the present administration at MGM.
I didn't know why so many other writers had a problem there and never wanted to go back. Now
I do.
