A Call to Arms for B5
Jan. 10th, 2005 06:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizabearI hadn't heard this, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dsrtao hadn't heard this, so it stands to reason there are other fans who haven't heard this ...
From: Joseph DeMartino <jdemarti@bellsouth.net>
A Call to Arms
Some of you may have heard the recent rumors about the upcoming B5
feature film, "The Memory of Shadows" - how the money people are
talking about recasting many of the roles from the original series
with "name" actors,
I am here to tell you that this rumor is true and that unless the
powers that be are convinced that tinkering with the cast will hurt
them in the pocketbook, they will do what they want to do, without
regard to JMS's wish or ours. The only people in a position to
convince them that there's money on the line are US.
WE are the ones who watched the show in great enough numbers to keep
it on the air for 5 years. WE are the ones who made the reruns and
B5 S5 such a success on TNT that they spent millions of dollars on
two extra TV movies and a half season of Crusade before they pulled
the plug on that show for reasons of network politics as much as
anything else. WE are the ones who lobbied and wheedled and
threatened until a very skeptical Warner Bros. finally released the
series, the movies and ultimately Crusade on DVD ? and then bought
the DVDs in such numbers that the studio decided to make this
feature film in the first place.
WE are the ones who will provide the all-important opening weekend
opening box office and the initial word-of-mouth. It is perfectly
true that a feature film like this can't succeed if only the
hardcore fans go to see it. It will have to attract non-fans, folks
who have never even heard of the series. But if WE don't make sure
the film "opens" it won't stay in theaters long enough for non-fans
to discover the film. If WE don't provide the positive word-of-mouth
the film won't succeed.
I've heard that some fans don't believe the rumor, that recasting
the roles seems so obviously stupid and counter-productive that they
don't think Warner Bros. would ever do such a thing. I was skeptical
myself when I first plugged into the `net after an absence of
several month (hurricanes are such a bother) But I've since checked
with a few individuals whom I trust implicitly and who are in a
position to know about such things. They assure me the rumors are
true. The studio is pressing for this, and since they write the
checks, there isn't a lot the production office can do about it.
I've also heard that other fans are so upset about the reported
story line or indications that a given actor or character may not be
in the film that they're not interested in the project at all. Big
mistake. Some have even suggested that the story line and the cast
changes are part and parcel of the same thing - that the studio
dictated a story that prominently featured new characters and
reduced the old ones to cameos that could be cast with "name" actors
as part of some deep, dark plot to remake B5 in some new image of
their choosing.
Wrong
I don't know the story line for the new film. But I DO know that it
is the story that JMS chose to pitch to the studio for the first B5
film.
Did I just say "First B5 film"?
Yes, I did.
Everybody wants this film to succeed. If it succeeds, WB will want a
sequel, the studios always do. If they do a sequel JMS can do a
story that uses the original characters more. Everybody signing up
to do the sequel to a successful movie will get a bigger payday than
they did on the first. Maybe it makes more sense to do something
that ties up some of the threads from Crusade and Rangers in movie
#1, with the original cast in supporting roles. Then do the Teep War
or some other story in movie #2. But this only works if the original
cast plays the original characters in movie #1.
And that's where you all come in. We need you to write letters -
real, snail-mail, printed and hand-signed letters, to get the
attention of the folks holding the purse strings. We need to remind
them that ultimately we, too, hold the purse strings. We buy the
tickets at the box office.
An ad hoc committee of fans has been working on ways to get the
studio's attention, including press releases and getting stories
into the mainstream press. You can help by participating in a letter
writing campaign with a bit of a gimmick to help it stand out from
similar campaigns. Go to www.keepb5alive.com. Download one of
the "B5 Bucks" designs on the site. Print them out, cut them out,
and include them with your letter. We've also provided form letters
that you can hand-write your own address and comments on, but I have
to tell you - the studios pay a lot more attention to individuals
who took the time to compose a letter of their own than those who
merely signed a form letter that somebody else wrote. Just don't
forget to include the " B5 Bucks" whichever you do.
This may seem like a silly gimmick. So were the Budweiser frogs.
Silly gimmicks are memorable, they get attention. They WORK. So can
this if Warner Bros. gets socked with thousands and thousands of
letters containing these novelty items. And that's the key - make
them realize that this isn't an issue that concerns only a few
fanatical fans of particular actors but something the vast majority
of the fan community cares deeply about and that we will have to
consider whether or not the B5 movie WB eventually puts in theaters
is really B5 or some pale imitation that we, as loyal fans, can and
will rightly ignore. Go to the site, download the materials, join
the fight. The casting decisions are being made right now. The
countdown to the start of shooting has begun. The window during
which we can make our voices heard is closing, but it hasn't closed
yet. Don't let it close until you've added your voice to the chorus.
Print out a letter, preferably one you've written yourself, today.
Sign it, add a hand-written note and your address if necessary.
Print out an envelope, stuff it, with some B5 Bucks, seal it, put it
on the counter with your car keys. Make sure you mail it tomorrow.
We've been here before folks. Our backs against the wall, no chance
in hell of getting what we want. We've been here every single
season, we were here at the end of S4 most of all. We were here
trying to get the show released on some form of home video and
ultimately on DVD. We were here trying to get a feature film off the
ground at all. We've always tried to do the impossible and we've
always been told that we never could. (One SF entertainment news web
site won't run a story on this controversy because they haven't seen
an official announcement of the film from WB and they don't believe
that anybody is ever going to make a feature film based on
a "little" cult show like B5)
We've always succeeded in the long run.
Faith manages.
Start writing.
Joe
dsrtao hadn't heard this, so it stands to reason there are other fans who haven't heard this ...From: Joseph DeMartino <jdemarti@bellsouth.net>
A Call to Arms
Some of you may have heard the recent rumors about the upcoming B5
feature film, "The Memory of Shadows" - how the money people are
talking about recasting many of the roles from the original series
with "name" actors,
I am here to tell you that this rumor is true and that unless the
powers that be are convinced that tinkering with the cast will hurt
them in the pocketbook, they will do what they want to do, without
regard to JMS's wish or ours. The only people in a position to
convince them that there's money on the line are US.
WE are the ones who watched the show in great enough numbers to keep
it on the air for 5 years. WE are the ones who made the reruns and
B5 S5 such a success on TNT that they spent millions of dollars on
two extra TV movies and a half season of Crusade before they pulled
the plug on that show for reasons of network politics as much as
anything else. WE are the ones who lobbied and wheedled and
threatened until a very skeptical Warner Bros. finally released the
series, the movies and ultimately Crusade on DVD ? and then bought
the DVDs in such numbers that the studio decided to make this
feature film in the first place.
WE are the ones who will provide the all-important opening weekend
opening box office and the initial word-of-mouth. It is perfectly
true that a feature film like this can't succeed if only the
hardcore fans go to see it. It will have to attract non-fans, folks
who have never even heard of the series. But if WE don't make sure
the film "opens" it won't stay in theaters long enough for non-fans
to discover the film. If WE don't provide the positive word-of-mouth
the film won't succeed.
I've heard that some fans don't believe the rumor, that recasting
the roles seems so obviously stupid and counter-productive that they
don't think Warner Bros. would ever do such a thing. I was skeptical
myself when I first plugged into the `net after an absence of
several month (hurricanes are such a bother) But I've since checked
with a few individuals whom I trust implicitly and who are in a
position to know about such things. They assure me the rumors are
true. The studio is pressing for this, and since they write the
checks, there isn't a lot the production office can do about it.
I've also heard that other fans are so upset about the reported
story line or indications that a given actor or character may not be
in the film that they're not interested in the project at all. Big
mistake. Some have even suggested that the story line and the cast
changes are part and parcel of the same thing - that the studio
dictated a story that prominently featured new characters and
reduced the old ones to cameos that could be cast with "name" actors
as part of some deep, dark plot to remake B5 in some new image of
their choosing.
Wrong
I don't know the story line for the new film. But I DO know that it
is the story that JMS chose to pitch to the studio for the first B5
film.
Did I just say "First B5 film"?
Yes, I did.
Everybody wants this film to succeed. If it succeeds, WB will want a
sequel, the studios always do. If they do a sequel JMS can do a
story that uses the original characters more. Everybody signing up
to do the sequel to a successful movie will get a bigger payday than
they did on the first. Maybe it makes more sense to do something
that ties up some of the threads from Crusade and Rangers in movie
#1, with the original cast in supporting roles. Then do the Teep War
or some other story in movie #2. But this only works if the original
cast plays the original characters in movie #1.
And that's where you all come in. We need you to write letters -
real, snail-mail, printed and hand-signed letters, to get the
attention of the folks holding the purse strings. We need to remind
them that ultimately we, too, hold the purse strings. We buy the
tickets at the box office.
An ad hoc committee of fans has been working on ways to get the
studio's attention, including press releases and getting stories
into the mainstream press. You can help by participating in a letter
writing campaign with a bit of a gimmick to help it stand out from
similar campaigns. Go to www.keepb5alive.com. Download one of
the "B5 Bucks" designs on the site. Print them out, cut them out,
and include them with your letter. We've also provided form letters
that you can hand-write your own address and comments on, but I have
to tell you - the studios pay a lot more attention to individuals
who took the time to compose a letter of their own than those who
merely signed a form letter that somebody else wrote. Just don't
forget to include the " B5 Bucks" whichever you do.
This may seem like a silly gimmick. So were the Budweiser frogs.
Silly gimmicks are memorable, they get attention. They WORK. So can
this if Warner Bros. gets socked with thousands and thousands of
letters containing these novelty items. And that's the key - make
them realize that this isn't an issue that concerns only a few
fanatical fans of particular actors but something the vast majority
of the fan community cares deeply about and that we will have to
consider whether or not the B5 movie WB eventually puts in theaters
is really B5 or some pale imitation that we, as loyal fans, can and
will rightly ignore. Go to the site, download the materials, join
the fight. The casting decisions are being made right now. The
countdown to the start of shooting has begun. The window during
which we can make our voices heard is closing, but it hasn't closed
yet. Don't let it close until you've added your voice to the chorus.
Print out a letter, preferably one you've written yourself, today.
Sign it, add a hand-written note and your address if necessary.
Print out an envelope, stuff it, with some B5 Bucks, seal it, put it
on the counter with your car keys. Make sure you mail it tomorrow.
We've been here before folks. Our backs against the wall, no chance
in hell of getting what we want. We've been here every single
season, we were here at the end of S4 most of all. We were here
trying to get the show released on some form of home video and
ultimately on DVD. We were here trying to get a feature film off the
ground at all. We've always tried to do the impossible and we've
always been told that we never could. (One SF entertainment news web
site won't run a story on this controversy because they haven't seen
an official announcement of the film from WB and they don't believe
that anybody is ever going to make a feature film based on
a "little" cult show like B5)
We've always succeeded in the long run.
Faith manages.
Start writing.
Joe
