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Greetings from a very surreal week. In the space of seven days, I’ve gone from being fired from a Netflix animated show (PROJECT VISTA rip) to the set of a Netflix live action film (An Innocent Girl) which is currently in production.

Even if PROJECT VISTA hadn’t been “reset” (to use Netflix’s term), returning to a set after four years (LA Law rip) was surreal and, if I’m being honest (which I always try to be in these virtual pages) bittersweet. It’s never not thrilling to be on a set and even more thrilling to see one’s words performed by genuine movie stars. But it also served as a reminder of how much the entertainment industry has changed in the past six (or so) years, and of how much we’ve lost.

My wife — a writer/showrunner herself — pointed out something that seems obvious but remains mostly unconsidered: The entertainment business has always been changing. She cited how my three television idols — Stephen Cannell, Steven Bochco, and David Kelley — each dealt with seismic changes in the business they’d dedicated their lives to. Cannell transitioned into prose fiction. Bochco got out of the business entirely. While Kelley, after a few years’ break, reinvented himself by adapting bestsellers into series and limited series.

I have a reset of my own in mind, which I’ll talk about a little more below…

FEEDBACK

Bonnie Garvin writes:

I’m a writer and teach screenwriting at USC. I was just bemoaning with a producer friend, the state of the industry.

I think if you get more one industry person in a conversation together, that conversation will inevitably shift to the state of the industry.

There was far more opportunity and work — and better pay when there was only three networks. Corporate conglomerates have destroyed the film and television like they destroy everything they touch.

Well said. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, much of science fiction was about mega-corporations that controlled more aspects of life than the government. Today, that fiction is fact.

Rick Ellis writes:

I met Harlan Ellison once back in the late 70s, when I was going to UCLA and doing stand-up at the old Comedy Store in Westwood. There was a bookstore in Westwood and while I can't remember why, Ellison was sitting in the window of the bookstore typing. I was able to talk to him for a few minutes after he was done and while he is one of biggest writing influences (along with rock critic Lester Bangs), I can understand why he would have been a lot to deal with if you were around him on a regular basis.

From all accounts, he was a large and cantankerous personality. But his talent remains hard to deny.

Todd Ulman writes:

I mean to say loss of love for television, that proves you still have it, because that is super dramatic ;p You ever not love your wife for a few minutes when in a fight? And then realize those feelings were just because of... and then a bit later when the dust settles you laugh at even thinking that (subcon or not) even for a second? Well, maybe not you --- but you can IMAGINE a character going through that... and coming out of it just fine. You, and television, will be just fine.

I appreciate where you’re coming from, Todd. But in this case, my “wife” and I didn’t just have a fight or a spat. She became an abusive drug addict and a Trumper. With bad B.O.

Will there be a part of me that always loves her? Of course. But at the very least a trial separation is necessary for my mental health. In the meantime, I hope she gets the help she needs — though I’m not optimistic.

Now post production, we're F'd.

Sadly, I agree. Post is also more likely to be impacted by AI than writing, at least in the near term.

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PROJECT DEFIANT

A couple of months ago, I helped a director friend out with a rewrite on the pilot for a law show which is being independently produced. And now, believe it or not, it’s in pre-production, fully cast, and going to camera in June.

Readers of this newsletter know that I believe that if television is to survive, it’s going to be through independent producers who respond to what the audience is asking for: Longer seasons released no more than a year apart. So I’m dipping a toe into what I believe the future to be. (It helps that I’m working with a friend and writing in a genre I love.)

Call this one PROJECT DEFIANT (for… reasons).

SPIDER-NOIR

I recently wrote a comic book prelude for the upcoming Spider-Noir series from Sony Television and Amazon Studios. Like the show, the issue is being released in both color and black-and-white editions.

I got the chance to collaborate once again with Stefano Raffaele, who drew Bring On The Bad Guys: Doom last year.

The issue’s release is unconventional: The book will be available for free, but only at various Spider-Noir-related activations and events in the coming weeks.

IGN has a preview of the book, which you can check out by clicking here.