The Orange County Screenwriters Association
Be Inspired, Do Good Work

Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:32

J. Michael Amazing

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regency theaterSaturday we gathered to hear one of the most prolific and versatile writers of our time.  

J. Michael Straczynski, aka JMS, aka Joe, put aside his crushing deadlines and came to the Regency South Coast Village Theater to take the stage and make us think, make us laugh, and make us feel good about being filmmakers.

Most of the time I can't be totally impartial since I'm usually doing the Q&As.  Joe and I sparred for about 30 minutes and then I let him loose with a wireless mike and his considerable wit, and I joined the audience to listen and enjoy.  He kept us in stitches for nearly two hours, talking about everything from religion to Ahab (a funny story about a studio exec and his inability to figure out who that  "Ahab character" was in the script.)

You just cannot imagine the scope of JMS's career.  Here are the highlights:

JMS had a play produced at 17, a sitcom produced at 21, and sold his first movie script at 24. By the age of 28, he had credits that included television and film scripts, radio scripts for Alien Worlds, a dozen plays, and more than 150 newspaper and magazine articles. He had also been teaching for several years at various lectures and seminars in California and elsewhere.

Straczynski has also been a journalist, reviewer, and investigative reporter - all in all publishing over 500 articles with the Los Angeles Times, the  Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Writer's Digest, Penthouse, San Diego Magazine, Twilight Zone Magazine, the San Diego Reader, the Los Angeles Reader and Time. 

Perhaps his best known work is Babylon 5 - he wrote 92 out of Babylon 5's 110 episodes, as well as the pilot and five television movies. He wrote the outlines for nine of the Babylon 5 novels, personally supervised the three produced B5 telefilm novelizations  Jeremiah, writing 19 of the 35 episodes. 

Comics and graphic novels - approx 60.
 

Radio dramas:   Alien Worlds for the Mutual Radio Network,   The City of Dreams for scifi.com   The Adventures of Apocalypse Al. 

And so on. 

His awards include stagetwo Hugo Awards and a nomination for a third, a Nebula, the Ray Bradbury Award, a Saturn Award,  the Eisner Award, the Inkpot Award, Eagle Award, BAFTA Award nomination best screenplay for "Changeling."

Babylon 5 received multiple awards and nominations during his tenure as executive producer. including two Emmy Awards 

How in the world does any one man accomplish all that not burn out?  He told us - because he's still in love with what he does.  And it shows because he still continues to dominate the writing world, now as an A-list writer of features.

Joe is charming, funny, gracious and as whipsmart as anyone I've ever met.  His visit was a total experience in that he also stayed long after and signed anything anyone put in front of him.

There was only one, brief disagreeable moment (on both his and my part) when he publicly chastised us as if we were his production crew (and not his hosts) for the sizzle reel we put together.  Tsk, tsk.  Joe, next time just talk to me privately - no reason to take that anywhere else.  But beside that everyone in that theater loved him and his great spirit.  

I have been a casual fan of JMS but now I am a fanboy of the nth degree of both him and his work.  I hope we'll be able to get him back someday - this time with a sizzle reel that he likes.

Also on the program were two more consumate pros, radio personality Manny Pacheco and journalist Gray Lycan.

Pacheco has written a really cool tabletop book called "Forgotten Hollywood, Forgotten History" that details actors and movies that both reflected and had an impact on our world.  

Gary Lycan, an OC journalist of note, wrote the forward to the book.  Both had great and insightful things to say about Hollywood yesterday and today and why an understanding of Hollywood history is crucial for anyone working in the business now.  In point of fact, both Manny and JMS had exactly the same message about how important story is to all forms of entertainment.

It was a fun, informative and exciting morning and afternoon.  Those who missed it missed the chance to hear one of the finest speakers on writing that I have ever heard.

For more information on Manny Pacheco's book, go here.

Gary Lycan's column appears in the Orange County Register. 

photos courtesy of Tom Sullivan and Rudy Garcia

Read 1557 times Last modified on Wednesday, 05 August 2015 16:14
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