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[David Bird]

June 15:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

* Install Final Draft 7 on computer,
after having spent two days reading
manual and understanding none of
it.

* Cry.

* Attend fitting for new suit at
bespoke tailor.

* Consider pistol-whipping tailor,
like Huey P Newton.

* Realise lack of pistol.

* Cry.

* Re-read PLANETARY script for
final tweaks, shittiness.

* Cry.

* Refuse to tell weird PLANETARY
fanboys which script it is.

* Laugh. Then cry.

* Re-read lengthy Newsarama
interview about DESOLATION JONES.
Discover that my answers are indeed
as staggeringly boring as I
suspected.

* You get the idea.

* Realise it's Thursday and I'm
about to miss yet another deadline
for the unpaid MINISTRY column
at Comicon Pulse.

* Fashion pub cutlery into Rube
Goldberg-style suicide device.

[Keb]

Haha!

Is Final Draft a script program?

[Lord Simian]

It is indeed. Supposedly a good one, too...

[David Bird]

June 16:

BAD SIGNAL
me

Image tell me that we're going to have to do another printing
of FELL #2, and that reorder velocity on #5 seems very high.
The fourth printing of #1 "continues to sell steadily". I don't
have numbers on any of these. Retailers carrying FELL may
want to put in reorders on #5 right now.

-- W

[David Bird]

June 16 (II):

BAD SIGNAL
meeeeeeeee


I have been engaged by the American cable company
AMC to write the half-hour pilot for a TV series I created.
The contract calls the show "black comedy/science fiction."
Christina Wayne at AMC, who, along with Vlad Wolynetz
has just been unreasonably good to deal with, recently
described it as a "sf/entertainment-industry 'dramedy'."

As with all TV Things, everything could go horribly wrong.
But this is the deal I've been waiting for, with people who
understand the project and format I want to work in. And
you know something's going right when people in TV are
telling you to go more experimental and take more risks. T
his isn't your US network tv experience.

I'm writing the pilot at the moment. (And I should particularly
thank Joss Whedon and John Rogers for their insights into
the process.) More details will hopefully follow as the project
progresses. Or, you know, a tearstained screed if it doesn't.

-- W

[David Bird]

June 16 (II):

BAD SIGNAL
me

Image tell me that we're going to have to do another printing
of FELL #2, and that reorder velocity on #5 seems very high.
The fourth printing of #1 "continues to sell steadily". I don't
have numbers on any of these. Retailers carrying FELL may
want to put in reorders on #5 right now.

-- W

BAD SIGNAL
meeeeeeeee


I have been engaged by the American cable company
AMC to write the half-hour pilot for a TV series I created.
The contract calls the show "black comedy/science fiction."
Christina Wayne at AMC, who, along with Vlad Wolynetz
has just been unreasonably good to deal with, recently
described it as a "sf/entertainment-industry 'dramedy'."

As with all TV Things, everything could go horribly wrong.
But this is the deal I've been waiting for, with people who
understand the project and format I want to work in. And
you know something's going right when people in TV are
telling you to go more experimental and take more risks. T
his isn't your US network tv experience.

I'm writing the pilot at the moment. (And I should particularly
thank Joss Whedon and John Rogers for their insights into
the process.) More details will hopefully follow as the project
progresses. Or, you know, a tearstained screed if it doesn't.

-- W

[David Bird]

June 19:

BS
me

http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/Desolation/Ellis_jones.html

-- W

An interesting interview about Desolation Jones, its new artist, and the upcoming arc. In it he talks about Philip K. Dick and his visions. Crumb did an interesting comic on this. Here's a link: http://www.philipkdickfans.com/weirdo/weirdo1.htm

[David Bird]

June 20:

BS
me

http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/Desolation/Ellis_jones.html

-- W

This is a repeat of yesterday's link. I think he meant this one: http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/Desolation/JHW3_Jones.html

[David Bird]

June 22:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

FELL status: #2 is sold out, and I
believe we're announcing a second
printing soon. FELL #1 has 1000
copies left of its 4th printing. #3
has 800 copies of its 2nd, #4 has
1000 copies of its 2nd, and #5 has
1000 copies of its first printing.

I know it's Wednesday, and a big
shipping day at that, for you
retailers. But you may want to
bear all this in mind for the week's
adjustments.

Ben's finishing #6 right now.

For the rest of you: as you can see,
there's no problems with ordering
issues you've missed, with the current
exception of #2. Some of you are
telling me stores are telling you
they can't order the book. That's
clearly not true.

[David Bird]

June 22:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

I swear, half the fucking internet
seems to be down today. Can't
reach BBC news or AvantGo on two
different ISPs. AOL UK seems to be
having some kind of major web
seizure in any case. Last night the
Bad Signal server coughed blood,
and a post got lost -- I stuck it on
warrenellis.com instead, so if you
get a Signal at some point called
"Swinging The Big Hook", just delete
it...

Old news: I finally got the back end
of PLANETARY 26 the way I want it,
so now it's on Cassaday's desk, for
a probable autumn release. 26
finishes the main story. There'll
be a 27 as an epilogue at some point,
but 26 closes the main business of
the book.

Three issues of NEWUNIVERSAL are
now written, and Salva's doing the
design work right now.

I believe that today or tomorrow a
major interview with me on JONES
will appear, discussing Danijel
Zezelj replacing JH Williams on the
book, at newsarama.com.

And for those who missed the Friday
announcements: the novel will
appear next summer, and I've been
engaged by AMC to write the pilot
of a tv show I created for them. To
deal with a FAQ on the latter: the
show is in a peculiar format, for
American tv, and if the series gets
bought, I'll be writing all the episodes.
So, no, you can't write spec scripts
for it.

Thanks to Colleen Doran, last night
I watched an episode of a TREK fan
net-tv show that recasts DEEP SPACE
NINE-era TREK as a gay soap opera.
Klingon man-love was not one of
the things I needed to see before I
die.

and...

BS
me

You know how sometimes you get
a word on the tip of your tongue
but just can't find it to spit it out?
It's like that with writing sometimes.

(I'll preface this with: don't send me
ideas, you silly fuckers.)

By previous agreement, I'm going
to be producing a major new series
with Avatar early next year. What
that series will be is a matter of
contention. I've thrown out three
full-blown concepts for the series
now. None of them were good
enough. They weren't bad books
-- I went as far as fully scripting
two issues of one of them. But
they weren't good enough. They
just laid there on the page. One of
them attacked the themes I want,
one of them had the energy, and
one of them had the structure and
language. But they don't stick
together, and separately they're
only a third of what I want on the
page.

One of them's too backward-looking,
one of them plays too many
market games, one of them has
no attack to it.

It's driving me mental.

It's the blank page thing. Aaron
Sorkin talked about it a bit, at the
top of one of the WEST WING
scriptbooks. The blank page is the
only critic that can hit you where
you live. In one of the episodes, in
fact, a journalist asks Sam why
writing a major speech is hard, and
Sam says, because it's a blank
piece of paper. It knows all your
secrets. In Sorkin's words, it sits
there and hisses, "I know how you've
been scamming all those people all
these years, GIFTLESS, you wanna
dance with me?"

And we really don't. We stare into
space for hours, running themes and
structures and settings through
our heads. And in my case the blank
page sits there and says, you've
done that. That's old. You've said
that before. And it drives you
mental.

Now, as a writer, I have a certain
voice, because I'm interested in
certain personality types and
certain themes. And I can live with
that. I came with things I want to
talk about, and if you don't like that
there are plenty of other comics to
read. But there are some things
I don't want to propagate. I've
done enough reassessments of old
fictional forms in my longrunning
series. IGNITION CITY was a fun idea,
but I find I don't want to do it as a
monthly series. Because it was JUST
a fun idea, there was very little
thematic meat on its bone beyond
The Death Of Crewed Spaceflight,
the Death Of Wonder and Flash
Gordon running a crooked bar while
Ming The Merciless hides in the woods
and Zarkov does his Tesla routine
and Buck Rogers has been drunk
since he got back from the 25th
Century and blah blah. There's
enough for short graphic novels,
maybe. But it doesn't swing the
big hook.

It's time to stop playing the retro
games and start thinking about
what fiction in the 21st Century
actually means. It's a long century,
and we're just at the start of it,
and there's no way we're going to
define "21st Century fiction" right
off the bat. But I'd rather not end
up as a curiosity of the millennium.
And I don't want to find myself
writing RETRO TAIL-EATING FUNNIES
this time next year, still wrapped
up in the business of tying off the
20th Century.

Entirely a personal choice, of course.
I'll still look with interest at what
others do in that business.

I dunno. I'm also a little sick of
writing things set in America. Ev en
though I don't do "American"
particularly well, I feel like I'm losing
my own vernacular a bit.

Send muses.

[David Bird]

I don't know how often Ellis is going to keep sending this one out, but...

BAD SIGNAL
meeeeeeeee


I have been engaged by the American cable company
AMC to write the half-hour pilot for a TV series I created.
The contract calls the show "black comedy/science fiction."
Christina Wayne at AMC, who, along with Vlad Wolynetz
has just been unreasonably good to deal with, recently
described it as a "sf/entertainment-industry 'dramedy'."

As with all TV Things, everything could go horribly wrong.
But this is the deal I've been waiting for, with people who
understand the project and format I want to work in. And
you know something's going right when people in TV are
telling you to go more experimental and take more risks. T
his isn't your US network tv experience.

I'm writing the pilot at the moment. (And I should particularly
thank Joss Whedon and John Rogers for their insights into
the process.) More details will hopefully follow as the project
progresses. Or, you know, a tearstained screed if it doesn't.

-- W

PS - The one he sad to delete in his first posting is the second one (this is the third). He said to do so because he'd already posted it on the site, but its an interesting piece.

[David Bird]

June 24:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

I fly out to Heroes Con on Weds,
and leave the convention Monday
evening. Please don't send me
links or pics during that period --
my mobile email is text-only.

At Heroes Con: please don't bring
me booze. People keep asking --
please, save your money. I travel
light -- a single carry-on bag --
and will not be able to bring twenty
bottles of booze home.

Also: do not ask me to go outside.
According to weather stats, it's
ninety degrees in Charlotte, with
80% humidity, with storms,
lightning, urban flash floods and
exploding electrical transformers.
I am clearly flying into Hell. I am
staying indoors, with the air
conditioning, away from the sky
electricity, the raging torrents and
the random explosions. I may
venture outside if I can cannibalise
several hotel minibars into some
kind of refridgerated mobile lifepod.
Keep an eye out for a Dalek-looking
thing with cigarette smoke leaking
out of it.

Do not join the signing queue if
you're having to transport your
books to be signed in a wheeled
vehicle of any kind. I'll have you
tasered by security.

If you see me crying, just leave
me alone.

[David Bird]

More:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

I've got a friend headed out to Moscow in about 48
hours. It's been a while since that person has been
there, and so they have no clue what it's like right
now, or, more importantly, where to go.

If there's anyone on the list currently in Moscow
or with RECENT experience of the place, I'd
appreciate some pointers to pass on.

Thank you for your kind attention.

-- W

[Lord Simian]

June 24:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

I fly out to Heroes Con on Weds,
and leave the convention Monday
evening. Please don't send me
links or pics during that period --
my mobile email is text-only.

At Heroes Con: please don't bring
me booze. People keep asking --
please, save your money. I travel
light -- a single carry-on bag --
and will not be able to bring twenty
bottles of booze home.

Also: do not ask me to go outside.
According to weather stats, it's
ninety degrees in Charlotte, with
80% humidity, with storms,
lightning, urban flash floods and
exploding electrical transformers.
I am clearly flying into Hell. I am
staying indoors, with the air
conditioning, away from the sky
electricity, the raging torrents and
the random explosions. I may
venture outside if I can cannibalise
several hotel minibars into some
kind of refridgerated mobile lifepod.
Keep an eye out for a Dalek-looking
thing with cigarette smoke leaking
out of it.

Do not join the signing queue if
you're having to transport your
books to be signed in a wheeled
vehicle of any kind. I'll have you
tasered by security.

If you see me crying, just leave
me alone.

Now that's funny.

[David Bird]

June 26:

bad signal
ME

This is going to sound like a silly
question, but: any real live
computer hackers in the audience?
My DSL crapped out on me
spectacularly last night, freezing
my machine for a while, and it
put an idea in my head. Contact me
through warrene@aol.com, I have
some questions towards a story.

Heroes Con schedule will be posted
on warrenellis.com later today. It's
pretty crazy - they're getting
their money's worth out of me.

Working frantically to finish up two
jobs before I leave. Madness.

-- W