Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski

Author:J. Michael Straczynski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Jim didn’t know if I was being fired outright or if I’d simply pissed off someone higher up the food chain, but I was to report immediately to Jean Chalopin, the French owner of DIC.

Jean’s office was strewn with concept sketches for new shows in various stages of development, including artwork for a new animated series for ABC based on the Ghostbusters movie (titled The Real Ghostbusters to distinguish it from Filmation’s 1975 Ghostbusters series about some guys and a gorilla riding around in an old jalopy chasing spooks). Ghostbusters was one of my favorite movies and I’d been hoping to write an episode or two once I was done with Jayce. The odds of an assignment were small since I’d only worked in syndication and wasn’t on the network’s list of approved writers, and now even that modest goal seemed out of reach since I’d apparently done something to annoy the studio.

Jean finished a phone call then turned to me and asked, “Do you know Ame Simon and Jennie Trias at ABC?” Since Jean spoke with a heavy French accent, it came out more like, “Du yu gnaw Aaaame S’mon n Jennnie Triaaas at ABC?”

The only part I actually understood was ABC, and since I didn’t know anyone there I said no, figuring that way I was safe no matter what the hell he’d just asked me.

His reply, translated into English: “The story editors I hired to work on The Real Ghostbusters, Len Janson and Chuck Menville, did not understand that they would be working on both the network series and the syndicated series we will be producing at the same time. They decided they do not wish to do that much work and will only write their own episodes. So I need a story editor to come in on both series.

“I have told Aaaame-n-Jennnie* that you are the funny man,” he continued. “Do not make from me the liar.”

It happened so quickly that it wasn’t until leaving his office that I stopped to do the math. DIC was producing thirteen half-hour episodes for ABC and sixty-five for first-run syndication for a total of seventy-eight episodes that would have to be written and story-edited simultaneously. By this point I’d written thirty-two scripts—nine for He-Man, another nine for She-Ra, and fourteen for Jayce—and story-edited about two dozen scripts while at Filmation. I’d never written or edited seventy-eight episodes of anything, let alone a show that would be launched with as much visibility as The Real Ghostbusters. No one had. The only reason Jean offered me the show in the first place was because Len and Chuck, story editors with years of experience, had run screaming into the night rather than even try to tackle that number. And while there would be action and supernatural components to the show, at its core The Real Ghostbusters was a comedy series, whereas all my experience to this point was in straight-ahead action/adventure.

I have told Aaaame-n-Jennnie that you are the funny man.

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