If you send me an ask containing links to Good Omens fan fiction you think I should read, I'll delete it. Do it again and I'll (regretfully) block you. This is a general blanket sort of thing -- I don't want to read it, legally I can't read it, no I won't make it into the next series, and, no matter how pure your motives, it's crossing a line.
I’m reading a lot of baffled responses to this. People, I’m showrunning and co-writing the Good Omens TV series. I can’t legally read unsolicited plot ideas. Think of Netflix. Their terms of service include
8.2. Unsolicited Materials. Netflix does not accept unsolicited materials or ideas for Netflix content and is not responsible for the similarity of any of its content or programming in any media to materials or ideas transmitted to Netflix.
…and you’ll find similar clauses out there for other production entities. They are trying to safeguard themselves. There are people out there who are certain that a hit film or TV series is based on their stolen idea. The easiest way to avoid that is to make sure that their ideas can’t get to you.
It’s nothing to do with not approving of what you do. It’s about not putting me, the producers, the BBC or Prime Video at risk — or about having to throw away plans for the future because someone did that in fanfiction first. I can’t legally read unsolicited scripts or story proposals or manuscripts and sending me a link to your or someone else’s Good Omens fiction counts as those things. If I read your story and then did something close to it you could sue. So I’m not going to read it. There’s no emotional baggage in this. I’m definitely not telling you that what you are doing isn’t valid. (And If I wasn’t showrunning I wouldn’t be so Please Don’t and I Will Delete about it. But I am. So don’t. Thank you!)
Reminder that "By Any Means Necessary," one of the best episodes of Babylon 5, nearly didn't get made because some fan suggested a similar idea (a workers' strike on the space station, dealing with workers' safety and labor issues at a time when Star Trek: TNG was still on the air).
I can't remember how far along the episode was in production — I think a rough draft of the script had been written —but showrunner J. Michael Straczynski had to pull the plug on the episode until they finally tracked down the fan who'd suggested a "workers' strike" story on Usenet and get legal documents signed that the fan wouldn't sue or ask for a cut of the proceeds. AND the documents had to be watertight enough that Warner Bros' legal dept was satisfied all financial/legal risk had been eliminated. In other words, it wasn't up to JMS to make the call.
Sadly, after that, he could no longer participate in the old Babylon 5 Usenet discussion list, where he used to interact directly with fans, answering questions. It was just safer if he stayed away, because that way nobody could accuse him of lifting ideas for the show. We don't want Neil to have to pull back for the same reason.
A lot of creators avoid social media for the same reason. Those that are here @neil-gaiman , @dduane , have a hard and fast rule not to look at unasked solicitations.
And now that Babylon 5 might get a reboot, JMS has issued a similar request:
One of the most ambitious sci-fi series ever made, Babylon 5, is potentially coming back for a reboot series at The CW.
When they first met, Crowley had to introduce himself by name to Aziraphale and Aziraphale didn't told Crowley his name but Crowley didn't seem to care. Maybe, Crowley had already known his name before that. Maybe Crowley had followed Aziraphale for a quite some time as he knew Aziraphale had a Flaming sword. I just can't stop myself from imaging Crowley as a snake, secretly followed Aziraphale around Eden.
Oh dear, Crowley's crush last more than 6000 years 😥😥😥😥
I hesitate between "Satan" and "The Goddamn Vatican" for this one because Demons on AnE are from all religion but the siege of the exorcist are in the Vatican, the ones that are historically know for killing people for not sharing their belief. Must be very ironic for people in universe. But I went with Satan at the end because he's currently trying to kill everyone in the manga so it's fit !
A few more becuase this concept now rears it’s head whenever i see literally any meme template
second meme in this reblog is dedicated to the anon who missed the caption and thought this was real but instead of being afraid they got really excited about monsters existing.
Here each time you mention "Mephisto got shot on tv live" episode I thought something was missing but I wanted the good meme for it. But I have it now so here :
(he's confused at how they are all still alive)
Here's more meme as a bonus :
(lmao the last one could be in real life I'm sorry I didn't mean to)
Yesterday was a bad writing day. I spent a lot of time staring at a screen. Lots of Tumblr replies. Lots of Twitter (the Netflix Sandman trailer going out didn’t help). Lots of being grumpy at myself and convinced I couldn’t do it any more. The script was a mess. I was doomed. This morning I printed out what I had to fix, picked up a pen, made a few notes and started typing. It was fun and easy and straightforward. I finished it and sent it to the people who needed to see it, and just got an amazed call from our script editor saying she was laughing while crying and couldn’t work out how I’d done everything in a day.
And I hadn’t done it all in a day. All of the being miserable yesterday was necessary for it to fly today. All of the knowing it was insoluble and awful made the work today relatively easy. I had to get out of my own way, and had to read it freshly, without being attached to anything. And then I just did the notes. And to make the thing that worked today, a lot of stuff that didn’t quite work or sort of worked had to be written too. It’s always easier to fix stuff that exists.
Anyway. Yesterday = bad writing day. Today = good writing day. I thought it was worth telling people, in case there was anyone else out there who was having a bad writing day too.
This is specially dedicated to my dear friend @nayuki911.
Sorry it took me so long, hun. I swore to myself I wouldn’t use strong colors. Argh. Guess I couldn’t resist, in the end.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for everything! You’re a wonderufl girl and an amazing artist. I couldn’t be happier that I found you (well, you found me first, hehe). Our long BE talks and ramblings always make my day.
stormborns
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romaincrisis
origamiaround
turnnoffyourmind
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dededos
