Two marginally off-topic replies...DS9 will film in August for a early
spring 93 airdate. That's solid. And no, there's no involvement here with
Angela's other project, which at this time is dormant anyway.
That said...there's news.

What propelled this current situation was a confluence of things: the
importance of getting some foot-draggers to move so we could still hit the
November play-date and other details, but *most* important was the issue of
the creative focus, the long-term plan for the show, and control over what we
felt the show could become. Without that, you've got nothing on a project
like this.

I'm leaving a lot out, of necessity, but from the foregoing it should be
clear that what was at stake was the creative and organizational *heart* of
the show, as well as other things.

So at some point in the game, you've got to push all your chips onto the
table and turn the game into winner-take-all.

This was then conveyed. There was resistance. At 11:45 this morning, a
call came indicating that if this was indeed the stance, then it looked like
the project was dead in the water. My agents wondered if maybe there should
be some flexibility. My associates were willing to stand by our decision.

"Let it ride," I said.

If it has to die, then let it die here and now.

As the clock ticked on, I began to think about the people we'd involved
in this project, the years of work, the dedication that so many have already
shown B5 within the team of production staff we've brought aboard. Had my
inflexibility ruined something for all of them?

At 12:20, 35 minutes later, the phone rang again.

They blinked.

We're on...and all the provisos I'd held out for were accepted.

It's a terrible thing to look into the abyss...and thus a wonderful thing
when you realize that you're not going to fall after all, that you've somehow
skated past the precipice and come out alive at the other end.

The crisis is over, the situation fixed, and now at long last, we can
settle down to the business of casting and building and rolling film.

The "we" who won in this situation is, I believe, everyone...thanks in
large measure to people at Warners and at the Television Consortium who
believe in this project, have believed in it from the beginning, and
understood what it was that was at stake...and came through for us at the end.


And thanks as well to those here, who Quixotically volunteered to go
forth and attack dragons in service of a place they had never even seen, which
is, I suppose, the higest calling one can aspire to, to fight not for
acquaintances, or the familiar, but for an *idea*.

So once again, my utmost appreciation. That the goal was achieved
without the necessity of firing a shot does not in any way diminish the thanks
due the volunteers in this extraordinary company. When next we assemble, I
hope, it will be in the cause of celebration.

And today I have amended the B5 bible to include the following notation:
"The Babylon 5 station is located in neutral territory, in grid epsilon, at
coordinates 470/22/18."

Onward!

jms