Writers in Hollywood get some of the fewest accolades out there. Whenever people think of films, they tend to think of actors first, and then directors if a celebrity director gets involved in a production. But who remembers the writers? The people who actually penned the stories?
J. Michael Straczynski first gained his chops prior to Babylon 5, for which he is famed, on The Real Ghostbusters, a cartoon that expanded the lore of Ghostbusters to make it far more of a phenomenon than just the movies. However, very few people remember that he was associated with this, or any of the other writers, for that matter.
He took to Facebook to voice his complaint:
Y’know, I told myself I wasn’t going to get into this, it ain’t worth it, let it pass...but every time I log on here I’m greeted by a flood of announcements from official sponsors of podcasts, livestreams, mini-cons celebrating the 40th anniversary of THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS in releases and invitations citing not just the cast (amazing people) shuttled in for events, but going granular in noting the producers, the executives, the folks at Hasbro, the staff at DIC...
And in not one of these notices have I seen a single mention of the writers. Not a word, not a syllable, not a jot or tittle...nada. Forget me in this equation, I’m talking about omitting ALL the writers on this show, from Linda Woolverton (who went on to write Beauty and the Beast), Michael Reeves, Larry DiTillio, David Gerrold. JM Dematteis, Keith for chrissakes Giffen and a ton of others.
Try performing a blank page. Try animating a blank page. I double-dog dare you.
When people talk about TRGBs what they tend to remember the most are their favorite stories. Yet any mention of the people responsible for those stories has been erased. Regular folk, newbies...yeah, that glitch happens all the time, it’s not a big deal.
But for *organizers of events* who should know better, bringing in cast and producers and mentioning everybody BUT the writers to the point of being painfully obvious, is an absolute disgrace on every imaginable level. Especially when it comes to the writers we’ve lost, who worked their asses off on this show in the hope that people would remember and celebrate their work, who have all -- ALL -- been memory-holed and kicked to the curb.
You have just hung a big old black wreath over the 40th anniversary and placed it over the word WRITERS.
You are asshats and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
EDITED TO ADD FROM BELOW
One last afterthought and then I’ll shaddup. I’m not doing this out of a desire for personal attribution because then this becomes about enlightened self-interest and that’s not the point. Not interested, hard pass. Don’t need it, don’t want it. But the other writers, especially those we’ve lost, deserve mention. As has been seen here and on Twitter whenever someone online cites an episode and mistakenly attributes it to me I always jump in to make sure the correct writer gets the appropriate credit. Because they earned that. This situation is no different.
So it would be goddamned nice if the organizers of all these celebrations included writers in the roster of people who made that show work, folks like Larry DiTillio and Michael Reeves since they’re no longer with us, and maybe a couple more who are still sucking down air.
These writers worked for me and I’m as responsible for them now as then when the studio tried to buy them off cheap and relegate them to gang credits. If you can celebrate producers and toy company execs and DIC in your press releases and announcements and livestreams you can damned well celebrate Griffen, and DeMatteis and Linda and Miller and the rest.
He seems to understand the futility in attempting to make the public see what goes on behind the scenes, but it has to be frustrating to be in such a position.
Do you agree that writers don’t get enough credit on TV?
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I think he kinda has a point. Writers get very little respect in Hollywood.
It's kinda too bad. In the comics they get more pull than the artists, which doesn't seem fair either.
He's an asshat, but he ain't wrong. He's a Hall of Fame legend to me purely because he wrote Ulysses 31.