Redundant but necessary verbiage:
TVWriter™ is more than just daily posts about TV, writing, and the collected obsessions of those of us who work here? It’s also the longest running, most complete site about the ins and outs, both creative and economic, of television writing on the web. We’re talking contests, workshops, and page after page of info based on Larry Brody’s 30+ year long career.
Full disclosure—I’m not a fan of Spider-man. Not because I’m arachnophobic. I don’t mind spiders at all. Spider-man simply wasn’t one of my go-to superheroes. You know how you don’t like something just because? That would be me and Spider-man.
Now I’m a little more partial to the crawly dude since I saw THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Overall I found the movie enjoyable. The cast was good, the CGI wasn’t overwhelming or obvious, and as with all Marvel movies of late, the sequel set-up was there and not too ham-fisted. I might even watch this movie again, which I can’t say about too many other films.
And yet, there are a few nits to pick. The main one is the issue of backstory, aka the writer’s bane. How much previous information is too much? How to decide what is germane to the story you’re trying to tell? If you leave anything out, will the audience be confused? If you add more than you need, will the audience be bored?
Remember how comic books fans were all furrowed brows and sputtering talk back in ’09 when Disney absorbed Marvel? How the fans were worried that Disney would dilute/sully/demean/cheapen/totally screw the Marvel brand?
Remember how relieved fans were when the Marvel feature films stayed as fresh and exciting and authentic as the first IRON MAN had been after the new regime was in place?
How they/you/we heaved big sighs of relief and went back to cursing more important things, like the economy, Microsoft, and health care in the U.S.A.?
Back in the day when I was a kid writer hanging at Harlan Ellison’s house and being amazed not only by his talent but also by everything he got away with in everyday life that would’ve gotten me, at best, a punch in the face, there was this guy named Don Glut who also would show up every once in awhile.
I remember being told that Don was a writer when we were introduced. And that he was a huge comics fan. But I never got any details because he was, quite simply, the most abstracted human being I’d ever met at that point. His head was – well, it was somewhere beyond the clouds, in a very special place. Which, I thought at the time, must have made life hard for him because Don also seemed to be the most eager-to-be-loved human being I’d ever known as well…and if there’s a trait more opposed to living in your own head than that I can’t imagine what it is.