LegalDispatch

I was five years old when America turned 200. The time was known — and widely celebrated — as the Bicentennial. Like most kids my age, I hunted down special edition quarters with a colonial drum player on the back. There was a run on red-white-and-blue bunting. Even comics — already beloved by me — got in on the act. Well, here we are on the precipice of America’s 250th birthday. “Semiquincentennial” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the way “Bicentennial” does, does it?

Greetings from 36,000 feet, where I’m flying back from the table read for PROJECT DEFIANT. More on that project below, but first: FEEDBACK There was a lot of great feedback on the last newsletter where I posed the question of whether Trump is making us all a bit like him in subtle ways: Don’t Bother Reading makes a fair point: If your readers were like Trump, then we wouldn't be so happy for you! That’s true. And thank you.

LegalDispatch 158 Yesterday, I had a meeting with an executive who had blown up a show that, at the time of said blowing up, was employing dozens of artists. To my ear, he was pretty casual about the decision, very “Yeah, it’s not the outcome we wanted but what can you do?” about it. (That’s not a direct quote but it’s close.) I told the exec that perhaps he shouldn’t be so casual about making a decision that put dozens of people out of work in an industry where work is particularly scarce.

Howdy. Short one this week because I’m juggling a few work chainsaws… THE WHISPER WAR #4 The penultimate issue of The Whisper War drops on Tuesday (5/12). Cinema Sentries has a preview which I’ve, um, stolen below: You can order (or pre-order) by clicking here. FEEDBACK Norman Anderson writes: It feels like, in my opinion, that you are spot on about the television industry. Independent producers and production companies could revive the industry.

Greetings from a very surreal week. In the space of seven days, I’ve gone from being fired from a Netflix animated show (PROJECT VISTA rip) to the set of a Netflix live action film (An Innocent Girl) which is currently in production. Even if PROJECT VISTA hadn’t been “reset” (to use Netflix’s term), returning to a set after four years (LA Law rip) was surreal and, if I’m being honest (which I always try to be in these virtual pages) bittersweet.

Recent readers of this newsletter know that for the past year, I’ve been serving as the Head Writer on an animated show for Netflix I’ve referred to here as PROJECT VISTA. But as of this Tuesday… not so much anymore. Suffice it to say, I had no idea this was coming. Netflix was extremely happy with the work we’d been doing — or did an Oscar-caliber job indicating otherwise. With the benefit of hindsight, however, this development was not only predictable, it also had an air of inevitability to it.

Yesterday, I wrote the following on social media: Even if there is a blue TSUNAMI in November, make no mistake: America is a right-leaning country full of voters with short-term memories who are conservative, apathetic, and/or stupid. Look how much damage Trump has done to the country in order to get them to even CONSIDER voting Dem.

Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Greetings from Encino, where I am chopping away at the screenplay for Last Flight Out, which I’m hoping to deliver to the producers by month’s end. I also completed a rewrite of a law show pilot that a friend of mine is developing to direct. It’s always nice to return to the legal arena and I wish there was more of a market for law shows these days. Today, I received notes on the story area for PROJECT STRING THEORY (NBC pilot) and PROJECT SPECTRE (prose novel).

Greetings from the wilds of Encino, where I just finished my pass of the latest draft of Episode 106 for PROJECT VISTA. I recently re-watched Oliver Stone’s brilliant JFK. The movie is a masterpiece, but viewing it through the lens of 2026 really made me reconsider the material. I’d never been much of a conspiracy theorist and I’ve never been fascinated by Kennedy’s assassination.

Howdy. It’s been a while since I did a work update, but that’s due to a combination of two things. First, so much of what I’m working on is below the waterline that the iceberg looks a lot smaller than it actually is. Second, a good chunk of what’s on my plate is in the pitching/waiting for feedback stage.