Comments on: Harlan Ellison: The Original Hollywood Rebel

By: eye exercise

eye exercise — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:58:21 +0000

Improve your vision naturally!…

Thanks. Left you a trackback to help your readers improve eye vision naturally….

By: garment daily business reports

garment daily business reports — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:23:09 +0000

Visitor recommendations…

[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……

By: Fuego

Fuego — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:09:14 +0000

Ellison is among the best SF authors of the past 50 years. But I praise him as much as I damn him. Sadly, he bites off more than he can chew with lots of great SF projects left int he dust. Like how he helped kill his terrific "I Robot" script that was true and honest to the Asimov original. Now Ellison is just another grumpy old man. His glory days in the past. He was never a beacon of intellectual honesty either; he dazzled me as an early 20s something fan. But looking back, it was the story telling that mattered not the politics or morality plays. He had an agenda just like the rest of Big Hollywood. He writes from the Left. Any resemblance to a fair and balanced thinker is purely coincidental. And re: James Cameron? Yes, he did rip off Ellison and deserves to shown to be a filmmaker so profoundly unoriginal it's pathetic. Even his bloated "Titanic" was a rip-off of the Fox 1950s film of the same title.

By: The “I’ve been sick so here are some interesting links” Link List – Grasping for the Wind

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:36:22 +0000

[...] Ken Scholes Interstitial Arts Foundation interviews Alaya Dawn Johnson Big Hollywood interviews Harlan Ellison Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist interviews Mark Charan Newton Marshall Payne interviews John Kessel [...]

By: Peter L. Winkler

Peter L. Winkler — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:19:10 +0000

Gene Roddennberry couldn't have stopped Ellison from having his Trek script credited to Cordwainer Bird. WGA rules allow a writer to substiute his non de plume on a script. The producer has no say in the matter. Ellison was writing a lot of TV back then and wanted the credit.

Ellison vowed never to write for TV again back in the '70s, but has repeatedly broken his pledge. He also writes screenplays, though none seem to get produced. Ellison seeks the work, but complains loudly when his work is tampered with. That doesn't make him a rebel. A true rebel would stop writing for movies and TV. Ellison wants to have his cake and eat it. Also, suing James Cameron and studios, however meritorious the claims, isn't rebellious. Art Buchwald famously sued Paramount Pictures, but nobody called him a rebel.

By: Peter L. Winkler

Peter L. Winkler — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:06:57 +0000

Harlan Ellison had numerus book signings there and even wrote a story while siting in the store's bay window.

By: John T. Simpson

John T. Simpson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:46:18 +0000

Abe, I agree with you 100%. A writer has to be collaborative, especially these days. As I often say, "writing is rewriting." That said, Harlan set the bar for writers protecting the integrity of their work. Even today, dissed writers replace their own names in the credits with pseudonyms if the studios take their scripts off the rails.

I look at it this way. At the top, You have Harlan Ellison, who protects his work like they were his children. Which they are. And he has every right. Then you have writers at the bottom who have no compunction about prostituting their storytelling for propaganda purposes. Mephisto ring any bells?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephisto_%281981_fil...

By: JD Rhoades

JD Rhoades — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:28:40 +0000

"As noted in the preamble, Harlan does not care who he offends for the sake of pure art."

And, let's not forget, for the sake of writers, especially Harlan, getting paid. Not that that is in any way a bad thing.

I met Harlan Ellison at a post-speech reception in the mid-80's. I saw him go from "tiger on Meth" to completely charming in the space of a few seconds.

"Rude and abusive towards fans?" I think not. He's rude and abusive towards fools, and if those fools happen to be fans, well, that's too bad. He always reminds me of that teacher who you really hate because he's not averse to raking you over the coals when you're engaging in lazy thinking or writing, but when it's all over, you have, by God, learned something.

By: abe

abe — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:11:46 +0000

Unfortunately, Harlan Ellison, despite being entertaining and talented, does not have much to show for his days in Hollywood for the simple reason of that "rebel" attitude. His Hollywood oeuvre doesn't amount to much.

Film and tv making is a collaborative process with many competing demands. Yes, it would be ideal if talented writers had more power and authority, but that's the reality.

Why would studios care to hire a writer who is supposedly hard to work with and likes to give off that impression?

If Harlan had played it smart, he would have PRETENDED to be a nice and gentle person and then unleashed that difficult and combative monster once he became bankable to studios.

It also seems that Ellison was working hard to change Hollywood's adoration of the director. Harlan, through his writing, was trying to become like a director.

Directors can scream and be demanding but writers aren't afforded that right I'm afraid. Harlan failed to realize this but at least J.M Stracyznski let him work on his show (Babylon 5.)

By: QA_NJ

QA_NJ — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:30:33 +0000

Fair enough. Thanks for the replies.