Hello! (This is cross-posted to my free newsletter, Burner Account.)
Chicago folks, on Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m., I’ll be in conversation with my friend Steve Darnall at The Book Cellar in Chicago. The occasion is the reissue of Uncle Sam, a brilliant graphic novel by Steve and Alex Ross. It’s about a lot of things, including the idea of America and the necessity of fighting the urge toward fascism and empty populism. Pretty relevant, I’d say!
It’s also the first Chicago event I’ve done since the paperback of Burn It Down came out, so that’s exciting. Steve and I will have a conversation about our books — and maybe we’ll talk a bit about working together at a very bananas magazine company a million years ago — and then we’ll sign things. Hope you can make it if you’re in Chicago!
Another really fun thing coming up: Because the universe decided to smile upon me, the convention celebrating the 20th anniversary of Battlestar Galactica will take place in Chicago in October. That’s pretty cool, and even cooler (again, for me personally, which is what matters): I’m going to host the convention and moderate some panels. Is this real life? I hope so! If you can come out for part or all of this multi-day shindig, that would be swell, because it’s going to be a blast. So say we all!
Now for the main event: In Los Angeles in June, there was a celebratory event for the paperback release of Burn It Down, which came out a year ago.
For the event, which was sponsored by the great folks at Women in Film LA, we assembled a panel of illustrious industry veterans: showrunner and creator Melinda Hsu and creator and producer Shernold Edwards (both of whom were interviewed for my book), as well as actor, producer and musician Kether Donohue (she’s been in You’re the Worst, B Positive and many other productions, and perhaps most notably [to me], plays a flying robot called Peanuthamper in Star Trek: Lower Decks).
Rounding out the panel was the amazing Maikiko James, Women in Films’ senior director of programs.
They are all so insightful, so funny and so thoughtful, and I got to converse with them for an hour about matters of Hollywood misconduct, abuse, leadership and reform. We joked and we laughed, and we held space for each other when hard truths were said. We took questions from the audience, and they were terrific. I’m thrilled with how it all went, because it was one the most enjoyable and illuminating panels I’ve ever been part of.
The YouTube video of the event is below. (It’s also on my YouTube page. Hey, could I ask a favor? Could you subscribe to my YouTube channel? If I can get above a certain subscriber count, that would make some things easier for me on the YT front. Thank you in advance!)
It fills my heart with joy to inform you that Richard Manning, executive producer of one of my all-time favorite shows, Farscape, came to the event with his lovely wife, Cheryl (hi Ricky and Cheryl!). Ricky filmed the panel and then edited it; that video exists because of him. Thank you so much is not adequate to express my gratitude, especially since Ricky also gave me unbelievably precious pieces of the Moya set as keepsakes. (I keep them near me at all times!) Later, he pointed out that you can’t spell Mo Ryan without Moya (mind * blown). Frelling incredible. (And I will point you once again to my most recent writing about Farscape, a beginner’s guide to the show and its awesomeness.)
Jerry Jerome, an excellent photographer (who took a lot of great pictures of the Hollywood strikes of 2023), volunteered to take photos of the event, which took place at the very nice co-working space Groundfloor LA. He really captured the event in an organic and lovely way. Thanks, Jerry!
Shoutout to Liz Alper, who worked a lot of behind the scenes magic; to Joseph Mwamba, who brings great vibes wherever he goes; to my former Tribune pal Amy Guth; and to showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson, whom I’d never had the good fortune to meet before, but who was among the industry folks and civilians who turned up on a Thursday night to listen to the conversation and have me sign books.
Good times! Truly, my thanks go out to every person who came out to the event. I really enjoyed talking to folks after the panel, and I’m so grateful for the turnout and for the delightful vibes.
The discussion we had is, of course, eternally timely, because, as Jenny Holzer put it, abuse of power comes as no surprise.
Back in early June, the allegations about Neil Gaiman had not yet surfaced. When they did come out the following month, journalist Annabel Ross had a good analysis of the the first round of reporting (and the problematic issues surrounding it). Another woman came forward on the Am I Broken podcast, in an episode titled “I Ignored It and Believed Him Because He’s the Storyteller.”
The number of times I’ve heard similar assertions fills my soul with sadness. As Ross noted in a subsequent post, the “allegations detailed in the initial Tortoise investigation were extremely disturbing, but I found Claire’s account on Am I Broken even harder to listen to.”
Not long after that, two more women spoke to the Tortoise Media reporters. These allegations were also horrific. All in all, what’s alleged is truly heinous and I am so profoundly sorry about what these women have gone through, and are no doubt still going through.
(Important note: These allegations have been used as a battering ram by some deeply transphobic people, and I want to make it clear that I completely condemn transphobia, TERF-iness and all forms of bigotry against trans people, now and forever.)
It sounds like some of these women approached the media before and didn’t get anyone to take on their stories. If you’ve wondered, I’ve never been approached by anyone with allegations like the ones that recently came to light. And while I would be very surprised if there is not further coverage of this matter, I know from extensive experience that these kinds of investigations take time. A lot of time.
Time, care and attention are required to do this kind of reporting properly, in ways that show compassion and consideration to the survivors, and in ways that pass muster with fact-checkers, editors and lawyers. (Legal review of my book, for example, took about a year, and some stories I’ve done have gone through several months of legal review, especially when the subject of a story has the resources to hire a lot of lawyers, spin doctors and crisis PR firms. Having to engage for months with all those hired guns is about as pleasant as you’d think.)
Because folks have asked, I am not working on any kind of Gaiman followup. In part because I have other commitments that take precedence. In part because what I have to say about these kinds of behaviors, patterns, dynamics and abuses is in my book (and in my previous decades’ worth of in-depth reporting on Hollywood).
And in part because I have already reported on Gaiman, somewhat indirectly, and I did not enjoy a significant aspect of the fallout of that experience.
Continue reading A Burn It Down video extravaganza, and thoughts on Neil Gaiman, creative gods, American Gods and rotten pedestals
