Could an American write Doctor Who? - Babylon 5 creator throws hat in the ring

[Umbran]

But let’s face it plenty of your TV and movie characters are actually Brits, Canadians, or Australians putting on an American accent!

It would be interesting to see how many hours of scripted media content per capita each country produces.

We could imagine that on broad average, some fairly flat percentage of humans can be decent actors, so, to produce X number of hours of content, you need a population of size Y. If the US produces too much content, we'd need to import actors to supply the market.

Like, the population of the US is about 2.5 times the populations of Great Britain, Canada, and Australia combined. So, if we produce more than 2.5 times the media those countries do, we'd have call to import actors.

 

[Morrus]

It would be interesting to see how many hours of scripted media content per capita each country produces.

We could imagine that on broad average, some fairly flat percentage of humans can be decent actors, so, to produce X number of hours of content, you need a population of size Y. If the US produces too much content, we'd need to import actors to supply the market.

Like, the population of the US is about 2.5 times the populations of Great Britain, Canada, and Australia combined. So, if we produce more than 2.5 times the media those countries do, we'd have call to import actors.

It’s also that US shows pay ten times what, say, the BBC or ITV does. It’s easy see why actors want those sweet American gigs. Get a recurring role in a US show, buy a house! Get one in a US hit? Buy a mansion.

 

[ART!]

It would be interesting to see how many hours of scripted media content per capita each country produces.

We could imagine that on broad average, some fairly flat percentage of humans can be decent actors, so, to produce X number of hours of content, you need a population of size Y. If the US produces too much content, we'd need to import actors to supply the market.

Like, the population of the US is about 2.5 times the populations of Great Britain, Canada, and Australia combined. So, if we produce more than 2.5 times the media those countries do, we'd have call to import actors.

For what it's worth, I found the below here.

 

[ART!]

According to Google's AI summary (???), India leads the world in number of films produced, followed by China, the US, Japan, and France.

Again, for what that's worth.

 

[Zardnaar]

Deep fry it add cheese. Still better than Space Babies (I checked out again).

 

[jian]

One rather random personal contribution to this discussion - we just went to see This is Spinal Tap for the first time, at the cinema. I’d heard most of the jokes and seen a few clips but I’d never seen it before, and loved it.

The reason this is relevant, at least for me, is that despite having mostly English characters doing a certain thing in a fairly British way, the film is basically entirely American. Apart from a couple of actors (Tony Hendra as Ian and June Chadwick as Jeanine), all the main cast and crew are American, especially the writers (mostly Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest*). And the film is much the better for it, in pretty much every way - it’s funnier, gentler, more affectionate, and much less excruciating than I think an English version would have been.

*We can argue if Guest is English but when he made the film he hadn’t lived in the U.K. since he was a child and seems to have been fully American, culturally speaking, and still seems to identify as such despite now technically being a member of the House of Lords.

So I guess I’m saying that I can see that in a similar vein, an American writer and team could do an excellent job of delivering on a British property like Doctor Who, maybe even better than a British one, if they come to it from a place of respect and affection, and are also really talented.

 

[trappedslider]

so, I have HBOMax and under last chance is Doctor Who, i wonder who will pick up the streaming rights for the pervious seasons/series.

 

[ART!]

so, I have HBOMax and under last chance is Doctor Who, i wonder who will pick up the streaming rights for the pervious seasons/series.

This is one of the big question now, or at least part of the big question. A streamer that wants to give the BBC money in exchange for streaming rights of whatever new Who they make would, you would think, also want all the new Who since 2005, if not classic Who as well.

 

[Stalker0]

...no notes.



You know, I was going to disagree with this ... but then I remembered that while I really did love Sense8, it wasn't great writing. Jeremiah had some good parts, especially in the first season, but it was also (checks google) ... over in 2004????

Woah. I mean, dang. Now that I think about it, I do hear about JMS all the time, but the last time I can definitively point to great science fiction writing for the screen was probably season 4 of B5*, and that ended in ... 1997 ... and was written in .... oh no, 1996.

I think I'm going to find a corner, cry, and reflect on my mortality.


*I actually like season 5! But it wasn't ... great. And yes, I get the excuses for B5: Crusades, but even with those it wasn't great; at best, it had potential.

I have to agree. I mean JMS will always have my eternal gratitude for B5, but honestly I haven’t really liked any of his other writing work.

JMS had one brilliant show, most people get none, but I don’t think he’s the consistent talent you need for doctor who

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have to agree. I mean JMS will always have my eternal gratitude for B5, but honestly I haven’t really liked any of his other writing work.

His comics work is generally pretty good, but for whatever reason, he doesn't seem to stick it out for long runs. The six or so issues I read of Rising Stars were pretty interesting, though.

JMS had one brilliant show, most people get none, but I don’t think he’s the consistent talent you need for doctor who

History suggests that being an inconsistent writer is no obstacle to being a Doctor Who showrunner.