When Creators Collide

I have no dog in this hunt whatsoever, but I was taken by the dueling blog posts between writer John Rozum and artist Scott McDaniel over the unfortunate creative process that developed while they were working on a recent DC comic series (Static Shock). Rozum felt cut out of the creative process early on and went public because he felt his writing career was taking a hit from the failure of a book that he essentially wasn't allowed to write. McDaniel, who was plotting and then more or less writing the book, went public in rebuttal, posting a lengthy piece on how things started well and then went very very bad. I suspect the moment when artist McDaniel pulled out a Robert McKee screenwriting book and read a passage to Rozum to make a point about writing craft was a special low point...

I've made it a personal policy of never broadcasting my creative disagreements publicly. (Sit me down with a drink, and I'll regale you with many a tale... but I will never put them into print/blog form). This doesn't mean I've never had creative disagreements -- there have been plenty, believe me. I've received sole credit on several television episodes that make me cringe -- because there are elements in the show that I didn't write and worse, really don't like. But I can't append pop-up balloons explaining "this stupid dialogue was NOT MINE!" or "yes, I know that plot twist was convenient, explain that to the other guy!" And as time rolls on I have the absurd confidence that I've done enough okay stuff not to sweat it when the odd clunker comes along. In the words of producer Larry Gordon, when confronted with the failure of a project: "next!" Some ask why I didn't remove my name from most egregious examples. Well, since residuals are tied to credit, that would be adding financial insult to creative injury. Or, to put it more bluntly, if I have to suffer the critical slings and arrows, then I'm damn well going to get paid for it!

(By the way, not to get too full of myself here, I have also written episodes where I cheerfully take personal responsibility for the odd clunker lines and/or bit that didn't quite work. But overall I'm more or less sanguine with my produced "stuff"...)

Anyway, I'm not sure either of the aggrieved parties in the Static Shock situation did themselves any favors by rinsing their dirty laundry in public. I understand that Rozum felt his career was taking an unfair hit because his name was attached to a high profile underachiever. And I understand McDaniel not wanting to let it go. It's just too bad it went that south in the first place, I guess. Links to the various blogs can be found in this post from Heidi McDonald's great site --

http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/02/08/mcdaniel-talks-his-side-of-the-static-rift-and-what-it-reveals-about-the-new-52/