Questionaire |
|
22-01-2011
Hello Ron,
It's a long time ago now, but yes, I worked on Tarzan series. I was a staff story editor for Disney Television Animation at the time. In addition to writing those two episodes myself, I oversaw the writing of several others… the only one that comes to mind right now are …and the Rogue Elephant" and "…and the Seeds of Destruction." |
| Ron : |
1. How did you got involved with the Tarzan tv series? Was there a team of writers selected and the stories were picked by a writer? Could you tell us how this started? |
| Jess : |
As with all Disney animation series of this era, they were mostly staffed by Disney writers who moved from show to show. Bob Roth and Bill Motz, the executive producer of the series, had worked with me on Hercules: The Series, and brought me on to the series as a Story Editor. This generally means you are expected to write a handful of episodes yourself -- which means pitching stories to the producers, then, after approval by the network and Disney execs, write an outline and several script drafts. Story Editors also act as gatekeepers for freelance writers, who first pitch stories to Story Editors before they are brought to the producers. The Story Editor then oversees -- and often extensively re-writes (uncredited) -- freelance scripts. |
| Ron |
2. Were these two episodes the only two you wrote? Or were there also other stories which has not been approved or been wrong credited? |
| Jess : |
"Flying Ace" was my own story. "New Wave" was a sequel to the prior "British Invasion" episode feature Jane's dotty English friends. The other two were stories I worked on with freelance or staff writers. |
| Ron : |
3. Was there one version of The New Wave and Flying Ace or were there multiple version which resulted into the final versions? |
| Jess : |
If I recall, The New Wave went fairly smoothly from premise to the final cartoon.
"Flying Ace" went through many extensive re-writes. It originally involved a much more explicit "triangle" between Jane, Tarzan, and the Flyer. In fact, it was revealed that Jane had been engaged to the flying ace, and Tarzan became quite jealous.
This was a better story, but deemed too adult for the time slot. In fact, the final version of Flying Ace was re-written by the producers after I had left the show to move on to Disney's Teacher's Pet. (Ironically, both Tarzan and Teacher's
Pet were nominated for Emmy awards that year; Teacher's Pet won.) |
| Ron : |
4. Can you remember how you prepared the stories New Wave and Flying Ace, did you watched specific movies, read specific books or visited museums?
Marv Wolfman liked the Teddy Rooseveld personage and got information from National Geographic books. |
| Jess : |
I'm afraid I don't recall any specific research I did for the scripts. |
| Ron : |
5. From other scriptwriters I learned that sometimes personal touches were included, like describing the looks of persons by using the looks from relatives or friends, describing buildings from your own environment.
Did you also had your own personal touches to these episodes? |
| Jess : |
I would have to look at the scripts again; I don't recall any in this instance. In the case of "the New Wave," I was working with characters created by Mirith Colao...
she might have had models in mind for Jane's friends. |
| Ron : |
6. Can you remember if something (and what) has been changed during the creation of the script or after the script was ready? |
| Jess : |
As mentioned above, Flying Ace was drastically changed. |
| Ron : |
7. Do you remember anything odd about what happened during the creation of this episodes? |
| Jess : |
I recall that Bill Motz called one early draft of "Flying Ace" the "best cartoon script I've ever seen, full of subtext and callbacks and layers and intricate subplotting." All of that was of course removed for the final cartoon, but it did lead me to think that perhaps I should try writing a novel. Which I did. |
News
