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Aristus

(68,885 posts)

19. In Ellison's defense, he knew it was a cliched idea when he pitched it.

Thu Jan 16, 2025, 11:55 AM

Jan 16

He was at a series pitch meeting his agent set up for him, and he was coming up with ideas for a science-fiction television show. And the dumb fuck studio executive taking the meeting shot down idea after idea after idea.

Finally, out of patience, Ellison hit him with the most overdone, hackneyed plot he could think of: a space ark/generational ship story, which, as you pointed out, has been around forever.

The dumb fuck executive thought it was thrillingly original (of course) and ordered a story treatment. The whole tangled mess is related in one of Ellison’s essays on working in Hollyweird. But the heart of it is, Ellison knew it was a played-out idea from the start.

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In Ellison's defense, he knew it was a cliched idea when he pitched it. Aristus Jan 16 #19

Interesting ! Strange that I didn't recall any of that from the version I read. Not sure where it was, unfortunately ... eppur_se_muova Jan 16 #20

The entire experience is recounted in Ellison's essay Aristus Jan 16 #21

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