Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here's what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don't ever notice me.Nikki Finke, for anyone not familiar, is the journalist behind Deadline Hollywood Daily, the scourge of entertainment industry types near and far, and the subject of a very, very long Tad Friend profile in the New Yorker. Even though those of us who love Whedon's work fret constantly about his battles with studios, the poor treatments of some of his projects, etc., the truth is that Whedon is subject to much, much less commercial pressure than many other directors, writers, and producers who have kowtowed to what the system wants. Being out of the mainstream has serious disadvantages. But it also means you're not having your entrails chewed out as speculation over your next project commences if folks already assume you're not going to make a lot of money.
The Benefits Of Obscurity
Everyone's been sending around this pretty hilarious hilarious letter from Joss Whedon offering to buy the rights to the Terminator franchise for $10,000, and proposing, among other things, musical installments and a crossover with Lord of the Rings. But to my mind, the funniest sentence was this: