Another Forum Meet-Up

Posted on by scott

Here I am posting without any cool ideas in my head. Just news:

ONE
Team Toshi Banana tells me that there will be another Forum Meet-Up soon! The last one was awesome, with about a hundred people showing up. (Seventy-eight at one time was the record.)

Meet-Up Number 2 will be this Saturday, February 13th, at 5:00 pm EST (US time). That’s 9AM Sunday morning here in Sydney, so I may be a little late.

The Forum is reached by clicking the word “Forum” on the menu bar above. I KNOW YOU CAN FIND IT. (Argh, okay, here’s a link.)

TWO
This will be sad news for some of you: It appears as though the Midnighters TV show will not be going to pilot. In other words, NBC doesn’t like the scripts they’ve come up with, so they aren’t going ahead with the show.

My guess is that this is because TV-land is obsessed with making everyone 20-something, and Midnighters doesn’t actually make sense with 20-somethings. Because staying up till midnight when you’re 27 is PURE DEAD MAGICAL! I discuss this sad phenomenon in hilarious detail here.

To be fair, this is just a guess. I only bring it up because the marvelous Ally Carter’s Heist Society has just been optioned by Hollywood, and they’re making everyone older—in their 20’s.

Note that Ally doesn’t seem to mind, and that I haven’t read HS yet, because it only arrived in in stores, like, THIS WEEK, so maybe aging it up is okay. But I just want to know from you teens out there . . .

WHAT DID YOU DO TO HOLLYWOOD? IT’S LIKE THEY hate YOU!

And I’m sure it’s your fault.

Okay, that’s it for today, except . . .

THREE
Walker Wednesday!

60 thoughts on “Another Forum Meet-Up”

  1. I’ll be working @that time on Saturday 🙁

    I trust there will be more in the future though…

    &&that’s too bad about Midnights – def disappointing-major!
    Maybe if they didn’t mess with it so much from what you wrote… I know they can’t, with films&tv, makes thing the exact same, but some things oughta be consistent between it all, otherwise don’t bother. Maybe something will happen in the future with it – with people who know how to do it right.

  2. awww! i was looking forward to seeing midnighters as a tv show! ah well i think that its better having no tv show than ones when their twenty something it would ruin my visions.

  4. I don’t watch TV that much anyway, so I can’t say that cancellation is a big deal for me anyway.

    Scott-la, please show up for the Meetup! It would make my day!

  5. I claim responsibility for Hollywood’s hatred of teenagers. I won’t say what I did, but I will say that it included some very angry badgers.

    The cancellation of a TV is rarely a truly horrible thing, especially when what makes so many books great can’t effectively be translated from text to screen (this is part of why the Watchmen film, which followed the source material ridiculously meticulously, went over like a lead balloon in some circles).

  8. Well, although I’m disappointed that there will be no Midnighterness on TV, I’m a bit glad we’ve been spared the outrage of them really screwing it up. I agree, aging Midnighters would never work.
    I’ve never read Heist Society, but I will put it on my list.. no opinion there, as I’d have no idea what I’m talking about.
    Hollywood, I’m assuming, doesn’t want to put too much stock into inexperienced actors. They want to see actors who’ve been doing this for years, rather than a fifteen year old who may have only had a few commercials. I’m not saying young actors can’t be experienced and wonderful, but I wouldn’t want to risk it with a bunch of unknowns with little experience. Not fact or anything, just my assumptions.
    However, if they cancel the Uglies move, there will be hell to pay. Just sayin’.

  9. Thats messed up about the TV show, I was hoping it would go through I mean the books were awesome and the writing was perfect… Ugh its these moment I hate Hollywood with their changing everything.
    “Hey, that book is totally great, why not make it as a show?”
    “Oh wait… but lets just change one thing… make that five!”

    I was really looking forward to the Midnighters show after a HUGE dissapointment with Vampire Diaries, Hollywood just tossed the whole book & story away and kept only one thing the same… the Title.

    Sorry for what happened Scott-la, *Cough cough* What about the Uglies Movie?? *Cough* 😉

  10. Hi Scott!
    my name is Maria, i have never written you, but i think it’s time to connect with you)
    id like to go to this meeting but i live in russia in moscow so it’d be some difficuld for me;)
    oooh its so awful that we cant see midnighters aaah(
    good luck Scott!

  11. Heya! The reason they’re not making people teenagers in movies, etc. is because they can’t do as much with teenagers as they can with 20 somethings. It’s harder for the viewing audience to kill them, to give them drug habits, pre-marital relations, all that cheap stuff they use to manufacture ‘drama’. If they did do these things to teenage characters, people would be in uproar over ‘The spoiling of children’s youth!’ or ‘Promoting bad decisions!’ or ‘Being bad role-models!’ blah, blah, blah. Also, they can then avoid the logistics of hiring actors to play their parents, siblings, and such. Instead they can have transient twenty year-olds, living alone, wearing leather jackets and angstily brushing too long hair away from their eyes…

    It’s a combination of sheltering and laziness that contributes to such things I believe, but what can ya’ do? We’ll probably have to wait for the “Old Guard” to move one before things change, as so often happens in situations like this.

    Also, seeing what most companies do to stories and characters when converting into the video medium, you may be better off. (i.e. Jumper, Eragon, The Golden Compass…)

    I’ll try to be there for the fun forum saturday at five-o-clock (Could we move it to friday so I could alliterate better? Nevermind.).

  12. Wow, I misspelled some things. And skipped a few commas… And started sentences with ‘And’… I hopeyou’ll get the gist of what I was saying though.

  15. I didnt even know it was being made into a tv show…….it would be kool, but I’d rather it not be cause it would ruin it for me……..I think Peeps should be a movie

  16. oh darn! i really would have liked to see midnighters! i guess the whole making everyone twenty would ruin it though

    last time i was probably the first person on the meet up and NOONE WAS THERE so i left cuz i had to go. i hope this time ill get there when everyone else is there

    and lastly i was wondering if there is any news about the uglies movie and anything else they are gonna bring to the big screen

  18. i agree with kristina-la, peeps should be a movie. it would make a great movie, and there would be less concern about character ages there considering they’re already all 19 and up.

  19. That’s dissapointing that the Midnighters isn’t going to be a TV series. I don’t watch much TV but I’d watch that show. Oh well, I agree with everyone why says it’s better off being cancled than completely changed.
    I can not wait for Uglies to come out. It’s supposed to come out the year I graduate and I told my friends they’re comming to see it with me. 🙂

  20. OMG I had no idea they were thinking bout making a Midnighters tv show!!!!! But now there not and im sad 🙁
    BUT the Walker Wednesday totally cheerd me up!!!! 😀 Lol they were INCREDABLE!!!!!!

    PING TO SCOTT: Ummmm this may be a stupid question but is the forum thing like a chat room? My mom said im not allowed to go to chat rooms or i’ll get grounded, sooooo I need to know!!!

  21. Wow, I haven’t commented on this blog foor months! =/ Anyways, awwwwwww I so wanted to watch midnighters. Sure, it might agrivate me a little seeing everyone watch it withou having any clue of what it is, but I sitll wanted to see it. But yeah, holloywood does seem to mess stuff up. I mean really, twenty something year olds? They can’t really be that stupid….eh actually hollywood cann but….yeah…..

  22. I feel as though I should be dissapointed that there will be no Midnighters show. But, I’m not.

    Everytime one of my books (okay, I guess I don’t actually OWN the books) gets filmed in some sort of a movie, show, etc., the book atomatically gets ruined and I am scarred for life. Sorry, I understand that I’m being a bit dramatic (just a bit).

    Well, it’s just whenever I read a book, I always have some sort of emotional connection to it. So when books are made into flims and shows, my connection to that book always gets changed for the worse.

    Can anyone relate?

  23. Hello, Scott-La!
    I am in such a bubbly mood today! I even drew 3 pretty-making pictures for you! One is of Zane-la and Tally-Wa right after they kissed. One is of either a manga-head or a pretty. It’s kinda both! The last one, my favorite is of me and my ‘boyfriend’ hoverboarding in New Pretty town. I actually look a bit like my pretty self, save for the Cartoonish blush and super long hair. My boyfriend, Zerr-La, is totally pretty-making! Of course,

  24. eek! It cut short! Stupid keyboard and other Rusty inventions!
    Of course, I don’t really have a boyfriend, all the guys I know are totally bogus. I only fall in love with characters in books, and sometimes movies (*wink wink* movie!), but they always end up having a kid with someone else (Like Evra Von From the Vampire’s assistant) or dying (Like Zane-La!)

    Sorry that this comment is sooo Uglies fanatic, and this is a Midnighters post. Sorry if this is a bit bogus, guys!

  25. Well, I didn’t even know that they were going to make Midnighters into a TV show, but when they made The Vampire Diaries into a TV show, they RUINED EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like, not only are the actors totally different from the book discriptions, but they changed names, added and deleted charecters, and totally changed the ENTIRE PLOT LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I can’t say that I’m at all sad that they’re not going through with this. I HATE HOLLYWOOD. THEY RUIN BOOKS!!!!!!!! EVIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!!!!!!!!!!! HOLLYWOOD PEOPLE ARE EVIL BOOK-HATERS-RUINERS!!!!!! Oh, and I agree with Me And My Spagbol. I get emotionally attached to a book and it’s charecters, so when they change stuff around I get really pissed. Really really. I can totally relate to ya, Me And My Spagbol!!!! Lol I like haven’t posted a comment in FOREVER, but I have been keeping up with the blog. I haven’t heard from the peoples I know, like Andrea-La, Bethany-La, and Lizzy-Wa… I wonder if they’re just keeping up with the blog without commenting like I’ve been. I remember how when I first started going on this blog we would all be there and would talk as if this is a chat room… lol good times

  26. wow.. i havent been on in forever but i will try my best to be there! ive been to lazy to approve my forum account thingy but i will do it….NOW!!!!(:

  27. I blame MTV…I mean come on? Shows like The Hills and whatnot? THAT is what gives teenagers a bad name…err, I guess those are twenty somethings too…THEEEN I guess I blame Vampire Diaries, them be teens. I know some people watch that show in order to watch Supernatural (like…late twenties early thirties there) so maybe that’s why they don’t want a teen show? And lame, if they were to put it on a “teen channel” they’d more likely than not just completely ruin everything…

    How dare you Hollywood??? *shakes my fist at you* I’ll see you soon Hollywood, I’ll see you soon…(trying to go to a record store there haha)

  28. @ Alex-wa {Shay},

    Thanks for commenting back! Oh, and I’ve never read Vampire Diaries, do you recommend it? It’s just that lately I’ve been trying to lay off vampire novels, and I have been reading more sci-fi (hence me on scott’s website).
    Vampire novels have had a sudden rise in popularity lately, and now it seems that every author wants to write a vampire book. Through experience, I have realized that not every author has a calling for vampire novels (in other words, I have read some REALLY crappy vampire books!)

  29. I’m sure it’s because of all those awful teen flicks in the 80’s and 90’s, makes sense don’t it?

    You want someone to blame? Blame Pretty in Pink, Teen Witch, and *cringe* The Breakfast Club.

  30. Aw man that would have been so cool if midnighters had been a series. But maybe you should pair up with Joss Whedon and take the series to Syfy since I’m sure he would do a fantastic job with it and also he isn’t working on anything at the moment ;). At least you didn’t go to Fox with the idea. That would have been disastrous. Ah well. I can’t wait for the uglies to be made into a movie.
    Well, talk to you later!
    ~sky

  31. love you scott!
    but anyways im a little glad that they are not making Midnighters into a movie cause Hollywood does seem to screw up the best books like Vampire Diaries but i REALLY hope Uglies doesnt suffer from Hollywooditis.
    And the whole Hollywood hating us teens i besides the whole easier and avoiding bad publicity thing i also think its cause teens are still in school and if the main characters are teens then that probably pushes the release date back and stuff like that. I think a time issue is in there as well. Well thats what i think anyways and also we teens are a little insane with all our raging hormones and stuff haha and everyone excuse my bad internet writing i was in a hurry.
    Talk to you later( I would have put ttyl but….well you probably understand)

  33. hope to be back from work in time for this one~ I remember you mentioning something about them also once toying with the idea of the Midnighters being crimefighters or some such rubbish? Oh, Hollywood.

  34. I was one of those people who was scared off by the genre of Leviathan, the sparkly cover, the alternate historical premise, the characters… well, everything, really. But I read it and it was great! Is the next one coming out in October?

  37. huge alert – check this article out {Uglies film related}http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/02/11/exclusive-the-uglies-book-series-is-being-fast-tracked-into-a-movie-by-screen-gems/

    Uglies being fast-tracked into a film!!!

  38. Awww that really sucks about no midnighters! Even if it wasn’t a TV show just seeing a pilot would be SO cool!

    This makes me even more angry that it’s impossible to find ANYTHING just about teenagers! You try reading a book about teenagers and it talks about their parents. If we wanted to read or watch TV shows about old people we’d read the newspaper of pbs or something. (not that those aren’t good, just not for entertainment. The world is pretty much at war against teenagers. Nobody notices that they could make a killing like Twilight if they write an interesting relatable book about teenagers.

  39. I don’t know why, but Hollywood just hates us. Then again, I did see the Percy Jackson movie today and they actually aged them up tp make the teens.

  40. Gah, just like chloe above me, I was tottally going to say something about the Percy Jackson movie and how the casting sucks and that I’m probably going to see it anyway, or you could waste all your well earned babysitting money on a movie that’s worth it. (http://tosavealifemovie.com/) *wink-wink. nudge nudge.*
    Also, let me say that this is kind of but not completely irrelevant to what we’re talking about, this coming Wednesday, being Ash Wednesday, and it almost being lint, I, tOty, am GIVING UP THE INTERNET!!!! (I know my mouth’s hanging open too.) Just a heads up for those of you who ping me regurlaly also, for those of you who are watching the olympics,
    G
    O
    S
    H
    A
    U
    N
    W
    H
    I
    T
    E
    !
    !
    !
    GO SHAUN! BRING HOME A GOLD CAUSE I AND YOU KNOW THAT YOU’RE AWESOME SAUCE!!!!!! (sorry fandimonium for the flying tomato is over.)
    Bye Y’all have a happy Saturday
    Yeah No school on Monday for the Americans!!!! 😀

  41. awwwwwwwwwww the TV sow for MIDNIGHTERS would have been insanely awesome! i know id watch it all the time

  43. They really do hate us, huh? Even the things that are actually about teenagers have 20-something year olds playing ’em!

  44. Well, I finished Extras. It was the most satisfying ending to a series I have ever read. I didn’t even have to throw the book! But I was so upset that it ended, though, that I pretended I was a dinosaur and ran around screaming… Sometimes I get kinda creepy/crazy….

    Well, I was on facebook and found this group. It made me lol.

    I Hate Tally Youngblood
    Category:Entertainment & Arts – Books & Literature
    Description:
    Scott Westerfield’s four book “trilogy” creates an unbelievably glorified portrayal of Tally Youngblood. Frankly, she’s a backstabbing bitch. While Shay was divinely interested in escaping the system with her friends and David, Tally was inexcusably moping about her ugliness. Throughout her entire life as an Ugly, Tally was an ungrateful, lazy whiner. She betrayed the Smoke long before she had the excuse of brain lesions, too. She was totally naive and uncaring about the city system, bubbliness, and escape until the inspirations of Shay and her friends became apparent. Tally practically claimed the passion for exodus that Shay had always set forth, and Zane before her. Tally is completely undeserving of the opportunities she was graced with. During her time in the Smoke she was still in indecision of whether to destroy the place. On top of that, she almost completely abandoned Shay at that point in her fascination with David, whom liked her only because he was unaware of her true intentions for turning Pretty.

    I HATE TALLY YOUNGBLOOD.

    😛
    And BTW- Did you get the title for Leviathan from the book of Job? Theres a pretty awesome creature in there called a Leviathan… A fire breathing reptile that lives underwater!

  46. Hey, Everyone!

    Mr. Westerfeld, Is there a way I can send you mail? I wrote an awesome letter, and drew a cool picture, both could be easily typed and scanned, but that’s not as fun. Also, I am in search of an autograph. If I supply my copy of Extras, will you sign it and send it back? I will trade you my original drawing! It’s a pretty-making drawing, at that! It incorporates some of the main characters of Extras… It took me like 2 days! I have a very short attention span… 2 days is A LOT for me.
    Could you email me an address to send it to?

    Love,
    Anna-Wa!

  47. That’s a shame about Midnighters not becoming a show! I would have watched that. I understand the need to up the age of characters – hell, when I wrote my book, I kept up-ing the age because I wanted it to appeal more to younger people (one of those, “when I’m older, I want to be like her!”. Plus I had my characters doing things that 16 year olds shouldn’t necessarily be doing. ahem.

    at any rate, age is a big deal to the media. I guess I wouldn’t mind the age-uppers for Midnighters if that didn’t mean that the whole show didn’t make sense.

  48. DO NOT SEE THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY FREAKIN SCREWED IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won’t be seeing it- my mom saw it (We both love the series) and she told me that they completly like F***ed it up. So save yourself and don’t see it. Read the book/series, it’s 10 times better, I can assure you. Seriously. I’ve completly given up on any company turning a book into a movie- they suck and don’t even try to make it like the book. Sure, from what I’ve heard it’s not as bad as how they WRECKED the Vampire Diaries, but it’s still pretty bad. The plot isn’t the same as the book, there’s no Clarisse (No Clarisse? You’ve got to be kidding me)… get this. They put the Clarisse and Annabeth charecters together into one- Annabeth. I know, lame, lame. And they allready knew that Percy was the son of Posiedon! In the book, we know he’s a demigod, but we don’t know who’s his Olympian parent. I hate those crappy movie companies. THEY SUCK!!!!!! IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A BOOK INTO A MOVIE, THEN DO IT THE F*** RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! FOR PETE’S SAKE, SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE. L A M E. YOU DON’T EVEN TRY, NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

  49. Hollywood probably thinks we’ll like the teens and right now we’re only “allowed” to like those annoying people from twilight and teens from the disney chanel. They’re trying to control us lol.

  50. Ping to Anna-wa: I feel so… hurt. J.K.! Very highlarious and I will check it out soon!

    Ping to Kailey-wa: As I stated before: AWESUM SAUCE! I plan to make a banner to wave in front of the television when he does the halfpipe! Wow, I really need a life, and maybe a boyfriend… F is for friends who do stuff together… Woah random! sorry about that.

    As for the rest of my blogging buddies, I’m cheeting (yes, I know that’s a typo) on Sunday. See ya then. Wow. Seven days, not sure I can take it.. Oh well I’ll be sure to check in wit y’all later. PEAcE! 😀

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