cjh
Hank Scorpio
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Post by cjh on Sept 18, 2022 19:24:03 GMT -5
I'm almost finished reading Brian Gewirtz's new book There's Just One Problem. Chris Kreski's name is not mentioned once in the entire thing, even though he was supposedly writing with Gewirtz throughout 2000. Gewirtz repeatedly mentions another writer named Tommy Blacha, who was hired with Gewirtz in the fall of 1999 (and was only around for a year or two) but not Kreski.
It's always been very strange to me how Kreski is remembered online as the lead writer who was responsible for the WWF's great TV in 2000, but no one who was with the company at that time ever mentions him.
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Post by TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out on Sept 18, 2022 21:25:46 GMT -5
The main thing I've heard him credited with is using a show Bible which is the most obvious thing for anyone that wasn't in Vince's orbit
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Chainsaw
T
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It is what it is
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Post by Chainsaw on Sept 18, 2022 22:21:51 GMT -5
Wait, Tommy Blacha, the cocreator of Metalocalypse and the voice of Murderface used to write for WWE? That's wild and totally plausible.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Sept 18, 2022 22:48:20 GMT -5
Wait, Tommy Blacha, the cocreator of Metalocalypse and the voice of Murderface used to write for WWE? That's wild and totally plausible. he was fired for asking catering if there were olives in it and then pissing everywhere <_< |
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Post by DSR on Sept 19, 2022 0:17:25 GMT -5
Wait, Tommy Blacha, the cocreator of Metalocalypse and the voice of Murderface used to write for WWE? That's wild and totally plausible. He also created an Adult Swim cartoon series about wrestling, Mongo Wrestling Alliance. It only lasted 10 episodes. |
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Sept 19, 2022 0:29:32 GMT -5
The main thing I've heard him credited with is using a show Bible which is the most obvious thing for anyone that wasn't in Vince's orbit And Prichard swears up and down it didn't actually exist. |
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
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Post by chazraps on Sept 19, 2022 0:48:06 GMT -5
I'm almost finished reading Brian Gewirtz's new book There's Just One Problem. Chris Kreski's name is not mentioned once in the entire thing, even though he was supposedly writing with Gewirtz throughout 2000. Gewirtz repeatedly mentions another writer named Tommy Blacha, who was hired with Gewirtz in the fall of 1999 (and was only around for a year or two) but not Kreski. It's always been very strange to me how Kreski is remembered online as the lead writer who was responsible for the WWF's great TV in 2000, but no one who was with the company at that time ever mentions him. If I had to guess, Gewirtz's publishers probably weren't able to get Kreski's estate's permission to use his name or Gewirtz didn't want to mention the dead. Both of those are just wildly speculative on my part. Kreski was an establish author so it might be something publishers are extra considerate about. The main thing I've heard him credited with is using a show Bible which is the most obvious thing for anyone that wasn't in Vince's orbit And Prichard swears up and down it didn't actually exist. Prichard shoots it down as a bit as if he can't understand metaphor. Just like he does with "box of gimmicks." Kreski wasn't believed to have a literal flow-chart or storyboards or a big wall. He was just spoken of as that because of his ability to keep track of so many character archs and interactions. The guy wrote *the* definitive guide to The Brady Bunch, so he had the unique skill of keeping diligent track of television characters and their relationships. |
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Sept 19, 2022 14:22:55 GMT -5
I'm almost finished reading Brian Gewirtz's new book There's Just One Problem. Chris Kreski's name is not mentioned once in the entire thing, even though he was supposedly writing with Gewirtz throughout 2000. Gewirtz repeatedly mentions another writer named Tommy Blacha, who was hired with Gewirtz in the fall of 1999 (and was only around for a year or two) but not Kreski. It's always been very strange to me how Kreski is remembered online as the lead writer who was responsible for the WWF's great TV in 2000, but no one who was with the company at that time ever mentions him. If I had to guess, Gewirtz's publishers probably weren't able to get Kreski's estate's permission to use his name or Gewirtz didn't want to mention the dead. Both of those are just wildly speculative on my part. Kreski was an establish author so it might be something publishers are extra considerate about. And Prichard swears up and down it didn't actually exist. Prichard shoots it down as a bit as if he can't understand metaphor. Just like he does with "box of gimmicks." Kreski wasn't believed to have a literal flow-chart or storyboards or a big wall. He was just spoken of as that because of his ability to keep track of so many character archs and interactions. The guy wrote *the* definitive guide to The Brady Bunch, so he had the unique skill of keeping diligent track of television characters and their relationships. Bruce LOVES being willfully ignorant at times. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2022 14:26:29 GMT -5
If I had to guess, Gewirtz's publishers probably weren't able to get Kreski's estate's permission to use his name or Gewirtz didn't want to mention the dead. Both of those are just wildly speculative on my part. Kreski was an establish author so it might be something publishers are extra considerate about. Prichard shoots it down as a bit as if he can't understand metaphor. Just like he does with "box of gimmicks." Kreski wasn't believed to have a literal flow-chart or storyboards or a big wall. He was just spoken of as that because of his ability to keep track of so many character archs and interactions. The guy wrote *the* definitive guide to The Brady Bunch, so he had the unique skill of keeping diligent track of television characters and their relationships. Bruce LOVES being willfully ignorant at times. Bruce loves being willfully ignorant, and sort of comes across as unintentionally ignorant when it comes to anything that doesn't involve wrestling. |
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Post by Hit Girl on Sept 19, 2022 16:15:48 GMT -5
Prichard doesn't know what a show bible is.
He only knows the Book of Love.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Sept 19, 2022 17:24:27 GMT -5
In a story that said a TV writer guy tried to bring industry-standard TV writing methods to the writers room and then the wrestling industry traditionalists poo-pooed the whole thing and buried him for it, it astounds me that people keep giving Bruce Prichard's take on it a moment of consideration. Never mind that Prichard is just in general known to be full of shit in the first place. He's exactly the kind of wrestling industry guy who would have been resistant to those methods coming into the room and would have shit on treating wrestling like it was an actual TV show.
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fg
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Post by fg on Sept 19, 2022 17:46:49 GMT -5
In a story that said a TV writer guy tried to bring industry-standard TV writing methods to the writers room and then the wrestling industry traditionalists poo-pooed the whole thing and buried him for it, it astounds me that people keep giving Bruce Prichard's take on it a moment of consideration. Never mind that Prichard is just in general known to be full of shit in the first place. He's exactly the kind of wrestling industry guy who would have been resistant to those methods coming into the room and would have shit on treating wrestling like it was an actual TV show. The thing that irks me is that Chris Kreski using storyboards helped him and made storylines have continuity. When he left, they ditched his storyboards concept and look what happened. Classic example of why should NEVER mess with what works. |
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Sept 19, 2022 18:32:17 GMT -5
In a story that said a TV writer guy tried to bring industry-standard TV writing methods to the writers room and then the wrestling industry traditionalists poo-pooed the whole thing and buried him for it, it astounds me that people keep giving Bruce Prichard's take on it a moment of consideration. Never mind that Prichard is just in general known to be full of shit in the first place. He's exactly the kind of wrestling industry guy who would have been resistant to those methods coming into the room and would have shit on treating wrestling like it was an actual TV show. The thing that irks me is that Chris Kreski using storyboards helped him and made storylines have continuity. When he left, they ditched his storyboards concept and look what happened. Classic example of why should NEVER mess with what works. Kreski came in with real TV experience at a time before creative became calcified was a revolving door of people burning out due to Vince's unhinged whims, and he was able to bring actual writing techniques into the room. The period he was there was one that saw WWE shifting from the booking committee of a small handful of people sitting around the hotel pool--an inner circle with Prichard, Dunn, Patterson, Jim Ross, and a few others at any given moment--into something put together by a writing staff that grew year on year for a while. It was the time when transitioning toward actually writing it like a TV show would have been a good idea and Kreski was on to something by using storyboards and charting out relationships to keep storytelling consistent. It's a good method. It would have been good at any point in any company's history. Dumping it was a mistake, but Vince and a bunch of oldhead wrestling industry guys couldn't see it for what it was. For people who wanted to claim they were above wrestling and were real entertainment whose real actual competition is Disney, they sure did seem ready to insist they were beneath tried-and-true television writing methods the entire rest of the industry used and still use. In very definitely unrelated news, Vince not being around anymore has apparently been a blessing for the creative staff, which is weird. |
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Sept 19, 2022 19:11:03 GMT -5
The thing that irks me is that Chris Kreski using storyboards helped him and made storylines have continuity. When he left, they ditched his storyboards concept and look what happened. Classic example of why should NEVER mess with what works. Kreski came in with real TV experience at a time before creative became calcified was a revolving door of people burning out due to Vince's unhinged whims, and he was able to bring actual writing techniques into the room. The period he was there was one that saw WWE shifting from the booking committee of a small handful of people sitting around the hotel pool--an inner circle with Prichard, Dunn, Patterson, Jim Ross, and a few others at any given moment--into something put together by a writing staff that grew year on year for a while. It was the time when transitioning toward actually writing it like a TV show would have been a good idea and Kreski was on to something by using storyboards and charting out relationships to keep storytelling consistent. It's a good method. It would have been good at any point in any company's history. Dumping it was a mistake, but Vince and a bunch of oldhead wrestling industry guys couldn't see it for what it was. For people who wanted to claim they were above wrestling and were real entertainment whose real actual competition is Disney, they sure did seem ready to insist they were beneath tried-and-true television writing methods the entire rest of the industry used and still use. In very definitely unrelated news, Vince not being around anymore has apparently been a blessing for the creative staff, which is weird. How could the retirement of a guy who would ok something and then 10 minutes later completely scrap the storyline and making you have to scramble 5 minutes before show time make the creative staff's job easier >_> |
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cjh
Hank Scorpio
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Post by cjh on Sept 19, 2022 19:15:57 GMT -5
What is the source of all this information about Kreski? Like I said, I don't know of one wrestler who has ever mentioned him. The only idea I've heard be directly credited to him was the "a McMahon in every corner" deal at WrestleMania 16.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Sept 19, 2022 21:14:20 GMT -5
Wait, Tommy Blacha, the cocreator of Metalocalypse and the voice of Murderface used to write for WWE? That's wild and totally plausible. Murderface and Toki’s “Taking It Easy “ would be fire entrance music. |
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
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Posts: 27,986
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Post by chazraps on Sept 19, 2022 22:34:31 GMT -5
What is the source of all this information about Kreski? Like I said, I don't know of one wrestler who has ever mentioned him. The only idea I've heard be directly credited to him was the "a McMahon in every corner" deal at WrestleMania 16. Off the top of my head, Kevin Kelly would always speak highly of him in shoots in the early days of wrestling podcasts around the turn of the decade. Lagana would have former writers on his early I Want Wrestling podcast circa 2010-2011 and they'd sing Kreski's praises as well. |
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Nr1Humanoid
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Post by Nr1Humanoid on Sept 22, 2022 6:51:34 GMT -5
People rarely talk much about those who are better at their job than they are.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Sept 22, 2022 7:40:08 GMT -5
Has anyone ever heard the original source for that “They mocked him about the storyboards” story? It feels like something that has been accepted as gospel for as long as I’ve been a fan, and I’m certain I’ve never heard it attributed to anyone.
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Post by nickcave on Sept 22, 2022 16:10:57 GMT -5
Prichard being insistent that he contributed 0 ideas the entire time he was there leads me to believe that at the very least Bruce was his biggest detractor and someone he butted heads with a lot. He has nothing but praise for Gerwitz though
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