JMS Email FAQ, version 1.2, 1997/04/12

Okay, it's time for the usual recitation of email rules.

  1. Please do not send me inquiries about the storyline in private email. You may think, "Well, it's just me," but at last Neilsen count there were about 15 million of you out there, and only one of me. I can't get into lengthy discussions about the plot or storylines in email. I end up answering the same questions multiple times, and the answers go to only one person at a time. If you have a story question, ASK IT IN A PUBLIC FORUM, NOT IN EMAIL, so that others can benefit from the answers.

    (Here's where this gets silly. Often, when I'm speaking at a convention, I'll ask, at the end, "Any other questions?" And nobody puts their hands up, even though we've got a few minutes left. Then, as soon as the presentation is over, 50 people rush the stage with questions they want to ask...many of them very good, and which the audience would've loved to hear answered. You tend to be a very smart, perceptive bunch...don't deny others the quality of your questions.)

  2. Please, please, PLEASE do not send me story ideas in email.

  3. Do not send jpgs or anything else that requires downloading; I was hit by a trojan horse and virus lately, and consequently I have a very firm no-download policy on anything else coming into me via email.

  4. Private email should be used for things you cannot discuss in a public forum, or for which confidentiality is needed for other reasons. I'm swamped with 500 messages a day...if it doesn't have to be sent email, please don't do so.

  5. Requests for agent suggestions, or requests to read your scripts or stories, will be met by stony silence.

  6. We cannot give studio tours, or afford to send out scripts, or story bibles, or actor photographs. When the actors do this, bear in mind that it is a kindness *that comes out of their own pockets*, as there is no budget from WB to send photos.

I hate to be as brusque as this, but I'm starting to get overloaded with email, and an occasional advisory seems necessary.

Many thanks.

jms


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