Moonlightaholics

"Angel of Vengeance" was written a couple of years before Moonlight. Soon after writing the book, Trevor teamed up with Ron Koslow and the two of them put the story down to screenplay, then shopped it around. Obviously, the WB and Silver Pictures bought off on the storyline and brought Ron and Trevor on as executive producers. Then CBS came on board. And the rest, as they say, is history. Unfortunately, Trevor signed away the rights to his story. I guess it was what needed to be done to advance his career as a screenwriter/producer. Since Moonlight's cancellation, he's been trying to get the WB to release the rights to the story back to him. I guess, from what we're hearing, he was successful. But the question remains, what does this mean for Moonlight? If anything?

I don't know much about Trevor's book, but if you're right about the character's name being different (and I'm guessing the setting, too since ML was originally in NY), then he's probably in the clear legally.

It's something like 10% new material required for something to squeak by as "non-derivative" if the people on my writer's site know what they're talking about.

susie, eris, thanks! I hope he gets to publish it. I've heard a little about his original premise (much darker that what we saw), but not much beyond that.

When I met Trevor at the ECMC, he told me "Moonlight fans would not like my Mick". In other words, the Mick everyone knows and loves from Moonlight is not the Mick Angel as written by Trevor. Mick Angel is a very, very dark and tormented soul, so much more so that Mick St. John. In fact I'd say that it would be fair to say St. John would be considered Mick-lite when compared to Mick Angel. I've read the 8 chapters posted on Trevor's MS page. And I gotta say that its a very dark and disturbing novel. I honestly was depressed as hell after reading it!

Hmmmm... I might actually like it...
I would surely give it a whirl if he published it...

You bet Grace and I'll stand in line to get him to autograph it too!

Dark Mick would be interesting not only from the viewpoint of understanding Trevor's original 'vision' but also to get an idea of just how far the vision changed in order for it to get on the air (i.e., just how much did they muck with it). That would provide some insight into what the networks think would sell.

Yeah, I remember reading those chapters and thinking that other than being a reluctant vampire and a few similar circumstances, they were totally different characters and stories. I'd be very interested in reading the full story of Mick Angel.

Tho I gotta say, Mick St. John is SUCH a cooler name...

wpgrace wrote:Tho I gotta say, Mick St. John is SUCH a cooler name...

Mick St. John is the COOLEST. NAME. EVER. for a character.

I remember just being blown away by those chapters from Trevor. Like Susie said, Mick Angel was dark and tormented, but I LOVED it...it actually fit my vision of Mick much more than what ML showed us. The script from the original pilot showed a darker Mick than what we ended up with, but even THAT Mick was watered-down compared to Mick Angel.

Oh it WOULD be cool if he'd publish!

And I agree PGal, it IS the coolest name ever... but he could be more dark and still be perpetually cool.

Bearing in mind I've just finished a bottle of wine and am a recovering journalist, where did the information that Trevor got back the rights to Mick Angel come from? I know he's had the rights to finish the first book, but that was it. Has that changed? Can he publish more? I can't imagine WB letting go of the rights to ML entirely without some sort of compensation. Does someone have some definitive information on who has rights to what and how they got it?

Definitely it's Trevor's idea and definitely I'll buy whatever he's selling, but I really want to know what the skinny is on the legal rights and what we can expect.

Angel of Vengeance is much darker, much more noir style - Mick's life which he described in this lines "I did many bad things, Beth. Things you can never imagine. Things I carry tremendous amount of guilt about".
But the sequel was going to be called Guardian Angel (is it written already?)
So, as I understand it, where our ML starts, is the storyline of the second book, Mick's life after he saved little Beth. Life of hope, love and redemption... which, obviously, has to be less noir-ish.

Anyways, I'm happy for Trevor! I hope he will finish Mick's books. At least we'll have more Mick in some form. Though, I admit, the chapters of AoV I've read, left me kinda depressed for a while.

Apparently there's some confusion about where Trevor's publishing rights stand. Earlier, when I said he got back the rights to "Angel of Vengeance," I was quoting someone I trusted to have the scoop. Usually I verify everything before posting, but this time I didn't. Believe me, that won't happen again.

Anyway, I did contact Trevor, and he clarified things for me...

He never gave up rights to "Angel of Vengeance." He had only given up the rights to any sequels. Since he'd like to write 3 more Mick Angel installments, he's hoping to go back and secure the sequel rights, but he hasn't done that yet. He has recently received an offer on the single novel and is working out the details of the contract. He said, "if all goes well I should have it published in spring 2011."


So, legally, nothing has changed. But we do have something to look forward to.

So, if Trevor gets to publish Angel of Vengeance, will the character names stay the same or will he change them? Either way, I'm anxious to read this.