John Shirley crew: Writer for RGB * Autograph * Filmography * Official Website

Excerpt from e-Mail conversations.

Date: 11/3/2000
Are you the same John Shirley that wrote The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Old College Spirit"?
Yes - more or less. I put it that way because they revised the piece a lot. If there was anything original or interesting in it they wrung it out of it. Joe Straczynski (not quite spelling his name right, I suppose), was there at the time, I think. He's a good writer. He did a bang up job on Babylon Five. I wrote various cartoons to pay child support and take care of wives and such. Also write a Batman Beyond. Also wrote various live action things like Poltergeist: The Legacy, Sinbad, what have you. A Deep Space Nine. I was usually rewritten a lot becuse I'm not a natural tv writer. I don't think populist enough or something to be very good at it but I respect all those guys. Very creative people, in both animation and TV--but not my strong suit.

Date: 11/3/2000
Would you happen to still have a copy of your original script?
I don't have the script and would probably destroy every extent copy if I could. Not that I have anything against the series. It was an amusing animated series, well thought out. I prefer people read my fiction--though you might well find it too dark. Ghostbusters wise, I prefer the first Ghostbusters movie. Wish I'd been associated with that, but of course I wasn't. I was associated with the movie The Crow, though--that's a kind of ghost story. Someday I'd like to write a good ghost story for the screen.

Fun Facts

• John does audio commentary on The Crow "Collector's Series" DVD (also available in a box set). Maybe because Ernie Hudson is in the movie, he makes a mention of Ghostbusters, but I doubt it.

Outside Links

• Interview (archive)

Photo courtesy of his official website, 2001.