Syfy interview with "Batman & Bill" directors

I only recently came across a snappy 2019 interview with Batman & Bill directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce on Syfy (the brand formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel) about the documentary. 

Commentary:

Like a justice-seeking hero from the comics he adores, Nobleman chased the real story like it was a 60 Minutes exposé in hopes of restoring Finger’s legacy, in of all things a children’s book…

Imagine that! A children’s book that requires hard work and aims big! (But I get where this perspective is coming from. All authors of books for young readers do.)

Syfy: When did you guys first meet Marc Tyler Nobleman, and determine his Bill Finger quest would make a great doc?

Sheena M. Joyce: We met after a screening at the New York Film Festival, and we hit it off.

They respectfully left out how Don discreetly alerted me that my fly was down. I was practically a parody of making a totally avoidable bad first impression. 

Sheena: …Marc was trying to get Athena [Bill's granddaughter] to mount this lawsuit [against DC Entertainment]

This is not quite accurate. From the first time Athena and I talked, I encouraged her to pursue justice for her grandfather’s legacy, but was not specifically advocating for a lawsuit, which can, of course, take years and cost lots (both financially and emotionally). If she ultimately chose to take legal action, I would have supported it. But I preferred a less contentious approach—namely negotiation—if possible, and am confident I was not alone in this feeling.

Sheena: We were there when Marc first met Athena…

As I’ve noted before, Athena and I first met in person on March 18, 2007, in Florida, a year before any talk of a documentary and three years before I had a book contract. I next saw her two years to the month later, in New York. Six months after that, I met Don and Sheena, also in New York. The scene in the film of me going to Athena’s house was in 2011, which was, I believe, the first time I’d seen her since 2009. 

Once a nonfiction writer who meticulously doublechecks and documents sources, always a nonfiction writer who meticulously doublechecks and documents sources!