"How it Ends" was originally going to be the big reveal within this story about the 25th anniversary special, then in the innumerable re-writes I turned it into a stand alone with the extra lead-up. It was also an emotional time for me, in no small part due to the impending ninth anniversary of my own Wife's death due to cancer. Nearly everything that Nick felt in the story echoed my own bad days.

25

"Okay team, we're coming up on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Bellwether Incident and the Network wants a big special on it. " The senior producer, an Elk Bull, beamed encouragement to the assembled team.

Several of the younger staffers roll their eyes with an 'old news' sigh.

Head of development, an old Badger, almost white all over with age, drew himself up and glared at the assembled body. "Those of you born after THAT don't appreciate how deeply, how fundamentally, things changed for Zootopia then. The very foundations of our institutions were in jeopardy, and we were only a hair's breadth away from sliding into the kind of chaos that still grips our overseas kin. That incident forced us out of our growing complacency to how Zootopia had become a hollow promise of what it could and should be."

The senior producer nodded to his college, "Yes, exactly, Mac." But he noted that many were still unconvinced.

Senior Creative piped up, "Okay, so we all know how bad the bad old days were, twenty miles to school, in the snow, up hill both ways, for fifteen months a year." He got a couple chuckles out of that, "I was just a kit in the before time, but I was aware of how my parents suffered and how things got so much better after. Those have you who have grown up in the new normal really don't realize how much things have changed." Seeing that most of the really young members of the staff were still unconvinced, he continued. "Think of it like that mythical time before the Interweb and smart 'phones. How difficult that must have been?"

He could see the collective 'Oh' with that analogy.

"And" added Tami, a Zebra from research, "We've already lost many of the principles and are bound to loose more sooner rather than later, so this could be our last chance to capture some real history."

"So, who do we have left to work with on this?"

"Bellwether was killed in prison. We have some old interviews as well her incomplete prison manifesto."

"Hopps died of cancer years ago. Only have the stock material from early on."

"Wilde died in the line of duty a while back. Same."

"Bogo just passed last year. We have an interview with him not long before though. Some pretty good stuff."

"Lionheart is still around, but a bit dotty."

"I checked on some of Hopps' and Wilde's co-workers from then and the time after, and most of them are still around and a few are willing to talk."

"Hopps' family?"

"They had some bad experiences early on with Trolls and Ghouls, so simply refused anything from then on. But it's been years, so it couldn't hurt to try.

"I've got archival interviews and analysis from all kinds of talking heads and am working with ZU for some up-to-date talking heads on the socio-political ramifications."

"This is sounding good. I want this to be a class act. Avoid softballs, and confirm everything. But. Mostly, keep it even and honest. I don't want this to come off as some kind of propaganda piece. We ARE NOT going to have a repeat of the ten-year special.

-

"Danny. I just got off the 'phone with Ed Humboldt's agent. Humboldt is wrapping up a new biography of Hopps and Wilde, and its also in-depth analysis of the times and consequences. Basically our project."

"Is there anything he's got that we don't already have?"

"For a lot of the well-hashed-over stuff, no. But he has already gone through the same source lists that we were planning. So we can use that, and or do follow-ups based on his initial work. And he has a lot of new stuff, some of it is just odds and ends, but he's reached out further, especially to examples of those affected by all that we don't normally think of."

"The best part is that, and his agent was loath to admit it, he wants to get involved just to do it. Screen credit, of course. Clearly he's hoping for a bump for his book out of this too."

"And, as I think of it, having his name on the project can't hurt us either. Well, after his book on Jacxson, maybe yes, maybe no. And with that in mind, you'd better cross-check anything you use of his, just to make sure."

"So, we can get him?"

"Yeah, and make him an honest offer too. Even if he doesn't want it, I know his agent, and He deserves his cut."

-

Minutes of development meeting HN25, full creative and marketing staff

Okay, sports fans, we're at two weeks of getting new content on this. From what I can see, we're going in the right direction. This isn't everything, but I'd like to get some feed back as to how we can use it.

NH25 interview - Robert "Wiley" Post.

Medium shot, middle aged Coyote, ZPD blues.

I was Hopps and Wilde's immediate supervisor when they came into the Detective Division.

Q- how were they to start?

A- they were already a perfect pair of partners coming in, and already had some real investigative experience under their belts, over and above the Night Howler case. Other than getting them settled into the way things were done, it was point them in the right direction and set 'em loose.

A- We've heard a lot about the 'perfect partner' aspect, can you elaborate?

They were always in sync with each other, had a wide-ranging skill set between them, and complimented each other, strength to weakness pretty much perfectly. Together, they were so much more than the sum of the two.

Working a case was like doing a picture puzzle. Hopps was the fit every part first to make the whole picture type while Wilde was trying to figure out the picture from the loose pieces as they were. It's a weak analogy, but does it give you an idea?

Q- There have been reports that, while they were media darlings early on and had impressive case results, their productivity fell off dramatically after the first year.

A- I heard about that kind of talk, and it doesn't reflect what was going on, just a weak date search of who's names got top billing on various case files. Hopps and Wilde were also great team players, ready to share information and give and take suggestions, all to get the job done. The early attention, they could hardly move without getting media coverage, not great for unit morale. So they got more collaborative, bringing in other to help work the case, and in many instances, gave them top billing. I'm not sure, but I'd bet you could find their names somewhere on the bulk of the whole unit's work at the time.

And they were good; their paper was always the cleanest, not vague or weak cases for prosecutors. And in maintaining such a high standard, they set the bar for the rest of the unit. Not to say that things were lax or questionable before or after, but the whole division ended up running at its peak towards the end.

(Can we get an in-depth? earlier report was based on a superficial search program)

Q- what can you, or are willing to say about the end?

A- I know you were going to ask about that, and yes I can talk about it. I had the best nose in the unit, and knew something was off with Hopps. But you can't just walk up to someone and say, 'hey, you smell off'. But I did later when it seemed more persistent. She shrugged it off.

Q- I'm going to jump on that, as I was going to ask about the pair's relationship, but do want to get back to the other after.

A- Like I said, I had a good nose, and could tell that they were groomers, but who isn't? I had been given a heads up that they were in a relationship, normally grounds for some kind adjustment in their assignments. But, instead, I was instructed to simply keep a close eye on them. I guessed higher ups wanted to handle them not as celebrities given privilege, but as an experiment. They were something outside of the norm and they wanted to see what would happen.

(Genetic tests showed she had a marker, and her diagnosis helped saver several of her younger sisters from her fate. see med reporting for general and specifics on that angle.)

The point being that she seemed to have totally cut off her sex life, at least earlier on. I could tell that they were social groomers, probably cuddlers too, but who isn't? Though when they did become roommates the suppressants were off. Department policy was not as hard on detectives with relationships, as they were not on the street nearly as much, so had less chance of interpersonal compromises getting them into trouble.

(Maybe get a note on the specifics of the policy?)

And, early on, Wilde was doing suppressants too. Being a celebrity brought out all kinds of potential groupies and such. Guess he was worried about getting pheromone-bombed.

(Anything on specifics to Wilde, and check to see how much of that is a real thing?)

Q- Getting back to the end?

A- Uhm. Anyway, by the time she was actually diagnosed, she was already getting close to stage three cancer. She was still able to do deskwork while getting treatment. We all thought that Wilde could be her legwork for cases, but he had become so reliant on doing everything with Hopps that he lost his edge when going solo. Or maybe her condition was affecting him? But they still had the magic when working together on the paper end of cases. The treatments held things at bay for a while, then she went into a steep decline. Wild took a leave of absence to be her full-time caregiver in her last couple months.

After she passed, he quite the unit, went back to being a beat cop.

Q- What do you know about how he did then?

A- As we were never super closely, social, and I was having some issues of my own, we largely lost contact. I did hear that he was merely adequate back on the street.

(Post lost his youngest son and had a separation from his wife and elder sons about then. Any more details?)

I wasn't surprised that he got killed in the line of duty. You loose your edge and bad things can happen.

-

"Danny. I know you can't really afford this face time, but I had to show you this in person."

"What do you got? And this has to be short. I got a thing at eleven."

"Quickly, several layers of good news, bad news. The good news. We got gold from our record access request. All the raw recordings from Wilde's last day, un-edited. At the time there was a lot cut out, most was just the ZPD not wanting the world to know that their officers have potty mouths. Then there were some tactical details that they didn't want potential bad guys to see. But mainly, the last twenty seconds of Wilde's shoot out."

"And that's the bad news. At the time they had his last communications as the official word as to what happened. And didn't want to show the last seconds, as it was too graphic and would just feed the ghouls and trolls. They were right about that. It's pretty awful. But. Here, I'll show you."

"Oh, Fry me! He just - . Oh, sonofabeaver. We're not going to show it, Cheese no! But we do have to work with it. That changes that whole part of the narrative."

"I know. And that's the next round of good news, bad news. I sent copies to Humboldt, figuring he'd need this ASAP to work it into the project. He said he didn't think he'd have a problem with it. But. He called me back a few minutes later, said he wanted a new deal. Everything on the TV special is still go, except, he wants a development deal for a movie based on Hopps and Wilde. Said he had an outline already for a screenplay. Though he didn't exactly say it, there was the implication that he might become uncooperative if ... So, I expect a call from his agent later."

"What do you think?"

"Not having him on board with this will cost us a lot of money to fill in where he left off. And, personally, I prefer his fiction, and his last screenplay became "Jelly's Night".

"Oh, that was a good little flick, though didn't have the budget to do it justice. Obviously we can't guarantee doing a movie, but make him as much as you can of an offer just short of that. And if what he shows you is worth a damn, pass it on up and I can offer it to the board."

-

Excerpt from film pitch 23 July

"They fell in love with each other as they fell in love with what Zootopia could be. You saw the interviews, their selfless efforts to support the ideals of all this. The wide-eyed optimist and the jaded cynic combined to become something more. The Night Howler incident created it, and the results became a transcendental event for us all. Then Judy was taken before she could fully enjoy those fruit, while Nick was left as a broken fraction of what had been before, then sacrificed himself in one final gesture. I said it before, a kind of Romeo and Juliet story, with Zootopia making it kind of a three way."

-

On the twenty-eight anniversary of the Night Howler Incident, the new movie, "Lovers and the City", opens tonight. We have with us tonight the two principles, Debbie Woods and Bernard Veruscha, who play Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

While you both have legitimate acting credits under your belts, is there any truth that you were cast due to your familial relationships? You, Debbie, as Judy's Niece and Bernard, Nick's Son.

"For my part, I never hid the fact I was Judy's Niece, but it never actually give my career much traction, basically a non-issue. And though I do look a lot like her, it took some real acting to catch her character.

But, you, Bernard, you didn't reveal that you were Nick's son until well after production closed.

Yeah. I wanted to do the job as me, not as a ghost of my Father.

But you played him so well.

That was mostly good acting. I didn't know him well growing up. You can thank Saunders and Reardon for the script and Humboldt for the original screenplay that made the character pop. Wilde, he was Uncle Nickie, who did his best to spoil me rotten as a little kit. I was like twelve when he told me he was my Father and died not long after.

You two had a great on-screen chemistry, anything beyond that?

Oh gwad no! Bernie is a fox, and I'm not as wide ranging in my interest as my Aunt was. He's also too 'new age sensitive male' for my taste. But we are obliquely family and I'd like to think of us as friends.

Yeah. Debbie and I got along just fine as co-workers on set and hung out on occasion off. We did ham it up sometimes and the tabloids gobbled it up, of course.

Debbie just mentioned the sensitive male thing and there had been some speculative press about your- interests?

Oh, Cheese! I've been on going with my childhood sweetheart, Cindy- Hi Cindy - since we were both, like fourteen? Just been keeping her out of the limelight.

The movie, with its comparison to Romeo and Juliet, has you both playing the characters a bit younger than they actually were, though you, Bernard, had to play Nick up to his late Forties.

Yeah, they wanted to take advantage of our looks and reduce the age difference between them, I guess the original didn't test well or some such. But good acting and great make up did the rest.

Was it tough doing Nick's final scenes?

Yes and no. Acting on a movie set is often a few second of action only after hours of set up, and a lot of that for the actor is just waiting, then often that same bit of action done over and over. So most of the shoot-out was done over several days, with a lot of retakes and alternate set-ups. So, I was spending most of my time just dealing with such and such little fraction of time and how to do it.

The one exception was that final scene. Instead, the directors set up I don't know how many cameras, from all kinds of angles and distances. We walked though the action a zillion times. The poor extras as hostages, stuck there the whole time. So when you see their desperate faces, they were not acting. Then we did it in one take. At the time, all I could think about is hitting my marks.

It wasn't until I saw the rushes later, and some damn bastard had done a split screen to compare my scene with the real thing. I had not seen it before, and didn't realize I was doing an almost frame for frame re-enactment. I lost my lunch seeing it and had to take a couple days off.

As awfully dramatic as Bernard's death scene was, Debbie got the most of the advanced critical acclaim with her low-key performance as Judy in her final days. Is there anything you can say about it?

It's all the script and direction again. All I had to do is lay there with more and more make-up.

Be that as it may, there is already talk of Oswalds for both of your performances. As well as rumors of other movies with the two of you?

Yeah, there's an offer for a remake of Zootopia, done as a more factual straight drama, with none of the over-the-top action and comedy of the original. I really don't know if that will happen, but I'm up to do it.

And I got feelers for a spy thriller, based on the Anlef memoirs. Did you hear about that?

Yeah, but they were talking about recasting Nick as a wolf. Go figure.

Well, we'll be sure to catch whatever you do. And in the meantime, "Lovers and the City" premiers tonight. It is a remarkable film with great performances by these two young actors.