11th: Did you ever try to contact Carter or 1013 beforehand?

Hudnall: At one point I had a meeting with a producer whose office is right next to Chris Carter's, over at the Fox lot. He knows Chris Carter, and he says, "Hey, why don't you go over there and say hi to him, now that you're here." I was like, "Oh, I won't bother him," since I had a feeling that I wasn't welcome over there. And so he calls 1013, and he spoke to somebody over there, I don't know who, who was like, "Yeah, come on over and say hi." And I went over there, and they were like "Who are you?" I say "James Hudnall" and they go, "Who?" And I go, "The guy who created the Harsh Realm comic."

"I went over there, and they were like 'Who are you?' I say 'James Hudnall' and they go, 'Who?' And I go, 'The guy who created the Harsh Realm comic.'"

   This guy is like, "Oh, wow!" He gets up and goes away, and about ten minutes later this woman comes out who is Chris Carter's secretary, apparently. She was a little cold but she was cordial, you know, and she was like, "Can I help you?" And I go, "Uh...yeah, I was talking to a producer who suggested I go over here and say hi, and so he called, and I did." She was like, "Well, nobody's here." And I was like, "Well, that's okay, I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi." I handed her a couple of graphic novels that I wrote, and said, "Well, I just wanted to give Mr. Carter these," and she said she'd make sure he gets them.
   And I never heard back. I never heard anything. But if I see any of those plotlines in any show, he is going to regret it.

11th: My webmagazine ran a story in the last issue on how Carter may have ripped off the British sci-fi series Quatermass. [Muldermass and the Pit, issue four.] How do you think he has gotten away with this for so long?

Hudnall: Well, this kind of stuff is nothing new, only it's sad to see him self-destruct this way. This is how I see it. He made his bones, he's famous from X-Files, he's already proven he can do something. Millennium wasn't that big of a failure, it had a three-year run. Carter is making the mistake of making too many enemies. There's that old saying, "Be nice to people on the way up because you're going to meet them on the way down." He's not going to have too many friends when things don't go his way. The other big producers on TV, David Kelley and Kevin Williamson and those guys -- they certainly don't have the rep that Carter does.
   You gotta show a little respect for the people you work with. Every writer that I've talked to who has worked with Carter doesn't have anything nice to say. The thing is, Carter sees himself as a writer first, apparently. Writers have to take so much crap as it is. You'd think he'd have respect for his fellow scribes. Carter's supposedly a real task-master, a perfectionist. He rewrites everyone's scripts, including Stephen King's. It's appalling, and sad, in a way.

11th: When did you file the lawsuit?

Hudnall: We filed it on Monday [October 11, 1999].

11th: I heard about it on October 13, which is Carter's birthday.

Hudnall: We wanted the news to be out on his birthday. That's also the birthday of the artist of the comic book, Andrew Paquette. And he said "Happy Birthday" to me. He's happy we're suing them. My feeling is, I just want justice here. I want my end of it, I don't want any crap. If Carter had just given us a credit, there wouldn't be a lawsuit right now. We warned him. We gave him every chance in the world. His name should be Hubris now. Chris Hubris Carter.