Producing

More on Getting Back to Set

Earlier this week, Cirque Du Soleil announced it was filing for bankruptcy and Broadway said it was going to be shuttered until January 2021. It’s grim for folks in the entertainment industry. Still people are trying to figure out how to get some productions back in gear, especially film and TV. Last week, I shared some guidance the film industry has been working on. This week, catching up on Scriptnotes, I heard their late May…

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Raves

Happy Centennial, Ray Harryhausen

Somewhere in the Heavens, and in glorious Dynamation, Ray Harryhausen is celebrating his 100th birthday. There’s nothing I can say that can surpass what many, many, many people in the film industry can say about Ray Harryhausen, so I’ll simply link to two videos. The first, a tribute made on his death: The second, a review of all his creatures, set to music you know you want to do stop action animation dancing to:

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Producing Various and Sundry

Live Theater & Audio Theater

A lot of our company members of Jabberwocky Audio Theater usually make some of their living from performing in live theater… though at the present you can imagine that isn’t as easy. Still, I know that live theater will return. Last month, I  shared a message from the artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota about theater’s enduring qualities. In the interim, theaters are finding ways to weather the closures and one way, as detailed on…

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Writing

Foundational Science Fiction

One of my favorite aspects of Isaac Asimov’s science fiction is the worldbuilding and its never more apparent in his centuries-spanning Foundation series. Indeed, the Galactic Empire and the many of the ensuing interstellar governments were ones I kept in mind while fashioning the Imperium for Rogue Tyger. I’m actually re-reading the series while working on new seasons of the show (it’s easily been over 20 years since I last read them). So imagine the delight when I saw this…

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Acting Raves

Ready for another adventure so soon? Farewell, Ian Holm.

As he was 88, I guess I shouldn’t ask “so soon?,” but news of Ian Holm’s passing is sad news for me this Friday. We collectively have seen him in so much. You can read more about him and his career from articles and related material at: The BBC (a remembrance and an obituary that gives more detailed credits). The Hollywood Reporter Guardian (which also has a great photo spread) Comicbook.com and many others. I…

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Producing

Guidance for Filmmaking in a COVID World

Starting last Friday, Hollywood began starting to tentatively resume work since basically all major productions shut down. This does mean a fair number of changes, from face masks for audience members to ending buffet meals on set. The industry has created a pretty detailed white paper (note the link is a PDF) that covers recommended actions from personal hygiene to food on set to particular production concerns. For those of us that aren’t major studio…

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Various and Sundry

The Worst Derelict Spaceships to Board

I’ve mentioned science fiction tropes here before, back in 2016 and also this year. Heck, I’ve even written a Jabberwocky Audio special that parodies the many tales of crews boarding derelict ships. This is quite established, as the crew over at Generation Films knows well: Warning, this will have spoilers for The film Ad Astra The TV series The Expanse The video game Dead Space The film Sunshine The film Alien The film Predators The film Event Horizon The film Pandorum

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Producing Various and Sundry

Business, Heal Thyself

I know a lot of self-employed and small business folk who are hurting during this pandemic. And for my own business, we’ve needed to rethink how and what we’re doing. One of those entrepreneurial, self-employed friends, Russell Nohelty, wrote a post about how he retools his business… as he has done many times. It’s a non-trivial amount of time –especially if you haven’t done it before– and figuring out how to best attribute the costs…

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