Went into the office today and found a huge shipment from Amazon.com awaiting me. The veritable treasure trove of titles included Tobias S. Bucknell’s Ragamuffin, Jeff Carlson’s The Plague Year, Karen Jay Fowler’s Sarah Canary, Ken MacLeod’s Newton’s Wake, about a half-dozen books by Jeffrey Ford, and numerous others. I selected a few from the shipment and a few from my standing library to form my back-up Summer hiatus reading pile. Anybody out there familiar with any of the titles?
I settled in and worked on Remnants, rewriting the last McKay-Zelenka scene. At about 10:00 a.m., everyone else got in and we retired to the writers’ room for a quadruple feature: Broken Ties (Day 2 Mix – only two notes: 1. Pre-lap the tavern walla in the Ext. Village – Night establisher and, 2. Put the walla back in the Sheppard-Woolsey scene), Ghost in the Machine (Day 1 Mix – Overall a pretty good mix. A few ADR requests, a desire for a less instrumental CLANG off the top), and the mid-season two-parter First Contact and The Lost Tribe (Marty G.’s producer’s cut – Great! Can’t say enough good things about the Daniel-Rodney dynamic, loved the heist sequence, and couldn’t help but think that a certain scene is sure to have all those Todd-Woolsey shippers out there falling all over themselves).
Today’s entry is dedicated to high school grad Steph and Narelle’s hubby. Narelle, please tell him best wishes, love Joan.
Today’s pics: My dinner with Carl at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, and my back-up book pile.
Today’s video: Carl makes a mess. I can’t take him anywhere! Photobucket is down so, hopefully, google will allow the video to play. Eventually.
Mailbag:
Thornyrose writes: “Were both parts of the mid season two parter filmed before the break, or does filming resume with the second half?”
Answer: We finished shooting episode 14 (Outsiders) and prepping episode 15 (Prodigal) before heading off on hiatus.
David writes: “In reference to yesterday’s picture of your phone, where could one get that skin? Or is specially made just for you?”
Answer: They were part of a special giveaway at last year’s San Diego Comic Con. Contact the gang at the official MGM site to find out if they were a one-time-only deal.
Wraithfodder writes: “Joe, have you ever looked at the ‘automatically generated’ possibly related posts on your blog?”
Answer: Uh, yeah. I looked into disabling the feature but I believe that doing so would also disable a feature I actually want. For the time being, please consider them “Impossibly Unrelated Links”.
AMZ writes: “…do the actors who get speaking parts on Stargate:Atlantis have to be SAG members?”
Answer: Some of our local actors are not SAG.
Eri writes: “How does one get an idea turned into an actul episode when they don’t write for the show?”
Answer: Have an agent query the show (and here, I refer to shows in general) to find out whether or not the production is looking for freelance pitches.
McWraith writes: “Do you know if any of the crew write blogs?”
Answer: I don’t, but I know that both Davids do occasionally blog.
Nika writes: “Do they recognize the camera or just ignore you now?”
Answer: Like most everyone I know, they just ignore me.
Arctic Goddess writes: “What does a best boy and a key grip do?”
Answer: A best boy (who, incidentally, does not necessarily have to be a boy) makes sure the daily operations of his/her department (lighting or grips) runs smoothly, covering everything from equipment delivery to scheduling. A key grip deals with set logistics, overseeing the moving of various equipment and scenery and the set up cranes and dolly tracks.
Shawna writes: “Really? What’s the significance of that particular spot that would make actors want it?”
Answer: It stands out.
Portlandbound writes: “Do you think this is the best season overall your team has done? Is there times you could do something but can’t because of money? What’s the craziest thing an actor has done for the show to this date?”
Answers: It’s too early to tell how this season measures up against the preceding one. AT present, we only have one completed episode. If I had unlimited cash, I’d spend it on creating some truly wild alien landscapes. The craziest thing an actor has done for the show to date? Well, Chris Judge did work shirtless in the snow for an entire afternoon when he was shooting an episode of SG-1 (I believe it was Threshold). I suppose someone should have checked the weather forecast the day before.
Sander writes: “Did you adopt your pups or buy them from a breeder, and which breed do you personally think would make a good apartment dog? Do they bark alot?”
Answer: I think that pugs make pretty good apartment dogs in that the don’t require as much exercise as other breeds. However, they are EXTREMELY affectionate and do require a lot of attention so only consider a pug if you’re willing to make the time or them. They’re not excessive barkers, but my gang will bark up a storm if they hear a suspicious noise like someone knocking at the door or a dinner guest sneezing.
Lt.Col.Errandboy writes: “Noooo!! Don’t cancel September!! […] Cancel October if you must.”
Answer: No can do. My birthday is in October. Sorry.
MysterMadchen writes: “ When did you realize that you loved writing and wanted it as a career? What got you in the door? What was the first thing you had published, not in a school paper or student book, but actually sold? I’m sure you get this sort of question a lot and understand if you have no desire but since you are a writer and like to read would you be willing to read my rough draft?”
Answers: I’ve been writing since I was a kid, penning short stories as far back as second grade. I made my first professional sale to an animation studio for a show called The Busy World of Richard Scarry. My very first produced script = Patrick Pig Learns to Talk. As for reading your rough draft – I’m sorry, but I my plate is pretty full. Now that hiatus is here, I’ll be enjoying some desperately needed downtime.
Annie from Freemantle writes: “God do your pugkids get any cuter?? How many chewtoys do they own anyway???”
Answer: No enough. Lulu has been going through them very quickly of late.
Anais33 a ecrit: “Serait t’il possible d’avoir une interview du grand Joseph pour mon blog? Quand et comment?”
Answer: Il serait plus facile si je répondais à vos questions ici sur mon blog.
Translation: Rather than doing Q&A on fan blogs, it would be easier for me to simply field any questions here.
Irmo writes: “You know what sport needs changing? Needs to be more exciting? Golf.”
Answer: Make it formal wear only (tuxes), actual quicksand in the sand trap, add more alligators. Also, make the hole bigger.
Lady Dulcinea writes: “Scrapple is typically made of hog offal, such as the head, heart, liver, and other scraps, which are boiled with any bones attached (often the entire head), to make a broth. Once cooked, bones and fat are discarded, the meat is reserved, and (dry) cornmeal is boiled in the broth to make a mush. The meat, finely minced, is returned, and seasonings, typically sage, thyme, savory, and others are added. The mush is cast into loaves and allowed to cool thoroughly until gelled.”
Answer: Hmmm. This sounds a lot like something I ate at Fuel last night.
Sector24 writes: “…tonight I was watching SG-1 Season 6’s “Descent” on DVD, and I was wondering about the scene with Carter and O’Neill, trapped in the corridor when it flooded. So, since you and Paul wrote it, can you tell me, were the sets waterproof and can they be used after the water filling. Or maybe it was filmed in a pool, decorated as a Goa’uld ship’s corridors?”
Answer: The latter. We built a set and submerged it at Vancouver’s Olympic pool. So, in those scenes in which the water levels are rising – the portion of corridor is actually be lowered into the pool.
Nanook660 writes: “What is the hardest part about what you do? and How do you unwind after a hard day at the office?”
Answer: The hardest part of the job? Writing. I don’t think there’s a writer on any show who will tell you otherwise. As for how I unwind at the end of a work day = I write up my blog entry, go out for dinner, watch some t.v. with my wife and dogs, then read in bed.
Cheeky Lil Devil writes: “ I promised Brigitte I wouldn’t post some of the pics, but a couple of the Wraith queen’s chair has already been posted on the LA Times site, so would it be ok if I just posted the couple we have of those and none of the others, obviously until the eps air?”
Answer: Hey, Cheeky. It was a pleasure meeting you and Linz. Sure. Go ahead and post the chair pics. If you like, send me any pics you’d like to post (moorsyum@yahoo.com) and I’ll tell you if they’re too spoilery or not.
Eglaviel writes: “Oh and if there is a Season 6 *fingers crossed* of SGA…what are the chances of us seeing Daniel Jackson again on the show?”
Answer: If we do get a sixth season pick-up, he’s at the top of our list.
Scifan writes: “I’m not sure if you can answer this or not because of spoiler reasons, but I just saw an extended version of the SGA promo trailer. After they show Teyla giving birth, Scifi has a caption saying, “A prophet is born.” Is this one of Scifi’s bad publicity stunts or is there some truth to that?”
Answer: Are you sure it was Stargate: Atlantis? Doesn’t sound like Stargate: Atlantis.
Leave a Reply