First off, thanks to everyone who has offered up suggestions on how to deal with my tech problem (see last issue, ed.). Tomorrow, I’ll see if I can export a copy of my blog to via a (hopefully) faster computer at the office. To be honest, the situation isn’t as dire as it seems. I write out my entries before transferring them to wordpress, so I have them all backed up as documents. I’ve also backed up all my media files (pics and video) as well. I have a back up blog that was last updated winter of 2008 in addition to the countless live journal sites out there that have published my entries over the past coupe of years. So, yes, I’m covered. Still, it would be nice.
Was in the office today. Gave Carl notes on his first draft of Pain. Doesn’t look like he’ll need to do much in the way of a rewrite. Meanwhile, I anxiously await Brad’s pass on Sabotage as that preps next week with the lovable Peter DeLuise at the directing helm. Next week is also when Rob Cooper starts directing Human (formerly Lucid – I know, I can’t let it go). I’m going to go over both of my scripts and – provided on how things go – try to get them in tomorrow so he’ll have the weekend to read them rather than having to read them on set. The latter would be terrible as I’m sure he’ll be so engrossed and eager to finish reading that he’ll no doubt hold up production just to see “how it all turns out”. And I, of course, would feel terribly guilty. So, tonight, I start my first pass on my drafts.
Late this afternoon, we watched the Final Mix of the two-part premiere with the VFX Finals. “Pretty good,”said Brad on the final fade. “No,”Carl was quick to correct him. “Great.” “Yeah,”Brad agreed. “It WAS pretty good.” “No,”Carl repeated himself, more emphatically this time. “Great!”. And I’d have to agree with Carl. As I was watching, all I could think was how good this would look on the big screen. And then I remembered – Hey, we’ll be doing a big screen cast and crew screening prior to the premiere so we will get to see it on the big screen! It will truly be awesome!
Speaking of the premiere – I leave you today with some pics from those first couple of weeks of shooting…and the mailbag…
- Director Andy Mikita calls the shots.
- Extra action.
RebeccaH writes: “My question is, if you’ve been using Times New Roman all along (which is my favored font), shouldn’t that be the standard by which you measure your script pages, regardless of whether someone else is using a different font?”
Answer: That was the case with SG-1 and Atlantis. But new series = new font. At the end of the day, so long as we’re consistent throughout the production, we could be using Hermetica Indentured Serf Gothic Extra Bold and it wouldn’t really matter.
Cheryl Gunter writes: “My daughter spent 2 years writing a book.
Someone broke into our house and stole her laptop. You guessed it…no backup…there went the book. Gone forever.”
Answer: I feel horribly for your daughter. I have a fear of something similar happening to me – losing a document either to theft or a system crash. I make it a point to always back-up my data on an external hard drive and also email myself the documents just to be on the safe side. My sympathies.
Psychotic_Carp writes: “You might want to try to backup your blog with another browser, if your on safari try firefox or opera.”
Answer: Tried ‘em. No go.
Eric.Stewart writes: “I’ve heard that there is apparently a standard in term of the font you can use to write a script, and that all scripts are supposed to be written in the same font style and size.”
Answer: Yep. Courier is the industry standard. If you’re writing a spec script, that’s the font you should be using. That said, if a production wants to use an alternate font, there’s no logical reason why they shouldn’t so long as this is accepted as the norm for all internally produced scripts.
Eric.Stewart also writes: “I’ve also heard that this standard helps to evaluate the time length of a script. i.e 1 page of a script is supposed to be equivalent to 1 minute of on screen movie time, so that a 52 pages script would be equivalent to 52 minutes of “on screen time.”
Answer: Yes, more or less, 1 scripted page = 1 minute of screen time. It varies somewhat depending on whether the scripts are action or dialogue-heavy, or whether you’re actors speak quickly or enunciate at a glacial pace.
Ytimyona writes: “Joe, do you have anything to say about the Emmy bruhaha?”
Answer: Sure. What Emmy bruhaha?
Otros Ojos writes: “I hope you don’t get tired of people telling you how entertaining you are.”
Answer: Not yet. But I’ll let you know.
Jenn writes: “So, Joe, uhm…is there any word about the SGA movie? Any word at all? Are you still optimistic that it’s going to happen?”
Answer: As I’ve said all along, I’m going to assume we are making a movie until somebody actually tells me we aren’t. And that hasn’t happened yet. Also, if the plan was never to make a movie, Paul and I wouldn’t have been hired to write and produce it. If at some point they’d decided not to do it, you’d think they would have said “Hey, stop writing that script!” rather than paying us for something they had no intention of using.
Anais33 a ecrit: “Je ne pourrai pas passer sur votre blog avant une semaine, car pleins de monde viennent chez moi, et je part quelques jours en vacance dans un luxueux hotel.:
Answer: Bonnes vacances! Et bonne anniversaire!
JimfromJersey writes: “I can’t help you with the actual backup, but I can help with this: The best screen capture program I’ve ever used. And it’s free!”
Answer: Thanks, Jim.
Angelus writes: “Will you be showing any work-in-progress art designs for SGU?”
Answer: I will – and have posted some early design work already.
Ytimyona writes: “Does the crew always wear awesome shirts to work, or only when their pictures are taken?”
Answer: I think they wear them in the hopes that they’ll get their picture taken.
Shawna writes: “So… what happens if SGU doesn’t get picked up for a second season?”
Answer: So negative! We grow increasingly excited about the show the closer we get to those finished episodes. Hopefully quality will translate to solid ratings. But, in the event things don’t work out, we’ll be able to look back on 16 incredible seasons of a franchise that, quite frankly, was originally, in a best case scenario, only envisioned going 5. I will of course finally be able to head back to Tokyo and spend the entire year as a guest contestant on various Japanese game shows before returning to start up my dream monkey sanctuary.
Fargate One writes: “Quand vous rédigez un dialogue, le lisez-vous à voix haute pour vérifier si les phrases sonnent bien à l’oreille, pour entendre les répliques afin de vous assurer qu’elles sonnent naturelles?”
Answer: Des fois, oui.
Translation: I occasionally do read my dialogue aloud to make sure it sounds right. I do the same with my answers to your questions.
K-Man writes: “If for some reason they don’t make the movie will the script ever be released anywhere? Maybe as a novel or something?”
Answer: That, of course, would be up to MGM.
Fran writes: “Is Brie the newest edition to the bunch? And do they all get along with each other?”
Answer: Brie is a guest. And, yes, they do all get along. More or less.
Chevron7 writes: “Joe & some other social people, please take the test.”
Answer: I scored a 29.
Vincent92 a ecrit: “1)Quelle est votre niveau d’étude du français ? (Vous avez lu la BD Asterix en Français !)
2) Quelle est la marque des “Tablets PC” sur Atlantis ?
3) Allez vous sur le site de David Hewlett (dGeek.com) ?”
Reponses: 1) J’ai étudié le français dans l’ecole primaire et secondaire.
2) Je ne me rappelle pas.
3) Non, je ne le sais pas.
Translations: 1) I studied French in elementary school and high schoool.
2) I don’t recall what the markings are on the Atlantis tablets.
3) I’m not familiar with dGeek.
Norriski writes: “I was wondering if you could direct me to a few Sci Fi authors whos works would, for lack of a better term, be consider PG.”
Answer: I can’t vouch for an author’s entire bibliography, but I can suggest individuals titles: like this months BOTMC pick The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, or John Scalzi’s Zoe’s Tale, or George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides to name a few.
DasNdanger writes: “ Joe – Lou says to look for the book sometime in 2010. You will give us a head’s up, I’m sure…but I was wondering if you know if this is going to be a general release thing (something you can pick up at your local bookstore), or limited, and only available through select outlets.”
Answer: I’m pretty sure it’ll be a general release.
Majorsal writes: “when does filming for ’sgu’ finish?”
Answer: October.
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