Prep week for episode #10, Resurgence, kicked off today with a 9:00 a.m. concept meeting. Those in attendance included all department heads, Director Will Waring (yes, apparently he IS directing this one), my writing partner Paul (who sat in to get a sense of who will be where on that new set), and yours truly. Assistant Director Alex Pappas ran the meeting, guiding us through the script, stopping only to direct questions my way or regale us with tales of his youth spent as the Entertainment Director of a local Buddhist community center. As Paul predicted, we ended up mired in the “Who’s where?” logistics of the new set and, after much discussion and dialogue tweaking, it was decided I would have to offer detailed positioning of each player in my next draft. I actually ended up sketching out a handy diagram in the margin of each scene to keep it all straight!. It looked something like this:
X X X
xx
X X
And it’s various brevpy variations.
After a ten minute break, we sat down for a very brief Art Department meeting – very brief because we’d had a pre-concept meeting meeting last week in which we’d brought in Wray and Scott from SPFX to discuss how we planned to shoot one of episode’s more interesting sequences. There was talk of ramps, rigs, cranes, and parallelograms until we finally decided on our game plan. More talk of relative speed and vectors of intertia, this time initiated by Paul rather than our Creative Consultant John Scalzi.
Next up was the props meeting – which proved equally brief. Talk of backpacks, pelican cases, weapons, shovels, crowbars, and big-ass flashlights.
After which we rolled right into another short meeting: Costumes.
Since we’d already had our preliminary discussion with the Special Effects team, the Stunts and Special Effects meeting went quickly. A couple of stunts, atmosphere that shouldn’t look like atmosphere, and sound and fury.
Given the brevity of the meetings so far, you’d think this episode would be relatively inexpensive. Think again because, tomorrow, we’re looking at THE meeting – Visual Effects – which is scheduled to run for an hour and a half, but could go longer. The 8:30 a.m. Playback meeting that precedes it is also going to be busy. Also on deck tomorrow: Extras and Hair & Make-Up.
Well, tonight’s the night! 10:00 p.m. NBC. The premiere of Persons Unknown…
It has an intriguing premise and, most important of all, was Exec Produced by none other than SGU’s Remi Aubuchon.
Speaking of Remi, I think it’s high time he got the official Stargate fan welcome – and no better way for the fans to officially welcome him than with a trial by fire, coal-raking, fan Q&A. So, if you’ve got questions for Remi, start posting them. Ask him about SGU! Persons Unknown! How delightful Joe is to work with!
And make sure to check out his show tonight. It’s common courteous, after all.
Mailbag:
Rex Carter writes: “One question though if the sgc should find another a 3rd icarus planet with enough naquadria desposits in it to gate to Destiny can they only use it once one shot per icarus planet and of course one-way travel to destiny.”
Answer: Theoretically, yes, they would be able to make multiple one-way trips to Destiny.
Ytimynona writes: “By “juicer” do you mean blender?”
Answer: Nope. I use the blender to make smoothies, and the juicer (that extracts the juice and discards the fiber) for juice.
SG7 writes: “With ScyFy moving SGU to Tuesdays, do you think that SPACE will do the same? And have you done any Q&A’s with Louis Ferreira or BrianJSmith? And if you haven’t are you planning on any with either of them?”
Answer: I don’t know what SPACE has planned for season two. As for Louis and Brian – I haven’t asked Louis yet, but Brian did a Q&A prior to the show’s premiere – http://josephmallozzi.com/2009/09/29/september-28-2009-actor-brian-j-smith-answers-your-questions-only-three-days-to-the-stargate-universe-premiere/
dasNdanger writes: “Joe…you stopped reading Wolverine Origins and Dark Wolverine, right?”
Answer: I stopped reading everything, but am still picking up trade paperbacks of The Walking Dead and Scalped. I’ll certainly pick up both of your recommendations and check them out.
JulieAloha writes: “Are you thin crust or pan pizza man? Tomato, white, pesto sauce or other? Wild toppings or standard?”
Answer: Depends on my mood, but I tend to prefer the New York style thin over the Chicago deep dish. While I’m more than happy to experiment with exotic ingredients, I like to keep the toppings minimal.
Louis answers: “On the topic of SGU though Joe I was wondering if I could ask u a small question, will we by any chance be introduced to any other LGBT characters onboard the Destiny in the future?”
Answer: It’s possible, yes.
Mix-Martes writes: “Hey Joe, just read the other day’s post about that World Cup pool and I was wondering… why no-one bet on Spain to win it?”
Answer: I think it could be because they’re a perennial underachiever.
Fiorenzo writes: “I have a question that you might not be able to answer but giving it a try anyway (note: I’m also a Lost fan) … do Brad and Robert already know how the series is going to end?”
Answer: As a matter of fact, yes, they do.
JeffW writes: “You could try making your own Pizza, or am I missing the point?”
Answer: I know, I know. My mother makes her own pizza and I really should make the effort but, well, it’s so much effort.
Chevron7 writes: “Btw, how are Brie and Stewie doing?”
Answer: They’re doing well. Apparently, very needy.
Tammy Dixon writes: “Sorry, Mr. M., I’ll try to keep the post down after this but do you know when/where Brian J. Smith’s film “Murder on the Orient Express” is going to be shown?”
Answer: Alas, I don’t. I’d suggest posting the question to Brian on twitter.
Salmo writes: “Way back when I used to live in Kits and Sympatico on Fourth Ave. was was the place for pizza. Is it still there?”
Answer: Doesn’t ring a bell.
steph writes: “1) Are there any rules/standards as to what you are allowed to do when using another person’s body (i.e. having sex with someone)?
2) Will we be meeting Dr. or military officer Cassandra any time soon? I know an episode of SG1 showed her in the future talking to the team, which implies she has access to the base.
3) Is there any chance of meeting some of the cool peoples we met previously (i.e. Asgard, Tollan, Nox, the old man whose wife died in Babylonia)?
4) Do you believe commanders of ships out all alone in space become alike or is it happenstance that there are many similarities between Col. Young and Admiral Adama of BSG?”
Answers: 1) Common sense dictates behavior although participants are required to sign a waiver.
2) No plans to revisit the Cassandra character.
3) Again, no plans to introduce alien elements from either of the previous shows.
4) Didn’t see BSG, but I imagine most commanders would need to demonstrate both unwavering strength and compassion. A tricky combination.
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