5:00 a.m.: I wake up so early that not even the dogs will get out of bed and join me.
6:15 a.m.: I catch a cab to the airport with my fellow Executive Producer Paul Mullie. As we pull away from the curb, I lament the fact that the production office didn’t drop off my car last night (off getting winter tires) because my hat is in the back seat and I fear I may need it in New York.
7:00 a.m.: At the airport, meet up with fellow Executive Producer Jay Firestone who has packed his tux in one of his carry-on suitcases because he’ll be staying in New York for the International Emmys. (Note: I didn’t even know there was such a thing.)
7:30 a.m.: Our flight departs for Toronto. When Jay mentioned we’d be flying in a “prop plane”, my mind immediately went to the “prop guns” and “prop gadgets” we used to build on Stargate, reasonable facsimiles of the real thing. I imagined the airline buying one of these phoney planes from a production and retrofitting it with an actual working engine. Beats having to build a real one from scratch! But, alas, Paul disabused me of the notion by informing me that “prop” is actually short for “propellor” – which didn’t make me feel any better. Since it was my first time flying one of these things, I got to swing the propellor to start the engine while, inside the cockpit, the pilot shouted: “Contact!” letting me know I had less than thirty seconds to scramble aboard before the plane took off. Enroute, we dusted some crops!
The east coat is a veritable winter wonderland!
We flew into Newark Airport and, from there, it was smoooooth sailing into New York City. So smooth, in fact, that we arrived half an hour early for our meeting. We informed the front desk at 30 Rock. They told us to beat it.
Check it out! They’re working on the big Christmas tree!
11:00 a.m.: After going out for coffee and chapstick, we returned to 30 Rock, met up with fellow Executive Producer Vanessa Piazza, then headed up to the SyFy offices where we met up with our long-time favorite SyFy Exec (and longtime Stargate fan and supporter) Executive VP of Programming and Original Movies for SyFy and Chiller Tom Vitale! We also met our Dark Matter point person at the network, Senior VP of Programming Chris Regina who struck me as both super nice and super sharp. And he’s also a fellow foodie and fantasy football enthusiast!
We chatted about the show for an hour and then headed off for a lunch of lamb burgers and polenta fries at Bolud Sud.
2:00 p.m.: With approximately two hours to kill before our meeting with SyFy Marketing, we accompanied Vanessa to the Nike Store where she spent approximately 90 minutes browsing and trying stuff on including a pair of running shoes that apparently light up under headlights – and camera flashes. I put ’em to the test –
Yep!
Apparently, 90 minutes wasn’t enough time for Vanessa so she set some items aside for a post-meeting perusal, and we headed back to 30 Rock for our meeting with the Marketing team.
4:00 p.m.: I pitched our show: the opener, the themes, nature vs. nurture, redemption, twists, turns! Paul backed me up. Jay delved into marketing and licensing. Vanessa fielded questions related to production and scheduling. I think it went over well. Nobody left the room or fell asleep while I was speaking (always a good sign).
5:00 p.m.: Paul and I leave and spend the next 30 minutes trying to hail a cab. We eventually succeeded and spent over an hour in gridlock. finally arriving at the airport an hour before our scheduled departure.
I had time to grab this not-so-delicious $12 sandwich.
11:00 p.m.: By the time we arrive, go through customs, catch a cab, and get in – I take a shower and crawl into bed thoroughly exhausted. Then remember I have a blog to update.
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