Seriously, people. You've been warned. Proceed at your own risk. Well, coming off a one-day weekend to a work week packed with early morning meetings, late night cuts, set sitting, writing, rewrites, and phone calls, I'm running on low battery setting. Compounding the chaos was another one of those curveballs that forced us to scrap…
January 11, 2017: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 29 of 91!
What's this? Could I have finally given in and granted Jodelle Ferland's request for a shipboard mascot. Director of Photography test tastes the commissary offerings. Space beer! Laying some track for the commissary walk 'n talk. The masterful work of Dark Matter Production Designer Ian Brock and his teams - art and construction departments. The early…
January 7, 2017: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 26 of 91!
Finally, the weekend is upon us! After consecutive grueling days on set shooting Episode 305, we got together Saturday and shot another day of same episode. And while I was at the munitions factory with director Steve DiMarco and co., the dogs were back home enjoying bath time (or in Suji's case, sink time). Behind…
January 6, 2017: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 25 of 91!
Today was long and late. I started off with first blocking in the munitions factory, then headed over to the production offices for a trifecta of meetings - art department, props, and background. Following a quick lunch, I jumped on two rewrites and completed the tease of my (second to last?) script of the season.…
January 5, 2017: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 24 of 91!
That 3D printer was one of the best investments the production ever made (not counting the 100k we sunk into tinder for dogs app). The latest creation was this Lenari Death Mask. Total build time: 21 hours. Chrome-finish version upcoming! As always, it's the little things...like these set accents designed by 1st Assistant Art Director…
January 2, 2017: Best Comic Book Reads of 2016 – Series and Graphic Novels!
A mix of 2016 and prior releases, here are my favorite comic book reads of this past year in no particular order... MY FAVORITE GRAPHIC NOVELS OF 2016... Replica (vol. 1) written by Paul Jenkins, art by Andy Clarke - Aftershock Comics Meet Trevor Churchill, an Earth-born peacekeeping agent on the intergalactic hub known as The Transfer.…
December 20, 2016: Montreal-bound!
It's a travel day. This morning, we embarked on a 5 hour(ish) journey back to 1976 - aka mom's house in Montreal, one of the last internet-free zones in the civilized world. Not sure what the deal is. I offered to pay for a basic service package but she refused, presumably because it's too expensive.…
December 16, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 21 of 91!
And that's a wrap on Dark Matter 2016! We capped off production with a tri-episode three director extravaganza. Steve DiMarco kicked things off with a pursuit through ethereal environs. But who's chasing who? The answers will shock. Then it was John Stead getting the last few scenes from our season 3 opener. And, finally, Bruce McDonald completed…
December 15, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 20 of 91!
"Motorists should consider postponing non-essential travel..." Is going home considered non-essential? Should be interesting. We have a little over an hour before wrap and waze is already telling me it's going to take me a while to get home. A while that's going to get even whilier as the snowstorm continues to rage. Melissa is…
December 14, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 19 of 91!
I was awakened at 5 a.m. this morning by what sounded like Akemi vacuuming downstairs. That's because Akemi WAS vacuuming downstairs. At 5 a.m. this morning! I'm not sure how they do things in Japan, but here in Canada... Toronto's in the deep freeze - and it's just going to get colder. Today, our tech…
December 13, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 18 of 91!
Two units going today. While Co-Executive Producer Ivon Bartok was overseeing the action over at the Ishida Research Facility, I was catching a glimpse of the future over on The Raza... The Ishida Research Facility central lab. Let's go take a look inside... The heart of the station. Karl's robot arm in action. Test subjects…
December 12, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 17 of 91!
Boy, I'm not one to get all emotional, but Facebook 2016's Year in Review video really took me back - To last month when I uploaded most of those photos. Ah, I remember that cast dinner like it was November. And that random photo of Roger Cross I uploaded to accompany his Q&A less than a…
December 11, 2016: Naming the Android!
The other day, I received the following text from actress Zoie Palmer: And she was right. It WAS like sharing with her the single greatest thing about bringing a child into this world: coming up with a name for it. Except that instead of having 9 months to do it, we have 9 episodes, and…
December 10, 2016: Contest winner!
Early in November, I held a little contest on this blog, asking fans to directly identify two props featured in Dark Matter's second season. Then, we rolled into production and I forgot to announce the winner. And so, better late than never, the winner of the cast-signed script who correctly identified the props - and the episodes…
December 9, 2016: Dark Matter Season 3 – Day 16 of 91!
A little something from concept artist Henry Fong for Episode 303... Holy crap! Three weeks of production complete! Director Bruce McDonald - the master of ceremonies. First blocking - Craiger, Joe, Dave, and Brad. Do NOT go in there! Script Supervisor Brad Wethlery joins the club. Dashing, no? So what're we doing in the systems…