Received an email from the lovely Tanja yesterday. She was our production coordinator for many, many years of the Stargate franchise and was in the offices the other day to coordinate the final wrap. Apparently, it was a very melancholy vibe as work began on de-rigging Stage 5 first. Stage 5, as you may or…
April 18, 2011: Pre-Production Update! My Favorite Germans! The Office Routine! And Magic Wands!
I spent the weekend incorporating five different sets of notes into my rewrite of (what was formerly episode #2 but is now) episode #3. It now comes in at a robust 62 pages. On the one hand, the longer page count makes it more challenging to schedule; on the other hand, a couple of more…
April 17, 2011: until we meet again
That was the title of the email I received from Brad Wright late yesterday, an email confirming the worst. Despite his best efforts and a situation so fluid it vacillated from "almost yes" to "probably not" and back to "almost yes" on any given week, final word had come down. There would be no SGU movie.…
April 16, 2011: Catching up with the mailbag!
Heading out for dinner tonight after which I've got to hit the gym, start The Wise Man's Fear, and finish up the last two episodes of Eden of the East. Here's a long overdue mailbag for you to peruse... Chevron7 writes: "Now onto Colonel Cockblock – love that name Joe. Did you write in the closed…
April 15, 2011: Some thoughts on “The Hunt”!
My thoughts on "The Hunt"... VARRO AND T.J. - OH, AND YOUNG! Near the end of season one, while we were finishing shooting the last few days on Incursion I and II, I ran into Alaina on her way to set. "So, is T.J. going to be getting together with any of the handsome Lucian…
April 14, 2011: The search for a Script Coordinator/Exec. Producers’ Assistant Begins! The Transporter Summit Concludes!
We've started interviewing for a Script Coordinator/Exec. Producers' Assistant, partly because Ashleigh refuses to upend her life for us by moving to Toronto (Selfish, no?), but mainly because we don't like the attitude of our present temp Script Coordinator, Alexander M. Ruemelin. Instead of embracing these new and exciting (albeit unpaid and time-consuming) duties as…
April 13, 2011: Those deleted flashbacks from SGU’s “The Hunt”!
Back when I first envisioned this episode, there was no beast. No hunt. It was a story about T.J. trapped off-world, displaying great courage and inner strength in keeping a group of scientists and wounded soldiers alive in an inhospitable off-world environment while Varro and Young headed the rescue op to save them. Initially I…
April 12, 2011: Talking Transporter stories! More behind the scenes pics of SGU’s “The Hunt”!
We kicked off the day with a four hour meeting followed, after a thirty minute lunch break, by another three hour meeting. Over the course of these seven some hours, we discussed scripts and stories with our four broadcasters, covering everything from page notes on episodes #1 and #2 to big picture arc for the…
April 11, 2011: Behind-the-scenes on The Hunt!
$%&@!!!! "Why is the floor wet?"asked Akemi. I walked over to investigate, assuming one of the dogs may have peed on the floor. They hadn't. It was worse. Much worse! Apparently, the outlet hose of the air conditioner had slipped in from the window, pooling water onto the hardwood floor (Yes, that's right. Even though…
April 10, 2011: Pre-Hunt Entry! Recommend me a comic book series!
When we gathered to discuss stories for Stargate: Universe's second season, we went in with the goal of giving each of our main players at least one spotlight episode and some sort of arc or issue. And so, over the course of those first few days, we put all our characters' names up on the…
April 7, 2011: The Mystery of the Chewed-Up Chapstick! Stargate links! Pre-Production Update!
Look at 'em. So easygoing and laid-back. Little angels they appear to be. Certainly not the type capable of something like... THIS! I'm baffled as to who the guilty party is. In The Big Red Chewing Gum Incident, Jelly's cinammony breath was a dead giveaway. In the Mystery of the Missing Curry Fusilli, the fact…
April 6, 2011: I’m back in! Silly dog outfits! Splendido! Mailbag!
Success! I finally have access to my yahoo email! And it only took me an entire afternoon and approximately one hundred letter and number combinations to get it! Let's celebrate with a pic of my mother's dog in silly outfits! My other objected not so much to the fact they looked silly, but the fact…
April 5, 2011: Joe’s School of Language!
I was in the kitchen, packing away the dog food, when I heard Akemi, in the next room, drop three successive f-bombs as she struggled with her laptop. Sweet, polite, demure, soft-spoken Akemi! "Where did you learn that?"I asked/admonished. "Joe's school of language,"she informed me without missing a beat. And then, redirecting her attention back…
April 3, 2011: On the move! A long overdue mailbag!
Well, we've found a new place. And it's only one block over. And one floor up from where my writing/producing partner, Paul, is living (His response when I told him: "I'm afraid I'm going to have to complain, buddy. I don't want people with multiple dogs living in my building."). It has a fitness room,…
March 31, 2011: The not-so-secret project may not be so secret for long!
If rumors are to be believed (and, really, why wouldn't you believe a rumor?), i's are about to be dotted, t's stroked and, where necessary, certain vowels umlauted, graved, and aigued so that, by Monday, I'll finally be able to name the super-secret series I'm working on. Well, it's super-secret only insofar as I'm calling…