Got asked to do an interview regarding Primeval: New World for a fan site called Primeval Denial. Imagine my surprise and delight at discovering that some of the fans involved are Highlander: The Series fans as well -- and that the site's name is in fact in homage to a Highlander fan group that called itself "Clan Denial." It really is a small world -- and it's no small thrill to me when the people who've been watching my work from the start are interested in the next thing I'm doing.
http://primeval-denial.livejournal.com/3444419.html#cutid1
I can't wait for this show to pemiere so we can start talking about it in earnest!
Showing posts with label Highlander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Highlander. Show all posts
Monday, September 17, 2012
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A Whole New World
Twitter. You may have heard of it. Me, I'm too verbose to be an early adopter of anything requiring concision. 140 characters? Is that even enough room for a haiku? I've got ThingsTo Say, people!
But if you want to get better at stuff, you've gotta do things that aren't a natural fit. People use a phrase around here, "in his wheelhouse," meaning that a task plays to a person's known strengths, and thus they are the perfect choice, sure to succeed.
To a point. On Season 3 of Sanctuary, I was fortunate to write a couple of episodes that were right down my alley, containing the sort of stories that I'm drawn to and known for writing. In fact the second of my two Season 3 episodes, "Awakening," is one that I actively pursued being assigned to because I was so fond of its premise.
In the course of writing Season 4, through the vagaries of scheduling and the needs of the ongoing story, the two scripts I wrote were well outside my usual specialty -- each in a different way. For 403, "Untouchable," in particular, I had to tap into a style and structure that did not come naturally to me. (More about the details of that after it airs. Spoilers, Sweetie!) And you know what? I am more proud of those two scripts than of anything I've done in a long time. I had to really wake up and dig down to get 'em done, and the results are something I am very proud of.
So, lesson re-learned: Don't fall back on old tricks when you can embrace new challenges.
And so, finally, Twitter. With ComiCon looming large in my sights, shiny new Smartphone in hand, I figured I'd jump in the deep end. I quickly found myself tweeting from any place I was standing still -- and cursing when I couldn't get a wireless connection from inside the press room while I waited for the Sanctuary Cast to make their rounds. No signal! Unthinkable!
Yesterday I participated in an event organized by some of our Sanctuary publicity gurus, in honor of the release of our Season 3 DVD sets. A number of cast and crew with Twitter Handles were recruited to play #SanctuaryTwitterTag for the day, passing a virtual baton around cyberspace by tagging one another with questions. Of course it didn't go to plan -- which I soon realized was all for the best. It would have been less fum and less memorable if it had all gone off without a hitch! (This is another of those important life lessons, I assure you.)
At the end of the day, I saw tweets from fans that resonated with me, saying that they had found and were now following one another thanks to participating in the event. I was reminded of the times when I was in frequent attendance at Highlander Conventions, realizing that while the panels with cast and crew are the initial reason for coming, after the first time the fans are gathering to see one another as much as to see us. That they could have (and sometimes do have) awesome conventions without us showing up at all. Their shared love is the glue to their community, online or off. We are mere facilitators.
And I figured out the secret to keeping it short on Twitter, too. It's a conversation, not a lecture. Characters on TV aren't supposed to make speeches longer than five lines, why would I?
Except over here, of course. Still got Things To Say.
But if you want to get better at stuff, you've gotta do things that aren't a natural fit. People use a phrase around here, "in his wheelhouse," meaning that a task plays to a person's known strengths, and thus they are the perfect choice, sure to succeed.
To a point. On Season 3 of Sanctuary, I was fortunate to write a couple of episodes that were right down my alley, containing the sort of stories that I'm drawn to and known for writing. In fact the second of my two Season 3 episodes, "Awakening," is one that I actively pursued being assigned to because I was so fond of its premise.
In the course of writing Season 4, through the vagaries of scheduling and the needs of the ongoing story, the two scripts I wrote were well outside my usual specialty -- each in a different way. For 403, "Untouchable," in particular, I had to tap into a style and structure that did not come naturally to me. (More about the details of that after it airs. Spoilers, Sweetie!) And you know what? I am more proud of those two scripts than of anything I've done in a long time. I had to really wake up and dig down to get 'em done, and the results are something I am very proud of.
So, lesson re-learned: Don't fall back on old tricks when you can embrace new challenges.
And so, finally, Twitter. With ComiCon looming large in my sights, shiny new Smartphone in hand, I figured I'd jump in the deep end. I quickly found myself tweeting from any place I was standing still -- and cursing when I couldn't get a wireless connection from inside the press room while I waited for the Sanctuary Cast to make their rounds. No signal! Unthinkable!
Yesterday I participated in an event organized by some of our Sanctuary publicity gurus, in honor of the release of our Season 3 DVD sets. A number of cast and crew with Twitter Handles were recruited to play #SanctuaryTwitterTag for the day, passing a virtual baton around cyberspace by tagging one another with questions. Of course it didn't go to plan -- which I soon realized was all for the best. It would have been less fum and less memorable if it had all gone off without a hitch! (This is another of those important life lessons, I assure you.)
At the end of the day, I saw tweets from fans that resonated with me, saying that they had found and were now following one another thanks to participating in the event. I was reminded of the times when I was in frequent attendance at Highlander Conventions, realizing that while the panels with cast and crew are the initial reason for coming, after the first time the fans are gathering to see one another as much as to see us. That they could have (and sometimes do have) awesome conventions without us showing up at all. Their shared love is the glue to their community, online or off. We are mere facilitators.
And I figured out the secret to keeping it short on Twitter, too. It's a conversation, not a lecture. Characters on TV aren't supposed to make speeches longer than five lines, why would I?
Except over here, of course. Still got Things To Say.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
My Ears are Burning
Pat Elrod stumbled upon this blog and put up a lovely livejournal post linking back here and reminiscing about some time we spent together in the aftermath of a con. (I'm pretty sure it was a Forever Knight event.) I can't comment on her post without joining LJ, so I'm hoping she has a Google alert on her own name that will lead her to this post. I'm I'm glad to know that my link is helping people find and enjoy the new Highlander minisode, and always enjoy the ongoing reunion of acquaintanceship that is enabled by virtual space. Earlier today I exchanged Facebook messages with a writer of Star Wars RPG's, whom I'd met at conventions years ago and remember fondly. (Although by "today" I guess I technically mean "yesterday" -- as always when on deadline, I reverse my nights and days, writing long past midnight and sleeping past noon.)
Friday, November 7, 2008
Still Immortal After All These Years
What makes one TV show last forever while others, perhaps more successful initially, fade out of memory?
We're always trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Highlander caught it. Even while were were making the show, we knew. Because of the avid fandom and their heartfelt feedback, we knew.
But I couldn't have predicted that more than 10 years after we went off the air, we would all still have it so much in our hearts.
As I mentioned a while back, a new short episode of "Highlander: The Series," featuring the original cast in their roles as Methos, Amanda and Joe, and written by our guiding light David Abramowitz, is now available. And you can see the whole thing for free on hulu.
I feel lucky to have the chance to visit with these old friends again.
We're always trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Highlander caught it. Even while were were making the show, we knew. Because of the avid fandom and their heartfelt feedback, we knew.
But I couldn't have predicted that more than 10 years after we went off the air, we would all still have it so much in our hearts.
As I mentioned a while back, a new short episode of "Highlander: The Series," featuring the original cast in their roles as Methos, Amanda and Joe, and written by our guiding light David Abramowitz, is now available. And you can see the whole thing for free on hulu.
I feel lucky to have the chance to visit with these old friends again.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Finger Whippin Good
Anthony DeLongis sent me this link to his recent appearance on G4, showing off whip tricks in connection with his recent Indy 4 gig. Had me laughing out loud!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Immortality
If you're lucky, you work on a project in your lifetime that outlasts you. As a young reader, I was moved to laughter and tears by Dorothy L. Sayers' descriptions of Lord Peter Wimsey's adventures. Feeling the catch in my gut as Harriet Vane gazed longingly at the curve of Wimsey's ear in "Gaudy Night," I was amazed at the realization that although the author was dead, and the character as well, had he been real, would have been long gone, the books could continue finding new readers to fall in love with him. He continued to exist on those pages.
When I became a writer, this was my highest goal: to create a character who would still be gaining admirers after I was gone. It is either my good fortune or my greatest obstacle that in my first staff job, before the age of 30, I was part of one of those rare shows that continues on in the imagination even when it's out of production. "Highlander: The Series" stands the test of time. It continues to find new viewers. As deeply proud and honored as I am to have been a part of the team that built those characters, it's also a hard act to follow. I could spend the rest of my life searching for another show as creatively fulfilling.
None of us left Highlander fully behind when it ended. Those of us who were part of it will always be a part if it, like alumni of a shared school. Or like Brothers in Arms. I left the staff in 1997, at the end of the 5th season, but remained a consultant on the ancillary merchandise for another few years. "Evening at Joe's," the compilation of short stories written by cast and crew that I spearheaded, was published in 2001 -- its very existence further proof of the staying power of the show. If you came to most crews and actors three years after a show had gone off the air, asking for stories set in that world, most of them would be hard-pressed to even remember it.
As recently as 2003 I was spending weeks reviewing videotapes and being interviewed for Highlander DVD extras. And at a Highlander Convention in October 2007, almost 10 years after we'd finished filming, the stories and characters were as fresh in our minds as ever.
Recently, Highlander's head writer David Abramowitz has been able to revisit our beloved characters, writing new scenes for the original cast. One of them was performed live at that Convention last October -- It was absolutely magical to have those characters we'd lived with for years come back to life once more. The actors transformed before our eyes from their casual panel-giving selves, into these characters that they owned, brilliantly recapturing their cadences and nuances. And of course, since they were written by the man who was the heart of the original, the lines were perfect, blending humor and heart.
Other brand new scenes have been filmed for a new DVD called "Reunion." You can see a clip at legendaryheroes.com. The bittersweet thing about new Highlander material is that it just makes me want more new Highlander material. "Reunion" isn't enough, but it's something.
My Time Machine moment: The beach house where this was filmed is also the corporate retreat where I had my first big story meeting after being promoted from Script Coordinator to Associate Creative Consultant on the show, at the beginning of Season Three. The episode "Samurai" was conceived that day.
When I became a writer, this was my highest goal: to create a character who would still be gaining admirers after I was gone. It is either my good fortune or my greatest obstacle that in my first staff job, before the age of 30, I was part of one of those rare shows that continues on in the imagination even when it's out of production. "Highlander: The Series" stands the test of time. It continues to find new viewers. As deeply proud and honored as I am to have been a part of the team that built those characters, it's also a hard act to follow. I could spend the rest of my life searching for another show as creatively fulfilling.
None of us left Highlander fully behind when it ended. Those of us who were part of it will always be a part if it, like alumni of a shared school. Or like Brothers in Arms. I left the staff in 1997, at the end of the 5th season, but remained a consultant on the ancillary merchandise for another few years. "Evening at Joe's," the compilation of short stories written by cast and crew that I spearheaded, was published in 2001 -- its very existence further proof of the staying power of the show. If you came to most crews and actors three years after a show had gone off the air, asking for stories set in that world, most of them would be hard-pressed to even remember it.
As recently as 2003 I was spending weeks reviewing videotapes and being interviewed for Highlander DVD extras. And at a Highlander Convention in October 2007, almost 10 years after we'd finished filming, the stories and characters were as fresh in our minds as ever.
Recently, Highlander's head writer David Abramowitz has been able to revisit our beloved characters, writing new scenes for the original cast. One of them was performed live at that Convention last October -- It was absolutely magical to have those characters we'd lived with for years come back to life once more. The actors transformed before our eyes from their casual panel-giving selves, into these characters that they owned, brilliantly recapturing their cadences and nuances. And of course, since they were written by the man who was the heart of the original, the lines were perfect, blending humor and heart.
Other brand new scenes have been filmed for a new DVD called "Reunion." You can see a clip at legendaryheroes.com. The bittersweet thing about new Highlander material is that it just makes me want more new Highlander material. "Reunion" isn't enough, but it's something.
My Time Machine moment: The beach house where this was filmed is also the corporate retreat where I had my first big story meeting after being promoted from Script Coordinator to Associate Creative Consultant on the show, at the beginning of Season Three. The episode "Samurai" was conceived that day.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Film School
My friend Marv Wolfman suggested that I tell some stories here about working in TV. I'll start by answering an email I got from Michelle in Indiana, a fan of my work on Highlander who found my previous web page and asked: "Did you go to film school especially to learn how to write scripts, or did you go to film school to learn to make films, and knowing how to put a script together was a bonus?"
I actually didn't go to film school at all. I went to a college that was all about the academics and not at all about the vocational training. I learned the semiotics of film as an undergraduate, but almost nothing about filmmaking. But I was interested in episodic storytelling from childhood, when I dreamed of growing up to write Hardy Boys books. By High School, I'd figured out that TV writing was my goal -- I credit the series Remington Steele for that realization. I wanted to write new adventures for the characters, and although I dabbled briefly in fanfic, I was blessed with the kind of parents who, when I said I'd decided to be a TV Writer, never doubted it as a possibility. My mother, who'd despaired of ever seeing me move out of her apartment when my ambition was to be a poet, took great comfort in my new plan, declaring that I would now be able to support her. There's really no substitute for that kind of unwavering confidence.
Most of what I knew about TV writing and production, I learned by reading David Gerrold's various "Making of" Star Trek books, and his column in Starlog magazine. During and after college, I worked as an intern and assistant at studios and on shows, read scripts voraciously, and watched TV with an analytical eye. That was my training -- that, and having the good fortune to write some of my first scripts under the excellent tutelage of Tommy Thompson (Quantum Leap), Jim Parriot (Forever Knight), and the unparallelled David Abramowitz (Highlander: The Series), in whose image I am formed.
(I think people underestimate the importance of your first staff job in forming your professional personality forevermore. If you work for someone who likes to stay focused, deliver documents ahead of deadline, distribute praise liberally to his staff, and go home for dinner, you will most likely grow into a similar person. If your first jobs are with bosses who prefer to demonstrate their power, play basketball in the afternoon and then keep everyone in the writing office until midnight, and alternate between rage and despair, you will come to accept this as normal or even necessary to the process.)
Speaking of Highlander: The Series, one of the most fun encounters I had in the wake of working there was when I flew up to Vancouver to be the on-set writer for an episode of Young Blades. This was in 2005, 7 years after HL went off the air. As I was escorted to the catering truck to grab lunch (an A.D. had spotted me at the end of the line and ushered me in front of the background extras, a perk that I appreciated even as I was embarrassed by it), the Catering Assistant (sous-chef? server?), a guy of about 20 at most, asked me, "Didn't you work on Highlander?" I was shocked to be recognized -- I'd visited Vancouver only three times during HL's run, for a few days each time, and was never well-known to the crew other than our beloved Producer Ken Gord, Post-Production Supervisor Tracy Hillman, who became a friend, and Swordmaster F. Braun McAsh, more due to spending time at conventions together than time on the set. Even if I'd been more of a presence then, this guy was far too young to have been on the crew. So WTF? Then he explained that he recognized me from the DVD Commentary I'd done for the show!!!
When I pulled my collection of Highlander Dailies and Outtakes out of the storage room for DVD Bonus Features, all I had in mind was relief that these treasures would finally be available for fans and for posterity. It never occurred to me that I was ensuring my own posterity, as well. But it's worth noting, as writers continue to struggle for recognition, that you never know when and where things will pay off, and doing publicity for your show may turn out to have unexpected benefits for yourself down the line.
I actually didn't go to film school at all. I went to a college that was all about the academics and not at all about the vocational training. I learned the semiotics of film as an undergraduate, but almost nothing about filmmaking. But I was interested in episodic storytelling from childhood, when I dreamed of growing up to write Hardy Boys books. By High School, I'd figured out that TV writing was my goal -- I credit the series Remington Steele for that realization. I wanted to write new adventures for the characters, and although I dabbled briefly in fanfic, I was blessed with the kind of parents who, when I said I'd decided to be a TV Writer, never doubted it as a possibility. My mother, who'd despaired of ever seeing me move out of her apartment when my ambition was to be a poet, took great comfort in my new plan, declaring that I would now be able to support her. There's really no substitute for that kind of unwavering confidence.Most of what I knew about TV writing and production, I learned by reading David Gerrold's various "Making of" Star Trek books, and his column in Starlog magazine. During and after college, I worked as an intern and assistant at studios and on shows, read scripts voraciously, and watched TV with an analytical eye. That was my training -- that, and having the good fortune to write some of my first scripts under the excellent tutelage of Tommy Thompson (Quantum Leap), Jim Parriot (Forever Knight), and the unparallelled David Abramowitz (Highlander: The Series), in whose image I am formed.
(I think people underestimate the importance of your first staff job in forming your professional personality forevermore. If you work for someone who likes to stay focused, deliver documents ahead of deadline, distribute praise liberally to his staff, and go home for dinner, you will most likely grow into a similar person. If your first jobs are with bosses who prefer to demonstrate their power, play basketball in the afternoon and then keep everyone in the writing office until midnight, and alternate between rage and despair, you will come to accept this as normal or even necessary to the process.)
Speaking of Highlander: The Series, one of the most fun encounters I had in the wake of working there was when I flew up to Vancouver to be the on-set writer for an episode of Young Blades. This was in 2005, 7 years after HL went off the air. As I was escorted to the catering truck to grab lunch (an A.D. had spotted me at the end of the line and ushered me in front of the background extras, a perk that I appreciated even as I was embarrassed by it), the Catering Assistant (sous-chef? server?), a guy of about 20 at most, asked me, "Didn't you work on Highlander?" I was shocked to be recognized -- I'd visited Vancouver only three times during HL's run, for a few days each time, and was never well-known to the crew other than our beloved Producer Ken Gord, Post-Production Supervisor Tracy Hillman, who became a friend, and Swordmaster F. Braun McAsh, more due to spending time at conventions together than time on the set. Even if I'd been more of a presence then, this guy was far too young to have been on the crew. So WTF? Then he explained that he recognized me from the DVD Commentary I'd done for the show!!!When I pulled my collection of Highlander Dailies and Outtakes out of the storage room for DVD Bonus Features, all I had in mind was relief that these treasures would finally be available for fans and for posterity. It never occurred to me that I was ensuring my own posterity, as well. But it's worth noting, as writers continue to struggle for recognition, that you never know when and where things will pay off, and doing publicity for your show may turn out to have unexpected benefits for yourself down the line.
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