AFTRA non-response and Brainstorming

Just sent an email the other day to AFTRA to inquire about their rules regarding using actors from their union in new media projects.  Still haven't heard back...I guess they're not so interested in having producers sign with them for new media projects...

Ideally, I'd like the freedom to use union actors, but I have to make sure that it will remain cost effective. If it's going to cost too much per actor, than I need to either go non-union, or shape the shows so they have fewer characters.  Also, it might end up being similar to a student film, where not everyone has to be a member of the union. This would be ideal. I'd hate for anyone to have to shell out $1,600 to join AFTRA in order to do my web series (especially me!). If they ever get back to me, I'll know. 

I'll also be checking in with SAG (although their rules seem to be pretty loose at this point).

Working on my top three contenders. My wife and partner in crime Nicole is taking a crack at the first one, a serialized dramatic genre story, and I'm taking a crack at the other two (they've been brewing for a while). One is an out and out parody ("SStW"), the other is more of an animated cross-genre comedy ("SG"). Note: I'm intentionally avoiding being specific here, not due to paranoia, but due to the fact that the more I discuss a script, the more effort it takes to get me to write it. So more details will follow once there are more details to share. For now, I'll just say that the one Nicole is tackling would appeal more to Joss Whedon/J.J. Abrams fans, and the two I'm looking at would be right at home on Adult Swim or Comedy Central.

I've done a lot of brainstorming on both projects, and have started a first draft of SG.  Also watching similar TV shows for inspiration (though what I'm doing is quite different).  F.Y.I., "Frisky Dingo" is HILARIOUS.

Tonight, I'll be brainstorming on both of my projects, perhaps doing a little character design for SG, and perhaps doing a little work on the theme song for SStW. It's silly, but SStW has been percolating in my head for years now, and the theme song is what keeps me coming back to it (and gets me charged up over and over again). It will make more sense when I release more details. (And I'll try to figure out how to post the theme once it's roughed out).

Just Make Stuff

I'm pretty charged after attending "Development Day" at the 5th Annual New York Television Festival.  In addition to sitting in on several great panels about developing scripted programs for both television and new media, I was also on a panel about how to make an independent pilot.  (I co-produced/directed Living in Captivity, a comedy pilot that was featured in last year's festival, as well as in this year's LA festival).

Anyway, the advice from our group as well as the other panelists can be boiled down to one simple phrase "Just Make Stuff".  The tools are out there, the next frontier in storytelling is far from being tamed, if you want to tell stories that have the potential to reach a wide audience, there has never been a better time.

So the goal is for me to take my own advice.  No excuses.  Just make a show in time for next year's festivals.

This blog will be the online diary of that effort.  And while I'll be counting on it to help keep me pointed toward my target, I'll keep entries short and sweet, in order to keep my focus on filmmaking (and not blogging about filmmaking).

Now I'm off to make stuff.  I hope you'll join me.