From Cinema Spy:
http://www.cinemaspy.ca/article.php?id=880&p=1(Please follow the link for the complete three-page interview.)
Exclusive Interview: Veteran TV Writer/Producer Sam Egan From Medical Examiner to Master of Science Fiction...to his latest show for SCI FI ChannelBy Michael Simpson
To writer and producer Sam Egan, it sometimes feels like he has been in Hollywood since prehistoric times. It hasn't been quite that long, but his resume is substantial enough to demonstrate a career that spans more than four decades.
In 1971 he graduated from the University of California (Berkeley) Graduate School of Journalism. Not long after that he was working in television. His subsequent credits in that medium include the series Quincy M.E., The Incredible Hulk, The Fall Guy, Automan, Cover Up, Snoops, Manimal, Second Noah, The Outer Limits, Northern Exposure, Stargate SG-1, Jeremiah and Masters of Science Fiction. While he was working on them, several of these shows received awards and nominations (particularly The Outer Limits, which received nods for Emmy, Saturn, Gemini and Leo Awards). He has also occasionally worked in features and written articles for "Rolling Stone", as well as edited the arts magazine "The Every Other Weekly".
Throughout his long career, Egan has lost none of his creative enthusiasm and it seems like he has always been ready to embrace something new. Currently he is working on the Vancouver-shot series Sanctuary, which makes the leap from the Internet to the SCI FI Channel later this year. Egan has joined a production team that includes Stargate alumni Damian Kindler, Martin Wood and Amanda Tapping. It seems like the perfect job for a man who has an impressive pedigree in genre television and an interest in new modes of media delivery.
CinemaSpy recently had the opportunity to catch up with Egan in Vancouver and discuss his career, his work on Sanctuary and his thoughts on what the future holds for visual entertainment.
A brief excerpt:
Michael: How did you get involved with Sanctuary?
Sam Egan: "Well I was a bit of a latecomer to the project because it had already had a presence on the Web for some time and had really made a mark and had become quite a popular Web presence. It came to the attention of the SCI FI Channel in the States and TMN [The Movie Network] and a couple of other networks in Canada. When the prospect was raised for taking the show from a Web product to a television series, I was flattered to be approached by the creative team that had been nurturing the show for the past year or so, Damian Kindler and Amanda Tapping and Martin Wood, as well as Mark Stern at the SCI FI Channel, who was Vice President over there and someone I go way back with from my Outer Limits days, and I just immediately gravitated to the project. I'm a huge fan of Amanda Tapping and have been for some time. And the concept I thought was so strong and the execution — even on the Web — was really, really powerful and showed a huge amount of financial commitment, which I felt was great. So they had me at, 'Hello,' basically."
Michael: Can you give us some idea of the ways in which the new series will be different from the series that was originally put onto the Internet?
Sam Egan: "Well there are certainly going to be significant overlaps and anyone who has seen the original eight webisodes will be familiar with what they see in the series. Certainly the concept is the same. I should say, though, that we have really sort of wiped the slate clean and said, 'What is the best television show we could make based on this underlying material?' So virtually everything, and I use the word advisedly, is being reshot. While we have some elements that are straight out of the original episodes, for the most part everything has been reinvented and honed and fashioned and tweaked for the series. So certainly fans of the Web series will be very comfortable and already have their feet wet in terms of getting to know the world of Sanctuary, [but] I think there'll be plot surprises and a lot of new storytelling elements that will completely draw them in and expand on initial themes and characters and storytelling that was first shown to them on the Web. For people who liked the Web series, they're going to have their mind's blown by the television series. Not that there may be not be a diehard fan or two who says, 'Wait a minute, why did you change this? This worked perfectly in the webisodes?' But that's one of the joys of with - working for, I should say — the sci-fi community because they are such devotees to what they do love and they're never shy about expressing their opinions. Frankly, I love that about the sci-fi audiences, and it always fun to read the blogs and meet them at conventions. Fanbases are something we really treasure and we think we can really expand upon the fans that we've already accrued through the Web series."
