(Please follow the link for the complete blog update and to view the NEW behind-the-scenes photos of Stargate Universe, including another photo with Michael Shanks, in their original format.)
May 1, 2009: Projects Galore!
I'm well into the rewrite of Space, episode #11 of Stargate: Universe, and finally got it down to a full 46 pages from a robust 54 (and that's down from its original 60!). Paring down the dialogue, stripping away some of the superfluous beats, but still maintaining a lot of the character beats that Rob and Co. responded to in the original version (the Boone scene, the James beats, that thing with the sock). Hope to have a nice, tight, revised draft for when everyone comes back in about a week.
Yes, that`s right. About a week. Things are going to be very quiet at The Bridge for a while as production of the show shifts to New Mexico. Andy Mikita, who`s already there, sent some great pics of the location gate at White Sands.
Hopefully, him and the rest of the gang won't suffer a repeat of the location scout scenario that saw their truck give out on them in the middle of nowhere, causing them to weigh the option of hiking the twelve miles back to civilization before eventually being rescued (Thank you, OnStar!). And, hopefully, I'll be able to share those location gate pics with you in time - but, in the meantime, here's a behind-the-scenes snap from the two-hour premiere, Air I and II - actors David Blue and Chris McDonald on the Icarus set, Stage 5.
... So, looking ahead to next week, I have the comic book pitch, those Atlantis scenes to write, the revised draft of Space to go over and, oh yeah, that short story to finish up. I've only been working on it for seven months now and it's almost done. Also genre-specific, but not the genre you're thinking of. I've got the next seven days to go over it, send it Kellie's way, get some feedback, another couple of weeks to do the rewrite, and then it's in my editors hands. And, if he likes it, I plan to join him and the rest of the writers of the anthology for a San Diego Comic Con appearance - in 2010.
Of course, I'd love to make an appearance at this year's Comic Con, partly so I can say hi to all of you in person, and partly to track down those two Bowen supervillain statues (Juggernaut and The Scorpion) I missed out on when they first came out. They'll grace my office shelves alongside the likes of Darkseid, Magneto, Apocalypse, Doctor Doom, and, perhaps, this lovely piece of artwork actor Michael Shanks seems very attached to -
Mailbag returns tomorrow with, hopefully, that long overdue visit to the Icarus set.
