another sneaky peek

The Remnants website is up! You can go clicky-clicky right here, or go down to yon Adventures of Links and look it up there. Only the teaser is posted for now, but we have all sorts of goodies headed that direction soon -- including, but not limited to, actual episodes!

The website was created by web guru Jon Lachonis, who's also responsible for creating and maintaining TVOverMind, DocArzt's LOST Blog and who authored the book LOST Ate My Life.

The only other thing to say is: Stay tuned!

Oh, and yes, that is the awesomest wallpaper ever. I know.

Whirlwinds & Dissonance

Is it really only Monday? How can that be?

I'm listening to Muse's The Resistance, an album Ryan highly recommended and I can see why. It plays like a soundtrack. There's so much to it, the songs have layers. I listen to it and see three or four different scenes playing out to each song and on top of that, each song inspires three or four different scenes and/or stories as well as conjuring up images from TV shows and movies that have already used the songs in their advertisements. It's good stuff. I'd recommend it. It's good writing, driving, relaxing and/or living music.

I've got this sci-fi I'm struggling with. It's tentatively titled The Orion Trail, but I'm nine-tenths sure that it won't stay that way. It's a little too punny. There is something, however, about being able to sum up a book's entire plot with three words. Because it is, after all, shaping up to be the Oregon Trail in space. The problem is, of course, that is just the setting. I'm not entirely sure what the story is, other than it leads directly into the book Oasis, which was the original idea until I realized I needed to explain how the kids got abandoned on that dust bowl of a planet. So now I'm telling the story of the kids' parents and I have a lot of disassociated ideas rattling around the ol' brain box, just nothing coherent yet.

Then there's the talking animals. I have this image -- or should I say, "I was struck with this image." I'm not sure where it came from or who they are or what it means, but I see a little girl, maybe ten or twelve years old. Red hair, braided pigtails. On one side of her is a frog. The frog is wearing a vest and is holding a rapier. On the other side of the girl is a grey rabbit. He also is wearing a vest, but his ears are pulled back and tied together (like a ponytail). On top of his head is a tri-corner hat and he's brandishing a flintlock pistol. I think his name's Ignatius Rabbit. I can only assume this trio is some sort of Talking Animal Freedom Fighting Force who live in a children's book of the future, but I can't say. I don't know their story yet. But they just showed up and are taking up space in the brain.

Meanwhile, Michael's turning in music for Remnants. It's beautiful. Music is something I absolutely love and absolutely do not understand. But he's put together this theme for the opening credits that sounds like a discordant fiddle. It sounds like the song used to be patriotic, but now it's just sad. It's eerie. Listen to the opening titles of John Adams, by Rob Lane. It sounds like that song's nightmare. It's perfect.

Blimey the 11th Doctor is going to be fun. I'm going to miss the 10th, but the 11th looks like he's going to be a lot of fun. And we loves Amelia.

Also, there's a voice in the back of my head saying I should take another pass at the runners' story. It could probably be tighter. Or different all together.

summer specials

I very much like the idea of doing "specials," little short stories that would take place between the seasons of Remnants. I very admittedly got the idea from Doctor Who, a fantastic show that has had a history of doing Christmas specials (as well as other national and bank holidays). Sometimes the shows set-up the next season or introduce a new character that will come back later. Other times they're just fun one-shot stories.

Remnants is a pretty serious, dramatic thriller of a show. It might be nice to have little moments in between the seasons that contribute to the overall story but are generally lighter in tone -- dare I say "fun?"

I've already written the first one, a three-part love story involving messengers (in the tradition of Pheidippides). Now it's all about finding the right time to shoot it.

a sneaky peek

What is this? The rough edit of Remnants, episode 1?

I am filled with glee and excitement.

Libertas Picture Company Logo!

Created by Jayne Prandl (and based on a wonderful design by Melody George), my production company now has a logo. And it's beautiful.

Remnant Newsletter #2: The Adventure of Links

I've been meaning to write this for a while. And since I stayed home today to sip tea and guzzle Dimetapp, I thought now might be a good time to update everyone on all that is Remnants.

The teaser trailer is out! If you haven't seen it yet, click, click, click your way over to it and watch it in all of its HD glory! It really looks fantastic (all praise be to Loren) and sets the proper tone for Season 1. As much as it shows, it doesn't give away anything and, really, should give you a good idea of what you're in for in Season 1. The music in the teaser is provided by Forest Magic, a local band who's album "Is Energy" has not stopped playing on my iPod since I bought it.

Loren is up in Nashville plugging away on the rest of the post production. I've now seen two (rough) episodes and they look marvelous. I don't want to oversell them too much, but they look better than Avatar. I don't want to spoil the ending, but just wait till you see our CG alien race*.

Meanwhile, a character calling themselves Demosthenes has popped up on the Internet, postulating all sorts of wacky theories and beliefs. This is a blog for conversation and argument. It's also a fun place to submerse yourself into the political and social world of Remnants. It's just the first in a series of peripheral websites we're going to have up, running, and informing the world of Remnants.

Meanwhile, here in Chattanooga, I am trying to secure a location to hold a premiere in. While Remnants is going to be a web series, I would like to hold a special premiere event for the cast, crew, and a few VIP's. We're looking at an early-to-mid April premiere date, with the official release of the first episode to follow soon after.

I've completed my outline for Season 2 (bigger! Bolder! More traumatic!) and I've started writing a special that will take place between Season 1 and 2. It'll be a fun little three episode arc that explores one corner of the Remnants world and will provide a little levity between the darker, more serious seasons.

Meanwhile, in Bakersfield, California, Jon Lachonis is working on our website. We have a meeting scheduled for later this evening to go over his art and web design. As soon as it's up, I'll be sharing the link with you.

So, in summary, all is well (except I'm sick) and a lot of hard work is still being done! And in case you missed it, or found all those pesky links cumbersome, here's our Season 1 Teaser Trailer:

* I better debunk that right now. There are no aliens in our series**.

** Yet.

Season 1 Teaser Trailer

"Remnants" Web Series Teaser Trailer from COGfilm on Vimeo.