The World Begins With You

HEY EVERYONE! Just as promised, here is the first draft of out new pilot for LAN'ded. It's been made for convenient download HERE as a PDF. I'll also re-link to our "trailer" script HERE!

Tomorrow night is the big trek to New Hampshire, where the LAN'ded creative team will be setting up shop for the summer. What's even more fun is that it'll be the first time that I meet David face to face rather than video chat over the internet! Crazy how we get things done so far away from each other. Just imagine what'll get done when we're all living in the same house!

The rest period in-between graduation and the NH job has been fantastic. First off, Star Trek was probably the best movie I've seen all year. After the disappointing Wolverine, Star Trek was a breath of fresh air that I'm probably going to see again and again if my wallet allows it. On top of that, I finally found the time to complete the game "The World Ends With You" for the DS. I'd be lying if I said the game wasn't superb from top to bottom. From presentation to the themes/messages the game was trying to get across, it was just fantastic. Bravo Square-Enix, bravo. I can't help but compare Neku (from TWEWY) and Christian, funny how inspiration and parallels comes from the most unlikely of places.

As I did last time I was home, I'm leeching internet from a local Panera. I've become one of 'those' people who get food at Panera and leech their Wi-Fi signal for hours. Only today I am not getting food from Panera, I'm instead going to trek (no pun intended) over to BK and get a special commemorative glass with Captain Kirk on it because I'm still reeling from the movie. At this point, I have four LOTR goblets and 2 Star Trek glasses to furnish my Chicago home when I move there and set up shop. I wouldn't have it any other way.

See you guys in 700+ miles!

~ Aaron J.

Opening the Vault-Tec vault and see what's out there...

Geez, there hasn't been an update since the 9th but an awful lot has happened.

We've made some dramatic changes to the story in terms of how this season will end and exactly HOW it will end stylistically. Dare I tell you all how it happens? Or should I just wait and see how it goes over? Hmm, decisions, decisions... I'll say this, it will definitely end on more of a cliffhanger now. Also, Ash and I are toying with the idea that Natalie often wonders what it is like to be real. That maybe she longs to be more than just a manifestation from someone's mind. Pretty deep huh? 

We had our first cast meeting last night at my house, all huddled inside my (now changed) dining room. There were about 13 of us in all. A spot of bad luck though, when I scheduled this meeting about 10 days ago I didn't think that the Steelers AFC Championship game would be scheduled around the same time. Aren't football games supposed to happen at 1:30 and 4:45? *shrug* Regardless, we were able to hit the meeting off right around halftime so I don't think anyone was too distracted by it. Steelers won anyway :).

Telling the cast what the show was about last night was slightly...entertaining, I think may be the right word. I know a few of them knew what the show was about vaguely, but they really didn't know the overarching plot and story. It was interesting to see what they found amusing and what they didn't. To hear some of their suggestions for what we could incorporate and pay homage to in the show made me realize that I definitely made the right choices in casting. 

If all goes well in scheduling, we'll have our first real rehearsal this week with the scripts. After some careful retooling, Episode V was given a much better structure and sub-plot. I'm pretty happy with it, and in letting a few of the cast read it last night it seems like they are too. That'll be one of the big benefits of having multiple eyes on the script I think. We'll be able to get a sense of what works and what doesn't almost immediately. I'd really like to get our Christian, Izzy, and Natalie all in the same room and just improv with them, maybe have them play a few games and watch Star Trek, y'know, just to see how they respond. 

The songs are really making me happy right now, and I can't quite put my finger on it. As far as lyrics go, I know they're going to change throughout rehearsal but for the meantime I am content. The most fun song to write for me is "What It Takes To Be A Zombie" which is sort of like a jazzy-50's number. It's a character song and knowing that we have such freedom in the show makes me believe that a song that ridiculous will fit right in without any constraint. Gotta love the imagination eh? :)

March 29th isn't too far away, and there's a long road ahead, but we're hitting the ground running. Be sure to check back later this week, we'll have some pictures up from rehearsal and maybe an interview up.