The year started out really promising.  We had barely finished the “Name the Movie Characters Contest” when I found out about the Dockers contest.  I hadn’t planned on entering a contest, especially since I just got done running one, but the prize of $100,000 was definitely tempting and would have provided some much needed seed money for the project.  Competing in that contest was a lot of fun and a lot of work.  All of you were awesome.  You voted your hearts out.  I could have never made it into the semi-finals without you.  And while I didn’t make it into the finals, I got some valuable experience producing my first video.  It wasn’t a cheap education (I’m still paying off the loan and will be for quite a while.), but it was a great learning experience.

Getting all the footage from the shoot has been quite a challenge this past year.    Those tapes have spent many long months going from one place to another without any results.  I finally found out that I had to have the original camera in order to get the footage digitized.  Without the camera nobody was able to transfer the footage from tape to digital.  The last of the footage (the audition tapes) is almost done, so soon I’ll finally be able to show you the fun behind-the-scenes footage and pictures and discuss the whole experience.

The rest of the year was supposed to be spent focusing on getting the story treatment finished.  Unfortunately, it just sort of fizzled.  Health problems got in the way.  You see, a while back I was diagnosed with a severe sleeping disorder.  At first I didn’t want to face the fact that I had a problem, but it became progressively worse and has really affected my ability to function during the day.  I get very little sleep at night and end up feeling like a walking zombie during the day.  I promise I don’t eat people, but I have been known to walk around in a daze and moan and groan sometimes.  But, seriously, if any of you have ever suffered from sleeplessness, you’ve got an inkling of what I’m dealing with.  Needless to say, it’s been a challenge being able to handle one job, let alone two, so, unfortunately, the film project has suffered and progress has been less than a snails pace.  I can’t tell you how frustrating this has been for me.  But the good news is that recently I started treatment for my condition.  It’s going slow, but I’m hopeful and looking forward to being able to function like a normal human being in the near future.

So now we get to this year.  I’ve started treatment for my sleep issues; I’m looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep and my energy back; and I’m impatient with the progress of this film project.  With that frame of mind, I happened to come across a class taught by a prominent screenwriting teacher that promises to “get your treatment done in ten weeks.”  So I signed up for it.  I thought this would be a good way to kick start this project and finally get the treatment done.  Am I being overly optimistic that I’ll be able to keep up with the class schedule?  Well, we’ll see.  I’m assuming that with time my sleep problems will improve; and it’s not like I’m having to do the homework all by myself.  I’ll be giving notes to my writer and the two of us will be working on the treatment together each week.

Class starts next week.  If everything goes according to plan, we’ll have a completed treatment by the beginning of April.  After that I will probably run the treatment by one or two other script analysts in order to get other opinions.  Once we have it finalized, I’ll be running it by one last person:  my lawyer.  When he clears it I will then be able to finally show it to the cast.  If they like it, I will instruct my screenwriter to begin writing the screenplay.  That will be a six-month project, according to our contract, which means we’ll have a completed screenplay by the end of the year!

During those six months when my writer is busy writing the screenplay, I’ll be starting the business plan, putting together a production team, and preparing to raise funding for the project.  Since this is a transmedia project, I’ll, also, be looking into ways to start marketing the project and grow the audience by means of other related media projects.

If everything goes as planned, this year should be an exciting year with a lot of progress being made toward the goal of getting the Invisible Man cast together.  I hope you’ll be here with me to watch the progress!

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Vince plays the role of Ron Ferguson.  And as you can see from the following picture, his character doesn’t fare too well…big understatement, eh?

Vince with Special Effects Makeup Artist

The episode is entitled “Who’s There.”  Here’s a description of the episode from the official CSI:NY website:

A home invasion investigation becomes more complicated when the victim’s family turns out to be less perfect than they originally seem.

So tune in tomorrow at 9/8 central on CBS and find out who could have possibly done this to poor Vince…um, I mean Ron.

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Season One

• Cat and Mouse
• It Hurts When I Do This
• Brother’s Keeper (writer’s draft, dated 5/10/02, autographed by Craig Silverstein)
• Brother’s Keeper (revised writer’s draft, dated 2/21/01)
• Diseased (autographed – hard to see – by Vince, Mike and Shannon)
• Frozen in Time
• Flowers for Hobbes (autographed by Dungeon Dan – special effects make up artist, with production notes on cover)

Season Two

• Den of Thieves
• Bad Chi
• Immaterial Girl
• Germ Theory
• Mere Mortals

All scripts are $10.00 each plus shipping.  If you purchase all of them, they are $8.00 each plus shipping.

If you are interested in purchasing one or more scripts, please contact me via my website contact form.  I will forward all requests to Joan and she will reply and work out the details with you.

ADDENDUM: Please note that the scripts, and thus the autographs, are copies, not originals. Also, there is currently a waiting list for “Diseased.”

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Now Craig has been named one of the “Top 50 Power Showrunners 2011” by the Hollywood Reporter!  How cool is that?  It couldn’t happen to nicer or more talented guy.  Check out the write up in the Hollywood Reporter:

 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/craig-silverstein-247420

It’s hard enough to get one show on TV but, impressively, Craig has two shows currently on the air:  Nikita and Terra Nova!  Here’s a little bit of info about each of them.

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Nikita

The second season of Nikita is already underway. Craig is executive producer of the show and he’s been pretty active promoting the show.  He started giving us tidbits of info about the new season this summer during Comic-Con and the info keeps on coming. I’ve compiled a bunch of these recent videos from around the web of our favorite I-Man writer himself talking about Nikita.

Comic-Con Interviews

Comic-Con Panel

Craig Silverstein and Shane West

Episode Previews

Nikita airs Fridays at 8 p.m./7 p.m. Central on the CW.  Be sure to check your local listings for the time and channel in your area.

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Terra Nova 

Craig also is an executive producer on the new sci-fi series, Terra Nova.  According to the Hollywood Reporter, he is credited with being one of the co-creators, although I’m not sure how much actual hands on day-to-day involvement he has with the series.

The sci-fi lover in me is really starting to enjoy this series.  Have any of you been watching it?  If not, you might want to give it a try.  It airs on Mondays at 8 p.m./7 p.m. Central on FOX (again, check your local listings).

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2011 has turned into a very good year for Craig with two successful series concurrently on the air and being named one of the Top 50 Power Showrunners.

Congratulations, Craig!

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In her speech Susannah talked about the state of filmmaking in San Francisco, the rebate program, and other perks and programs for filmmakers. Thankfully, her presentation was filmed, giving you the opportunity to listen to it if you are interested.  Her speech was split into two videos, which I’ve imbedded below.  Each video is about 30 minutes long.  (You can hear my voice briefly in the question and answer session near the end.)

It’s serendipitious for our feature film that I have set the story in San Francisco because, not only is it a beautiful city and conveniently close to where I am located, but, also, because San Francisco is one of only two cities in the state of California that has a rebate program for filmmakers.  If I get lucky enough to score the State’s rebate also, it could be a double win…and all without having to leave the state to get a tax rebate.

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