Yay!  At last we can announce the nature of the Secret Science Fiction
Project!

The official title of the project is SPACE COMMAND, and it’s inspired
by great science fiction films, TV shows and books of the 50s
including Space Patrol, Forbidden Planet, The Martian Chronicles and
more.  What follows is our first official press release.

To see one of Doug Drexler’s brilliant SPACE COMMAND images and more,
check out our Facebook Page.  We launch our Kickstarter campaign May
16th on Coast to Coast.  More details soon!

Space Command Launches!

All good thoughts your way,
Marc

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hollywood CA. May 3rd, 2012

ATTENTION SCI-FI FANS: Sci-Fi Legends set to launch fundraising
campaign on Kickstarter.com for new Feature Film Franchise.

SPACE COMMAND will be a series of new and original feature films by
STAR TREK writer Marc Zicree, GALACTICA FX whiz Doug Drexler, director
Neil Johnson and other Sci-Fi luminaries.

Inspired by classic science fiction TV & Film of the 1950s, this dream
team is set to bring to life “Bold Adventures in the Far Reaches of
Space.”

Beginning May 16th, the filmmakers will bypass the Studios and
Networks, going straight to the fans for funding to greenlight their
project.

Since Kickstarter’s launch in April 2009, more than 20,000 creative
projects have been successfully funded by more than 1.8 Million
individual contributors.

Fans who contribute to SPACE COMMAND’s Kickstarter campaign are
eligible to receive exclusive rewards in exchange for individual
pledges ranging from $5 to $10,000. Contributions of $5000 or greater
include rewards of Associate Producer Credit and even an Appearance in
the Film.

www.PledgeSpaceCommand.com
http://www.facebook.com/SpaceCommandMovie
cinematicmusic1@gmail.com

—

Marc Scott Zicree has written for virtually every major network and
studio, with hundreds of hours of produced credits including Star Trek
– The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 and Sliders, and
bestsellers including The Twilight Zone Companion and Magic Time
trilogy of novels. He has been nominated for the American Book Award,
Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Humanitas Prize and Diane Thomas A ward, and
won the Saturn A ward, TV Guide A ward, Rondo Award and prestigious
Hamptons Prize.

Doug Drexler is an Oscar and Emmy award winner. His credits include
Star Trek — The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager,
Enterprise, four Star Trek feature films, Battlestar Galactica, and
currently Defiance. He has also won the British Academy Award, a
Saturn Award, a Visual Effects Society Award and is also a Peabody
Award recipient.

Neil Johnson’s credits include 8 Sci-Fi films including Alien
Armageddon, Battlespace and Humanity’s End. He has directed over 500
music videos for such bands as U2 and Manowar. Neil’s feature film
debut in 1997 is reputed to be the first digital film ever made.
—

Marc directing Star Trek episode

Here’s the article I just wrote for the current issue of WRITTEN BY:

Let me paint a scenario for you that may be familiar:  You’ve been laboring on scripts for some time now.  Some have been great, some not, but you’ve attained a level of professional polish and feel you’ve accomplished what you set out to do on the page.

Maybe some of those scripts have sold.  Maybe most have landed in

development hell.  Maybe you’ve not seen a word you’ve written shot, whether or not it’s been bought.  Or maybe it’s been shot but because you weren’t in a power position what’s been seen by the public has been an unrecognizable mess.

To all of the above I say five words:  “For God’s sake, shoot something!”

Last time I checked my watch it was the 21^st Century and it’s a whole new ballgame.  You can buy an HD camera at Best Buy (or any of your other favorite purchasing options), get a Mac with Final Cut Pro, learn to load video on the Internet and you’re good to go.

In short, I want to get you into action right NOW picking up a camera and shooting something that will gain you the notice of the studios, networks and public.

“But that’s not realistic,” I hear you moan.  “I don’t have millions of dollars!  Anything I’d make would have shitty actors, lousy production values and be a piece of crap nobody would ever notice!”

To that I’d respond that you need a better self-image and perhaps years of therapy.  In lieu of that, let me give you some real-world examples of what can be done and what it can bring:

Not long ago I teamed up with a group in upstate New York making Star Trek New Voyages adventures online and, totally without a network or studio, co-wrote, directed and executive produced “World Enough and Time,” an hour-length episode starring George Takei reprising his role as Sulu.  Made for under $100,000 the piece boasted over seven hundred effects shots (thanks to the DAVE School, a special effects training facility in Orlando).  It was seen by millions online, made the front page of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times (as well as CNN and other news outlets around the world), gained new fans of my work such as Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman, was nominated for the 2008 Hugo and Nebula Awards and won the TV Guide Award.  Subsequently it turned out that someone also nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards in the same categories was looking for a collaborator on a book he was doing for Palace Press, so now I’m co-writing Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities with (you guessed it) Guillermo del Toro.  Beyond this I’m about to direct Fugitive Space, a feature I just wrote, and no one asks if I can direct – I’ve got a sample.  (A caveat:  as of this writing both Paramount and Lucasfilm allow filmmakers to make Star Trek and Star Wars “fan films” as long as they’re not sold for profit; so you’ll have to accept that your work in this arena will serve as a calling card and not a return on investment.)

Right now, my wife Elaine Zicree is in post-production on The Family Crystal, a comedy web series about an extremely dysfunctional family, which she wrote and directed.  Starring actors from such shows as The Wire, CSI and The Unit, and with a cast and crew made up mostly of friends, Elaine shot two seasons of webisodes (about an hour total) in two weekends.  Most worked for deferred salary under such contracts as the SAG Ultra-Low.  Total budget:  under ten grand.

Mark Gantt of The Bannen Way

My friend Mark Gantt, dissatisfied that he couldn’t get the roles or high-end representation he wanted, co-wrote and starred in a pilot presentation of The Bannen Way.  He and his director buddy Jesse Warren pooled their money to make it for $17,000.  On the strength of this Sony gave them the budget to expand it to a two-hour film that could be aired as webisodes and also sold as a feature on DVD and VOD.  Made for under a million Bannen has been a huge hit on Crackle, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon and iTunes and was subsequently put into development as a network series with a top showrunner.  Now Mark’s repped by ICM, has a hot manager and networks like HBO clamoring to hear his latest pitch.

My pal Neil Johnson’s just completed his feature Alien Armageddon, which has Farscape star Virginia Hey, Claudia Wells of Back to the Future and Marilyn Ghigliotti of Clerks in it, includes alien warships attacking earth, major cities being nuked, big gun battles between aliens and humans, weird biomechanical creatures, cars blowing up – and was shot for a number I’m not allowed to divulge but, trust me, some of my friends have bought cars for less.  And that even included a red-carpet premier in Westwood!

Speaking of sci-fi, director and special-effects wizard Trey Stokes shot a season’s worth of webisodes of a splendid series called Ark on a five-figure budget and delivered production value to match top network shows.  Renee O’Connor of Xena is just spiffy in it.   On the strength of this Trey’s now writing and directing a big-budget feature.

And don’t assume you have to just create features or web series.  Writer-actor-director Bob Gebert’s breakthrough project Beckinfield, in which folks from all over the country can play characters living in a really strange small town, is a multi-media website that allows the performers to submit their own-homemade videos with Bob giving them guidelines as to the continuing story.  (This is after Bob’s previous self-funded feature Eleven Minutes Ago, shot entirely in one day, allowed him to raise millions on his next project.)

I should note that not everyone who makes their own feature or web series does so hoping for fame and fortune.  Jane Espenson already had a robust career with such credits as Buffy, Battlestar Galactica and Game of Thrones when she recently teamed with Brad “Cheeks” Bell to co-write and produce Husbands, a comedic web series about gay marriage.  Her reason was simple:  to do the show exactly as she and her partner envisioned it, with no network notes and a cast they knew the network would not have approved (which included Bell, Sean Hemeon of True Blood and Caprica lead Alessandra Torresani).

Then of course there’s Joss Whedon, who made a ton of money and won an Emmy for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Felicia Day, whose The Guild made her an Internet legend.

Convinced?  Okay.  So here’s what you can do, from soup to nuts:

Steps One and Two – Choose a Project and Gather the Funds to Make It.  Which one comes first really is a chicken or egg proposition, either one viable.  In one scenario, you decide precisely how much money you (or friends and relatives who really like you) have available to put toward this project.  You should also factor in other production-value elements you have readily at hand (an apartment – perhaps yours – that you can shoot in; a car – again maybe yours – that the hero can drive, etc.).  Then you craft your script to suit these factors.

The flip side is first selecting a script (one you write or acquire) then pulling together the funds to make it.  This can be via such sites as Indiegogo and Kickstarter, selling shares to investors, having a yard sale, whatever.

The key to all of this is pulling it together immediately.  Don’t waste ten years trying to raise ten million.  If you’ve got three grand an elderly aunt just left you, make it for that.

Whatever method you choose, the story you shoot should be entertaining (especially to you) and something you can reasonably pull off.  Don’t have it be under-ambitious (two people droning on in one room) or too grandiose (that estimation totally depends on how many friends you have who can do effects).  If it’s comedy it should be funny.  If it’s drama the characters should be credible and connected in some way to reality.  If it’s science fiction or fantasy it needs to have gosh-gee-whiz.  Horror should be scary and, ideally, fresh.

(Which brings us to the side issue of quality.  Often you’ll hear folks – usually agents or studio/network execs – say, “All you need is a great script.”  That’s bullshit.  All you need is something you can shoot.  Remember:  half-assed is better than no ass at all.  Get into action, get moving, do something.  Momentum and commitment make things happen.  Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t strive for quality.  Better is better.  But get to the finish line.)

Step Three:  Plan your PR, marketing and distribution.  That’s right, do this before you shoot your project.  Most folks don’t put any thought into this beforehand and are totally screwed after they’ve moved heaven and earth to make their project and belatedly find they have no clue how to get anyone to see it.  You don’t need every detail nailed down in advance but you should ask yourself these questions:

• What is the promotional hook to this story that will get the press to run stories on it and the public to be interested?  (For instance, an Afghan War veteran-turned-actor doing a web series addressing the alarmingly high suicide rate among returning soldiers.)
• How am I going to market this piece so the word gets out?   (Paid advertising, viral marketing on the Net, festivals, etc.)
• How do I plan to distribute this? (Internet, theatrical, DVD, VOD, etc.)

With each of the above questions, add, “And who do I know with personal experience on this subject who might be willing to advise me?”

Step Four – Get a camera.  You can borrow it, rent it or buy it – but if you buy it you’re not reliant on the whims of others or the availability of equipment that might be rented out when you need it.  The format should be HD.  The Canon 5D is good, uses 35-millimeter lenses (which gets you a film look) and costs about $2,000, but there are many other great options at a similar price.  If you want to go higher end (and you really don’t need to) you can get a Red or an Alexa.  NEVER shoot on film; it’s too expensive and totally unnecessary.

Step Five:  Gather a Team.  Look around you – who’s talented?  Invite them aboard to play.  Make sure it’s win-win, that there’s something in it that serves their needs and ambitions.  And let everyone get their fair share of credit.

Most importantly, make sure they’re not flakes.  Ask people who’ve worked with them.  The last thing in the world you want is for the guy with the sound equipment not to show up on shoot day.

To that end, ask yourself these five questions regarding anyone you plan to work or affiliate with:

1. Do I like this person?
2. Do I trust this person?
3. Do they do what they say they’re going to do?
4. Do they finish what they start?
5. Have the previously successfully done what I’m asking them to do now, or do they have transferable skills that make me reasonably certain they’ll be able to pull it off?

You don’t have to be able to answer yes to all five of them, but you should be able to answer yes to at least three.  And you should ask the same questions of yourself.

Keep your crew as small as possible, but make sure it can get the job done.  Feed your cast and crew well, and don’t work twenty-hour days.  You’ll drive everyone into the ground and no one will want to work with you.

In terms of their past credits, anyone from a talented teenager with an impressive reel to an octogenarian who really knows his or her stuff is terrific.  Mixing it up makes for a better on-set vibe.  And a better world in general.

Step Six:  Casting Your Actors.  Whether known or unknown, cast actors who can act.  The quickest way to torpedo your project is to have unconvincing performances.

Here’s what I look for in every moment of every role – that I believe it and it’s interesting.  You can put out the word on Craigslist and Now Casting, but there’s also the Hollywood Show, a convention in Burbank that’s held several times per year with over one hundred celebrities from TV and film signing autographs.  Most of them want to work and are quite approachable.  Meeting them in person totally changes the equation.

Beyond this science fiction conventions are a great place to meet genre actors.  And many actors also are on Facebook and have their own websites where they personally read their email.  We’re not talking Daniel Craig here but extremely talented professionals from TV shows and movies such as Star Trek – The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, To Kill a Mockingbird (yes, Mary Badham, the little girl who played Scout, is acting again) and many more.  Often they’ll work for surprisingly low amounts, and it’s a thrill to shoot something with actors you love.

Step Seven:  Should You Direct?  You have two options, the film or TV model.  In the film model, you’re the writer-director and have final cut.  In the TV model, you’re the writer-executive producer and have final cut.  It really boils down to whether or not you want to direct (or put more simply, who you want on board to possibly screw up that part of the process).  Either way you want signed paperwork spelling this out, so everyone knows from the get-go who’s boss.

To become a more skilled director, I can recommend two classes: Jim Pasternak for practice directing actors on-camera and Judith Weston (www.judithweston.com) for learning how to work with actors to draw their best performances out of them.  Dov S.S. Simens Two-Day Film School (www.dovsimensfilmschool.com) is also very good for learning the nuts-and-bolts of film production.

Step Eight:  Do Your Paperwork.  Have signed contracts with everyone.  And remember that the phrase, “I don’t need contracts, they’re my friends,” is just another way of saying, “Why don’t we jump directly to the lawsuit?”

Step Nine:  Shooting the Sucker.  It’s hard work, and inevitably you’ll be blindsided by something.  But keep moving forward until you’re done, and ask for help as you need it.  My mantra while making the Star Trek episode was, “I am made of iron and nothing will stop me.”  Be positive and upbeat, compliment everyone for a job well done – and fire the bad apples when you need to, immediately and without hesitation.  One toxic individual can deep six any production, if left to his own devices.

And oh yes, wear comfortable shoes and remember to eat and hydrate regularly.  And wear a hat when out in the sun (what am I – your mother?).

Step Ten:  Finishing it.  Post-production – especially if it involves special effects — can sometimes take forever.  Be patient and don’t give up.  Take as long as you need to make it good.  Again, ask for help from those who have the skills.   There’s an old cliché that in any production you have money, time and quality – choose two.  If you don’t have scads of money (and odds are you won’t) take the time to get the quality.  And paying a little (some up front, some on delivery) often gets you a good deal farther than trying to get everything for free.

Step Eleven:  Getting It Out There.  Look at who’s succeeded at what you want to do, whether you know them or not, and reverse engineer it.  Go to conventions, trade shows, festivals, anywhere and everywhere you can meet people who’ve taken the journey down the road you want to go.  You’ll find that many of them are happy to answer your questions — especially if you treat them to a meal.  Always have material with you, DVDs and jump drives of your web series, feature, etc.  Have your contact info on every piece of it, in case it gets scattered.  Be friendly and enthusiastic and present, really listen.  And remember that it’s a two-way street.  Ask if there’s anything they need.  Good will has a ripple effect.

Step Twelve:  Ancillary.  Here’s the cool thing about finishing your handmade project – you can generate revenue from the spin-offs.  When my friend Don Glut made his first film Dinosaur Valley Girls (about which I said, “Well, it’s not the worst film I ever saw…”) he also released the novelization, making-of book, comic, model kit, etc.  And now thanks to sites like Café Press with your project you can have the t-shirt, coffee mug, hoodie, bumper sticker, you name it.

Step Thirteen:  Basking in the Glory.  Take the time to really let it in, to enjoy the fact you succeeded.  If someone compliments you, realize that in all likelihood they mean it.  One of my best moments was when a total stranger, a Brit, came up to me on the street in Tokyo to tell me how much he’d loved my Star Trek episode.

Step Fourteen:  Doing the Next One.   Whether or not this project lands you a studio deal or a network show, get started on the next one.  Don’t ask permission.  Ray Bradbury once told me, “Looking back over a lifetime, you realize love was the answer to everything.”  Creating good work and getting it out to a broad audience is a pure expression of that, and will help give your life meaning.

Here’s a few more bits ‘n pieces, in no particular order:

• If you affiliate with someone famous, you gain their fame.  For instance, if you shoot a Stephen King short story you don’t need to work as hard to get people to pay attention.  This works with famous source material, actors, directors and so on.  Keep in mind that public domain material is free, and that guys like Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells and Jane Austen are still household names.
• Have good sound.  Hugely important.  Bad sound will wreck good work faster than anything else.  If you have to pay for this (and you usually do) don’t hesitate.
• How long should it be?  That’s a mighty personal question.  Seriously, webisodes in the past have generally run two to five minutes.  But the new model is five or six twenty-two minute episodes that can be bundled into a two-hour direct-to-DVD feature.  In general, comedy is harder to sustain over a longer running time.  But the real rule of thumb is it should be long enough to get the job done, and not so long as to be tedious.  That answer works in any number of situations.  And remember: a great five minutes is better than a mediocre two hours.
• Where should it be shown?  The real question is, “Who do I want to impress, and what do I need to create in order to impress them?”  Or put more simply, “What am I trying to accomplish here?”

Most of what we do boils down to two things:  auditioning for the job or actually doing the job.  The beauty part of this process is that you’re actually doing both – advertising yourself and reaching an audience.

When Mark Twain gave his first public lecture the ad read, “The trouble starts at eight!”

Go and do likewise.  Knock ‘em dead.

#

Marc Scott Zicree is a writer, director, producer and raconteur.  He can be reached via marczicree.com  or his Facebook page.

This is what the future used to look like...

Hi, guys,

All right, I’ll be the first to admit it — generally I don’t like having to learn anything new.  The 20th Century was just fine with me.  You put the key in the ignition and the car goes, you turn on the TV and watch a show, dial a number and make a call.

Only problem is, old tricks stop working and unless you learn the new way of achieving what you want you’ll be the guy stuck in his anecdotage telling stories of how great things used to be (that FDR was one hell of a President…).

Which brings us to the subject of Kickstarter.

Many of you know I’m rebooting a very famous (but secret until May 1st) science fiction show from the Fifties with a number of my friends, including Neil Johnson, Mark Haynes, Doug Drexler, Michael Reaves, Armin Shimerman and other science fiction luminaries.

We’re going to be starting this project with four two-hour-long movies, to be delivered via DVD, VOD and possibly cranial implant if it’s ready by the time we finish.  But essentially I’m running it like a science fiction TV drama series.

Now that part’s old hat to me, what with SLIDERS and all the other shows I’ve done (which isn’t to say I’m blase about it; it’s still something I love to the core of my being).

What’s new to me is raising the money.

Every show I ever wrote for, the studios and networks handed us the money, millions of dollars.

But it’s a new day, and all the exciting new technologies mean we don’t need them anymore to make our dreams a reality.

Best of all, we don’t need millions, just hundreds of thousands (check out STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES “World Enough and Time” at www.marczicree.com).  And with Kickstarter we should be able to accomplish that.

I know this much — I’m hugely excited about this project.  It’s going to look spectacular and be as fun and entertaining as anything I’ve done in my career.

But I do have to learn Kickstarter and launch a campaign.  I’ve emailed my Table for suggestions, been checking out the links they’ve mailed me, making notes.  It’s scary but thrilling.

We officially launch May 1st, and we’ll be reaching out to our friends and the press (including COAST TO COAST) to get the word out.  And I’ll be blogging and Facebooking and tweeting– and sharing the experience with you.

It’s a great ride…

All good thoughts your way,

Marc

Scout and Boo would be surprised at my sequel...

Thought I’d jot down something about this subject, as it comes up often — is, in fact, a cliche.

Most writers cringe at that question, not because it’s invalid, it’s just too general.

In reality, we all get our ideas from the same place — from the totality of our experiences, everything we’ve read, seen, heard about, experienced and imagined.  The real trick is differentiating a good idea from a bad one, and also knowing when combining several so-so ideas can create something great.

Over the thirty-plus years of my career, I’ve come up with some good ones (“Far Beyond the Stars” for DEEP SPACE NINE comes to mind).  One thing that helps this happen is generating a LOT of ideas.

For instance, whenever I pitched to a TV show, I routinely came up with at least 100 story ideas.  I’d then boil that down to five or six I worked out completely, plus maybe two dozen springboards — notions that would run anywhere from a sentence to a paragraph or two.

(And by the way, “Far Beyond the Stars” was inspired by my friendship when I was a teen and in my twenties with one of my first mentors, the great science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon” — I very much wanted to show the roots of science fiction, our beginnings in the genre, and why writing one’s personal truth was so very important, despite or perhaps because of the cost.)

Part of the benefit of this working strategy is I recognize that building a writing career is not dependent on my coming up with that One Great Idea.  There are plenty of them, they’re everywhere you look.

I keep a notebook in my pocket to jot down ideas as they occur to me, conversations I overhear or take part in, those fleeting thoughts that vanish like scared fish if you don’t grab them and hold onto them.

Another useful practice is trying to write down ten ideas for movies, TV shows or books per day.  They don’t have to be good, just whatever occurs to you.  I’ll give you some examples I just came up with:

1. “Heinlein, Asimov and Bradbury” – Three science fiction writers in the 1950s suddenly find themselves whisked a thousand years into the future and have to adapt to being part of a space-going galactic federation, utilizing their three very different natures, imaginations and expertise to make a go of things and help others.  (You can see that this one is reminiscent of “Far Beyond the Stars,” just turned on its head.)
2. Slidecruise” – A luxury liner that takes people to alternate earths.  (This of course could have been an episode of SLIDERS, which I worked on as a writer-producer.)
3. “Citizen of the Mall” – A teenage girl discovers a teenage boy who has grown up secretly at the mall since being abandoned as an infant.
4. “Gorgeous” – The most beautiful woman in the world decides to marry the world’s ugliest man.
5. “Just Average Guy” – About a very ordinary superhero.
6. “Twenty Twenty” — Glasses that allow you to see the truth of other’s hearts.
7. “Cleaners” – Folks you hire to clean up everything messy in your personal life.
8. “Lie in It” – A haunted bed that eats people, sending them to a place where they must account for every rotten thing they’ve ever done in bed.
9. “Restoration Vacation” – A man takes a vacation from his oppressive life and discovers he’s moving back in time along the defining moments of his past.
10.  “Spartacus 2050” – The replicant revolt.

As you can see, some of these are good, some less so.  But I could actually work up a viable outline from each of them if I had to (and anyone who wants to hire me to do so — at Writers Guild rates — is welcome to).

But again, let me disabuse you of the notion that inspiration has to come from some deep or profound place (though it certainly can, or you can arrive at that point once you’ve actually written and/or filmed it).

Recently, Elaine and I were talking about movie sequels and I tried to come up with the most ridiculous ones I could think of.  Here are my “sequels” to TWELVE ANGRY MEN and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD:

“Twenty-Four Angry Men” – In a future society, when someone is on trial for murder, they have a team of twelve legal gladiators and the prosecution has a team of twelve, and the two teams battle to the death.  Whichever side wins determines whether the man is convicted or set free.

Blood and Chrome

Hi, guys,

If you’d like to see an astonishing sample of cutting-edge filmmaking, check out the trailer just released on BLOOD AND CHROME, the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA prequel that my Oscar and Emmy-winning special effects genius friend Doug Drexler helped spearhead. It was shot entirely on greenscreen — so pretty much everything you see other than the actors was generated in the fertile mind of Doug Drexler and his compatriots. BLOOD AND CHROME has over 2,000 effects shots, 300 of which Doug generated himself.

I’m proud to say that Doug is a key team member on my Secret Science Fiction TV Project, which Neil Johnson and I will be launching very shortly on Kickstarter. The special effects shots that Doug has already generated for us on the Kickstarter video are quite simply breathtaking.

Marc Zicree and Doug Drexler

Doug and I previously worked on STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION and DEEP SPACE NINE, and Doug served as an exec producer on my STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode “World Enough and Time,” which you can watch in its entirety at www.marczicree.com

And to see the incredible BLOOD AND CHROME trailer, click on http://www.aintitcool.com/node/54428

All good thoughts your way,
Marc

We’re moving ahead designing the splash pages and accompanying website, etc.  Plus I’m halfway through the script, which is coming along well.  It’s fun to learn new things like Kickstarter (especially when you succeed!).  Look forward to our imminent launch, when everyone can see just what we’re up to.

Beyond this, I attended Wondercon this past weekend in Anaheim and got to talk with and listen to the presentations by my old friend Joe Straczynski.  Joe and I met long ago, and worked together on such shows as THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, CAPTAIN POWER (which I developed for television) and BABYLON 5 (which Joe created and ran).

J. Michael Straczynski and Marc Zicree

What Joe had to say at Wonderrcon about writing (starting with the emotional core, etc.) was stuff I knew but a good reminder nonetheless.  I was very touched by his comments about his painful childhood and other aspects of his life.  It’s funny — you can know someone 30 years and still be discovering new things about them.

Also, I spoke with my friend Brannon Braga (STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION, VOYAGER, TERRA NOVA) at the gym this morning and he was most complimentary about the documentary on me and the Table, which he’d just seen.  So all things considered, it’s a pretty swell time…

All of which I suppose goes to show that good work, good friends and a good spouse make for a good life.  (I haven’t talked about Elaine yet, but I’ll get to that shortly.)

All good thoughts your way,

Marc

Marc and Guillermo del Toro

Wondercon, the little cousin of San Diego Comic-Con, is happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and on the eve of that I wanted to address an issue rarely mentioned:

The strong urge to avoid going to events where people more successful than you will be.

An example of this is an actress I know who had enjoyed some success years ago, but was struggling now to break through to the next level.  Many of those she’d come up the ladder with back then were now movie stars.  The noise in her head around that was so loud that she wouldn’t go to Industry events where she might run into those folks, wouldn’t even go to movies because of the comparisons she was making between herself and those on the screen.

Fortunately, she got mentoring, worked hard on this issue, and now is past that paralyzing behavior.

But it’s only human nature.  We tend to compare ourselves with others to gauge how we’re doing, and envy and depression are the twin dogs nipping at our heels.

So if you’ve been wondering if you should go to Wondercon or any other similar event, here’s my advice:

GO!!!!!!!!!

As to the noise in your head, all those negative, condemning voices, envision a big volume knob (mine is red) and just turn the volume DOWN.

Then take the action.  You’ll  find that amazing things can come of this.  Just by showing up.

For one thing, I’ll be there.  You can talk to me.

More than that, there will hundreds, perhaps thousands of Industry movers and shakers, from TV, film, comics, books and more.  Sir Ridley Scott, Damon Lindelof, Jane Espenson, you name it.

The reason I choose to write about this now, is that not long ago I looked back on my own career and realized how much work I’d gotten out of conventions and trade shows I’d attended, and how many friends I’d made.  I didn’t have to be perfect, I didn’t have to be all I might want to be in a given moment — I just had to go there and open my mouth.

This of course requires taking action and being gentle with yourself, forgiving of your limitations or momentary failings.  Which is why one of my favorite quotes is from Somerset Maugham:  ”Only the mediocre are always at their best.”

So show up, talk to people, be visible, be present, be playful, risk showing your passions, your enthusiasms, your heart.  And remember that a conversation consists of two people talking.  (In other words, don’t make it a monologue.)

Finally, you may wonder why there’s a photo of me and Guillermo up top.  Here’s why — I made it a point to seek out Guillermo at Comic-Con and introduce myself some years back.  Which is why, when his publisher approached him suggesting I collaborate on a book with him, he’d met me previously and knew I was reasonably presentable and sane.  Which is why I’m doing a book with him now, and why he appears in the documentary about my Roundtable talking about me.

So do yourself a favor — go where you can learn, where you can meet people.  Where magic can happen.

All good thoughts your way,

Marc

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Hi, guys,

I just heard Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about selecting roles models on NPR’s Science Friday and it was so articulate and on the money I wanted to share it with you.

Dr. Tyson said, “For me, role models is an overrated concept, because typically when you look for a role model you’re trying to find someone who looks like you or grew up where you grew up or had the same struggles in life. And if you have ambitions towards a profession for which there’s no role model as defined that way, then you can’t go into that profession. So I think it’s a self-defeating notion.

“For example, if I needed a black astrophysicist from the Bronx to be my role model so that I can be an astrophysicist, I would have never been an astrophysicist, and I realized this very early.

“So what I did was, I assembled my role model a la carte. So I found the scientist who I wanted to emulate, and the educator, and the person who had good moral fiber, and the person who had a good sense of humor, and I patched all this together to become a hybrid role model that I would then use.

“And in that way you’re not beholden to what might be personality quirks in one person or another. That’s why we say, ‘Oh, some people, we don’t want them to be role models ‘cause they’re using drugs, even though they’re a really great basketball player or novelist or whatever.’ Well, that’s because your concept of role model means you want to be everything that person is. And we’re all individuals here.

“You should pick your role models a la carte, and you’ll stand a much better chance of doing exactly what you want to do in the world, without requiring that someone did it before you. In fact, if you only do what people did who came before you, nothing would ever change in the world. The people we remember the most are those who did what no one did before them, and that takes courage and it takes some capacity within you to navigate places where no one has been before.”

Since I was a kid, I’ve recognized the huge importance of having mentors in everything I do. And like Dr. Tyson, I advise those I mentor to stich together the pieces of their mentors like Frankenstein’s Monster, a bit here and a bit there. For one thing, that means that no one person is responsible for your entire career and fate (except you).

In my own life, I’ve been blessed by many kind mentors and not a day goes by that I don’t learn something new from someone.

My first mentors were the writers creating the wondrous books and TV shows I grew up on – hell, devoured. As soon as I was in my teens I sought them out at science fiction conventions and author’s signings and writers workshops and classes. Many had written for my favorite TV shows growing up, STAR TREK and OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE.

In fact, in writing THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION, Rod Serling served as my first great mentor, even though he’d died two years before I wrote the book. By crawling through his attic and reading his scrapbooks and scripts and notes, by watching candid videotapes of him teaching writing classes, I was schooled at his knee – invaluable for the career as a writer-producer I was intent on creating.

Many of these great writers became advisors, friends, on occasion even collaborators – Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Ted Sturgeon, David Gerrold, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Dorothy Fontana, many more.

And in recent years, I’ve added others as advisors as I’ve learned new skills – J.J. Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, Michael Nankin, Neil Gaiman.

I’ve stitched them together into one uber-mentor, I’ve listened and learned, in awe of their talents… and comforted that even they, these Olympian Gods, have made mistakes too, are as frail on occasion as I.

So look around you, at your bookshelves, at your DVDs, at the names on them. And also at those around you who may know a thing or two. Even the people whose paths casually cross yours.

Open your mouth. Ask questions. Learn. Move on and repeat as needed, for a lifetime.

It’s a treasure and a thrill and a pure joy. Reach out. It’s there for the taking.

All good thoughts your way,
Marc

Zicree and Alana Kearns-Green with director Neil Johnson on ALIEN DAWN shoot

Okay, so here’s the thing:  the people I most admire in showbiz are those who don’t wait to be picked but just get on with the job of making stuff.

A prime example is my friend Neil Johnson, with whom I’m doing the Secret Science Fiction TV Project.  Neil’s made a number of profitable science fiction films and is currently completing ALIEN DAWN, his new alien invasion movie.

Recently I had the immense fun of appearing in Neil’s movie, firing a machine gun, running from explosions and being killed by an alien walking machine.

Neil asked me if I’d like to film an additional scene introducing my character and so yesterday I went before the cameras buying a machine from the back of a car to fight the alien invaders.  Way fun.

I invited my friend actress Alana Kearns-Green to join me in the scene also buying a Big Gun and certain Jesus was arriving along with the aliens.

It was a small crew, which is really great to work with, no huge studio overhead, just those there to get the job done.  Director Neil Johnson shot A camera, worked the crane, slated each scene, his friend Suzy did makeup and worked the shotgun mic, another intrepid crew member shot B camera and took stills.  Lean and mean.

We shot our scene as the sun was setting (my two lines were, “Give me the fucking gun!” and “Show me how to work this thing!”) and I then ran off off to run the Industry Roundtable I’m in charge of.

Alana had a great time — she’s a real sci-fi nut and was eager to get into this genre professionally (main stream drama can be SO boring…).  As I was about to leave Neil said to Alana, “If you can stay a  few minutes, I can blow you up.”  She eagerly agreed.

Now THAT’s how to make a movie…

All good thoughts your way,

Marc

Zicree with Norman Corwin on Norman's 100th birthday

I just learned that I’m nominated for a second Saturn Award (I won last year) for producing and doing the audio commentaries for the Twilight Zone Blu-ray, and I wanted to use this occasion as an opportunity to talk about excellence.

I think it’s pretty clear that Rod Serling’s work on Twilight Zone represents a high point in what television can achieve (and I’m including all those other miracle-workers who worked on the show — Richard Matheson, Buck Houghton, George Clayton Johnson, Beaumont, Doug Heyes, George Clemens, etc.).

There’s a reason for striving for excellence in one’s work, for reaching deeper, higher, better.  Not to be remembered or famous or successful (those are all nice), but for one reason above all others:

To communicate a profound emotional truth.

I know in my own work I’ve occasionally achieved this, in such works as Star Trek New Voyage’s “World Enough and Time.”

But one of my friends beat me six ways to Sunday in terms of writing a piece to last the ages.  He also happens to be the guy both Rod Serling and Ray Bradbury wanted to grow up to be.  You may have seen his name and picture on last Sunday’s Oscar nominations, in the section dealing with those who died in this past year.

His name was Norman Corwin.  He was my friend for over thirty years, and he recently died too soon at 101.  Which isn’t that remarkable when you realize his brother’s 107, and his Dad made it to 110.

Norman was nominated for an Oscar for writing Lust For Life, in which Kirk Douglas played Vincent Van Gogh, quite a wonderful movie.

But his real claim to fame was in radio.  He wrote profound comedies and dramas, prose poems — or you might call them poem plays — examining the great issues of his time, from life and death to war and peace.  He covered World War II in London with his pal Edward R. Murrow, hobnobbed with the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt and Carl Sandburg and had entire series of his work airing under his name in such shows as 13 By Corwin.  In Hollywood, if you were an actor you hadn’t arrived until you worked with Corwin, and I myself saw a telegram from Orson Welles pleading with Norman to cast him in any role, anytime.  Norman worked with the best because quite simply, he was the best.

His work inspired Serling, inspired Bradbury, and their careers would not have been what they were without Norman.  Norman’s advice led directly to Ray’s writing and selling The Martian Chronicles.

It was a thrill to get to know this amazing man, to hear his stories of his grand adventures with the likes of Murrow and Carl Sandburg and Charles Laughton.  And as great a thrill to hear his work.

My favorite, I think, is a piece he wrote called On a Note of Truiumph.  It was written at the end of World War II in Europe and was intended to tell the listening public what we had just won, and why, its cost and where it might lead us.  It aired on all three networks with no commericals, think of that.

You can listen to it right here, by clicking on or copying in your browser http://www.chrisneylon.com/oldtimeradio/audio/RSI04-On%20a%20Note%20of%20Triumph-Norman%20Corwin-051345-57m32kbps.mp3

I have both the book and record album of On a Note of Triumph that came out at the time, in 1945.  Norman inscribed both to me, and they’re two of my greatest treasures.

I think On a Note of Triumph is the greatest work ever written for radio, and one of the greatest pieces of writing written by anyone anytime in any medium.  Listen to it, luxuriate in it, be moved to tears.

Then go out and do something excellent.

All good thoughts your way,

Marc