FALLING SKIES - PRELUDE TO A NEW BLOG

FALLING SKIES - IT'S ABOUT TO BEGIN!!!

Alright loyal SMALLVILLE and HEROES and who-knows-what-else fans - I hope that you all will be following me to my next show - which premieres on TNT in less than a week from this posting (on Sunday June 19th @ 9PM)

The opening night is two hours. After that each one hour episode is on at 10pm every Sunday.

Hopefully, if you've been following me for awhile, you trust me by now. I try to tell the truth and keep my point of view clean. In a defacato way I guess I'm promoting the shows I work on and promoting my work on them. I'm also a naturally enthusiastic person. But I've worked hard to stay as independent as I can and I try to tell you my version of the truth without too much influence by the publicity and marketing machines.

All of which is a warm up to me telling you that... in my humble opinion.... FALLING SKIES is really, really good.

Steven Spielberg's vibe is all over the show.

It is big and intense with a lot of heart.

There is action if you like action.

There are some gnarly aliens.

It has a strong and unique look and style (the stuff I love to do and to oversee!)

But - what excites me the most - is a very interesting view into the human condition. I believe the series makes you ask yourself - what would I do if things got really bad? Would I throw in the towel in defeat? Would I turn to the dark side and exploit others? Or, would I try my best to keep a sense of humanity, of family, of community? Would I work towards a better future for my children, no matter the seemingly impossible odds?

Also, reviews are starting to come out and - at least all the ones I've seen - are positive. Some are VERY positive. I try not to live my life by and for reviews, because if you believe the good ones you have to believe the bad ones too. I try to go with my own gut more than what others say - but still it's nice to have positive feedback!

TNT has been doing an amazing job promoting the show - so hopefully you're already well aware of it. In Los Angeles, there are billboards and bus benches everywhere - for awhile there was even a whole 30 story building with a giant image of Tom Mason and his son's standing across the river from the immense alien structure (that is pretty well featured in all the promo clips.)

We finished shooting all episodes last November. We finished editing in February. We finished sound mixes and visual effects, etc. in March. So, for me the episodes have, kind of, been sitting on the shelf. Of course I remember the essence - but I started to forget the details.

Well, last night TNT threw a premiere party in Los Angeles and we screened the two hour opening. There was a big audience. And it sure felt like it played great.

All of which is to say... If you watch it, I believe you will enjoy the ride.

Anyway - I hope you'll join me for the series - and as I have in the past I will provide behind the scenes info and photos.

My SMALLVILLE postings of late have been more fan-boy gushing... But hey! The show was coming to an end after ten frickin' years after all - and so gushing seemed appropriate.

But with FALLING SKIES I plan to return to a more nuts-and-bolts how and why we did it approach.

I guess I always imagine myself writing for the aspiring film-maker - and hopefully that interests you.

Also I thought I'd include a behind-the-scenes clip TNT has dubbed "A FAN'S ADVENTURE." What happened is that at last year's San Diego Comic-Con, there was a contest, and the winner got to fly to Toronto and appear on our set during one of our last days of shooting.

The winner was a young man named Jefferson Woo. He was a very cool and level-headed guy, and he seemed to have a decent sense of the set. Luckily for me - he also looked good in the cammo gear we put on him and holding the automatic weapon we gave him.

As you can see from the clip, I gave him a (fake) hard time and we joked around a lot with him as well. I can't help but be obnoxious most of the time anyway, and especially when there's both an available victim and a behind-the-scenes crew around. Anyway - He took it all in stride. After we were done with the scene the special effects guys took him off and loaded him up with blood squibs, (the kind you rig on actors and stunt men to make it look like they're being shot up. ) and they blasted them off on him.

All-in-all I think Jefferson had a pretty good time.

Here's a link to TNT's websight: http://www.tnt.tv/series/fallingskies/?SR=sr3_403112_go

By the way -- Notice the gi-normous jacket I'm wearing (which in my opinion added needless bulk to my otherwise slim frame.) I was wearing that jacket because it is HELL-A-COLD in Toronto. And that was just the first week of November! Holy Cheeseus!

Of course the Toronto crew laughed at what a sissy-boy I was. They said stuff like - "This isn't cold, you should be here in January. That's when your eyelids freeze together when you're working outside." or... "One time we were filming in February and it was so cold that one of the camera lenses cracked in half!"

I don't know about you but I prefer not to work with my eyelids frozen together.

Nevertheless, Toronto was a great and incredibly multicultural city. I really enjoyed my time there - but I was still was happy to get the heck out before my eyelids froze together and the camera's lenses snapped in half.

A FEW PICTURES:

TNT flew a few of us out to a resort in Sedona, Arizona - we were promoting the show doing radio interviews. MARK VERHEIDEN (if you're a sci-fi comic geek like me you probably are already a fan of his work!) and I were teamed up. We did 37 radio interviews in about 6 hours! Whew!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0894156/

Sedona is amazingly beautiful! Wow

Moon Bloodgood and I in Sedona

Noah Wyle, Mark Verhieden and I

Noah and I in Sedona

Drew Roy plays Noah's son - (future big star IMHO) - as he's transported by golf cart across the Arizona desert