Awesome Photos and Lots of Forums

Amazing news from the PHOENIX. Our photos are in! You can see all of our beautiful, shining faces HERE. Aren’t we cute! Most of you know how rotten I think most photos of me are. Turns out all I need is an amazing photgrapher, very particular lighting, and little airbrushing and I look good. Who knew?

And in other news, the ST: PHOENIX forums are searching for moderators. So if you’re a computer-type and you’ve got the kind of internet access that would let you become the cyber-police for the Federation, give us a shout out at [email protected] and let the webmaster know that you’re interested. That includes you Mom and Suzy; I would love to have my mother and/or stepmother be the ones telling folks to mind their cyber-manners. You too, Tara- you could go all librarian on them. 🙂

And in other forum news: the NaNoWriMo forums are up and running early this year. Happy 10th anniversary NaNoWriMo! Get to your regional forums and check out the work that the tireless staff at NaNo HQ has already done to re-launch the site. ML’s are all scrambly trying to be ready a week early, but we’re #1 here and we were all on top of it.

All for now. The Universe is all askew at the moment, as I have the flu. Back to my bottle of NyQuil….

Starship Woes and Writing Parties

Hey there! It’s been a while and I bet that there are several of you out there thinking that I’m slacking again. Truth is I’m just busy.

Being a producer on STAR TREK: PHOENIX has been a ride already, but I’m loving that I have a say in the creative direction of the show. Wednesday night we sat up until late (in a coffee shop- THANK YOU SEATTLE) and hammered out some final design decisions as well as some detail in the overall story arc that has us planned through the end of season 2 and yet still open to a few individual episode submissions from our writing staff and the world at large. I’m thrilled to announce that one episode in season 1 and 2 in season 2 are to be penned by yours truly. As a person who wrote their first book at age 6 I must admit that I am more than a little thrilled at the prospect of writing a teleplay that is going to get shot. WOW.

I should mention, since I failed to, that the September Podcast is now online and available for your listening entertainment. And believe me, it is entertaining. The four of us producer-types met along with our volunteer coordinator, and had a few adult beverages before recording. Ben’s answers to the prepared questions were great, but then he was all miffed at mine, because they were very polished. What can I say? I was raised by an attorney and great orator, came up through Junior Miss and Miss America, and majored in Public Relations. Of course I sound like a politician.

The “woes” I speak of in the title refer to some growing pains that the series is undergiong. If any of you reading this in California or Florida are great 3D modelers and would like to contribute, we could probably use your help. Needing some new VFX people isn’t such a huge hurdle, it just makes us nervous.

Our first day of shooting will be on October 25th and it will be for two prequel mini-sodes that should be available mid-November for download online. One of them is the reveal of the moment my character finds out she’s being sent to the Phoenix. Should be a day of great fun. Speaking of great fun, there’s a cast and crew social tomorrow night- so I’ll have some pics of us in our civvies to post next week. And the October podcast is recording on the 10th, so that should be available by mid-month. We’re hoping to feature our staff photographer as well as our wacky group of producers.

Photos of the cast are being finalized as we speak (just saw a preview of two- and WOW) so there should be links up any day.

Keep eyes tuned to ST PHOENIX online to watch the updates appear.

Photo Opportunity

Today we shot the first set of cast photos for PHOENIX, and all I have to say is that the day was amazing! I will post a link to the pictures as soon as any of them are finished and made public, and I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

Our Captain, Ben A, has the old-school Captain Kirk-ish command presence and sex appeal that will make every STAR TREK fan to find this series nostalgic for the old days. Ben J, our first officer, has the charm and the presence to balance the Captain’s occasional necessary stern-ness. Nicole, Lt Vu’Shan the Science Oficer, is the perfect blend of shyness and expertise on screen. Our CMO, played so flawlessly by James Alden is haughty and snobbish and an absolute hoot to watch. Pretty boy Austin Hunt and uber-pilot Celes are played by Aaron and Jön in such harmony that it was hard to believe it was their first day working together. Roy, our resident Romulan, might as well be a clone of Nimoy and is almost scary good.

And as for me: I’m the rock star (more in the rebel sense than the celebrity sense) redhead in Engineering with just enough attitude that you can see it in the photos.

Pictures to come!

The Producers

Yesterday I was very excitd to have been invited to attend a meeting with the Executive Producer and Co-Executive Producer of ST:PHOENIX and the Executive Director of Puget Sound Access the studio in which we are planning to shoot. The meeting was very successful and we look forward to a long and happy relationship with our friendly neighborhood Public Access Television provider.

I am also thrilled to announce that two PHOENIX cast members who have been actively involved in the creative process have been recruited to the crew side as Producers; and one of them was me! The other new Producer is the multi-talented Ben Andrews who plays Captain Bryce Avari. The two of us met with Leo and Jön last night to prepare for a production meeting this Saturday during which all manner of great news is going to be announced.

Sunday is our first photo shoot and will be another chance for the cast to meet and greet one another. It wil be so amazing to see the bridge crew all decked out in our Starfleet Regalia for the first time. I love my bright red uniform and can’t wait to get my communicator badge. And my size 2 uniform pants look great with my pretty European low-heel leather boots.

Photos from Sunday’s shoot will be posted as soon as they’re released, and trailers and mini-sodes are coming soon to the internet.

I love pants!

For those of you following the saga that is ST: Phoenix, you may or may not know the trousers situation. Our wardrobe department asked us to find our own breeches to go with our uniform blouses because there was no way in this galaxy or any other that the limited staff could complete tunics AND trousers by the photo shoot on the 14th. Pants are notoriously difficult to make and require a LOT of fitting to make them look good.

So we need to find our own pants to match a fabric swatch and then the wardrobe department may tailor them if need be. As PR rep for the production, I fugured I should look early so that I can share any thrilling finding with the rest of the cast. Well, I found the perfect pants today, and I found them at Target of all places.

And I tried them on in a 4, thinking that with all the dieting I might be a size smaller. Lo and behold- they were TOO BIG! I had to buy them in a 2!! A 2!!!!! Very exciting.

And it gives me an extra boost of self confidence as I go to audition for The Comet Chronicles tonight. Yay pants!

Wrimos Rule!

So today I sent out another email to the region’s wrimos and then I went to check the traffic on the forums. I have monitored the NaNo forum all summer and I must say that I was not surprised that there was nothing going on.

But today I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the area’s Script Frenzy Municipal Liaison and a few others are already planning September and October meetings to prep for this year’s noveling. There’s a reason this is the top region in the world.

Bring it on, Maryland. We’re ready; and it’s only September.