Stuff to Watch and Listen To

Much media is the post today.

First: watch the trailer for Dear Lemon Lima, that’s me on the far left hand side of the bench full of girls in pink t-shirts at 1:03.

Then watch the trailer for The Whole Truth. I’m not in the trailer, but I am in the film.

Then tune in to Blog Talk Radio this afternoon at 3:00 to listen to ST:P Executive Producer Leo Roberts and Phoenix star Ben Andrews (their segment begins at 3:30). Our people will be following the editor of STAR TREK Magazine as guests on the show, so it should be really interesting.

And then tune in on the 31st to our first live call-in podcast. It will begin at 11:00 PDT and will also be on Blog Talk Radio but on a different channel- our OWN!

Looking forward to hearing the radio interviews and to seeing DLL on the 23rd of June at the LA film fest.

And now for a Quiz

What part of speech is “Geekly”?

You were thinking adverb, weren’t you? It’s ok, after all that “Lolly Lolly Lolly” business we were subjected to as children we always start with adverb when the word ends in ‘ly’. But that’s not the answer. In fact “geek” as a noun and “geeky” as an adjective are the only relevant entries at dictionary.com. I would at least have thought there might be a “geekishly” or even a “geekily”, but alas no.

Anyway, that was a trick question. But if I were to give you an answer I could either tell you that “Geekly” (notice the capitalization- that’s a hint) is a proper noun which is an intentional pun on the word “weekly” that speaks of something relevant to the geek population OR I could tell you it’s all the parts of speech due to its content.

Seattle Geekly. It’s a podcast. It’s a podcast run by two very interesting people who give a great and amusing interview. And I should know. I was there for their 2009 Norwescon episode. And now you can listen!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The hosts interviewed “The Benz” (that would be both Ben Andrews who plays Captain Avari, and Ben Johnson who plays Commander Jaryn) and we can be found about 1/4 of the way through the Norwescon 32 recap episode of the uber-popular “Seattle Geekly” podcast.

It’s a fun few minutes of listening if you’ve got the few minutes.

And just looking into the future: all Trek fans in the Portland, OR area should put it on their calendars that the ST:P cast will be represented on May 6th at PGE Park in Portland as part of the Klingons vs. Federation Promotion . Anyone in the Portland area should look into joining us for a fun night of geekly-ness and great baseball.

More news coming soon. We’re on a roll.

Oh. Em. Eff. Gee!

Really.

This is late in coming because I have been asleep for two days. Really. But I have just awoken from the madness that was Norwescon 32 and boy am I still on cloud 9!!!

Here’s the quick and dirty breakdown…

Thusday was my first panel: it was on how to make hard science “sexy”. I was on this panel with a pair of scientists and we were ALL female: which ROCKED! I loved that I was on a hard science panel with two other women. It wasn’t the best attended panel ever, but apparently Thrusday afternoon at 5:00 isn’t prime time. But then again, Thursday at 11:00PM was our screening, and I had been given an apology by the organizers as to the time they had available for us.

So we fast forward to 10:30PM and I was already doing stand-up for a full house. Seriously. By the time we hit the switch and turned on the DVD, we had run out of standing room. There were folks laying on the floor looking straight up at the screen and people on each others’ shoulders against the back wall. And there was laughter and applause; and it was INTENSE. It was marvlous, really.

Friday our whole cast got together for a panel appearance and we packed that room, too. Most of the folks there hadn’t seen the preview, so Leo got up and said a few things about the pilot and the premise and we had a great discussion with more than 100 fans about the direction of the series and just how much fun we were having. Roy was there in his full Romulan glory and he spent a few hours at our table in the lobby in his uniform after the panel, much to the delight of the fans. Our Captain was a big hit, too. More panel appearances and wonderful parties led me into Saturday.

And Saturday got even better! As I stood there in my uniform for my incharacter shift, we were approached early in the morning by the convention to let us know that they’d had a band cancel and they wanted us to show our preview AGAIN!!! I changed hats from in-character to PR director in a heartbeat and dashed off to the business center to print out some flyers. And I was stopped no less than fifteen times by fans who wanted a photo or an autograph while I was running around in uniform.

They gave us a double room this time and I was actually able to count the people who came. There were 254!! I was stoked. We had also had a request for the whole cast to be in uniform, so we decked ourselves out in our Starfleet best and attended. We were able to answer fan questions afterward and met even more people down at the booth once the Joss Whedon sing along took over the space.

I had another panel after that and then it was a night of serious fun. The Merchants of Deva and the Shockwave folks throw some serious parties!

All in all I had a blast and I can’t wait to do it again. Next year we’ll have more footage, more people on more panels, and more fun for all. Make plans now for Norwescon 33!

The Chief Conventioneer

Just a reminder to everyone who reads this (all ten of you, really) that this weekend is NORWESCON 32!

We Phoenix-bound Trekkers will be appearing all weekend in the lobby; so if you’re going be sure to come by and check out our booth, meet our cast and crew, and enter to win cool prizes!

I will be appearing on Pro panels all weekend; check your convention schedule to track me down. Also, the ENTIRE CAST of Phoenix will be on stage on Friday at 2:00 PM for a Q&A.

Thursday night at 11:00 PM we will be having a preview showing of several works in progress, previously unreleased behind the scenes documentary footage, and the world’s first look at the new USS PHOENIX!!

I’d love to see everyone there!!!!!!!

So much cool stuff

First, for those of you who missed it: CLICK HERE TO WATCH Brian Sipe’s segment on Evening Magazine last night. It was great to watch Brian’s work on TV and very cool to see more of the process that makes Roy’s forehead and ears all amazing for STAR TREK. John Curley mentioned our series at the end of the segment and called us an “ambitious film”. Technically we’re an Uber ambitious SERIES, but that’ll do. I watched it on the treadmill at the gym because my ZUMBA class got out just in time for the beginning of the show. I know I was acting like an idiot and smiling and squealing every time I saw Roy or Brian, but I don’t care so much. I think the people at my gym ought to know that they have a ST:P cast member in their midst :). And incindentally, I am loving Zumba and tempted to attend instructor training. Seriously.

The next installment of Evening Magazine that features ST:P is set to air on March 19th (also a Thursday) and it may feature the interview with Ben Andrews and myself as well as the four early vignettes starring me, Ben A, James Lyle, and Rodrigo DeMederios. There will [almost surely] be a new trailer debut that night on EM that shows the principal cast in a whole new way; think BSG….

Two more vignettes are in pre-production and are slated to shoot in March. These two will feature Roy Stanton as Ambassador Tevon and Aaron Key as Lt. Austin Hunt. Both are powerful and further raising the bar of what our series is out to achieve. I can only hope that we can keep up this level of intensity and the quality of the writing as we move into full length episodes.

And for a piece of “Third Degree”, which should be out VERY VERY SOON (hours, maybe… days?) you can watch THIS

Lots of work left to do, but we’re happy to be doing it. Full speed ahead!

TV time!!!

Tomorrow; that’s Thursday February 19th be sure to watch/DVR/both Evening Magazine on King 5 in Seattle. OR tune in via the internet at king5.com/eveningmagazine.

The segment I’m telling you about features STAR TREK: PHOENIX key makeup artist Brian Sipe. It’s only natural that an artist who contributed greatly to an Oscar nomination this year would be profiled on the show during Oscar week. The interview was done while he was getting our very own Roy Stanton into makeup to play Ambassador Tevon on January 24th for our pilot shoot.

Roy and others were also interviewed that day and we will surely see a little bit of us all on King 5 Thursday night. Be sure to tune in!

My first Magazine Cover

Today the new issue of Trekkie Central Magazine, which is the top Trek fan magazine out of the United Kingdom, was released. It’s a cool, well-written e-zine which chronicles TREK fan series all over the world. And this month’s all new issue featured our production. And there I am on the cover. ๐Ÿ™‚
You can see it HERE

We had a great photo shoot last weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures once brilliant Rodrigo is through working his magic and making them perfect. I so look forward to seeing what my awesome costars look like in the pictures.

THIRD DEGREE should be out soon. It has been entered into the Seattle International Film Festival as a short, so oodles of folks might be seeing it very soon.

Looking forward to Norwescon 32 in April. Our entire principal cast will be there to chat up the fans and soak in the sci-fi goodness. We will also preview the series and a little bit of our BTS footage on Thursday night April 9th at 11:00 PM as part of the convention and we will even be giving those in attendance a first look at our beautiful shiny new starship. It is FIERCE. We’ve even got some stalker-ific secret pictures online HERE. What you can’t see in those lousy photos are blueprints of some interior spaces- one of which is part of Engineering. Very cool.

Once the publicity photos are up for view, I will post the links. Until then, check out the new and improved website at STPHOENIX.COM.

After Action Report (and some other stuff too)

This past weekend (I know, I’m a few days late here) was the commencement of filming for the STAR TREK: PHOENIX Pilot episode “Redivivus”. I have to say that it was GREAT. And I mean that in every sense of the word.

It was a MASSIVE shoot. We were in the ersatz-studio of Hangar 30 at Sand Point Magnuson Park in Seattle. I spent all day Friday setting up the enormous space with tables and chairs for breaks, makeup, hair, craft service, and green room space as well as tables and areas for the camera, props, our gaffer and his equipment, sound, the director’s monitor, etc. I also managed to gain a hairline fracture of my sternum in the process. Apparently the chair trolleys in that place are the YVH attack models. (if you get that reference, you’re a geek!)

I have to give immense credit to our crew for the eighteen hour day they pulled on Saturday in a giant old hangar with no heat in the 20-30 degreen (F) weather. Tamara Valjean, our intrepid Production Coordinator, had things under control beginning with crew call at 6:30 AM (really!). And our tireless AD, Gale Benning, who is thoughtful and thorough and creative and organized at the same time (I swear he’s got 2 hard drives running at once) kept things rolling no matter what. Leo Roberts, creator and Sr. Exec. Producer also served as director for the shoot and has found a real talent for it. Special thanks goes to Sunshine Whitton and Absolute Technology for all of the help and our ability to shoot on the AMAZING Red One camera.

It was a long day, beginning with interviews with Jim Dever of Evening Magazine which should air in the Seattle market some time in early March. Segments are often available for viewing via their website, so if you’re away from Seattle then you’ll have to settle for seeing us on your computer screen rather than on a big screen TV. Ben Andrews and I were featured in the segment along with Romulan Roy Stanton, and Brian Sipe of Gamut Studios who created the UNBELIEVABLE makeup effects. We couldn’t have aliens without him. Sr. Exec. Producer Leo Roberts and co-Exec. Producer Jรถn Johnson were also interviewed. The Evening Magazine crew were also provided with access to the set during shooting and footage from “Hollow” Starring Rodrigo DeMederios and three vignettes still in post. I can’t wait to see it when it airs.

The last shot of the last day of filming on a project is known as the “martini” shot. Well, on this project we have now a new tradition that the last shot of the first day of filming is the “cake” shot. I baked THIS CAKE

for the shoot and the cast and crew were more than willing to tear into it once we could get out of wardrobe.

Speaking of which: I have to give a shout out to Merrillee Schedin and Jon Schedin for their incredible and incredibly swift work on the uniform tunics. Bravo for makig us all look fabulous! Bravo also to Darren, Shynn, and co. for makeup and to Shannon for hair. I felt gorgeous. Everyone looked great.

Michelle McNamer did an amazing job at craft services and I hope that any film makers out there reading this who have a budget for such things consider contacting her to work on your set. She was awesome and no one of us went hungry or under-caffienated all day (18+ hours).

And to top it all off, we ended the day with a trailer shoot that will incorporate the entire principal cast and some material from the Pilot script. It was the first time that we have been together as a full cast, in uniform and in character, since we saw the script. We had a blast! It was cold and damp and we didn’t even care we were having so much fun. We even had a surprise attack by the evil bag-head-eans who were out to wreak havoc and get revenge on our Captain for having defeated them as a mere child. We will be doing more and more character work in the next few weeks and I look foward to it immensely.

This is a marvelous group of actors and an exceptional crew. Even the three young ladies who came to play random deck 39-ers (if you got that reference you are a geek AGAIN) were wonderful and we are pleased to welcome them into our world. You will be seeing Lt.s Ayiln and DeSoto and Ensign Kelly in the Pilot as well as in future episodes.

Tonight we have a production meeting where I get to demo some amazing software written by my very own husband (Windows 7 beta is awesome) and discuss what comes next. I can’t wait!!

News for October

First announcement: The October Podcast for STAR TREK PHOENIX is available for download. We had a blast recording this edition and were thrilled to bring Ben Johnson aka Cmdr. Talis Jaryn to the podcast staff as the new host. I had the chance to interview Ben in this month’s edition and I can say that he’s a real joy. Remember, if there’s anything anyone would like to know, or to see included in the podcast you can email it to the producers at [email protected] or visit the Podcast Questions thread on our forum.

We’re working on a party for PHOENIX fans and geeks of all varieties to have a chance to mingle with our cast and crew. The date is tentatively set for November 1 and the location is TBA, but the place we’re looking at is HOT.

Also, I am thrilled to announce that tomorrow is my first day shooting on The Whole Truth I will be a courtroom observer and I look forward to working again with Denise Gibbs who I met and befriended on the set of Dear Lemon Lima as well as the super talented cast that has assembled for this picture.

Stories and maybe photos soon!

Coming Attractions

Hey all,
Two pieces of news. First, for the short term: I will be performing on October 16th at the Alibi Room in Pike Place at 8:00 PM in the first ever Seattle Cold Readers Showcase. It’s a really cool event in which local writers bring their scripts and local actors read them. It sounds simple, but I can’t think of a better tool for a writer than to hear their doalog out loud nor a better tool for an actor than to be given cold copy and an audience and be expected to put forth a character. Great idea! The writers will be there for us to talk to, so that will be an additional bonus for our performances. Also, fellow PHOENIX cast members William Michael Paul and Stephanie Hilbert are also part of the evening. If you’re in the Seattle area and over 21, it’s definitely worth checking out.

And in the longer term: I am going to my VERY FIRST sci-fi convention! OryCOn 30 is a science fiction and fantasy convention hosted by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions Inc. and being held at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront the weekend of November 21-23. STAR TREK: PHOENIX will be on Lower Level 2 adjacent to the entrance to the exhibition hall. If you’re going to OryCon, or thinking of being in Portland that weekend, you should come by and check us out!

And in other news, I know folks are reading my blog because suddenly I’m getting spam in my comments ๐Ÿ™‚