Warning! Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica. Also, Geekiness and writing talk follows

Before the series ends, I must take a moment to praise the amazing writing on Battlestar Galactica each and every week. I think it’s important to look past the cool ships and big guns and struggles between humans and Cylons and really listen to the incredibly well written dialogue. It is as stripped down and spare as the best in fiction or poetry. Each line means a great deal and has been crafted to provide the biggest impact. There was a four to six sentence exchange between Lee Adama and Saul Tigh during a vicious firefight in The Oath that summed up the entire war and all of the atrocities suffered in the four seasons. It was astonishing in its brevity and clarity.

In the following episode, Blood on the Scales the struggle between idealism and pragmatism and the dichotomy between truth and justice is pushed to the breaking point. In a testament to the level of writing, I found myself empathizing with everyone on all sides. I understood their actions and recognized why each felt their decisions were proper. Even Tom Zarek (in a tour de force performance by Richard Hatch) was far more complex than the usual moustache twirling villain. This episode, I felt, was an anti-Trek episode. It even had, what I thought, was a tribute to the Jeffreys tube. But in this case, the tube made sense. The solution to the problem didn’t involve technobabble, anomalies or omniscient beings. It came down to sheer force of will of a few key people. This was drama that transcends genre.

The latest episode, Deadlock, reminded me a great deal of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. At the heart of it all, was a toxic marriage that had lasted for millennia. The dialogue was brutal and the couple seemed to not take any heed of the collateral damage until it was too late. I was so relieved that Ellen Tigh, the Cylon, was still a train wreck of a personality. It makes both sides equally imperfect and thus, endlessly fascinating to watch.

Blood Oath Updates

Anime vs Yaoi: Blood Oath Shoot Part Two

I never interfere with Jon directing. That surprised a number of people who know how much I like to be involved in productions. There can only be one person in charge on set. What we do while in script page is work out a common view on what we want to happen on screen. This is usually pretty easy. Jon and I have been doing this for a long time, after all. In this case, we made assumptions about each other that proved to be problematic during the shoot. We are both anime heads, that’s for sure. Thus 80% of what Jon wanted to see on screen for this pilot presentation was the same. That 20% caused some moments of tension. In a shoot that short with a very long shot list, sudden changes and additions have a big ripple effect. Jon was focused on the emblematic anime moves. I needed to see some more of the tender moments between Rik and Vincent.

Don’t get me wrong. There were a number of very pretty kisses, but I wanted more of something Jon calls the ‘wa’ moments (Basically, he’s using the term from Japanese baseball as the moment before a ball is pitched. It’s a being completely in the moment while anticipating the next). Those were difficult to fit in during such a jam-packed shoot. However, there was one bit I insisted upon. It was a playful spar between Rik and Vincent that was a corollary for the beach meditation scene. I emend to have those scenes inter-cut during the opening credits. It got shot and it was really cute, too. Our Rik and Vincent can do both playful and dangerous very convincingly. The scene was worth pushing for. The other very Vincent thing that Jon set up blocking for was Vincent fiddling with the food (tasting and seasoning) the guys were eating in the abandoned warehouse. He wanted to establish the character as a talented cook. By the way, the meal they are was my Boeuf bourguignon. They guys had to really eat the food, and I wanted them to have something nice.

The biggest problem we had during the shoot was with Goggles’ red scarf. It wouldn’t stay up on his face even with double stick tape for more than one take. The constant fussing with that danged scarf was quite reminiscent of Dr. Bassett’s ever changing neck ties in Demon Under Glass. In that case, Jon was shooting scenes from several different days. The lab coat and pants and shirt were always the same, but the necktie was supposed to be different every day. Keeping up with the continuity almost from take to take nearly put a strain on our marriage. The scarf wasn’t as bad, especially after I told them they could pin it. Jon had been reluctant as it was one of my scarves from our last trip to Paris. It cost 3 Euros. I could cope with the holes to speed things along.

Thanks for all those who wrote notes congratulating us on overcoming the specters of Demon Under Glass. I appreciated the thoughts, but we had some mishaps in this project that are an ongoing concern. They will be resolved this week, however, leaving us free to deal with the biggest challenge of the whole presentation – post production. Oh, the whining there will be during that. And for those writing for a more in—depth explanation of the trauma during the Demon shoot. I may indulge (the stories are usually very funny to everyone but the survivors), but not this week.

The most exciting part of completing the Blood Oath shoot is I’ve got stories in my head again that are eager to be written. Jon and I worked out what needed to be in the full pilot and what could be in episodes. As soon as we had a working frame, whole scenes began popping into my head. I haven’t had that strong an urge to write since well before Christmas. As always, that kind of creating makes my general outlook a lot brighter.

Post Shoot

Post has been slow going. We have some equipment to acquire and some software to upgrade. Additionally, Jon has to figure out where all the Manga comic panels will be scattered through the live action. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the character drawings and developing the pilot script and series bible. This is where the readers of the Soldier’s books get to have their way, so to speak. For cinematic reasons and to fill up a lot of air-time, I have to show Rik and Vincent prior to Vincent’s disappearance. The entire conspiracy will be covered in the front half of the pilot. Thus, the audience will get Rik and Vincent as they were before becoming a couple (Rik’s arrogance and Vincent’s temper). The audience will also experience Rik’s downward spiral after Vincent disappears. The audience will also meet Falcon Squad in full measure during the pilot. That sounds like a lot to cover, but a script that long is the equivalent of half of one of the novels. It’s a lot of time to fill.

We have some idea of who some of the characters will be, but nothing is definite until I do a full breakdown of regular and recurring characters. We figure that the majority of the cast will be relative unknowns with a few TV star names (preferably from Science Fiction) in the mix. I have no one in mind for these parts (Dr. Auerbach, Gen Braun, Colonel Heisler, Percival Owens), but I’m open to suggestions. Meanwhile, I’m further defining my lead characters to fit the strengths of the leading men. Lance has a playfulness that I really hadn’t written into Rik but I must use with this actor. He can go from aloof and distant (while getting into his part) to suddenly warm and disarming.

Matty is quite playful as well. There were serious moments during different scenes where he teased Rik or touched him playfully in a way he hadn’t blocked in rehearsal, but it looked good on screen. Aside from that, I discovered that Matty can dance. That young, lean body looks very good moving to a beat. I figure that Vincent will be dancing while cooking. The music can be real or in his head. And I figure that Rik would really enjoy just watching him move. I’m certain that the leads will bring more of themselves to their characters after the first draft of the script is written. I can’t wait to see what that will be.

Baby's Got Backstory

It started as jotting down random notes on essential elements for the budget of the pilot for Blood Oath. Then, it was detailed notes for a treatment. Somehow, that evolved into writing the actual pilot script. It’s best that I do, because the script determines the schedule which impacts the budget. But I wasn’t planning on it right now. I have a lot of sketches to finish for post on the short film. [I will share the sketches soon. They’re almost website ready]. I still have to do the treatment and the list of elements, but this sort of took over all of my focus. What’s most intriguing, is that the pilot for Blood Oath will have no sex between Rik and Vincent.

There will be a lot of Unresolved Sexual Tension or, in the vernacular of fanfiction, UST. In most UST situations, neither of the party realizes the nature of the problem. In this case, Vincent knows what his problem is. He just can’t do anything about it. Imagine how upset the young man (only 19, at this point) is a being thrown into a situation where he is in pain, confined to Rik’s office where the object of his UST is in various states of undress or asleep nearby. Vincent’s hormones are firing at their hardest, leaving him in a constant state of...consternation. Some yelling occurs. Rik is confused, because he can’t figure out why they’re fighting. Fortunately, for their sanity, there is a big and scary conspiracy involving missing nuclear components to distract them.

I know when I’m onto something with my writing when I resent stopping for anything like eating or sleeping or – especially – working. I spend the day writing in my head. Then, I try very hard to put all of it on paper before I fall over for the night. I really enjoy hanging out with Rik and Vincent, but I’m surprised at how quickly the supporting characters became real in the script. The expanded format allows for a lot more time with each of them.

And they have to be defined only by what they say as the audience doesn’t have paragraphs of description for them. Writing them cinematically hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would. I supposed it’s because I’ve been living with them all for years. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll put up frames from the film as Jon replaces the green screen and applies the backgrounds. There are some frames I want because we weren’t able to get the photos we wanted without being in the way of the cameraman. There were some amazing action shots of Rik tossing Vincent or of the two fights that I’d like to share. I won’t give it all away. For the full impact, it’s best to see the finished trailer. But a little teaser never hurts.

Ghosts of Film Shoots Past

For more info, a peek at the script and photos on the shoot, visit: Blood Oath's Web Site

I shall now open a big case of fine whine. Though I'm greatly pleased at what we shot (and who can complain about looking at such pretty men), the journey was as bizarre as always.

I knew it was going to be an odd week early on when I had what was one of the strangest thoughts to date during a production related meeting. I think ‘Is that grenade real?’ narrowly beats ‘How did I miss the 3 foot pentagram?’ for oddness. This was not, however, the oddest sentence to be uttered by me this week. It was definitely not the oddest thing I said during those two days in Santa Clarita. I think that would be ‘I am not asking Aaron if he has on underwear.’

Despite the new odd things that happened, I was struck by how many of our little company were bringing the baggage from previous shoots to this one. Marguerite and I were nearly paralyzed with dread figuring out what to have on the craft services table. Many of our most difficult moments during all of our shoots save for The Gunslinger trailer centered around food. These awkward moments have nearly shut down our shoots. Thus, I was as nervous as Marguerite over this matter. As it turned out, we did fine. There was much happy snacking and no complaints. A big thanks to Matty for providing the excellent coffee.

We had other anxieties going into that shoot. Our previous location in that area was one very low on amenities. There was a barely working toilet that I plunged repeatedly during two different shoots and nowhere to sit and eat. I made sure that we had our own toilet paper, paper towels and hand soap. I even put in reservations for a table and chair rental. These worries were for naught. One of the people involved with this location had been through the difficulties of the Demon Under Glass ( shoot. Thus, we needn’t have been concerned. I will digress a moment to let readers know that We recently wrestled control of the film domestically from our distributor and hope that it will finally get the release it deserves. There are now a string of homoerotic novels based on the leading men available on amazon.com. At any rate, there were very nice amenities even in the storage warehouse for the soundstage. There was more than one bathroom with all the proper paper products and hand soap. And there was a full sized, working fridge. That part of the shoot was nicely covered. However, this location was as soundproofed as the other one (though a quarter of the price to rent). The immense building was made of corrugated sheet metal, and the Santa Ana winds were blowing ferociously from the desert. The whole building shook from time to time, creating an amazing din. This didn’t matter the first day as we weren’t recording dialogue.

On day two, the winds weren’t quite as bad and the sound man had an idea on how to minimize noise. I haven’t heard the final tracks yet, so I don’t know if he was successful. If not, there is always ADR. Jon had his own deep misgivings born of ghosts of film shoots past. He was so accustomed of making locations from nothing that he wasn’t convinced that the empty warehouse we’d rented could pass as an abandoned warehouse even after seeing the photos. It caused me no end of consternation until we reached the site. Despite how well our previous efforts had gone, I had no idea until then how many of us had been traumatized by them. Mind you, none of us had the common sense to opt out of these high risk, high effort endeavors. Oh no... though, in our defense, we had heard that doing ‘no budget’ proofs of concept were now all the rage even with big studios. The nifty company that rented all of our bad-assed military gear was doing much the same thing at the behest of Sony and with some very big names. So, we’re not entirely nuts. I must admit, however, that I found that information more than a little depressing. What happened to all that lovely upfront development cash?

All of the elements were in place. The question that remained was could these flesh and blood characters match those that had lived in my prose and in my head for more than two years?