This week, I found a great resource for those who are interested in learning more about the process of creative storytelling. Fox Searchlight arranged an interview with director Ridley Scott for a few of their interns where he shared his thoughts and experiences on how he goes about creating a filmed work. For myself, I found this informal talk with the renowned director of such films as “Blade Runner” and “Alien” (can you tell I’m a sci-fi fan?) to be both a source of inspiration and knowledge for my work as a writer/director for the internet drama series I also co-produce, “Star Trek: Unity“. Of course, I think Sir Ridley Scott’s presentation would be of great interest to anyone who wishes to learn more about how he approaches directing the films he’s made, if not the creative process of bringing a story to life.

The interview is split into four parts, all of which I’ve embedded into this entry for easy viewing.

NOTE: The interview features some coarse language during the course of the conversation.

Part 1 of 4 -

Click here to continue reading »”Interview with Ridley Scott – Insights Into the Process of Storytelling”

As some of you may have noted from my list of other blogs I write, in addition to blogging I also work on the creation of an original, dramatic series called “Star Trek Unity”. At the beginning of this month, I was informed about a major achievement for this production, something that we’ve now been able to share with the public. Our first audio dramatic presentation “Disunity”, which I directed, co-wrote and even acted a few roles in, has landed one of the five coveted nomination spots for the 2008 Parsec Award for “Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama – Short Form”. On our project’s website and blog, we’ve made this news public along with our obvious pride and elation at landing this honour. But I wanted to use this outlet to speak about this accomplishment on a more personal level.

But before I do that, let me provide some background for those of you who are not familiar with this dramatic series. “Star Trek Unity” is an amateur series production set in the time period between the TV series “Star Trek Enterprise” and “Star Trek”, the Original Series. Our series will be a full CGI animation series, but for now, we’re releasing a set of audio-only episodes that serve as a prequel to our animation series, to help introduce and establish our original characters and some future story plot lines. Our premiere episode, “Disunity”, which was released last December, is a mystery story that centers around a terrorist attack on a Federation construction yard. The episode was written as an allegory to our ongoing conflicts with those who use acts of terrorism for political/social gain, with certain character actions mirroring the posturing of some world leaders on this issue as well as the fallout that events like 9/11 have had on our collective society. Although the main cast consists of amateur actors, we have been fortunate to land the talents of professional actor Kurt Carley, who quite effectively breathes life into the part of the leader of the terrorist organization. Click here to continue reading »”Landing A Parsec Award Nomination – It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This”