The Molly Pine Show
Posted on February 7, 2012 by James RileyThe “reality” show below is a spoof. Lorraine’s a good sport and let me pretend I was talking to her. Wilson thought it was funny, so we’re making it available to Colony Bay Members, (join here!) but first a word about Lorraine and our cast. I first met Lorraine at Jonathan Wilson’s office in […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Life Production | Tagged Courage Lorraine Pope Molly Pine New Hampshire | Leave a comment
Schedules, Money, Cameos, Housing
Posted on February 2, 2012 by James RileyThis week, we’ve been trying to juggle the schedules of our many different actors and crew, attempting to match them with the demands of our back lot — Riley’s Farm, where hundreds of students see a kind of live version of Courage, New Hampshire daily. Frances Romero Mena has it nailed down about 90% […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Life Production | Tagged Courage Lorraine Pope Molly Pine New Hampshire | Leave a comment
Episode 3 Production Update
Posted on January 27, 2012 by James RileyPlausibility and Good Advice from the Crew Back in my Stanford writing workshop days, all of my literary fiction professors would routinely warn us about what they called “plot-dominated” fiction. Some poor, well meaning sophomore (like me) would be thinking detective mode, or combat story or espionage epic and we were then schooled in […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Production | Tagged Courage New Hampshire Production Update | Leave a comment
Garrow’s Law
Posted on January 25, 2012 by James RileyWe’re very deep into 3rd episode planning and writing, so the blog gets sent to the high meadow for summer grazing. I did discover a little 18th century television you might like while you’re waiting for more Courage. It’s called Garrow’s Law and it tells the “true story [of] William Garrow, who acted as […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Production | Tagged Ashton Kutcher Courage Mad Men New Hampshire Pan Am Perfection Plausibility | Leave a comment
Production Update — Episode #3
Posted on January 19, 2012 by James RileyWe put out the word on pre-production for our first episode 3 meeting yesterday, and the Hawk’s Head Tavern was nearly full of the Colony Bay crew, anxious to weigh in on the next episode, “A Snake in the Garden.” I don’t believe in writing by committee, but one of the most gratifying things about […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Learning from the Past Production | Tagged 18th Century Trials Capital Punishment Courage Garrow's Law Marxist History New Hampshire | Leave a comment
Stories that Civilize
Posted on January 17, 2012 by James RileyStories are potentially dangerous, at least the wrong ones. A lot of parents lament profanity, sex, and violence in modern entertainment, but those, as I’ve lamented recently, are all found even in the Bible — in a context that explains their place. How do you tell the story of Jesus without cutting off the centurion’s […]Continue Reading »
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Between Comedy and Horror
Posted on January 10, 2012 by James RileyCareful out there in the middle.. I remember enough about mathematics and physics to know that you can be solving for both sides of a complicated equation only to find yourself, miserably, winding down to the painfully obvious. You see it a few steps before the eraser reveals it on paper: a=a. I’m not sure if […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Learning from the Past Life Production | Tagged Braveheart Courage Jesus Magna Carta New Hampshire Passover Story | Leave a comment
HBO’s John Adams
Posted on January 9, 2012 by James RileyI’ve been re-watching HBO’s John Adams, along with the “making of” bonus material, and while it is true enough that I would be happy with just their wig budget, let alone their green screen and CGI budget, I can’t help but comment about the choices they made in their interpretation of the facts. (This is […]Continue Reading »
Posted in Life Production | Tagged Courage Eve Garden Lost Boys Middle Ground New Hampshire Serpent The Graduate | Leave a comment
I’ll Buy it or I’ll Rent it — Someday
Posted on January 6, 2012 by James RileyThere’s a “metric” out there I wish I knew but can’t seem to find on Google, perhaps because television production companies keep it a secret, but I guess I would call it the “delayed admission” revenue arc of a show. For example, the first season of the Andy Griffith Show, shot in 1960, can be […]Continue Reading »
Posted in History Production | Tagged Courage Errors HBO John Adams New Hampshire | Leave a comment