Ruby Skye P.I.

Possibly the scariest thing about this new video blogging kick I’m on is that thought that people are actually watching.

Here’s some news about our very cool plans for documenting all the action behind the scenes at Ruby Skye P.I.

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My latest video blogging effort tells how our partnership with The Dragon Academy is making our story deeper and richer. If this is the model for financing art and entertainment in the future, then an institution like The Dragon is the ideal partner.

Anyone who’s been to Writers Watching TV sessions knows I have a little obsession with script stats. So here are the stats for Ruby Skye P.I. The Spam Scam, as of today’s White Production Draft:

• 12 Episodes
• 68 pages
• 68 scenes (including 3 establishers)
• Longest episode: 9 pages
• Shortest episode: 3 pages

I’m getting better at video blogging… slowly. Oops, cut off the top of this one. Sorry.

Ok.  Vid blog numero dos.  Sorry about the shaky camera work and also my “umming”.  Still working out the kinks.  I’m not even sure yet that it’s faster than text blogging…

Also, shorter?  Any topics you think I should cover?

Thought I’d try to speed up the blogging process by recording a video blog.  Never mind the horror of recording myself on video, I think I still have some technical issues to work out!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JcRFdQk5uo]

Possibly my iSight and Photobooth might not be the way to go with this….

Watch out for the newish “Shocking Video” scam on Facebook. It isn’t really new because it was around in May and now it’s back.
You’ll see a friends’ update in the newsfeed inviting you to check out a “Shocking video”. But when you click on the link, you don’t get the video. You get asked to fill out a short survey or a simple online poll or to take an IQ test.
And that’s the scam. They are trying to collect personal information that will later be used by affiliate marketers to sell you stuff.
So if you want to see a shocking video, don’t click your friend’s link. Go search for it on YouTube or some other video sharing site. And if you do end up confronted with a survey, test or poll, don’t fill it out. And definitely, never ever give your personal information out to anyone on the web.

Here’s more on how the scam works and how to avoid it:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uFa3P0sLA4]

And now if you really want to see that shocking video, here it is:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjD1PzEMzps]

Ruby’s Roasted Marshmallow Brownies

Originally uploaded by Ruby Skye P.I.

Props for Thursday when we shoot a series promo. The promo will feature Ruby Skye’s little sister, Hailey and some rather delicious brownies which go missing.
We’re pretty excited to shoot it and start building our world.

A production needs all kinds of agreements, reams and reams of legal paperwork. Deal memos and contracts. Financing agreements, options, writing contracts and waivers. Never mind that the details of these documents could make you cross-eyed, the important question is how tiny operations with micro-budgets afford the legal fees. We are lucky beyond belief to have as a partner and mentor the mighty Steven Golick on our team.

No one is more fun, more accessible and more knowledgeable. Without his participation… I’m not going to even think about where we’d be.

We’ve had a great week and it’s only Wednesday.

The big news and really the most fun and most exciting event of the week was casting. We sent out our casting notice last Thursday. We posted on Casting workbook, Craig’s list, Mandy and the rubyskyepi.com. We also spread the word through our personal Twitter and Facebook feeds.

The response has been amazing. In fact the submissions are still pouring in. It took Kelly, Kerry and I ten or more hours to sort through them and then Kelly and Kerry had to call all the actors or their agents and set up times.

We got to Fraser Studios on the Danforth this morning at 9:00 to set up. Illia Srivsky joined us and ran the camera and Sarah Higgins, a lovely young actress for whom we don’t have a part, read with the auditioners. All of us were apprehensive.

We’d book a ton of people and very few breaks. We didn’t know what would happen.

You don’t know about a script till you hear it on its feet and casting is an extremely painful way to learn about your mistakes. You see an audition and you realize how horrifyingly bad a scene is… and then you have to sit and listen to it another 11 times. Ouch.

Then you worry that there won’t be any actors who match your vision or get what you’re trying to. Or that you and the rest of the team won’t agree on who would work in each role.

And certainly, you’re not looking forward to spending nine consecutive hours in a windowless room.

As it turned out, we had a great time and left at close to 6 pm in high spirits. The script sounded good if I do say so myself (all the funny stuff written by Julie). Kelly and I were absolutely agreed on every actor. But best of all, we saw amazing talent. People came in prepared and worked hard for us. It was so much fun… from our side of the table at least. Probably it was a lot more nerve wracking on the other side.

What a profession is acting. In order to get the gig, you must go and ply your trade in front of people like us; give us a sample or a preview. And we sit there, as if we’re at a buffet, looking at all the delightful choices, deciding which delicacies we’ll choose.

We have some great choices. But more importantly, our vision of what we are making became that more clear and we like it and are more and more confident that kids will too.