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    Originally posted by Melora View Post
    Thanks, spaz.

    I always enjoy MW interviews so I will be looking forward to reading what he has to say about Sanctuary.
    Yeah I love Martin too, he always has interesting things in his interviews and DVD commentaries.
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    Comment


      Slice of SciFi podcast #105 transcipt


      MM: And welcome back to more of Slice of SciFi I'm Michael R. Mennenga

      SB: And I'm Summer Brookes and with us today is Martin Wood, Director and Executive Producer of Sanctuary, a hot new online media SciFi series that ...

      MW: Ah actually Summer it's Unbelievably Hot

      SB: Unbelievably Hot - I like that. Unbelievably, we're going to have to put that ...

      MM: Inferno Hot

      SB: a new unbelievably hot new SF series that will come to us through a new distribution method, the internet.

      MM: I don't know how NEW it is (laughs)

      MW: I'm hoping it's not new to everybody. Now that 70% of North America has ADSL and high speed internet I'm hoping that 4 of them get to see it like this.

      SB: Well hopefully new as in new option for first choice of delivery, how about that?

      MW: Exactly

      MM: Martin do you really think that has a contributing factor that DSL and high speed internet has hit a penetration level to where there is a really good audience out there now?

      MW: Well I think there's going to be. I think at this point we are right on the razor's edge on this and our fear right now that is that we may be a little bit too early. Obviously because there is nobody ahead of us doing what we are trying to do and I think that part of what we are trying to do here is be right on the crest of that wave. As people realise that it doesn't take two and a half hours to download an episode um because who wants to do that? You don't want to go sit down "Ah, time to watch some TV and have a sandwich" you don't want to hit the download button and have to watch a bar move across for the next 20 minutes. I think now with high speed internet and with what we are trying to do because we're doing it in full resolution right. You can actually watch Sanctuary in 720p which is very high resolution. In fact it will eventually be 1080i which is the highest resolution you can get on a monitor right now. To do that takes a great deal of bandwidth and it will take time for slower computers to download and so you really want to have something like ADSL to be able watch it or a high internet of some sort.

      SB: So tell us about your role and your involvement with getting Sanctuary up and running

      MW: Well essentially from my standpoint when I went in to it happening ... Damian came to me with a script. We had been talking about doing a series together we were talking about what we just wanted to look at next because every year I've done a season finale for Stargate up until last year and every year we started looking at it going "OK What's going to happen next, what's going to happen next, what's going to happen next?". And so we're all sort of lining our ducks up every year to do something next and then we kept coming back with Stargate and Atlantis. And in this case what happened Damian handed me two scripts, the first he handed me was one I can't talk about it's super secret and we'll probably do that next

      (laughs)

      MW: so I can't talk about that one but it is equally amazing to Sanctuary but he handed me the Sanctuary script. He handed me two of them and he said one is a version that I like and the other one is a version that the network seems to like and tell me what you think. And I absolutely hated the one that the networks liked.

      MM: Of course

      MW: Well you know what it is? It was too commercial, too prime time TV ish, which is what they're going to look for. But the one that he had written originally was so new and such .... the lines in it were so good and the dialogue was snappy and it just felt like there was a whole bunch of new stuff that I hadn't seen before, definitely not prime time stuff. But I loved it and I said Damian I love this, we have to do this script. And he said OK I want to see what I can do with it and he walked away and then about five days later he came back and said that I have an idea. And he and Marc Aubanel had been skiing and they had come up with this idea about doing this kinda cross over stuff and came to me at that point and said are you interested in doing this? And I actually took a piece of paper out of my pocket and signed it and handed it to him and said here put this in whatever contract you need to, I'm in.

      MM: Wow

      MW: and because it's ... from me I've read probably in the last 10 or 11 years I've read probably 500 scripts. Not including the Stargate ones because the Stargate ones are a breed of their own, Stargate and Atlantis. But I've read a lot of, lot of scripts, people hand me scripts all the time. I'm forever sort of looking for scripts that are really good and this is one of my favourite scripts that I've seen in a long, long time. I did a Robert Cooper movie a little while ago, that was my other favourite script, and it is on par with that kind of feeling I had when I read this script. So like I said this Sanctuary is going to make a big noise very shortly and it's mostly because it's a great script. When we cast it there was a motivation to find a cast that was ... and immediately by the way just so that you know, Amanda Tapping was in. Because I love working with Amanda, I've loved working with her for 10 years and know that she has chops way beyond what the Stargate audience has seen. It's interesting because a lot of times with Stargate and Stargate Atlantis when you're working with actors, you see things that you actually can't put on TV. You see movement in their characters that doesn't really fit, but it's movement that the actors themselves has the ability to make. You know, muscles that you can't see flex because Carter wouldn't do that or because you know in David Hewlett's case McKay wouldn't do that. But you see these actors doing these kind of things and especially with Amanda, I've watched her do things in so many different ways that it's such exceptional acting that I kept thinking that Man, I've got to find something else I can do with Amanda that doesn't constrain her the way Carter does because Carter is an established character. And things like when we did something in Atlantis called Grace Under Pressure where Amanda came in and there was a whole scene that we shot that I went this is brilliant, this is absolutely amazing and I couldn't use it.

      SB: oh

      MW: because it was so far beyond where we could move with that character and anyway so we can take that and put it in context of Sanctuary. Amanda was in as far as Damian and I were concerned, that was the beginning. I had done a movie a few years ago with Robin Dunne which is the movie that can never actually be said on the air or my career is tanked

      (laughs)

      MW: we had such a good time in Romania shooting a movie and at that point I said I have to work with Robin again, we had such a great time working together, his on set energy and his presence around other actors and actresses, it's just .. it makes you want to um not say cut. So you find that those kind of actors you really like working with. Chris Heyerdahl is another one. Chris and I have done three different series together now because I keep hiring him and putting him into that so. Sanctuary offered me a chance to take all the actors that I really like working with and put them into one show, David Hewlett, Paul McGillion, Chris Heyerdahl, Miranda Frigon, all these people I've worked with before, Laura Mennell . These are all people that I just want to stick into one show, and Kevin Smith, I want to stick them all in one show to use all of them and so Sanctuary gave us that opportunity. Following that then we just hit the set and everybody that worked in the crew, everybody that worked on the show felt this amazing energy that was go ing on with it. Good script, great acting and the fact that the sets were all green didn't bother anybody. The virtual sets um and nobody was bothered by that. I thought that would be a big obstacle before because creatively and to just motivate the crew, they didn't seem to care.

      SB: So are you looking forward to how far you can push these actors to stretch themselves with the story?

      MW: One of the things that Damian and I have been doing is talking about future episodes and what can happen in them and because there is no ... because at this point nobody knows any of these characters, no one knows anything about them, we've started sort of making a history for this and the history that Amanda's character Magnus has, is starting to come out over the course of 8 webisodes but we were discussing something yesterday that I can't tell you because it would give away too much about where we're at in the eight webisodes. But believe me, it's so cool!

      (laughs)

      MW: but we were discussing something and both of us at the same time looked at each other and went "Pfft why not? Why not, we can do anything we want" you know and that is one of the freedoms of what we're doing is just to be able to unharness a lot of the stuff that has to be harnessed because you are going into you know 7 o'clock on a Friday night or 8 o'clock on a Friday night family time kind of episode. And I'm not talking about swearing or nudity I'm talking about cooler stuff with characters that allow you to do some of the things that some of the best series get cancelled because people can't handle that kind of movement in the characters

      MM: Interesting, Wow. This is the most interesting and confusing conversation I've ever had for an interview ...

      MW: sorry

      SB: No, seriously it's great! It's a combination of intriguing information and oh so not fair teases

      (laughs)

      MW: Yeah, Oh the things I could tell you but can't

      MM: Yeah

      (laughs)

      MW: Can I just tell you that right now I'm looking through a door into the edit suite "Oh my God! I can't believe it!" (BIG LAUGHS) Oh if you guys could see what I'm seeing right now but you'll have to wait till this Spring

      MM & SB: Awww

      MM: You're just mean

      (laughs)

      SB: I love that you have this energy, this,this enthusiasm for this project because it sets you free from the restrictions you've been working on, on regular television for so long and we hear people talk about oh put it on cable you'll have a little bit more freedom than you'll have on Network but it's turned out to be not so much

      MW: Here's what I'd liken it to - If for years you've worked for somebody who's a fairly amicable boss but that boss has worked for another boss who's also fairly amicable but there are a number of rules from boss number 1 and a number of rules from boss number 2 um and so you as the lower guy on the totem pole you've always had to follow boss number 1's rules and than as a consequence you've had to follow boss number 2's rules too and you've had to do that for your whole career

      MM: Mmhh

      MW: as a hired gun being a director. Um Stargate and Atlantis both freed me up a little as a director because there was a respect for the creative ability to be able to put stuff in. Um in fact most of the series that I've been in Jeremiah, Earth Final Conflict, Andromeda, they've all said you can push this just a little bit but until you create it there's nobody above you to say no. And it's .. I wouldn't want this creative freedom 10 years ago because I think I would have abused it in a horrible way


      Continued in part 2
      Last edited by RealmOfX; 18 April 2007, 08:47 PM. Reason: spelling
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      Comment


        Part 2


        MM: I gotta say, that's a question I've got for you now that that freedom has been allowed or given to you are you finding yourself pulling punches where you don't need to still because you're so conditioned to that

        MW: No. You know what truthfully it's landing punches that I couldn't have landed before

        SB: & MM: Really

        MM: Awesome, that's what I wanted to hear.

        MW: No, seriously it's not about..... Network television is all about ah you have to compensate for a number of things that you don't have, money and time, and you always compromise.

        MM: Mmhh

        MW: that one tends to be compromising what you really know you can do. What this project has given me is the ability to be able to expand what I know I can do and not have to compromise any of it. And that's what um unless you're in my shoes right now that you wouldn't be able to feel necessarily because it's having those two bosses above you for so long and now having nobody above you and just being able to say now what can I do and knowing the limits of what you can do that is not going to turn an audience's stomach and make them walk away now that's not what we're all about here

        MM: Well this is a very exciting distribution model that you've chosen and I ... in that other people have tried, done this before but you're not venturing into completely new territory but it was always done as an extra or an extra feature you know as you have the regular program but you can also catch it online or you buy it on iTunes or dah dah dah dah there's so many ways that the internet has come into play but to actually go after the internet as your primary distribution model I think that is where you are setting new ground and I applaud you for that.

        MW: I think that one of the things that I have to say is that if we had done Sanctuary's two hour pilot as a normal two hour pilot it would have cost probably between 5 and 10 times what it actually cost us to do

        MM: Wow

        SB: Whoa

        MW: I have to tell you something you are about to see something that is probably 10 to 15 million dollars worth of production

        MM: Nice

        MW: now the reason we were able to do that is um two things. One is we're not harnessed by a studio or a network um at this point we won't be, we won't be harnessed by them. There's nobody sitting there saying OK in order to get distribution we have to pay this much money and this is as much as we can make back. Nobody knows how much you can make on something like this so what we decided to do was OK everybody above the line, actors, director, producer, executive producer nobody takes a wage

        MM & SB: Oh

        MW: the actors have to work for scale because they're union but everybody else we're not taking a wage on this, we're working for free.

        MM: Wow

        MW: Free meaning that we're taking stock in the company and no one knows how much that is worth. And it's a risk for everybody.

        SB: Mmmhh

        MW: This is the honest truth, none of us took any wages and still are not, um we've been working on it for five months and nobody has taken a penny. In fact five of us put a huge amount of money in to seed what we needed to be able to go to somebody and say is it possible that we can ask you for this much money and it's a private group that actually came along and said we believe in this project so much we're actually going to give you this much money. They gave us the money to make the project in terms of the bare bones of what we could do with it. You know and John Smith was a huge, ah John Smith and John Horie who really controlled the budget on this thing. They made a budget that was unbelievable for what you will see on the screen. This couldn't of happened if it was run by a network.

        MM: That is absolutely fantastic and I tell you that we'll do everything we can here to get some eyes looking at this.

        MW: Great.

        SB: we are out of time right now and we completely ran out of time to ask about you about Stargate so I'm going to have to ask you to come back and talk about Stargate.

        MW: No problem, I've got lots to say about that too.

        SB: Thank you for being here today and we will be back for more of Slice of SciFi right after this.
        Last edited by RealmOfX; 18 April 2007, 08:48 PM. Reason: spelling
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        Comment


          Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post
          Yeah I love Martin too, he always has interesting things in his interviews and DVD commentaries.
          On behalf of everyone without high speed internet, thanks so much for doing this, RoX. I just read the little bit you posted at Samanda and I think I am going to like this interview very much. I am going to read the whole thing as soon as I post this.

          What I like about MW's interviews is that he not only talks about the technical aspects of directing and producing, but he also does so in such a way that you learn more about the process of storytelling. There's also always a nice balance between technical and story/character details.


          BTW - I tried to give you some green, but it seems I must spread some more around first.

          ETA: I tried unsuccessfully to give some green to dancer of spaz too. Looks like I need to go spread the green around some more.

          Comment


            Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post
            <ETA>
            Next time we can organise to split the job because I'm sure there will be more. These guys are really enthusiastic about Sanctuary
            Yep! Sounds like a plan. The fact that the guys at SoSF have been so enthusiastic is great, and that they went out there and pretty much said that they'd be doing all they can to help was awesome, too. I'm looking forward to the rest of the interviews leading up to the premiere.

            Here's a bit of a side question: Does anyone know where Slice of SciFi broadcasts from?

            Comment


              Originally posted by the dancer of spaz View Post
              Yep! Sounds like a plan. The fact that the guys at SoSF have been so enthusiastic is great, and that they went out there and pretty much said that they'd be doing all they can to help was awesome, too. I'm looking forward to the rest of the interviews leading up to the premiere.

              Here's a bit of a side question: Does anyone know where Slice of SciFi broadcasts from?

              At the beginning of the show I thought they said that they are broadcasting from Pheonix Arizona, but not positive on that.

              Comment


                Awesome work on the transcript RoX

                In another bit of news we have just posted our Exclusive interview with Marc Aubanel, one of Damian's partners at http://www.sanctuaryfans.com

                There's some awesome new info in there, check it out
                sigpic

                Comment


                  Originally posted by chocdoc View Post
                  At the beginning of the show I thought they said that they are broadcasting from Pheonix Arizona, but not positive on that.
                  Thanks! I'm not very familiar with online radio programming and whatnot, so I wasn't sure if it was merely edited in Phoenix, or what.

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post
                    Slice of SciFi podcast #105
                    MM: Interesting, Wow. This is the most interesting and confusing conversation I've ever had for an interview ...

                    MW: sorry

                    SB: No, seriously it's great! It's a combination of intriguing information and oh so not fair teases

                    (laughs)

                    MW: Yeah, Oh the things I could tell you but can't

                    MM: Yeah

                    (laughs)

                    MW: Can I just tell you that right now I'm looking through a door into the edit suite "Oh my God! I can't believe it!" (BIG LAUGHS) Oh if you guys could see what I'm seeing right now but you'll have to wait till this Spring

                    OUCH!!! Oh, wait, Spring has sprung. Not too long now !
                    Thanks so much for transcribing!

                    If Martin Wood it THAT excited, it must be awesome!

                    Originally posted by Myrth View Post
                    Awesome work on the transcript RoX

                    In another bit of news we have just posted our Exclusive interview with Marc Aubanel, one of Damian's partners at http://www.sanctuaryfans.com

                    There's some awesome new info in there, check it out
                    Great, thanks!

                    Words have tremendous power. The right words spoken by the right people at the right times can lift up communities, transform lives, mend relationships, break hearts—even topple empires.
                    Quint Studer

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by Myrth View Post
                      Awesome work on the transcript RoX

                      In another bit of news we have just posted our Exclusive interview with Marc Aubanel, one of Damian's partners at http://www.sanctuaryfans.com

                      There's some awesome new info in there, check it out

                      thanks! Really good interview by all of you!

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by Myrth View Post
                        Awesome work on the transcript RoX

                        In another bit of news we have just posted our Exclusive interview with Marc Aubanel, one of Damian's partners at http://www.sanctuaryfans.com

                        There's some awesome new info in there, check it out
                        Great interview ladies! You get all the good jobs huh? LOL
                        Seriously though, you're doing a great job with the website I could never do anything like that so I want to say Thank You!!
                        You Gals ROCK

                        Julia(samcarterrules)
                        sigpic
                        Thanks to Ambermoon for the wonderful Avatar Sig by: Me

                        Comment


                          Damian has updated his blog again with more news!!

                          Release date is 14th of May (which Sanctuaryfans.com broke the news last week) for the first 15 minute webisode and another webisode being released every few weeks.

                          AND there will be a 5 minute sneak preview released on April 30.

                          Go read his blog for more info.
                          -

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post
                            AND there will be a 5 minute sneak preview released on April 30.
                            Hey, a late birthday present for me! (My b-day's the 29th) Thanks for the info RealmOfX!

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post
                              Damian has updated his blog again with more news!!

                              Release date is 14th of May (which Sanctuaryfans.com broke the news last week) for the first 15 minute webisode and another webisode being released every few weeks.

                              AND there will be a 5 minute sneak preview released on April 30.

                              Go read his blog for more info.
                              Cant wait, sounds great.

                              sig by starlover1990

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by RealmOfX View Post
                                AND there will be a 5 minute sneak preview released on April 30.
                                Sif I'm away for a week with no net access on the 29th :|

                                Comment

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