Well, that was nerve-wracking but exciting, being on real Late Night TV with THE GUILD!! Thanks for all the support, and special thanks to Jimmy Fallon! He is truly a wonderful, kind person. Hamlet was AMAZING!
Episode 4 of Season 3 “Get It Back” is posted!
Streaming on MSN (embeddable)
Xbox Marketplace
Zune Marketplace
And a Gag Reel for episodes of 1-4 for Season 3:
So, yet another week without time to post a blog on something OTHER than the Guild, but we’re editing episode 9 now and the light is at the end of the tunnel for us, haha. CAN HAZ FREE TIME PLS?! This episode is one I REALLY like. When I first wrote the script for Season 3, the scene with Codex in the rival guild chat channel was the one scene that I wrote and pretty much never touched again. I had SO MUCH FUN writing these new characters knowing I was going to be as filthy as I could with it (kinda like what gamers talk like more than the REGULAR Guild anyway, ha).
I think all the characters really come across well. Thanks to Helen Geier my friend and casting agent who found Bruiser and Kwan and Nik, so funny. The new Anarchy actors did a FAB job working with the weirdness that is Guild webcam shooting: That is, acting in a room alone with me or a PA reading off-camera, not knowing REALLY how the other actor will actually say their lines. We shot them in their rooms in some instances WEEKS apart, and then the scene was cut together. That’s why we always get PLENTY of coverage for all lines in the webcam scenes, because you never know how the rhythm of the scene will cut together with the actors working in a vaccuum so to speak.
This episode also had one of the most challenging location and prop scenes with Vork at the drive through. Why I wrote a drive-through scene on this budget is beyond me, if I were a producer I’d kick my writer’s ass. Thank goodness Tyler found an affordable option for the drive-through board (which is hilarious if you look at it closely, the prices don’t make any sense at all). This was actually shot in the parking lot of a high school, you might notice Kenny our BTS person in the car behind Vork. He’s an extra in MANY scenes for season 2, it’s a fun easter egg, haha.
The name of the restaurant is so ridiculous not on purpose but because everything I’d come up with we’d do an internet search on and it existed so we were worried about legal repercussions! “Tastee Burger”, “Burger Mart”, etc etc etc we checked DOZENS. Finally we just used the most ridiculous name ever. I can’t help but laugh every time I heard “Mr Chick-N-Stuff Jr and Friends.” We also have a take of Vork saying “Lil’ Burger Man” which Sean Becker the director liked better, and was granted, HILARIOUS.
Last inside note, our webmaster Edgar and intern Ethan helped a LOT bringing to life finnsmulders.com as another Easter Egg for the show, check it out. The face on a stick of Bladezz in the episode is priceless, I wanted to get them made up and hand them out at Comicon, but the release was so far away we decided not to. Oh well! Hope you enjoy, and yes, that is Wil squealing like a Bat at that bug. In reality, I am shrieking louder than anyone and running a few blocks away, but I was behind the camera and not miced, HAHAHAHAHA.
I feel awful, but I am just too frikkin’ busy to update this blog 
I have lots of entries in mind, so I promise when I get a chunk of The Guild comic finally figured out I will be amusing you greatly with some corset romance novel entries 
Mainly, I want to let you know that Guild Episode 3 “Player Down” is now live on our Microsoft platforms!
Streaming on MSN
Downloadable in HD on Xbox
Downloadable on Zune
(There is a slight delay on the Xbox/Zune platforms due to software updates (especially on the Canadian upload) so you might have to check back in certain regions)
Depressingly I already wrote this blog entry and lost it. Yay technology? 
Anyhoo, this episode was pretty much MADE by@seanbecker’s awesome directing and editing. The frenetic energy of the Guild falling apart and Codex’s lack of assertiveness was definitely enhanced by the quick cuts and hilarious angles. I had trouble when writing this episode because there were SO many storylines being set up and I was eager to get the story moving, but we had a lot more ground to cover, especially Vork going on his “quest” (which is so hilarious, the trash can thing was a great directing addition.) A whole section of this episode was moved to make the story smoother and build better, so it is NOT how it was shot. Thank goodness it worked! On a personal note, when Tyler, the production designer, proposed this van-thing for Vork’s car I just cracked up. It’s soooo ridiculous and RIGHT for Vork, although I had envisioned a 70′s gas guzzler sedan myself. The brilliant thing is all the little easter eggs he put INSIDE the van that you guys as the audience will never see but cracked the crew up sooo much. Incidentally we will probably be auctioning off this car in the next month or so for charity, please check@theguild Twitter in the next weeks for more details.
Yay, it’s out! and 8 minutes long…wow. Really long. We got it in under 8 minutes for turning in (our sponsor Sprint’s short pre-roll pushed us over the 8 minute mark, promise! ), but still, an epic-length Guild episode. In fact, this episode was, for a few drafts, 2 episodes. I had a cliffhanger after Vork quit, but then in looking at the script, I felt like the audience would be bored in the same location for three continuous episodes, so I cut MANY pages out to combine the two, definitely the right decision.
We were under crazy pressures during this shoot, about a day short to really get down what encompassed these first 2 episodes. We didn’t have a million options in the cutting room due to the pressed time, so director/editor Sean Becker was awesome in putting everything together, it was a big challenge and the end result is great. I think there were some good performances in this episode, especially considering how MANY actors there were in the scenes. I especially love what Mike Rose (Valkerie, the fopish character) does with the little he is given, he’s so funny in Legend of Neil and in his MANY online projects, and adds a lot to a character that could have been very much in the background. Bruiser’s impromtu dance was so out of left field that it makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it, and of course Fawkes (Wil) has a smug arrogance that is PERFECT in its infuriatingness.
Also Venom, my friend Teal Sherer, does some hilarious stuff in the scene with the Gamestop manager. She is quite a good friend of mine and I was so excited to write her a role for her in the show. She pulls off this “fake acting” bit beautifully, and it was definitely hard to not laugh when she was steering around in front of Vork.
My favorite line of the episode is Vork’s, “Control your steed, woman!” It made me laugh SO hard when I wrote it, and Jeff is so funny.
Hope you all enjoy!
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