EPISODE 3: Oversupportive’d

The painting of me and Wil Wheaton from this episode is 100% my favorite gag we’ve ever done.  I’m sure you saw my post to the picture in my Comicon blog entry, but nothing honors the painting like when Zaboo reveals it with such pride and gusto. @gregaranowitz, Production Designer wizard, artist and guy extraordinaire (see his blog Barnyard FX for lots of great entries on his artistic process!) is so talented, we are the luckiest web show in existence that we have such amazing people willing to work for so little because they love what they do and want to help us out. We will be arranging for a way to purchase this print in the near future, stay tuned! I just couldn’t stop giggling when we were watching the edits. I would always say “More painting! More painting!!”

One of the funnest parts for me of the WHOLE film making flow is the editing process. I don’t physically edit myself, but I love being involved in the creative decisions about editing and giving notes to make performance and comedy better. Editing is so incredibly powerful, it can make or break an episode. We are very lucky to have new editor Matt Smith editing most of our episodes this season, with@seanbecker doing a final director’s pass before we lock. Sean works closely with Matt to get a rough ready to show us, and then Kim Evey and I do notes on the cuts, 2 or 3 of them. It’s just amazing what small changes can do for the comedy of a scene. Sometimes I’ll say “the timing is off here on this line” to Sean, without knowing EXACTLY what’s off about it, and he’ll literally change 4 frames and take the joke from meh, to hilarious. You could take the EXACT same footage and with different editing make an actor look terrible and hideous, or make them look hilarious and gorgeous. The power is pretty stunning, and is something I didn’t appreciate before we started The Guild. As an actor on OTHER people’s projects, I am always aware that even if I give the best performance ever, it’s really out of my hands after the cameras stop rolling, and totally with the editor and director.

Anyhoo, back to Episode 3, my other favorite thing in the episode is Bladezz slapping that burger on the plate and the fries falling off. I have no idea how it evolved this way, but Ollie and Bladezz’ relationship is so bizarre it makes me laugh SO HARD. I mean, the kid can absolutely do no wrong in Ollie’s eyes, and Bladezz’ flagrant abuse of that fact amuses me to no end. Sean Becker really directed the actors well, and the whole dysfunctional triangle of Bladezz/Jeanette/Ollie has a great dynamic. Bladezz is really stealing the show in these eps, and kudos to@vincentcaso for really going the extra mile this season with his character, so fun!

EPISODE 4: Moving On

Oh episode 4. I did rewrite you a whole lot I have to say, Fawkes’ character definitely evolved a LOT in subsequent rewrites of this season. I gave myself a very hard task to not lose Fawkes’ dickishness, but still rationalize why Codex wouldn’t throw him to the curb immediately. Having Wil Wheaton as an actor definitely helped me out to make Fawkes charming even when he was being a jerk on the page, but still it was always a fine line with him, and I would be rewriting until the cameras rolled to refine and clarify Fawkes’ position. I think Wil really played that subtlety well here, and my favorite line of his is, “at Comicon last year I bedded the creator of ‘Circuitra; Robot Princess”. I actually wanted to write that comic as an Easter Egg, but time got away from me, ha.

Then we have the awesome twist of having Codex start working at Cheesybeards. Yay! In the first draft of the script I ONLY had Bladezz working at Cheesybeard’s, but about 40 pages in I realized: Wow, this is terrible, Bladezz needs a Guildie at the restaurant to have conflict with. Codex’s computer problems laid the path for her to fit in quite easily once I got the idea. And Frank Ashmore is just amazing as Ollie. Would you believe he is NOTHING LIKE THAT CHARACTER?! He’s totally refined and businesslike and debonair. Shows how versatile a trained actor can be. We auditioned a LOT of people, and only Frank brought that slightly insane tweak to the character that brings all the fun. His vigorous singing in the office is so committed, it was hard not to crack during the scene.

Side note: The Cheesybeard’s office set is actually built INSIDE A MAN’S HOUSE. Yes, like a nesting doll, the whole set fit in Greg Aranowitz’ living room. Ridiculous, but that’s how web video rolls Thanks Greg!

EPISODE 5: Loot Envy

I love this webcam that opens episode 5 because Codex is kinda happy again. I have to say, the whole way Fawkes and her played out was very interesting to me as a writer, but hard to play as a character, because although I felt her actions were totally believable for her passive and non-confrontational character, ME, Felicia Day, was always like, “Just kick him in the face!” Taking Codex on a this tangential path of “career-hood” was a fun break for the character, and having a new set and new pressures was just really fun to write. I love the dynamic of Bladezz being resentful and that corny thing with Ollie’s hook was a lark that Sean sent me in an edit one time that I was like, “KEEP IT!”

I particularly love this episode because it’s a CLASSIC Guild episode: Everyone continuous at their computers talking to each other. These episodes are so hard to set up, story-wise, to have everyone’s agenda working together, not feeling stagnate because it’s essentially 5 people talking into a computer. I mean, there are like 5 storylines going on here, but they weave back and forth so well because the previous 4 episodes set it up to happen. Wiggly comes back to play (and the bit with the babies was so wrong and great, those babies are PRO actors now, hit their mark EVERY TIME!) I just love Clara’s pouting, those lines were the funnest to write because she is so jealous and clueless at the same time. Pairing her and Tink up for the season was one of my primary goals, and the dynamic between Amy and Robin is just as fun as it was in my head before I started the season.

And lastly….Zaboo’s mom is back! Yikes! Again, this was a story point I started the season knowing I wanted to do, but the challenge was always using her character in a different way than in season 1. Viji brings a lot of new nuances this season, I’m excited for you to see the new episodes. And Zaboo’s line about “push the button!” was an improv by@sandeepparikh, so brilliant.

Yeah, this cover is awful.  The pink font in the trees, the kitchy Meg-Ryan-Movie quote, the chick UNDER the horse (I mean, that just looks UNSAFE!), ugh.  Thank god for my Kindle, I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to pick this one up live.

There are five books in Moira J Moore’s “Heroes” series.  I picked this series up on a whim from an Amazon List (honestly, I find the best books that way! Thank you Amazon contributors!) It looked to be something I wouldn’t necessarily love (a bit twee from the descriptio)n:

In a realm beset by natural disasters, only the bonded Pairs–Source and Shield–make the land habitable and keep the citizenry safe. But can Dunleavy Mallorough and Lord Shintaro Karish put aside their differences to defeat something even more unnatural than their reluctant affections for each other?

Luckily I quickly fell in love with the characters and the world.  It’s the perfect light romantic fantasy I was in the mood for as I’ve been traveling.  Reminded me of one of my fave series by Lisa Shearin, so if you picked that up and liked it, this will be for you.

This is a light fantasy romp that really hangs it hat on the characterizations of the two main characters, Lee and Taro. It has a lot of romance, but there’s enough in magic and the mystery of the plots to not define it WHOLLY as that kind of book.  It’s not a cookie cutter relationship between the two leads, often they’re quite maddening, which is what I found refreshing. It’s just so sweetly and cleverly done.

What really carries the series through is the POV of the main character, Lee. The books are written in first person from her point of view. When I first started the first book, I first thought it was a bit simply written, like a Young Adult novel. But as I progressed through the book and into series, I realize it’s because the author was being so faithful to the first person view. Lee is naive, not experienced, and very stubborn, so, even if I, the reader, knows something is up with a secondary character or plotline, Lee doesn’t necessarily do the sensible thing or add it up, which can be annoying, but makes it REAL.  The main character grows through the series, but is never going to be terribly insightful, by definition of her character and the world the author built, which is part of the fun. I just have to admire that.

Also the relationship between the two main characters is very interesting, they are both VERY flawed, so the story (and their relationship) goes through unpredictable and interesting, real twists. I really loved that there isn’t some fairy tale happiness between them, and that is even more endearing.  To have a character admit in a “romance” book that she enjoys not being around her amour all the time, that she likes to enjoy her own company sometimes, is just so much fun compared to the obsessive “we’re in love so we always can’t get enough of each other forever” sort of attitude in most romance novels.

Also, the books are quite funny at times, because Lee is snarky and amusing.  Some lines had me laughing out loud.  Anyway, I would highly recommend the books, they are very very enjoyable light reads and get better and better as the series goes on.  Will definitely stay on my “OMG THERES A NEW ONE OUT!” list.

Fast Company ran a bunch of GREAT articles today on web series, also featured in their August print edition! This video and the accompanying article were tons of fun to do (although looking glamorous is definitely the edge of my comfort level ). I loved that dress though! (SO FANCY!)

MANY people need to be thanked, including@sandeepparikh for co-writing the lyrics,@jasoncmiller for writing and producing the song,@lisashearin for allowing me to use her book cover at the top of the video,@uhr our line producer for putting everything together,@gregaronowitz for getting us amazing sets (including an ELEPHANT!), Chantal Robeson for choreographing, Thom Williams for fight choreographing, Chris Darnell for DPing and@kimevey and@seanbecker for co-directing. Whew! So many other ppl to thank as well, but I should probably give some insight into the video now

I did not want to do this video. There, I said it. I was in the middle of MAJOR writer’s block for Season 4 and the idea that we’d ever make a music video after “Avatar” was just ridiculous to me. I mean, half the comments about Avatar were “How are you gonna top this?” Which is probably the most creatively stifling thing you can say to someone. (Ironically the FIRST TWEET TODAY I SAW WAS “HOW ARE YOU GONNA TOP THIS NEXT YEAR?” HAHAHA).

Anyhoo, last year Sandeep actually said, “let’s do a Bollywood themed video.” And I was like, there’s no way we can afford that. Our budget is pretty low, and we were maxxed out on Avatar, which was shot on one stage, so I was like, it’s never gonna happen. Cut to April 2010, and Microsoft and Sprint asked us if we have a music video this year, and then Kim emails me and wants to co-direct a Bollywood music video with Sean. Errrrrrg. Eep?

Kim already had the concept for the video down, the walls flying out, the dancing etc. and that seemed cool, but I was skeptical because I didn’t have the song in place yet, and everyone knows a music video without a good song isn’t gonna be great! So I watched a TON of Bollywood videos on YouTube, and the craziness of the genre (and watching some TERRIBLE fight scenes from Bollywood movies) convinced me to at least TRY to come up with something. I guess the key to overcoming creative blocks is to just release the need to “top” or “equal” or “dazzle” and just create. All those pressure are extraneous and don’t allow for anything good or great to happen. It’s my mantra now

Sandeep agreed to write the lyrics with me (because I am not well-versed in Bollywood), we sat down and brainstormed, knowing we had to avoid Avatar comparisons at all turns. I also wanted to avoid indicating that Zaboo and I were romantically attracted to each other, since that would confuse ppl, but since Bollywood is ALL about a girl and boy in love, we decided an outright parody would work and not be confusing. Then we sent the lyrics to Jason Miller, who, with his production team, came up with a crazy slick tune and awesome electronic touches that make me laugh to this day!

I just want to say, Kim and Sean pulled a miracle out by getting all this done in time and on budget. Gabe Uhr, our line producer, pinched every single penny, and Greg Aranowitz did INSANE things on almost no budget. That elephant has a MAN INSIDE IT! And that temple was built on a friend, Travis Oates’ BBQ area, lol. Also, the costumes were spot on, Michelle scraped up great colors that stayed true to our Avatar-selves.

The day of the shoot was probably the most stressful day ever. We had 3 cameramen, Chris Darnell pulled in every favor ever, and we had a JIB, which we’d never had before, and allowed us to do those cool overhead-y shots. We actually shot two days, one for the temple/fountain and one for the fight/gazebo. The scale of it was enormous for web video, and the whole time I was excited but on edge, because with a crew that big anything can go wrong at any second. Thankfully everything but a generator blowing up went awesome. Thom Williams, our fight choreographer, brought in a trampoline and Sandeep actually did those flips! I was so impressed!

My favorite parts are: Vork coming out of the fog (Why does he take his jacket off and THEN PUT IT BACK ON?!?!) and Bladezz coming BACK THROUGH on the end vocal. It makes me laugh SO HARD. The most comments I’ve gotten though are about Zaboo using my butt to type on, which I just pitched out during one of our MANY dance choreography sessions. It was totally ridiculous and exactly in the spirit of what we were doing: Not taking ourselves seriously and trying to have a good time.

The video will be for sale on iTunes IN HD next Tuesday, along with the mp3 everywhere for sale and streaming on iTunes. I’m extremely proud of it, and it turned out to be a collaboration that everyone helped make the best possible. Thank you to my Guild team, the best co-workers in the world

WEDNESDAY:
Drove down to San Diego early in the morning because we had to set up our booth. Had banners and DVDs and posters in the car, along with 12 pairs of shoes (half of which I didn’t wear, but I was comforted by the fact that I had them with me ) Took several hours to get everything arranged for the booth, extra table and chairs (thanks@egspoony for scamming about a dozen chairs for us, and a backstage pass somehow!) After the booth was set up, I rushed back to the hotel to get dressed, and then ran BACK to the convention center to do a preview night signing from 6-8pm. Then Jeff and Sandeep and I went to perform with our improv group@hammerimprov at 9pm. The whole group was there,@brookseguin,@alexalbrecht,@tonyjanning and@taraperry! We had a great night, and Jeff Lewis playing a character called “Butters Johnson” will forever stick in my mind. If you’re in LA, be sure to follow us on Twitter and come see us perform, we do it pretty much every month and it’s a blast!

THURSDAY:
Our morning 11-1pm signing was PACKED! We had our booth facing a major door this year, so literally the lines were so long we had to turn people away towards the end, I’m sorry guys! Mid-day I ran over to do a photo shoot for EW and interview with Ausellio, then back to the booth for more signings and some interviews. That night we had a great birthday cast dinner because Sandeep and Robin and Jeff all celebrated birthdays recently, so that was a nice evening within the storm of the con.

FRIDAY:
BUSY! Signings, then my panel “Girls Gone Geek”, an amazing panel with inspiring women, including Marni Noxon. I feel like that panel could have been an hour longer, I forgot I was actually ON it a few points because I was so interested in hearing what the other panelists had to say! Then I went to meet the Sprint/Xbox sweepstakes winner for a little Guild party, screened some secret episodes with the winner, Shawn, then rushed back to the convention center at 11:00pm to intro the premiere of the RED Syfy movie trailer. So excited for people to see it, I hadn’t seen the trailer beforehand, so that was exciting! Here it is embedded for your pleasure!

SATURDAY:
PANEL DAY! Omg I was so nervous. While waiting for our time, we hung out in the green room back stage, and saw the whole cast of Community. Strangely enough, Kim and Jeff knew Joel McHale from ACME theatre, and I knew Danny Pudi from a pilot we did years back, so it was a weird reunion of sorts. (And I saw Chevy Chase from afar, that was a thrill!)

Our panel started pretty much on time, Kim went on stage and introed Episode 3 preview. And, during the episode THIS appeared:

The sound of the crowd laughing made me soooo happy! This is my favorite gag of the season, and I can’t wait until all of you see the episode on August 3rd to know exactly what I’m talking about, hehe! FARK has already done some funny mashups (and typical internet comments, lol).

Then Kim and Sean brought us on stage! The whole cast arranged to wear a custom Squid Hat (a-la Episode 1 Season 4) from Obey My Brain and we walked out to over 2000 people cheering. Um, that was AMAZING GUYS! I announced that everyone in the audience was getting a button with Wil and my faces on it from the painting. It was the most expensive piece of promotion/advertising we’d ever done for the show, but the thrill of giving it away and how funny the buttons looked on people’s lanyards was the best reward ever!

Then we previewed the music video. I will write more about that tomorrow when it comes out on Xbox/MSN/Zune (it will be on iTunes/YouTube in a week). Suffice it to say, there was a very warm reception to the video! Sean and Kim co-directed and they did an amazing job! We also did Q&A, announced that Guild Avatar skins are coming to Xbox Live later this year, and I slipped in that I’ll be doing a big guest arc on EUREKA with Wil Wheaton later this season! So excited to work on that show, it’s one of my favorites!!

After another signing I RAN to the Eureka panel to announce officially I was joining the cast for a recurring part later this season. I was so relieved the audience cheered because I had an anxiety dream the night before that no one would know who I was when I walked out. I wake up in cold sweats with neurotic thoughts like this a lot, actually. After that I ran to Dark Horse to do a signing with Joss and Jed and Maurissa and Zack for the limited edition DOLLHOUSE comic poster, available if you pre-order the DVD set. The colors are BEAUTIFUL in the poster, so it was a neat, unexpected Comicon experience, I didn’t know I was on the cover until a few days before the con! NEAT!

Saturday night I went to the awesome SyFy/EW party with my penguin purse , and then danced until 3:30 am at Zachary Levi’s (Chuck) NERD party. My feet still hurt, but favorite party night I’ve ever had! Ran into Michele Boyd (Riley) there randomly, shows how small this world is!

SUNDAY:
11-1pm we had our last Guild signing. Posters of the “Team Cawkes” painting were flying off the table, which is amazing, and it was neat that Greg Aranowitz, the artist, was there to sign them too. See what a funny whim of an idea gets you? On someone’s wall, haha! After that I FINALLY got to walk the Con floor and buy a non-virtual edition of Carcassone, some comics and I ran into@nerdist and@paulandstorm on the floor. We took turns photo bombing each other as we walked around, hehe.

After that we had to break down the booth and I drove home! Whew. After a year of prep, this was an amazing 5 days. Thank you to everyone who stopped by. Now…it’s back to work to get more stuff to show for next year!