Felicia Day

Well, I survived, but barely, haha! The Guild had a fantastic time at Comicon this year. We had to turn away like 500 people from our panel (We asked for a bigger room, sorry everyone who didn’t get in!!), our music video, “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar” was an awesome hit, as was our season premiere episode (Wil Wheaton is our guest actor this season!), and we had a booth where we met a ton of fans face to face! Not to mention that Legend of Neil premiered there, with me returning as the dirty dirty fairy, and the 13th episode of Dollhouse I appeared in had it’s world premiere in front of thousands (it’s horrifying to see your face that big, honest).  I think I can say the weekend was an awesome success. Some pics below:

Although we were extremely busy with signings (we had so many, but the lines didn’t stop!) our indie show did get some press, the pinnacle of which was this article on io9 that lists me as one of the top ten hits of Comicon (wow, really?!?!) Tubefilter.tv covered our panel in two different articles (One about the panel and one with  MSN video interview embeds), And below is an interview I did for EW with Michael Ausiello, one of my favorite blogs:

If you compare the pics of me on Facebook and Flicker from Wed night to Sunday, you definitely can see I got more and more exhausted as the Con went on, ha!  It was a lot to deal with, my wonderful co-producer Kim Evey took care of a lot with the booth and logistics of signings, as did our legion of awesome volunteers.  Xbox was a fabulous partner who threw a really cool scavenger hunt party for 50 fans and the cast, as well as organizing getting the cast down to San Diego and printing posters, signings, interviews etc.  Thank you Wolf, James and Lisa, you guys are the best!  Also, I especially have to thank the California Browncoats for lending many a hand with the booth setup and line management, they are the awesomest group of people I’ve ever met, I love you all

It was after the panel that the fatigue REALLY set it.  There was so much to do and so many secrets to keep by that Friday morning deadline:  Getting the music video finished and uploaded in time for the special Comicon Xbox codes to be implemented, getting everyone’s costumes down to the Con and getting them on and getting to the convention without ppl seeing, (Thanks to Microsoft for providing a laser-light stripper bus for transit, a video of which you can see here with Kim Evey and Greg Benson, LOL):

Guild director Sean Becker worked separately to get the Season 3 premiere episode finished in time for the panel, and Scott Allie at Dark Horse rushed to get the announcement about the Guild Comic ready too.  So much awesome info to coordinate, I can’t believe it came together!  Costumer Sarah Trost and weapons maker Greg Aronowitz especially helped by coming down and making sure our stunt appearance in-costume would happen right.  So many people helping this tiny indie web show, it’s overwhelming at times.

Anyway, lots to look forward to in the coming month, a few convention appearances, season premiere, music video debut, gah!  I want to sleep now!  Thank you to every person who stopped by and got a DVD or picture to support the show, it means so much to me to hear how ppl enjoy our work and how it helps inspire them to do their own creative stuff like web series or art or music.  Meeting fans is what gets us through all the hard work during the year behind a computers screen, so thank you!

Oh, also if you have an Xbox, reply below and I’ll give a code to the first 10 people who reply for the music video.  Not sure if it’s geo-locked or not, sorry.

Well, we wrapped season 3 of The Guild! Yay! I can’t tell you what an up and down journey it’s been, I’ve been living and breathing this season since I sat down to brainstorm story ideas in March/April, so it’s strange to realize that it’s all finally “in the can” er…”on the drive”.

I cannot say much about the shoot because I want it all to be a cool surprise for viewers, but I definitely learned a few lessons in web video, namely, make sure you have the locations BEFORE you write! I wrote a very ambitious script, and it’s going to be very cool, but the logistics of finding places to legally shoot were very challenging and stressful, so next season I will double check before I go “EXT.” anything! It’s a hard lesson to learn, but every crew member and cast member is so invested in making the show great, that we overcame hurdles that would have sidelined a less passionate production, so I’m eternally thankful to each and every one of them

Now…post production. Ack! Director Sean Becker will be rushing to get a cut of Episode 1 ready for our Comicon Panel (July 24th from 10:30am-11:30am in room 5AB!) and the whole cast will be there. It’s going to be an amazing panel, I assure you. We have another extra special video we’ll be showing, and I am gleeful at the idea of people seeing it for the first time, it’s going to be awesome!!!

At the same time, my producer Kim Evey and I are organizing for conventions, starting with Comicon next week. I can’t believe it’s here so quickly! I will be posting a very detailed schedule of Guild activities on The Guild website in the next few days, but we are doing a lot of cool things, like signing in the Xbox booth after our panel on Friday, and doing “Game with Fame” as well!

Otherwise, we have our OWN BOOTH we’re splitting with awesome RPG writer Jamie Chambers, who is premiering the Supernatural RPG, so there’s lots to check out in booth #4417 all week. We have cast signings every day at least once a day scheduled. We’ll have DVDs and Tee shirts and cast photos (we’re asking everyone to purchase one item if they want things signed because the booth is quite expensive, as is getting the cast down to San Diego). Like I said, a comprehensive list will be on the Guild website by Friday. Follow@theguild on Twitter for other announcements, we have fun stuff planned!

I’m also very excited also about the Dollhouse screening of Epitaph One, the unaired episode, that I have a guest starring part in. (I will try to sneak in the back of that one ) That panel is 4pm on Friday. It’s a wonderful WONDERFUL episode that is going to knock fans’ socks off, kudos to Maurissa and Jed, the writers who also wrote a song in the episode that is amazing! The whole thing is gonna cause a big splash and it’s cool to be involved with it in any way

Down the line, we’re prepping for a few other conventions, like DragonCon and a few others, and I just agreed to do Farpoint convention in Maryland in FEBRUARY! Finally a Northeast event! But gosh, who every thought I’d be planning my life that far down the line? I didn’t. Ah well, might as well ride the wave, placid seas are always on the horizon

It seems like just yesterday that I was going to Comicon for the first time, Dr Horrible had just come out. What a crazy year I’ve had! BTW, Dr. Horrible is being screened by the California Browncoats Thursday night at 8pm at Comicon, so check it out if you’re interested.

Ok, off to punch my to-do list in the face

Wow, this place looks great! Maybe because it’s on a brand spankin’ new VPS Server! As we speak The Guild site is being transferred over as well (Thanks Edgar) so I’m crossing my fingers that I won’t be panicked with having to pick them up off the floor and get them working again in the near future. Thank you Penny Arcade for driving so much new traffic here. I do appreciate it…in the end. And hey, it’s not so bad being immortalized in a PA Comic and being Blogged about:

I can’t wait to meet the artists at PAX in Seattle next month. (We will be screening The Guild season 1 there).  I will be looking for that grooming, ha!

I’ve had quite the information overload this past week.  So much has happened I don’t even know what to blog about, it’s been overwhelming!  Comicon was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had.  Not only did I get to meet thousands of people who knew me on sight (such a strange experience), but I’m sure pictures of my half-opened eyes/mouth are immortalized in countless cameras as we speak.   Check out my ComiCon Flickr Album for a small sampling of my own photos, eyes open mouth closed.

I can’t go over it all, but I will just touch upon a few highlights from Comicon:

• Hanging out at the Browncoat booth with the best volunteers in the whole world.  You guys made my weekend, thank you
• Walking out on stage at the Dr. Horrible Panel and seeing about 3000 roaring fans.  I now know how rock stars feel:  And it is good.  I swear I almost started crying, Miss America style.
• Being caught Twittering at the Dr. Horrible Panel.  Share my mortification with the video clip. Twitter should be paying me for the influx of traffic.
• Definitely geeked out when meeting Masi from “Heroes” at the Sci-Fi network party, but then we ended up talking about WOW and video games a lot.  Best party chat I’ve had in a while
• Another memorable moment was when a Browncoat volunteer connected me to Jaqueline Carey, author of Kushiel’s Dart and one of my favorite fantasy series.  I now know what it feels like to become an incomprehensible stuttering idiot in front of an admired personage.  In fact, I have video proof.  Never can be accused of protecting my image.
• Feeling like a proud parent as my other cast members were recognized and photographed and signed things.  I’m so excited for them, and with the DVD sales we will be back paying them for the first season, so thank you if you bought a DVD!   If you have pics of any of The Guild cast, please submit them to The Guild Group on Flickr.

I’m so sad that it’s over, but now I need to get back to the grind, and prep for as big an event for NEXT year’s Comicon!  Writing Guild Season 2 and my other project with Machinima (still in development) is going to take up much of my next month.  Also, there’s that little thing of getting mainstream jobs to pay the bills   But the thing I take away from this whole experience is that I love what I’m doing on the web.  Working with people I love and adore like the Horrible crew and The Guild cast, and being so supported by fans…I couldn’t ask for more in life.   Well, maybe some free time to play video games.

I have 42 minutes before I have to leave the house, the only 42 minutes I’ve had to relax all day, and I decided what better usage of time than to write a blog entry! Yay! It’s a little messy and stream of conscious, but I have so much I want to write about and so little time and I’m a bad girl for not posting all week so…whatever.

I know I owe quite a few book reviews, I have them piled next to the computer in anticipation of a big post. In fact, they’re tipping quite precariously. Earlier this week however, I decided to absolve myself of all the guilt I’ve been feeling lately: Of not blogging enough, of not cleaning out my inbox, not exercising, not brushing the dog, not vacuuming (so said dog hair rolls like a huge tumbleweed down my hallway)…blah blah blah. Because I realized that guilt is not a great motivator for me. It makes me sad faced and is not a creative kick starter.

What IS a creative kick starter is segmenting my day sensibly and prioritizing. I was SO GOOD at that earlier last year with to-do lists, and goal sheets and it’s turned back into the haphazard schedule that disallows any focus. I’ve rebooted this morning with old school pen and paper and it’s definitely going to serve me better. Also, I’ve been trying the “thumb screwing” technique for getting a draft of The Guild Season 2 done, and I have to say, it’s not really working! I ended up getting total self-doubt, rewriting the first 25 pages 2 times, only to realize I should have stuck with my first instincts. That was a grody realization, but a good lesson to learn. Had I allowed myself a few more video game breaks, or allotted an hour in the mornings to going to the gym, gone to a few parties that I skipped out on, I probably would have generated more ideas and kept my enthusiasm fresh. Bottom line, I need to not confuse motivation with grim ultimatums. I started today with that attitude and got some great clues as to how I should proceed writing-wise. And I’m going to let me instincts be my guide, because…that’s all I have!

It’s just extremely hard to focus on one thing when there’s no consistency to my day, the curse of the freelancer. Murphy’s Law requires a commercial audition to arise right when I have writing or Yoga class penciled in, or a conference call with a New Media company, or a friend who needs to be picked up a the airport. For the next month or so (until I get this damned script done, lol) I’ve decided to turn down most interviews and meetings unless I feel they are really necessary. In Hollywood, a lot of people’s SOLE JOBS are to “have meetings”, which I had to go to about 100 meetings to learn. Blech. Fun Fact though: When you have a meeting as a writer/producer, they validate parking! As an actor…they have signs saying “No Actor Parking.” LOL!

We’re starting next week working full-steam on the DVD for The Guild. Educating myself about that end of the business, as well as helping translators help translating the show into like 6 different languages, and researching the different web video players out there has been quite a bit of homework these past few weeks. We’ll be going to ComiCon from July 25-27th and we’ve also been busy arranging accommodations passes etc. I’ll be announcing plans soon about that. Thanks so much for the people who answered my Twitter request for Schwag places! Unfortunately our budget will probably not accommodate buying stuff since we just realized that 25,000 people attend ComiCon and we were thinking of getting like, 200 keychains, haha! The scale is enormous and I’m very excited to go, but our little show sans funding won’t be giving out much of anything except our lovely smiles. We will have our DVD with us though, and perhaps a cast picture. Hopefully “Dr. Horrible” will have some presence there too, I will post as details are updated.

Oh, on June 21 I’m participating in an all-day seminar called “Spinning The Web- Writing for the Internet” at the WGA (Ironic since I’m not even WGA, haha). I’m participating on one of the panels called “Let’s Put On A Show” with the guy from Chad Vader, and the guys from PINK, and others so if you’re into making web content, it looks like a pretty nice lineup of guests, and the other panels look good too! Check the bottom of the website for details of location and cost etc.
Lastly, I leave you with a picture of Flog reader Andrew’s Tortillas. Remember he left in a comment that he made them homemade and I was like, “Hey, show me how?!” Well, the probability of my EVER getting around to making them is next to zero, so he was kind and send me a Flickr picture that I now share with you! Yum! Thanks Andrew!!! This is the most random blog post ever. Going to improv!