Felicia Day

Well, I’m pleased to announce that Episode 3 is up and running!  Here are the links:

You can download to your Xbox from the Xbox Marketplace.

Or View it streaming MSN Video. If you enjoy it, it would mean a lot if you pressed the “Digg” button. Thanks!

Also the episodes are downloadable on the Zune Marketplace up to Episode 3, so please enjoy and share with your friends Here’s a link (you have to have the software).

We wrapped Guild shooting yesterday, I cannot actually believe we got through the whole script. We shot a feature-length script on weekends, starting out with no money, ending with an amazing sponsorship that melded independent web video with a big powerhouse distribution partner. Yesterday, the last day of shooting, I was able to sign checks to everyone who has worked for free or almost free the whole shoot. Being so close to Christmas it made me tear up because it was so exciting to compensate our actors and crew (I guess I’ll never be a really high-profile producer with that attitude, ha! )
I will be updating my blog much more frequently now that I actually have a few hours a day free, yay!
A few links I’d like to share with you:

Also, I am a fangirl for fantasy authors, that’s no surprise, and when I heard that Patrick Rothfuss, author of “Name of the Wind” one of my fave books of the last few years, was doing a fundraising drive for Heifer International I had to sign up. Check out his blog entry with the items I donated, a cast-signed DVD and a Dr Horrible signed poster from Comicon as well!

Last but not least, a really funny interview I did for the Jace Hall Show, a really cool gamer-oriented improv-style show on Crackle. Please enjoy me improvness!

Well, I’ve been bursting with the news for weeks, but it wasn’t finalized and I couldn’t talk about it, but now I’m unmuffled and shouting to the world: The Guild is sponsored and funded and will be released weekly for Season 2 starting tomorrow the 25th of November!  We’re partnered with Xbox and Microsoft and I’m so damned excited about it!  Woot!
After living and breathing this show for almost 2 years (if you count the time I thought up the concept and got around to writing it after I actually got myself to stop playing World of Warcraft, haha) we’re finally going to be able to fund the show and have someone help us publicize it and release it.  I’m so incredibly excited!  I would say I’m lucky, but I don’t think luck has much to do with it:  I think it’s more obstinance, more than a bit of blind faith and hippy-dippy “vibe” thing going on.  Oh well, whatever!

As you all know, I’ve been turning down deals for the show for over a year.  Many great opportunities have presented themselves, but none of them felt right to me.  There were several things I was looking for that weren’t to be found in the deals offered:  I wanted to retain ownership and control of the show, I wanted to have a partner that had a wide reach to our existing audience and potential audience who hadn’t seen us, who would get behind us in a big way with outreach, who would translate the videos for international viewers, and most importantly someone who KNEW THE SPACE.  A lot of companies want to get into web video, but only people who know the internet well will be able to get people to watch a show on the internet. At least for a while; at least that’s my opinion .

Anyway, some people called me crazy for asking for these things, and I admit a few times I felt a little unsure, that I was dumb for walking away from working with this person or partnering with that company.  I felt bad for asking our actors to defer pay for a year, or for asking people to donate again for another season because we couldn’t release episodes fast enough to keep the story going.  But I love my characters and after a long summer-long search I wrote the script and we started filming Season 2 on DVD proceeds and hoped that something would come along early in the shooting or we’d have to go to Paypal again.  Kim Evey, my producing partner and I had our fingers crossed.  We had amazing people volunteer to come help us make the show, but any time you shoot it costs a lot, and I was just hoping for another washer/dryer commercial to come along, lol.

Well, the great personage at Xbox Live (Scott Nocas, a gem of a man) loves the show, and decided that we could be partners.  He came to us with amazing ideas, enthusiasm, and just incredible understanding of the show and the space.  You can always tell when someone actually likes the show, or has seen past episode 1 at least, lol.  Anyway, it turned out to be exactly what we were looking for in a mutual way, and we’re finally able to say we’re releasing Season 2, and we’re sponsored by Sprint.  We have a revamed Guild Site (LINK) with a nice player in the middle (Thank you David from Microsoft and Kirstin and Edgar for making that transition possible).  Check out Season 2 teaser and trailer on the site now.

It’s been an INSANE schedule the last two months. Three of my friends have had babies and I haven’t even gotten to visit them.  I haven’t called my grandma in over a month.  The director of this season, Sean Becker, has lived in my house for 3 days because we have so many episodes due.  I will be making another blog entry about this process later, but suffice it to say it’s been 0-90 to release episodes at this rate, but we have unbelievable crew who donated their time and made this season look FANTASTIC.  The episodes make me laugh so much and I really really hope you enjoy them.  Special thanks to our agent, George Ruiz who didn’t make us take the first deal that came along (or try to) and to my boyfriend who hasn’t seen me for a while because i’ve been buried in work.

To find the new episodes and watch them: They will be downloadable for free on Xbox Live Video Marketplace, streaming on MSN Video (internationally) and downloadable on the Zune Marketplace, all starting today for Season 1, and tomorrow, the 25th for episode 1 of Season 2. I can’t wait for you to see them, and I really hope you enjoy them, and thank you to each and every one of you who support the show.  I couldn’t ask for a better audience in the world

I just realized this morning that I hadn’t updated in a while.  The reason being, I haven’t had a chance to breathe in a while!   Ever since we got back from Seattle, it’s been non-stop pre-production for Season 2 Guild.  We are STILL unfunded, have a few prospects, but we are going ahead on low-budget for now, seeing how things shake out in the next week or so.  I didn’t want to put the PayPal button up for donations on the off-chance we got a sponsor on board in the next few weeks and then had to give back the money, etc.  It’s all a big waiting game in this web video business   The only thing I have control of is actually getting the scripts done and shooting, and that’s what we’ve done!  Mantra:  Don’t wait for other people to make things happen.

Anyway, if you follow The Guild website you’ll know that the cast will be at Blizzcon Oct 10th and 11th, we’re thrilled to participate!  We will be doing a panel and previewing Season 2 exclusively, so it’s exciting all around.

Also, they’ve posted a few preview clips of my episode of House on Fox’s webpage. I’m in clips #1 and #4, definitely was hired for my awesome looks for this episode (haha).  Hugh Laurie was so amazing to work with, I can’t wait to watch the whole episode.  It’s next Tuesday the 23rd, so set your Tivos!  If you want, you don’t have to

Anyway, back to coordinating crew and finishing scripts and working on website stuff and emails!  I’ve read a lot of books in the last few weeks, only thing that’s kept me sane is bedtime reading, so I’m looking forward to a chance to review some stuff!

Oh also, evidently I’m in Geek Monthly this month, WOOT!  Sarah Kuhn, the writer of that article, also has a cool .pdf Geek Zine called “Alert Nerd” that has a blurb on me on page 18 too about my early gaming habits.  Cool!

Just got back from Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. In my small Convention experience, the last 3 days have topped all! We were crazy busy the whole convention, I didn’t get to participate in the many cool things going on which kinda sucked because there were so many awesome things on the schedule. I only got my hands briefly on the Warhammer demo and that’s it as far as games went.  On a show note though, it was SPECTACULAR! We had a huge demand for the DVD, especially during signing times.  Seeing a line formed for me and Zaboo down the length of the hall was so exciting! At the same time, we introduced a lot of gamers to our show, which was a huge boost for us, because PAX attendees are people who would like our show.  I gave out Bookmarks generously   Friday night we screened the show in front of 250 people I believe, they even had to turn people away. (I couldn’t believe that!)  Seeing The Guild episodes back to back in front of a live audience was such a thrilling experience because we’d never done it before.  Part of me couldn’t believe the crowd actually laughed in places I wanted them to when I wrote it!   It was phenomenal!  We’ll have an audio of the Q and A after the screening posted on The Guild site as soon as we get it.  All in all, the trip really helped the show and it was wonderful to meet fans in person.

A few highlights for me:

I can’t rave enough about the staff at PAX. The Enforcers, the VIP escorts, were pretty much the nicest most helpful volunteers I’d ever met. We were privileged to be working with Macca, Matt, Mari, Mojo, Klayton, Biran, Jason and especially our man Nels. You guys saved our butt so many times over, and we love you for it! Thanks especially to Gabe and Tycho, Penny Arcade creators, gurus and all around luscious human men. Tycho was especially nice and groomed me, something I’ve been waiting for since they posted this comic.   I’m not as frightened as I look.  It was an expert brushing.

Also, I was Bad Horse’d!  What an experience! During one of the signing sessions I was handed a letter and asked to stand in front of the booth. As I opened it, well…this happened:

Couldn’t have been more floored in my  life!  It was a total treat and surprise!  The Chorus was kind enough to pose for a picture with me later.   They said they were going to do it to a bunch more people at the Con, can’t wait until that video is uploaded as well!

Another treat was meeting Edgar Garcia, my co-opted webmaster of The Guild and this site   He helps me out so much, and getting to hang out, have him help us with the booth, it was so fun!  He also made that creepy shirt he’s wearing there.  I laughed so much when I saw it!  Sandeep was amused, but less so, HA!!   He gave me a shirt for myself, I haven’t worn it yet, but I promised him that I would upload a picture soon   Jamie Chambers, another champion volunteer of The Guild who has sold The Guild DVD and screened it at Gencon and Dragoncon, also made me a kick ass shirt, so I have so modelling to do in the near future!!!

And last but not least…well, if a musician you kind of are a fangirl of suddenly emailed you out of the blue and asked you to sing on stage with him, what would you do?   MMm, same thing I did when Joss emailed me and asked me to do “Horrible.”  Yes please!

Jonathan Coulton, brilliant singer-songwriter, hero to geeks and musicians everywhere, asked me the week before PAX to sing “Still Alive”, the song from the end of “Portal”.  Coincidentally I had just played the song at a Rock Band party the week before, so the universe was trying to tell me something.  I was pretty nervous because I’d never sung on stage live with a mic, it was quite a learning experience.  But the minute I walked out on stage, 3000 people or so cheered and instantly I knew why people become rock stars!  I had so much fun, the crowd basically sang along with me, and standing next to JoCo was a thrill beyond compare.  I can’t claim to have done justice to the song (one of my faves), and in fact performing with a monitor and a mic was totally new to me.  It’s on my list to have that skill set prepared for the next time someone cool asks me to sing   Still, this was an amazing experience. Here’s video:

Couldn’t have been more spectacular!  Hmm, now I want to join a band…lol.