For the past few weeks, I've been posting and posting about how Todd and I have envisioned this project. We started this thing three months ago with our basic rules, followed that with a rough outline which grew into a short treatment. I expanded that treatment into a sixty-page script for the pilot. Along the way we've been adjusting that story, tweaking and rewriting.
I want to tell you, that we always envisioned this project as a collaborative experience, not just among the filmmakers, because all films inevitably involve that. We wanted to collaborate with our audience, let you tell us what you wanted so that we could shape our initial story around your feedback. That's essentially the goal of the survey that many of you took, this blog, our Facebook and Twitter. We want to build a community around the story, because we don't want this TV show to reflect the ideas of the filmmakers, we want it to reflect our 13 million strong community.
So I've been writing here about what Todd and I have been doing, now let me tell you (over the next few days, starting right after Christmas) how your comments have been affecting our characters and their stories. Because there have been some pretty substantial changes that have happened since we opened the survey that have pushed this story into some really exciting places that I might not have gotten to on my own.
That said, let me give you a little bit of directed homework over the Christmas break. Out of necessity, we're going to be filming the series in Utah, in and around the Salt Lake Valley, but the story isn't going to be set in the Salt Lake Valley. Originally it was, but over and over again, we've received comments asking us to set the story away from the so-called 'Utah Mormons', in a context more reflective of the general membership of the church.
What we need are photographs, pictures of your neighborhoods. We're going to be scouting locations and we'll need to find places that aren't so iconically Salt Lake City. So give us a little reference material to look at, or if you live in Salt Lake and you think you've got a cool looking neighborhood, send us a photo of your street and directions on how to get there so we can come take a look. Can you do that for us?
Merry Christmas. Back in two days.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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3 Comments:
Chris, you're good. Really good. Why haven't you done anything LDS up until now? You seem to be a gifted writer. You're blogs alone are well thought out.
(Man, I really need to spell check these comments before posting them. Anyway...)
First, thanks.
The easiest answer to your questions is: I've been working steadily in Europe for years now. I teach a few seminar courses in Italy, and I've been working for a prominent Norwegian director. Working in Utah never occurred to me before I met Todd.
I'll tell you: I never had any intention of working on LDS film. There was just so little of it that I thought had any merit. Everybody warned me away, including my wife... But, as this story developed and as Todd and I really realized that we had this really similar vision for the potential of this project, I decided the risk was worth it.
I talked my wife into giving up our apartment in Rome, and we moved back to Salt Lake after almost a decade abroad. I just really believe in this story.
Again, thanks for the compliment. I really appreciate knowing that people aren't just blowing us off.
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