June Preview

Dear patrons,

Hope you are all well! Here in Denmark summer has hit us big time - well, at least as "big time" as it gets on this end of the hemisphere. I've traveled to Copenhagen to stay at my mom's place for a sort of semi-summer-vacation. It's been a long time since I've taken that sort of time off, and I've got plenty to catch up on with friends. It's also a nice way to clear the mind after the whole writing process. I've had my hands full toiling around and helping out in the apartment and clearing the attic, taking excursions whenever time allows. Needless to say, work has been a bit slower this month. I've set up all my equipment, but the work area is not ideal, so I have to watch out to not overdo it, or else some old work injuries will flare up. Still, though slow, progress is being made - so let's have a look!

TALES OF ZALE WEB-EPISODE 3:

This month's preview clip is the same scene I shared in April, but now with colors! I'm still holding off on the comp, so there's a lot of color correction and final polish that isn't done yet, but it does certainly take on a lot more life once the solid color and background is on. This scene is quite low saturation. Despite it being a somewhat fun scene, it's at a point in the episode where the color progression has turned quite dull - especially because there's a storm coming. Here's a page of the color script for those curious!

Before I went to Copenhagen, I was doing a lot of background art. But since it's a bit more difficult to do long sittings here, I've jumped back into doing some of those tedious last shots of clean-up that I'd put off. It's a bit easier to jump into, but it does make progress feel a LOT slower. I'm sitting on the same shot for quite a long while, so the numbers haven't been moving up a whole lot. Still, it needs to get done, and I'll be happy to get through it!

TALES OF ZALE (TV):

When I wrote the last post, I was pretty sure I'd spend July-August writing another application to DVF for visual development. But after reviewing our material with the industry veterans involved with the project, we've concluded that we should have enough to start pitching to broadcasters. That is both super exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. I tend to go a bit overboard when it comes to pitch preparations, and I can feel my body screaming "nooo, I don't want to go into stress-mode again!". But that said, I do think we have a lot of  material to build on at this point. I don't want to feel lazy, but I do have to remind myself that I've already done most of the homework - the rest is extra-curriculum, and I've got plenty of time to get that done in a solid manner. That's going to be the balancing act.

At this point, we're aiming for the first pitch sometime after the summer vacation, around end-August. The more international pitches we may have to wait a little longer for, since we all prefer in-person meetings for this sort of thing, and the world still has to open up a bit more. I think we'll at the earliest be doing the out-of-country pitches by October. So, there's still some ways to go, but I'll start putting together the new pitch bible and presentation in July when I'm back at the Open Workshop. Oh yeah, did I mention I was going back to the Open Workshop? They had a TV-series-specific call, so it was hard to resist making the application.

WINTER IS HERE:

Remember that TeamTo French project I was working on? Well, it's got a title! "Winter is Here"! I can say that now, because it's starting to get press coverage. If you're going to Annecy you may see it at one of the pitching events. There are so many thoughts I'd like to share about it, but I can't. Still, fingers crossed that it finds its funding!

ROUNDUP:

Being back in Copenhagen is nice, but its a very different life. I'm itching to make more progress on episode 3, but at the same time I think it's nice to fill the experience-o-meter. Gotta enjoy the little things. Such as being back with my canaries: the chicks are starting to become more an more trusting, and it's a joy to see. Remember to enjoy your summer time as well!