zicree

STAR TREK PREMIERE SET FOR AUGUST 23

2007-07-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

More to come, but George Takei is announcing details on Howard Stern this week and we'll both be on COAST TO COAST soon, possibly next week, with a big announcement.

Keep watching this space...

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE HANGS WITH STAR TREK WRITERS

2007-02-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

We're in post production now on "World Enough and Time," the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode I co-wrote with Michael Reaves, directed and executive produced.

Things are going amazingly well with Ron Thornton, FX whiz of BABYLON 5, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE, running his team at the DAVE School in Florida, generating the TON of special effects shots for the episode (666 effects shots at last count!).

We'll be done with the episode on March 29, when we screen the episode at a movie theater in Orlando for the DAVE School, George Takei and whatever members of our cast and crew can get down to Florida. Should be an amazing time.

Meanwhile, some of the NEW VOYAGES team was here in L.A. and we all got together to watch the rough cut and hang out.

Included in the mix was DOROTHY FONTANA -- the legendary D.C. Fontana -- and DAVID GERROLD, two of the great STAR TREK writers. Dorothy story edited the original series and wrote such great episodes as "Charlie X" and David wrote the classic "Trouble With Tribbles."

Both are now working on NEW VOYAGES. Dorothy wrote the Walter Koenig episode that just debuted and David is co-writing and directing the next one, "Blood and Fire," based on the famous script he wrote for STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION that was censored and went unfilmed.

It turns out that David actually went to college with my wife Elaine -- in fact, Elaine actually read "Tribbles" in the original first-draft typescript!

David and Dorothy were huge inspirations to me and their work led to my becoming a writer in the first place. How truly wonderful to know them now!

I screened the rough cut of "World Enough and Time" for David and he was most complimentary. I can't wait to share the episode with the rest of the world...

Soon enough.

Cheers,

Marc

ZICREE BLOG IS BACK ON THE AIR!

2006-11-20T19:20:00.000-08:00

Great news all round – I finished directing, executive producing and co-writing the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode “World Enough and Time” starring George Takei and it went GREAT!

What’s more, we made the front page of the Los Angeles Daily News last week. We shot nine days in upstate New York on the Enterprise sets and two days in Chatsworth, California, where we rebuilt Captain Sulu’s ship, the Excelsior. And serving alongside George Takei was Janice Rand herself, Grace Lee Whitney. You can check it all out at http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_4657327

What a dream come true, and what joy to work with these wonderfully-generous actors.

Lots of stories to tell from the shoot on both coasts, and I’ll be regaling you with those in days to come.

For now, let me catch up with one big bit of news – we had a casting change just a few weeks prior to the shoot, and stepping into the lead role of Sulu’s daughter Alana was the spectacular and luminous actress CHRISTINA MOSES. Christina’s had tons of New York stage experience, but being put in the Trek spotlight will be a new experience entirely. Her performance is simply spectacular, unforgettable and deeply moving. I can’t wait to finish the editing process so you all can see it (which looks like it will be March, 2007).

Other fun things have been happening – after working on TREK brilliantly coaching the actors and performing other vital producer chores, my wife Elaine went on to direct her own short film, BONNIE AND CLYDE – THE FINAL CHAPTER. We actually were both directing in the same week!

Beyond this, I just started the MAGIC TIME COMPANY in partnership with Bill Wallen, former Senior Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Marketing for Sony Pictures, who designed the posters and ad campaigns for such classics as JAWS, ET, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, POLTERGEIST, FIELD OF DREAMS, WRATH OF KHAN, ON GOLDEN POND, STARSHIP TROOPERS, MEN IN BLACK – all the way up to consulting on the new CHARLOTTE’S WEB.

Bill will be helping me to position and launch the MAGIC TIME TV series, based on the series of bestselling novels I’ve been doing over the last few years. Something that will help this, no doubt, is that I’ve just closed the deal to write the MAGIC TIME comic book for Marvel – it’ll be out this summer.

And I’m finally able to carve off some time to work finishing the new book, LOVE, GLORIA, a memoir about my mother.

Phew! Another slow week, I guess… with more adventures to come.

Cheers,
Marc

WATCH ZICREE VIDEO REMINISCING ABOUT OLD L.A. EATERIES

2006-06-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

My friend documentary filmmaker Patrick Francis just shot a little mini-doc with me reminiscing about different cool old eateries in Los Angeles (and it has pictures of me as a kid!). To see and hear it, log onto

http://turnhere.com/city/los_angeles/west_la/films/270.aspx

It's really fun, and a real blast from the past.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE HANGS WITH J.J. ABRAMS, CAROL SERLING AND STEVEN SPIELBERG!

2006-06-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick entry on the AMAZING lunch I had yesterday.

I first met J.J. ABRAMS a few years back, when I consulted on the TWILIGHT ZONE-oriented episode of FELICITY he wrote. Since then, we’d kept in touch and it has always been a very friendly exchange. He’s quite a nice, hugely talented guy (as ALIAS, LOST and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III demonstrate), with a warm, loving heart (it’s great to hear him talk about his wife and kids).

And he’s a HUGE Rod Serling fan!

So I got the idea of arranging a lunch with J.J. and CAROL SERLING.

We met yesterday in the Rotunda at Disney Studios, an elegant and extremely exclusive restaurant on the lot. It was a wonderful time all round, with J.J. full of questions for Carol about Rod and their life together (Carol read all Rod’s scripts as he was writing them, gave feedback and – as she noted – was “always right”).

We talked about various adventures and projects – including, of course, STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES and J.J.’s new STAR TREK feature, which he’s producing and may direct.

It’s such great fun to associate with such talented people who share so many of my enthusiasms – I just learned that J.J. is a big RAY HARRYHAUSEN fan; we didn’t even have a chance to talk about the four previously-unmade Harryhausen films I’m executive producing and will possibly be writing several of (I’ll have to tell J.J. about that next time).

Then the capper came, the ultimate Hollywood moment. As we were finishing our lunch, BOB IGER, the President of Disney, ambled over with STEVEN SPIELBERG!

Iger, it turns out, went to Ithaca College and was actually a student of Rod’s, who he absolutely adored (who didn’t?). We shared some fond memories of Rod, and I’m mailing him a copy of THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION today.

Best of all, when J.J. introduced me as the author of the COMPANION, Spielberg gave a big smile and said, “I live by that book!”

Holy cow!

Spielberg’s first professional directing gig, of course, was helming the Joan Crawford segment of Serling’s NIGHT GALLERY pilot. “Those were eleven of the most terrifying days of my life,” he mentioned, adding, “And then came JAWS.” JAWS was renowned as one of the most challenging and nightmarish shoots of all time, running over one hundred days. But Spielberg triumphed and it was the real beginning of his stratospheric rise.

Hanging out with these guys while I’m writing a new pilot and a new book, prepping to direct STAR TREK, starting up the MAGIC TIME company, working on the Harryhausen films, signing the graphic novel deals for MAGIC TIME and HELL’S KITCHEN, and talking to Carol about a new Rod Serling project… Gee, it’s a depressing life.

Don’t pinch me, folks, ‘cause I sure don’t want to wake up from this one…

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE MEETS WITH McCAIGS, SILVA, TAKEI, BRADBURY & MORE!

2006-06-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

What a great week!

First IAIN McCAIG and his gorgeous daughter MISHI – our two WONDERFUL costume designers on STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES “World Enough and Time” – met with our BRILLIANT lead actress LESLIE SILVA (along with my wife ELAINE – a former actress/director Off-Broadway -- who’s serving as World Enough’s drama coach) to discuss her character’s costume.

Then the next day, Iain, Mishi and I met with GEORGE TAKEI and his partner BRAD to discuss his NEW VOYAGES wardrobe. George was incredibly gracious, insightful and entertaining, and he and Iain really hit it off, sharing memories of their travels in the UK and other adventures.

After that, it was off with Iain and Mishi to RAY BRADBURY’s house to share some of Iain’s recent work on a major (and hush-hush) project. Iain brought incredible artwork that blew Ray’s socks off. Joining us was KERRY CONRAN, writer-director of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, who has been working with Iain on several projects. Kerry is a huge Bradbury fan, as is Iain (and myself, of course), so it was a terrific afternoon all round.

Following that, Iain, Mishi, Kerry and I reconvened at Sisley’s, a terrific Italian restaurant at the celebrated Westside Pavilion, where we traded tales of our adventures in Hollywood over beverages and desserts.

Kerry is a great guy and a true visionary, and we shared tales (and enthusiasms) about such diverse subjects as THINGS TO COME, Forry Ackerman, Rick Baker, Rod Serling, MAGIC TIME and much, much more.

Another day to remember, and I hope not the last time I see Kerry Conran… (I’m keeping Iain and Mishi glued to my side as we continue on the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES adventure!)

More to come…

Marc

ZICREE CASTS LEAD IN STAR TREK EPISODE

2006-05-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

Just wanted to let you all know that we just held auditions for the guest roles in the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode Michael Reaves and I wrote that I'm directing, "World Enough and Time." The actresses we read were all fantastic, and it was great fun working with them and seeing how well they took direction, and how moved they were by the script.

Michael Reaves and my wife, writer-producer Elaine Zicree, and I were there for the auditions. Elaine -- who had been a director and actress for many years Off-Broadway -- was of great help in working with the actors, giving them insightful suggestions that aided them in accessing the deep emotions needed for the scenes. (I'm going to keep her right there with me through the entire process of directing this sucker!)

George Takei was kind enough to let us read one actress in his home, actually playing Sulu (and even Captain Kirk!) in scenes with her. And it payed off -- this actress was nothing short of AMAZING.

And small wonder. It was LESLIE SILVA, who was a lead on the recent Showtime series ODYSSEY 5, created by ENTERPRISE Executive Producer MANNY COTO. In the audition, Leslie lent the role of ALANA a depth and variety that was just spectacular, breathtaking.

So once all the deliberations were made, I called Leslie and told her she'd won the part! She was thrilled.

So on Friday, Leslie will be meeting with IAIN McCAIG and his daughter MEESHEE, who will both be designing her and George's costumes and overall look. Iain, you may recall, was a lead designer on the last three STAR WARS films, and created the looks of DARTH MAUL and QUEEN AMIDALA.

Wow, what a team!

The fun is just beginning...

Cheers,
Marc

P.S.
Check out today's HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. There's an article announcing four upcoming films based on the unmade projects of RAY HARRYHAUSEN that I'll be executive producing and also writing part of.

ZICREE RAVES ABOUT WEST WING WRITER'S PLAY

2006-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

Elaine and I just attended WEST WING writer-producer MARK GOFFMAN's play ME TOO at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood tonight and I wanted to highly recommend it.

It might accurately be titled LOVE IN THE TIME OF CANCER, and it stars WONDER YEAR's DANICA McKELLAR (all grown up now and still a terrific actress) and JEREMY GLAZER (who'll be in CLINT EASTWOOD's new movie RED SUN, BLACK SAND) as a young couple struggling to find belonging with each other as they endure all that life can throw at them.

I've known Mark since before he was on WEST WING, and it's no surprise that this young man can write such a moving, funny, heartfelt and truthful play. Mark's next gig is as a writer-producer on AARON SORKIN's new series STUDIO 60, and I can't wait to see what further marvels this gifted young man comes up with.

The play runs for the next six weeks, so run to it! Danica will only be in it for the next three, before other commitments intrude, but with any cast this play is a winner.

Until next time...

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE ON HOW TO SELL A SCRIPT OR MAKE A MOVIE

2006-05-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

Just wrote this for the Scriptwriters Expo attendees. It goes over a lot of the basics. (By the way, that's me with FRANK DARABONT, director of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE, and the inimitable RAY BRADBURY.)

Hi, guys --

I promised yesterday to send you the straight dope on selling scripts and making movies. The article follows the info below..

As mentioned previously (and someone asked for the list in an email today), Elaine and I -- the Supermentors -- offer the following services:

1. SUPERMENTORS WEEK CLASS IN WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA. Limited to ten students. $699.

2. SUPERMENTORS SIX WEEK LONG DISTANCE CLASS VIA PHONE, COMPUTER, WEBCAM. $699.

3. ONE-ON-ONE CONSULTATION. $300.

4. SCRIPT READING. $500.

5. NINE DVD HOW TO MAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD COURSE. $229.

Feel free to email or call us (323) 363-1259. You can read more at www.zicree.com and www.supermentors.com

And now on with how to make you into the next Spielberg, Lucas or even Ed Wood...

HOW TO SELL A SCRIPT AND MAKE A MOVIE

By Marc Scott Zicree

Okay, so here’s where we all started – we saw movies when we were five years old, ten, fifteen, twenty, and it changed our lives forever, filled our heads with romance and adventure, with places near and far, with amazing, exotic, beautiful, profound, unforgettable characters – and more than that, taught us how to live our lives, what heroism meant, and loyalty, and friendship, and love. Movies defined our lives, served as our common mythology. Movies made us, all of us, who we deeply are.

And so now we want to be PART of that, not just on the receiving end, but using this, the most powerful and magnificent art form of the 20th and 21st centuries, to tell OUR stories, to reach out to others, to move and change and uplift and enlighten them (not to mention entertain and delight), just as we ourselves were enriched, were made better, truer, more rounded human beings. Movies allow us not just to live OUR lives, but those of so many others. We contain worlds, thanks to movies.

I can tell you from personal experience that it’s a terrific thrill to see one’s work on the big screen, sitting in the dark with hundreds of others, to be able to go into any video store in the country, indeed any place in the world, and know your work is there, that it has moved others, that you have taken a truth from your own life and communicated it well and effectively to others, that you have created something new that never existed before, something that will live on far beyond your own life.

Pretty cool, huh?

So okay, nuts and bolts, where to start?

The first question to ask yourself is, “Do I want to sell a script or make a movie?”

These are two radically different questions, and they relate to the kind of life and career you want. But here’s a piece of advice – the more you take power, the better things generally will go.

Or to be more specific, let’s lay out two scenarios, both stemming from this initial premise: you have a story that you want to tell as a movie, that’s how you see it in your head.

So, scenario one, you sell it as a script:

Now, before you even do that, READ scripts, get the format right, you might choose FINAL DRAFT or MOVIE MAGIC as your screenwriting format. A script should be no more than 120 pages, 110 is better. It should have lean descriptive passages, not big blocks of text (assume a reader is only reading the dialogue and skipping the rest; make it easy for them to get the info). The dialogue should be distinctive, human, with varied voices (everyone doesn’t talk the same). Cast each character in your mind with folks who have distinctive vocal styles – either actors, friends or family members. Don’t write clichés – if a scene bores you, it will bore everyone else. Make sure there’s something interesting and fresh on every page. Ideally, every scene should advance plot, character and theme (though that’s not always possible with every scene). Avoid exposition; i.e., flat recitation of story facts (“As you know, Chalmers, the device you hold in your hand can cause the core of the earth to implode…”). Be INTERESTING.

Before you ship it, have a professional writer read it and give you feedback. Make sure it’s as good as you can possibly make it. This person should have made a living as a writer, ideally have SOLD their own scripts. The teachers at UCLA Extension fit that category. So do Elaine and I.

But NEVER send out a script if it isn’t ready. And don’t try to sell a pitch, unless you have a really strong writing sample ready. They need to know you can WRITE. (You’re in it for the long-term career, not the one sale.)

And remember the great rule of Hollywood – EVERYONE HATES TO READ.

That’s why most executives don’t read the scripts themselves – they have readers, overworked and are underpaid souls who have to read vast amounts and essentially give detailed book reports. Some of these are great people, some of them should never be brought anywhere near a stack of pages.

So make it easy for them, quick, snappy, entertaining.

But your goal is to get as high in the food chain as possible. Meet the people whose work you admire, in person, go where they’re speaking, or interview them for a newspaper, magazine or website. Don’t just be a query letter, or an unsolicited submission. You will get lost in the shuffle. Stand out, be distinctive, be perceived as someone who might have something on the ball.

THE BEST SCRIPTS OFTEN GO UNNOTICED. Quality does not guarantee success – but SMART perseverance frequently DOES.

Get on the radar screen any way you can. Get people to refer you. Enter and win contests. Be a bulldog.

And write and keep writing. Unless you’re writing, you’re not a writer. You’re a talker. Get good at it, learn your craft.

Make sure you’re mentored by people who have specifically succeeded in what you want to do. Sometimes you can write them letters (care of the Writers Guild, for instance), or take classes from them, or meet them via personal referral. But make sure you have SOMEONE to advise you who knows what the hell they’re talking about. This is the biggest mistake most people make – they’re flying alone in the dark. Don’t make that crucial error.

Try as hard as you can to submit at the highest level possible. Most executives have the power to say no, but not to say yes. Unless you’re being considered by at least a vice president of development, the odds are hugely against you.

Having an agent or manager is helpful, BUT make sure they’ve sold a spec screenplay previously. Amazingly, many agents NEVER have. Do your homework, use the VARIETY database to see who has a track record.

So all right, you get your script air tight, get it in front of the yes guy and – hooray! – he BUYS it. End of story? No, only the beginning.

Because you’ve just given away all the power. And they will make it any way they damn well please – or, worse yet, NOT make it. Sadly, many scripts that are bought by the studios never get made.

That’s if they purchase it outright. If they option it, then it reverts to you after a period of time. But you’ll often get paid considerably less (or no) money for the option.

But you can make a good career selling script that never get made. Many of my friends do.

But that’s not the life that would satisfy me.

Which gets us back to the initial question: What kind of career do you want? If your goal is to make money and you don’t mind your work being butchered or never made, then scenario one may be right for you.

(And this isn’t to say that some scripts don’t get made into wonderful films. But if you want to increase your chances, ONLY submit to people whose work you truly love and who have a track record of respecting the original writer’s work. Do your homework, via the Hollywood Creative Directory and other sources.)

And this also speaks to another vital questions, one which you MUST ask yourself:

“What do I stand for?”

This gets to the core question of who you are, what you believe, what you want to communicate through your work and your art and your life itself. You MUST answer this question, really take time with it, or you will end up writing crap and working with monsters who believe in nothing and your life will be dust and ashes.

Not to bum you out or anything…

So, scenario two, you make a film…

Not as hard as it sounds nowadays, depending on the genre. You can get a G4 with Final Cut Pro and a Hi-Def camera for under ten grand, and you’re good to go.

Hey, it’s less than a new car.

And you’ll be creating something that’s truly YOURS, not a pitch, not even just a script (which is really just a blueprint, not a finished work of art; that’s the movie itself).

So here we go: The first few steps are the same, write a script, get it read by a pro for notes, polish it till it’s right.

But THEN we diverge from scenario one, because now you’ve decided to not just be a WRITER but also a PRODUCER or DIRECTOR (or both).

Take Dov S.S. Simmons’ two-day film school (like Spike Lee and Tarantino did), get it on tape or DVD, or buy his book FROM REEL TO DEAL. It gives you all the basics, with no bullshit. The real thing.

Then start gathering your troops. Make sure your cast and crew are solid, reliable, talented. If they’re actors, make sure they can act.

And if there’s any way possible, have at least one NAME actor in it. (The best way to get in conversation with these folks is to go to science fiction conventions where the stars sign photos, or the Hollywood Celebrities Shows, held twice a year in Burbank.) It won’t be Tom Cruise, but it might be a TV star from a current show or a movie star from past decades. And that can help you land direct-to-DVD distribution or better; at any rate, it will get people to pay more attention.

How to get stars attached, you ask? First of all, if you don’t have the money in hand, NEVER try to go through the agent. They just want to know about the money. (By the way, when you meet an actor and he says, “Call my agent,” he’s generally blowing you off.)

Most of all, though, you need EVIDENCE that you can pull this off. That’s where the short film comes in.

RUN, don’t walk, and buy or rent NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. Watch the short film they made that’s an extra on the DVD. That short got them the money to make the movie. Watch the SLING BLADE short, too. Same deal.

The short should be the same tone and logistics as the full-length film. It should also be the same genre. It does not need to be the exact same story. But it should have a beginning, middle and end all its own. And you MUST have the finished screenplay in hand to present with the short. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time.

Additionally, try to have your movie be relatively inexpensive to make. If it’s a hundred-million dollar sci-fi extravaganza, you’re gonna be trying to get checks from orthodontists for the rest of your life.

Beyond the short film, other visuals can be effective selling tools: artwork, storyboards, etc.

But make it as easy on yourself as possible to actually get to production. Because many people run in huge circles just trying to get the Hollywood bigwigs to sign on. Remember, once a film is made it speak to who you are and what you do; it’s clear.

And then your career has really begun in earnest.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course. Feel free to call me at (323) 363-1259 with further questions. But take heart, don’t stop, don’t be dissuaded. The reward is well worht the blood, sweat, tears and heartburn.

You can live forever, as my friend Ray Bradbury says.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE ON HOW TO SELL A TV SERIES

2006-05-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

At last year's Screenwriters Expo, Elaine and I (in our guise as Supermentors) spoke to a large crowd and promised to email them the goods on how to sell a TV show. Well, finally, here it is. In another blog, I'll post the second article I just wrote, on how to sell and make a movie. Feel free to let people know about this blog; the more people know the facts, the better. (And yes, that is me with Michael Chiklis, star of THE SHIELD.)

Cheers,
Marc

SELLING A TV SERIES

by Marc Scott Zicree

Here’s the good news – it used to be that if you wrote a spec pilot, you had almost NO chance of selling it.

This has changed in recent years. VERONICA MARS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE and a number of other hit shows were actually written as spec pilots. Spec pilots are getting read by agencies, networks and studios. There are even contests and film festivals for them!

PLUS, a spec pilot is a GREAT writing sample if you want to be considered for a staff writing job on someone else’s series. More than that, you can also sell it – often without writing any other material – as a series of novels or graphic novels (I’ve done both).

Here’s the tricky part -- if you have no track record or haven’t sold your work before, what’s going to make the networks and studios pay attention to you (or your GREAT idea)?

You have to create a TEAM made up of those who they DO pay attention to. These must be people who have been affiliated with a HIT show within the last TWO years (and certainly no more than five). Or they can have had hit movies (again, within the last two years). This includes producers, directors, stars and writers.

Start by acquiring the HOLLYWOOD CREATIVE DIRECTORY – PRODUCERS EDITION. It lists all the production companies in L.A. and New York. It also lists the current TV shows, networks and studios, with the key personnel and their titles.

READ THROUGH THE ENTIRE BOOK with a highlighter. Make note of which companies might be a good match for your project. Then call then and ask for the VP of Development or Development Excutive by name. That will get you connected through to their assistant (make a note of thar assistant’s name and use it whenever you call them again; address them by name).

On this call, you MUST say something that legitimizes you – if you’ve ever written and sold ANYTHING in any medium, if you’ve won awards, if you have expertise on the subject (for instance, if you’re a cop and you’ve written a cop script). You have about TEN SECONDS to say something that will make them pay attention to you.

If they ask if you have an agent and you don’t, it’s fine to say you have a lawyer. This can be any lawyer that you know or are related to. Or you can have a friend start a management company and be your manager.

IMPORTANT: NEVER LIE about having representation (or about anything, for that matter; it’s too easy for people to check).

Register your work with the Writers Guild; you can do it online. If the production company asks you to sign a waiver, do so, and don’t worry about it.

Target people you want to work with. If there’s any way to meet them face to face – for instance, if they teach a class or give a talk somewhere – do so. Don’t pitch to them, but again say something brief where they’ll remember you if you follow up. IT’S WORTH FLYING ANYWHERE TO MEET SOMEONE YOU WANT TO WORK WITH, OR WHO YOU CAN LEARN FROM.

When your work is being read, say, “When is a good time for me to check back?” Don’t have the timeframe be open-ended or let THEM set it. Call back, follow up, always be polite. Everyone in this town is overworked. Good manners and cheerfulness really help (as does professionalism; it’s a business).

Here’s the network schedule as relates to TV series: The studios and production companies open for pitches around late May-early June. Late June-early July to September is when the major networks (we’re talking CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and the new CW, plus some others) take pitches. The earlier you get in, the better – they have more open slots to fill. New pilot scripts are turned in around Thanksgiving. They’re given notes and the rewrites are turned in before Christmas. In January, the networks decide which scripts to greenlight to production of pilot. The pilots are finished in April. Early May (now) the networks announce their Fall schedules. And then it all begins again…

By the way, when you pitch a series have it be a show YOU really want to see, be passionate and creative, never blasé or cliched (despite what you see on the air). If you’re a beginner, you have to have a finished sample script of something you’ve written so they know you can write (not necessarily this pilot). When you pitch, you should know a LOT about your show – how the pilot goes, where the series heads for the first few seasons, what a typical episode is. Visuals help – cool art work, maybe two or three minutes of DVD presentation, etc.

If the execs in the meeting start asking questions, that’s a good sign. If they wear a poker face, that doesn’t mean they’re not interested; they’re thinking or need to hear from their boss. If they say, “Who’s your agent?” that can sometimes mean they’re going to buy it. If, at the end of the meeting, they say, “Thanks for coming in,” that generally mean it’s a pass. There’s lots of code phrases.

Everything clear? Probably not, but it’s a good start. Go get ‘em! (And feel free to call me with any questions.)

You’ll also want to work up a SERIES BIBLE covering the basics of the show. You probably WON’T leave that behind or even tell them you have it, but it allows you to know TONS about your show, so you can answer any question they throw at you.

What follows is a series bible I wrote with my friend MICHAEL REAVES, an Emmy winner whose credits include STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION, SLIDERS, THE ANIMATED BATMAN and many others. Michael is the only writer I know who has personally worked directly with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry.

This is merely one kind of sample bible -- there are many others, and the specifics vary enormously with the tone and intent of the show. But this will give you some of the basics...

DANTE'S STATION

A Science Fiction Series Proposal
by
Marc Scott Zicree & Michael Reaves

DANTE'S STATION is a story of adventure, with the relationship of a struggling father and his young daughter at its heart, set in the far future.

Our stories are set near the center of the galaxy, where the sky is a blinding tapestry of close-set stars and nebulae. They take place in a rough-and-tumble mining operation that's drilling deep into the crust and mantle of an isolated planet for riches found only there – and the boom town that houses the workers, the hangers-on and those who prey on the weak where fortunes are to be had.

Here we peel back layer upon layer of the characters we come to know – some human, some alien. Just as they dig and drill their way deeper and deeper toward the planet's fiery core, we dig for the fires that drive them, both good and bad, that can either raise them up or scatter their ashes to the winds.

This is the story of SULLIVAN REESE, a cop who comes from Earth under a cloud of scandal to join the small force policing DANTE'S STATION, the mining operation on the hellish planet TOPHET.

Accompanying him is his 14-year-old daughter TINA. So Reese has two 24-hour jobs on his hands – full-time cop and father.

Tophet’s a tough place to try to lay down the law. Most cops don't last a year; they're either run off or killed. But Reese has nowhere else to go – it's work here or serve a prison sentence in Earth orbit.

Three species work the mine and live in the town, all from planets in other systems:

HUMANS ...

Big, brutal (but oddly spiritual) beings called TARGS ...

And elegant, smooth-talking creatures called ENYARDS.

Also there are the Y'MAA (pronounced "Ee-mah," or the derogatory "Eemies"), who seem to have always been on this planet but who live a low, dim life and are only good for fetch and carry – little smarter than dogs.

The humans, Targs and Enyards have formed a partnership to mine the planet, as each has skills the others need to extract the rare AMBERJACK found only here – and which is of immense (and different) use to each race.

Although all three species take part in every aspect of Tophet's operation, the humans run the POLICE FORCE (the youngest of the three species, they're viewed – rightly or wrongly – as the most savage, with the greatest capacity for violence), the Targs oversee MINING OPERATIONS and the Enyards head up ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES.

But it's a shaky alliance, none of the species trusting the others. There's constant back-biting, jockeying for power, each looking for ways to do without the other two.

And if it all crashes down into riot and chaos, the Enyards have the territorial right to declare martial law, enslaving the workers and calling the shots. So they're always working behind the scenes to sow discord and fan the flames.

In terms of tone, DANTE'S STATION is character rather than gimmick-driven, more BLADE RUNNER than space opera – played out against a larger mythic backdrop that will satisfy the true SF fan.

DANTE'S STATION is mean streets on another planet. Tough, passionate men and women. Hard choices … and a cop caught in the middle.

A cop with a daughter he’s desperate to shelter – and who finds, like fathers have since time began, that he’s up against very long odds.

OUR CHARACTERS

SULLIVAN "SULLY" REESE

In his late thirties, Reese begins our adventure as the quintessential tough-as-nails New York street cop – pragmatic, thoroughly decent and no respecter of sacred cows.

Reese was raised in New York City-State, a tropical zone on an Earth ravaged by climatic changes and torn by power struggles within the various government and corporate factions. From a long line of cops, he joined the Force straight out of school.

He was married to ALISA, a geneticist and political activist passionately driven to find the truth, both in the larger universe and the day-to-day world in which they lived. The marriage was a love/hate relationship, the fiery Alisa hell to live with. Out of this union came Reese's daughter TINA, who is the world to Reese.

While serving on Earth, Reese uncovered an atrocity and subsequent cover-up in the Force. He was striving to finesse the situation, trying to get his brother officers to rectify things and turn themselves in. But Alisa was impatient. She joined an underground freedom fighter group that neutralized the officers and brought the whole house of cards down – with disastrous results.

Reese didn't approve of her actions (he’ll only learn much later that she averted his assassination), but still helped Alisa escape. Government forces reportedly killed her, though no remains were ever returned. Reese's marriage was voided and he was held accountable for the mayhem as an accessory after the fact. Prison seemed the only outcome, with his daughter reassigned to a new family.

However, a strange providence stepped in: there was a mining accident on Tophet and a civic riot (under mysterious circumstances) in which all but two of the 50-man police force was wiped out. Chaos reigned and, if order wasn't immediately restored, the Enyard Imperium was about to step in and take over the whole shebang. For Earth to keep its claim to the Amberjack, they needed trained cops on Tophet fast (a mission that looked suicidal the way things stood).

Desperate to keep his daughter, Reese volunteers. The first weeks on Tophet are violent times. But soon order of a sort is restored, thanks largely to him. While claiming to know nothing of diplomacy, he yet negotiates harrowing situations – and unhesitatingly bulls through the few he can’t.

The opposite of military types, Reese quickly wins popular support by yes-sirring no one, treating all as equals and never allowing rules to outweigh mercy.

Reese settles into a modest flat in Dante's Station's middle-class Level 7 with his daughter. It's rough urban life, harder than trying to raise a child up right on the meanest streets of modern New York. But Reese is determined to be there for her, to keep her safe and in his life.

Now assigned to the Tophet P.D., Reese is the immediate subordinate of CHIEF CONSUELA O'SHAUNNESY. He's essentially a homicide detective and whatever else comes to be needed when the unprocessed waste hits the fan ... which is almost every day.

CONSUELA O'SHAUGHNESSY

Of mixed Latina/African American/Irish ancestry, Connie is head of the Tophet Police Force. Tough, smart, sexy – think Angela Bassett in … well, nearly anything.

Consuela's got one odd trait – she’s only romantic with alien men. Humans need not apply. But that's her personal life. On the job, she's competence personified.

She's self-educated, no one gave her a single break, she's had to claw her way up. Her people were peasants and serfs and share croppers from way back. Her immediate family were asteroid miners working for a big corporation. As a child she never had a real home; her folks moved from claim to claim. Her father died getting his daughter out of the mines, determined for her to have a better life than his.

She feels great guilt over the fact that only she and one other cop survived the recent disaster on Tophet. And she's determined to get to the bottom of it, no matter the cost.

Consuela is big on duty, on upholding your oath of office. This is going to cost her big when she has to decide between keeping order and getting to justice, between serving her bosses and doing what's right (for a time, it's likely her indecision will put her on the opposite side from Reese when things start really heating up).

In terms of her day-to-day job, she's much more like an old-style Marshal than a desk jockey. She's out in the field, she gets her hands dirty. Quite often she'll team up with Reese on the nastier assignments.

As for any weaknesses or dark secrets, Consuela has only one: years earlier, following a traumatic hostage event in which she survived (and killed her captors) but was responsible for the deaths of several loved ones, she had a mental breakdown. She was given a radical (and illegal) experimental treatment that shocked her out of her catatonia but had a side effect that's proven both a blessing and curse: she's now a XENOPATH. With great effort, she can read the minds of certain alien species (but not humans). This, we’ll learn, is the reason for her bias against her own kind – if she can see someone's thoughts, she doesn’t have to rely on trust.

There is, however, a serious downside: the effort has a wasting physical effect. Used too much, it could kill her. What's more, it can be like an addiction. The more Consuela uses it, the more she runs the risk of MINDBLUR: a schizophrenic-like disorder that eventually result in her mind "projecting" its disordered fantasies into the thoughts of others, driving them mad as well.

If the bosses knew of Consuela's potential instability, they'd remove her from her position. In time, while on a case, Reese finds out – but out of friendship keeps it secret. But from then on he keeps a close eye on her …

TINA REESE

Reese's fourteen year old daughter. A tomboy and grease monkey. Pretty, smart, shy, wry and guarded. She's a loner and her insatiable curiosity has her often poking around the dark corners of Dante's Station where she shouldn't be, stumbling upon things she's safer knowing nothing about.

Tina's at that stage of wanting to assert her independence but also looking to her father to keep her safe and make everything okay. She misses her Mom and mourns her but also had a troubled past with her Mother – inside Alisa there always seemed a dark place Tina couldn't reach.

Reese had to pull strings to get Tina to Tophet – most cops are solo acts. Now that she's here with him, he generally keeps mum about her. Most who know him are unaware he has a daughter. But some make it their business to learn about her, knowing that any threat to her might be a way to leverage Reese.

Over time, Tina will become obsessed with finding out about the bands of homeless, orphaned children who hide from the deporting authorities and live in the walls, closed-off corridors and shut down areas of Dante's Station. One boy in particular, nicknamed GHOST, will become her special friend and lead her into their strange society, where they put the Eemies on a pedestal, imitate their ways and form a strange link with them.

Beyond this, Tina has a secret neither she nor Reese initially know about. Tina's scientist mother used her as a guinea pig in genetic research, subtly altering her DNA in an attempt to accelerate her evolution. Up until now, this "difference" has not become manifest, and Tina still seems a normal kid. But once on Tophet, anomalies start to crop up; Tina finds herself developing skills and traits that are more than human. This both terrifies and exhilarates her – and puts her and Reese in danger.

To help Tina cope with these changes and to hold onto her humanity, Reese will have to reach out to Consuela and use his boss's psi abilities to guide Tina back to him (forming a special bond between the three of them).

DANEEK K'N-JAD

The Targ in charge of Mining and Production. Blunt, plain-spoken, honorable in a rough frontier sort of way. Daneek is sort of the futuristic equivalent of a Teamsters guy. He only wants what's best for his men and the operation.

Targs are a curious and surprising mix of traits. They're incredibly powerful and physical, but also exude a deep spirituality (think of a cross between a Sumo wrestler and the Buddha – or just a beefy construction worker from Queens who's also deeply Catholic).

Targs come from a heavy-gravity world and are far stronger than humans. But they must take a variety of treatments and medications to halt physical deterioration on the lighter-gravity Tophet. Due to their physical makeup, they alone can withstand the radiation of the unprocessed Amberjack, allowing them to mine the material (robot miners short-circuit and go haywire). Targs can also survive for a brief duration on the surface of the planet, but it takes a lot out of them; Tophet’s close proximity to the galactic core leaves its surface constantly wracked by cosmic storms.

Targs have no Empire, but rather head up a loose collection of species, all following the same religion, with the Targs as the originators and the Prophets.

The purpose to which they put Amberjack is a deep secret – but in time Reese discovers that they use it as a sacrament in their religion, putting themselves temporarily into a higher state of consciousness in which they enter "Paradise," another dimension where they commune with their gods.

Friendships between Targs and other species are very rare; they don't bond easily with "unbelievers." But over time (thanks to several harrowing adventures), Daneek becomes a friend to Reese. They'll tell each other things they won't even tell their own families.

Like his fellow Targs, Daneek's life is ruled by a strict code of action, dictated by his religion. The Targ Hive-Queen is the equivalent of their Pope. Slowly but surely, however, this leader is going stone crazy – due, Reese eventually learns, to her overuse of Amberjack. But there's no way to remove her from office; her word is law. And what's worse, more and more Targs are getting caught up in her Imperialistic fervor and rabid anti-alien pronouncements.

Daneek will come to increasingly doubt the direction this mad leader is taking her people and will try to enlist Reese in an attempt to assassinate the Queen and save the Targs – an action Reese will refuse to participate in and which will put him lethally at odds with Daneek.

ANYILAR SYLIA

The Enyard part of the triumvirate. Sylia is head of Administration; essentially mayor of Dante's Station, making sure all goes smoothly (or at least quietly).

Enyards are very sophisticated – witty but with a sharp edge, egotistical, brilliant, highly-educated and very manipulative, always playing the angles. You can never be certain what they really want but you can always be sure they have a hidden agenda.

Put simply, Enyards are effete Brits at the height of the Victorian Empire. Powerful, Machiavellian and xenophobic. Gentle with their own but ruthless with others. They don't view other species as people. Over time, Anyilar will come to forge an alliance with Reese and get past this view – and have to turn traitor to the Enyard Empire, a vast collection of colonial worlds and conquered species, some of which will try to rebel and be viciously put down.

Most striking, Enyards consist of three sexes – males, females and "genmales": androgynous beings who are vital to procreation. Their role is to take the germ cells from both male and female Enyards and genetically optimize them, thus directing the evolution of the species. Sylia is one of these, and Reese has to get used to dealing with a being who is neither male nor female. All of the Enyards whose jobs are colonial (off-Homeworld) are this third sex. In time, Reese will come to find that the male and female Enyards are very different, both physically and mentally, from the ones he has seen.

As to the role of the Enyards in the triumvirate – why they're vital to the Amberjack equation – it can be summed up in one word: money, money, money. More accurately, they had the vast amount of credits needed to bankroll the operation, the merchant infrastructure to market it ... and Tophet is territorially in their back yard.

And what purpose is Amberjack to the Enyards – what makes it more precious than gold? Again, this is generally kept a secret ... but we eventually learn that, despite the improved evolutionary odds granted by their trisexuality, Enyards are a dying race, their birth rate falling at a rate that will guarantee extinction within a century. Amberjack boosts fertility in Enyards, allowing them to climb back toward population stability.

But unknown to them – and this is a secret Reese will ultimately uncover – this second chance comes at a terrible price ... and the offspring Amberjack is helping create will be very different from their parents.

PHANX

An Y'maa male who starts out as little more than part of the landscape, ignored and seemingly uninteresting. But over time we see that he has a deep wisdom ... and a plan for Reese.

The Y'maa are the Untouchables of this world. They don't assert themselves, don't mix, seem to have no initiative. They're native to this world but since they have no written history (that we know of), it's anyone's guess as to how long they've been around or what they've been doing all this time.

Once, eons ago, there was a race on this world that built magnificent cities, that had a technology and learning far beyond humans, Targs or Enyards. Every now and then a mining crew will punch through a wall and discover some ancient machine or part of a ruined city (but never any bodies).

This race seemingly died off after causing an ecological catastrophe that both created Amberjack and rendered the surface of the planet unlivable. It's been theorized that the Y'maa may have been the slaves of this lost race; there are some clues in the archaeological record that point to this.

But the truth we eventually come to learn is that the Y'maa themselves were the dominant race. Like the Mayans on our own world, they became extremely powerful and, at the height of their power, fell into decline.

And they have another secret: no one ever sees their young. It's assumed they're raised in some deep cavern and only allowed to mingle with other species once they're grown. But in reality, there are no Y'maa young. Phanx and the other Y'maa are very, very old. And when one is killed, he or she cannot be replaced.

When it's discovered just who and what the Y'maa really are, the Mining Consortium will try to cover it up – they don't want these "wogs" to have a claim to the world or the Amberjack. Murder and terror will ensue, with Reese learning the facts, taking a stand and exposing the truth.

The Y'maa never take action, never react, are as impassive as cigar-store Indians. And yet, at one point Phanx saves Reese's life. Reese is amazed and grateful but doesn't understand why. Phanx doesn't tell him – but later we learn that Reese is vital to the Y'maa. Phanx becomes Reese's adviser, helper, and sometime guardian angel.

And through Phanx, Reese will learn just why the ancient Y'maa developed Amberjack, what they used it for ... and where they all are. It's a discovery that will turn everything on Tophet on its head – and cost Reese dearly.

THE GRAND DESIGN

Some weird crimes start happening – people going crazy, berserkers, claiming they're seeing weird monsters, ghosts. At first it's assumed it's the pressure cooker situation in Dante's Station and the mining operation – but it's not, it's psychically-sensitive people getting tuned in to the vibes of the ancient race that once ruled Tophet. Only certain people are susceptible. The Targs find this very disturbing as these "hallucinations" relate to their religious visions and prophecy.

At the same time, the Y'maa make oblique references to what's really going on. Everyone dismisses this initially as supernatural claptrap, but it's true.

Consuela gets a psychic shock seeing into the mind of a Targ as he experiences an Amberjack-induced religious vision. It shakes her to the core and she begins surreptitiously seeking answers as to what it was she saw, enlisting Reese's aid in uncovering the truth and in time learning of the sacramental use of Amberjack for the Targs.

Meanwhile, Tina becomes intrigued with the street kids. She starts following one, learning his haunts. In time, she finds that these kids are devotees of the Y'maa, trying to unlock their secrets and piecing together the tantalizing clues as to the civilization that thrived here centuries ago.

Some miners punch through a wall and discover ancient evidence that the Y'maa were (and still are) the rightful owners of this world. The Company kills them and tries to cover it up. Reese investigates the case and nearly gets killed, too. He disobeys orders to let sleeping dogs lie.

Reese discovers that the Y'maa on this planet are only shadows of their true selves – in reality, they are the ancient rulers, the greater part of their essence having been transported elsewhere.

And here's what we ultimately find out: ages ago, the Y'maa – at the height of their glory – received a mental invitation from within the galactic core. It seemed benevolent, offering wonders. This "Other Consciousness" existed in another galaxy and needed a portal opened via the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy by which it could come through.

To open the portal, the Y'maa realized it would take the power of all their minds, transported to this nexus and focused. To do this, they needed to alter their genetic code and create ships that could withstand the titanic gravitational forces around the black hole. A new element was needed to bring this about: Amberjack.

The Y'maa poured all their resources into creating Amberjack ... and in doing so, devastated their own world and had to move underground.

They sent their minds and their machines to the black hole, focused all their powers ... and the portal began to open. But as it opened, they experienced the emerging sentience for what it really was: a malevolent, voracious, destructive Ravener. It essentially ate up all organic life in whatever galaxy it lived, then hopscotched from galaxy to galaxy via black hole gateways. But it couldn't do this on its own, it needed other species to effect the transitions ... and the Y'maa were its pawns.

Discovering this, the Y'maa tried to close the portal before this monster could come through. They succeeded, but it "got its foot in the door," so to speak. It couldn't come through, but the concentrated Y'maa "group mind" consciousness couldn't leave, either – they had to stay there to keep it out. And so what was left on Tophet were the physical bodies of the Y'maa, their intellects stunted, dimly able to perceive the greater part of their beings trapped at the portal in the galactic core.

It was deadlock for thousands of years. But while the Y'maa couldn’t leave, they could use their psychic powers to subtly manipulate other sentient species in our galaxy. And so they have drawn the humans, Targs and Enyards to Tophet, their agenda being to get these three species to psychically and genetically alter themselves and build the ships that will take them to the galactic center to free the trapped Y'maa. Knowing these other species wouldn't sacrifice their futures to do what was needed, they resorted to subterfuge and manipulation.

In order to accomplish this, they've given the Targs a religion with themselves as the Targ Gods, altered the Enyards into creatures more like themselves and brought Reese, Consuela and Tina here. Tina is the key, the linchpin of all this, her mother having been guided to alter her into a "human-plus" capable of the needed skills.

Naturally, when Reese and the others find this out, they're very pissed off and don't want to aid the Y'maa. But Reese, convinced of the basic goodness of the Y'maa (perhaps under the guidance of Tina and Phanx), sways the others to throw in their lot and mount this rescue mission. There's also a ticking clock: the Y'maa are dying, and their hold is lessening. Soon they won't be able to keep the Ravener out and it will surge through. So our guys have to close the portal permanently.

Reese and the others mount their voyage into the galactic center, in a vehicle specially designed to withstand the incredible forces at the event horizon. They find the probe and manage to release the Y'maa minds, which surge in a great energy beam back to Tophet, reintegrating all the Y'maa there back to what they once were.

But then things go terribly awry. Our heroes try to close the portal but the Ravener manages to turn the tables and surge through. After eons in limbo, it's now out. And hungry.

It turns out to be essentially a sentient virus. It absorbs other organic materials (including people) and uses their cellular structure to replicate itself. So it manifests itself into a legion of voracious creatures, surging over people, enveloping them, becoming them, burning them out and moving on to other victims. And its numbers are growing.

It manages to commandeer a ship and speed toward Tophet and its surrounding system.

Our heroes now have a new agenda. It's war, and they must stop this enemy army, this hive-mind Ravener, from swallowing up our galaxy like it has so many others. It must be utterly destroyed, with not a cell remaining.

The battlefield is Tophet ... with Reese at the forefront.

PILOT STORY

Reese arrives on Tophet. The spaceship doors open onto chaos and riot – 48 cops have been killed, two (including Consuela) held hostage. Reese is there with a colonial marines team from Earth. There’s a clock on this – if Earth forces fail to restore order within a certain time, the Enyards can declare martial law and move in with their troops.

It’s possible that the rioting was kicked off when someone violated some Targ religious tenet and the Targs went berserk (though all the various species are caught up in it).

The Enyard soldiers arrive to put the lid on and Reese has to take them on, deal with them, stop them from taking over. He's nearly shot, when Phanx surprisingly takes action and saves Reese’s life.

When things seem to be settling down (but actually aren’t), Reese brings Tina down to join him. He introduces her to Phanx, who seems in some strange way to already know about her.

We find out that the Earth government/corporation was behind the original event, working behind the scenes to gain advantage. It spiraled out of control and brought about this situation.

Tina begins her exploration of the station, its outcasts and mean streets and forgotten tunnels. She learns the first tantalizing clues about the Y’maa – and lands in terrible danger, from which Reese must deliver her.

We build to a climactic point where the Amberjack processing plant threatens a meltdown that would destroy everything and kill lots of folks. Reese, along with his newfound friends, stops this from happening, saves the day, and manages to restore equilibrium. He also saves Connie. But the pressure cooker that is Dante's Station will soon start to bubble again …

ZICREE GETS ADVICE FROM TREK STAR & LOST DIRECTOR

2006-05-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

As part of my prep on directing STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES, I'm having lunches with my friends who are directors and getting their feedback and sage advice.

One of the most talented -- and certainly the most striking of these -- is ROXANN DAWSON, who starred as B'Ellana Torres on STAR TREK VOYAGER and is now is HUGELY successful TV director, with credits on LOST, CROSSING JORDAN, COLD CASE and others.

We had a marvelous time today, and it was great getting advice from someone who's been both an actor AND director!

Frank Darabont (SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) also emailed me yesterday, and he'll be mentoring me too.

What a life -- and what amazing people to have in it. I feel so grateful to be able to ask questions... and get all the right answers!

More to come soon...

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE GOES TO BRADBURY PLAY

2006-05-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

Well, we're back in L.A. and life is exciting, as always. RAY BRADBURY invited me to his new play of four one-acts based on his short stories the other night, and it was a joy to sit there in the audience with Ray in attendance. Ray introduced me to his guest of the evening, who turned out to be the famous Golden Age actress MARSHA HUNT. Marsha turned out to be enormously charming, and was quite surprised I recognized her name -- while I in turn was thrilled to meet her! When she learned I was writing and directing a new TREK episode, she told me of the NEXT GENERATION episode she starred in, "Too Short a Season."

Several days later, I visited Ray at his home and we traded presents. I gave him the TREK script and -- because this critter was mentioned in his play -- authentic hair from a wooly mammoth (something he DIDN'T have), and he gave me a signed copy of S IS FOR SPACE and a new CD of FAHRENHEIT 451. (I think I made out the better on that exchange.)

I discussed the challenges of directing with Ray and he told me, "You remind me of my old friend Sam Peckinpah -- he made everyone he worked with fall in love with him!" High praise. He then told me about visiting Fritz Lang on the set of RANCHO NOTORIOUS and being appalled at how Lang and the Director of Photography were screaming at each other. NOT the way to make a movie, in either Ray's opinion or mine.

It's such great fun to share these conversations about our creative work, such a singular honor.

We've begun the audion process on the TREK episode, incidentally... more on that next time.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE VISITS STAR TREK SETS

2006-04-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

Elaine and I just got back from an amazing trip to upstate New York, where my keynote address at the Serling Symposium and our visit to the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES sets in Ticonderoga went wonderfully well.

Above you see me posing in the Captain's chair on the marvelous 360-degree Enterprise bridge set with James Cawley (Kirk), Jeff Quin (Spock) and Dr. John Kelly (McCoy).
This was quite a bit of deja vu for me, as I actually visited the original STAR TREK sets when I was twelve years old, during the filming of the last episode, "Turnabout Intruder."

Elaine and I arrived just in time to see the NEW VOYAGES cast finish pick-up shots for their Chekov episode written by famed TREK writer and story editor D.C. FONTANA. It was an incredibly good-natured and collaborative team -- as exemplified by the fact that when we came on set Mr. Spock was working the boom mike for the scene between McCoy and young Chekov (Andy Bray)!

Afterwards, we retired to our marvelous bed and breakfast and hung out with cast and crew, including Jeff, who hadn't had time to remove his Vulcan ears -- quite a picture for the NATIONAL ENQUIRER -- "Mr. Spock Hits the Skids!"

Next day, Elaine and I had time to run improvs and scene study with James Cawley and Jeff Quinn, both of whom proved quite adept and moving in their work. I'm eagerly awaiting directing the episode Michael Reaves and I wrote, "World Enough and Time," starring George Takei, which will be shooting in September.

Meetings with the NEW VOYAGES crew proved equally thrilling. Quite a good-hearted, enthusiastic and talented bunch.

On our final day, James Cawley took us on a tour of Fort Ticonderoga, which has an amazing history dating from the American Revolution and before.

All in all, a trip spanning both centuries past and centuries future... with great company all round.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE GIVES KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT SERLING SYMPOSIUM

2006-04-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

Well, Elaine and I just got back from our whirlwind trip to upstate New York. We had an amazing time, and it was a joy to see such gorgeous terrain, even if it tended to be a tad rainy while we were there.

The main purpose of the trip was to attend the First Annual Rod Serling Symposium held at Ithaca College. Rod vacationed in Ithaca and actually taught writing in the summers there from the mid-Sixties until his death in 1975. In fact, Cayuga Productions, the company that produced THE TWILIGHT ZONE, was named after Ithaca’s Cayuga Lake.

Our first full day there, Elaine and I spoke to several classes of film students, then admired five of Serling’s six Emmys in a display case (for the record, he won two for TWILIGHT ZONE, one for PATTERNS, one for REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, one for the PLAYHOUSE 90 episode THE COMEDIAN, and one for the BOB HOPE CHRYSLER THEATER presentation of “It’s Mental Work”).

Ithaca College’s Gordon Webb treated us to a splendid breakfast, then his wife Cathy drove us around town for a tour. We’re very tempted to buy a house there to write part of the year (prices are far lower than Los Angeles’ crazy heights).

Then in the evening, we enjoyed a banquet and I was able to catch up with CAROL SERLING, Rod’s widow and executor of his estate, and Rod’s daughters JODY and ANNE. Elaine and I had dined with Carol recently, but we hadn’t seen the kids in over twenty years, so it was quite a treat to talk with them again. It meant quite a lot to hear how complimentary they were about THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION.

In addition, I met Anne’s sixteen-year-old son SAM, Rod’s grandson (here with his mom Anne and myself).

Then finally that night, the event I was nervously awaiting – my keynote address on Rod Serling. When I’d asked Gordon some time earlier how long he wanted me to talk, he said two and a half hours. I swallowed my gum!

Fortunately, I had adequate time to prepare. I decided I would take my audience on a journey paralleling Rod’s career with the history of television and my own journey from writing the book through to working in TV. In essence, I was determined to point out that Rod not only changed television history with THE TWILIGHT ZONE but also essentially created the modern television showrunner, where the WRITER runs the show; beyond this, Rod was the direct inspiration and high-water mark for many of the top creators of TV drama in the last forty years, from J.J. Abrams (LOST, ALIAS) and Joe Straczynski (BABYLON 5) to Ron Moore (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), Joss Whedon (BUFFY), Chris Carter (X-FILES) and beyond.

So for over two hours I addressed an audience of well over a hundred people and showed clips from the first TZ pilot “The Time Element” (which aired on DESILU PLAYHOUSE), all five seasons of TWILIGHT ZONE and scenes from shows I written such as BEYOND REALITY, DEEP SPACE NINE and SLIDERS (not in any way to equate myself with Rod – who was truly incomparable – but rather as illustrations of his enduring influence over many series).

The speech went over very well, and people were quite complimentary to me. NPR was there for interviews, as was a San Francisco radio station.

The next day, I sat in on several panels and signed copies of THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION. Elaine and I also had time to grab a lunch with NICK SAGAN, novelist and writer for STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION and STAR TREK VOYAGER, and his wife C.J., also a novelist. I'd known NIck since he was sixteen, but hadn't seen him in recent times since he'd moved to Ithaca. It was great to spend some time together.

Then the next morning, it was off to Ticonderoga to see the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES sets and work with the actors.

More to come...

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE TO SPEAK AT SERLING SYMPOSIUM

2006-04-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hi, guys --

This upcoming Friday, I'm going to be giving the keynote address at the Rod Serling Symposium at Ithaca College, and Elaine and I will be also be speaking to several classes of film students and sitting in on some TWILIGHT ZONE-oriented panels. I'm currently culling through clips of different Serling shows and rarities from my collection that I'll be screening at my talk. You can learn more about the Serling symposium by logging on to http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling/

After the symposium, Elaine and I will be heading up to Ticonderoga to check out the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES sets and start working with more of the actors, in preparation for my directing the "World Enough And Time" episode starring George Takei, which Michael Reaves and I just wrote.

A cool sidenote: Combing through my scrapbooks, I just came across some photos from the party I threw in 1981 to celebrate my completion of writing THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION 25 years ago(!). Pictured here are my younger self with Carol Serling and the TWILIGHT ZONE cake.

Also pictured are me with Michael Reaves and fellow writer Buzz Dixon (both of whom are still members of my Round Table and look much the same).
And finally -- there's George Takei!

Amazing how things come around. Just goes to show I had great friends and associates then and still do.

Report from New York shortly...

Cheers,
Marc

REAVES & ZICREE REVEL IN TAKEI TREK RESPONSE

2006-04-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s been a great week.

George Takei read our STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES script “World Enough, And Time” and loved it! Here’s what he had to say: “Bravo! Bravo! What a stellar work of drama you have written! The science fiction concept of an accelerated time glitch is fascinating. The tension and jeopardy is electric. Above of all, the moving and poignant human relationships are wrenchingly moving. I had tears in my eyes. I feel so privileged and wonderfully challenged to be able to work with you on this script. We are going to have a great time… I’m so excited by this project. These rich opportunities are so few and far between. I’m grateful to you guys. I can’t wait until September.”

A few days back, Michael and I (that’s us in the above picture, taken in my office today) lunched with George at the Universal Studios dining room (where I spent many a day eating back when I was producing SLIDERS on the Universal lot). It was a marvelous and convivial time, abetted by Doug Drexler, one of our NEW VOYAGES Exec Producers and the marvelous FX wizard both on our show and on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Ryan James, our crack videographer, recorded it all for posterity.

Following this, Elaine and I got together today with three of our cast -- John Kelly (Dr. McCoy), Julienne Irons (Uhura) and Andy Bray (young Chekhov) -- to start the rehearsal process, beginning with improvs and scene work from sample scripts Elaine and I have written, including the HOMICIDE spec that landed Elaine and myself a partnership with Tom Fontana on a pilot project we wrote and produced a few years back. Michael Reaves was in attendance, as was our second videographer, Neil Kaplan. Elaine was an actor and director herself for many years Off-Broadway and in fact went to drama school with STAR TREK’s own David Gerrold (“The Trouble With Tribbles”), so it was great to have her working directorially with the actors to limber up the old acting muscles. A very talented bunch all round, and a great thrill to be working with them.

Meanwhile, I’ve got to start prepping the keynote speech I’m giving at the Rod Serling Symposium at Ithaca College in two weeks. More on that shortly…

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE GIVES GEORGE TAKEI STAR TREK SCRIPT

2006-03-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

Well, today was certainly a banner day. "World Enough, And Time," the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES script I've just written with Michael Reaves and which I'll be directing in September, has been getting a GREAT reception, not just from NEW VOYAGES Executive Producer and star James Cawley and others on the show, but also from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA director Michael Nankin, who loved the script.

Today, I drove the script over to George Takei's lovely home and presented it to him in person -- what a thrill. We spoke for about an hour on how we're going to be making it a reality.

Also had lunch with "Max Rem," the pseudonymous genius who does the remarkable special effects for the show. Michael and I will be getting together with him again on Sunday to start planning, designing and storyboarding the numerous effects sequences.

Then next week, the actors who play McCoy, Spock, Uhura and young Chekhov will be here in Los Angeles for us to begin working with them on their performances. Two weeks after that, I'll be visiting the TREK sets up in Ticonderoga when I'm in New York state giving the keynote speech at the Sering symposium at Ithaca College.

What a great honor to be working with such incredibly talented folks. More adventures to come, and soon...

Cheers,
Marc

REAVES AND ZICREE FINISH STAR TREK SCRIPT

2006-03-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

Just a short note to mention that Michael and I finished the “World Enough, And Time” script for STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES. Very thrilling. All my friends who are writer-producers and directors on various shows are eager to read it – guys on BLADE, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, LOST. Who knew this would be such a hot script? Michael and I did it just because WE were jazzed by it.

Shortly, I’ll be sending it off to NEW VOYAGES producers JAMES CAWLEY and DR. JOHN, who play Kirk and McCoy, respectively. Then it will be off to George Takei. I can’t wait.

Pictured above is a photo taken recently of me in a STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES tunic based on the first two pilots that were shot for STAR TREK. I’m posed with JULIE CAITLIN-BROWN, a lead on BABYLON 5 (she played N’Toth) and a guest star on some of the later TREK series.

I finished off the day today being on-camera host of a video internet piece for my friend documentarian PATRICK FRANCIS, about various eateries around L.A. that have been virtually unchanged since the 1930s and 1940s – Musso and Frank’s, the Apple Pan and Farmer’s Market.

Today, we shot at Musso and Frank’s on Hollywood Boulevard, a famous Hollywood writers hangout, whose clientele included Dashielle Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Hemingway, even Charles Bukowski. I first became aware of the place while researching my book THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION – it turns out in the late Fifties and early Sixties, ZONE scribes Charles Beaumont, George Clayton Johnson and Richard Matheson hung out there. Even Serling would drop by, on occasion.

All in all, an exciting and fruitful day, with many more adventures to come...

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREES TOUR INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL

2006-03-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, Elaine and I had the enormous pleasure of touring Miles Kreuger’s astonishing Institute of the American Musical.

We had wanted to do this for many years, ever since we first met Miles at one of Leonard Maltin’s famed Loew’s Whipple screenings of obscure films from the Thirties (held exclusively for world renowned experts in film and TV). Miles is the leading expert in the American musical – both stage shows and movies – and his 17-room manse is devoted exclusively to his phenomenal archive of everything from sheet music, playbills, recordings (every stage show recording from the 19th and 20th Centuries), rare films of Broadway performances, you name it.

Miles gave us a personal tour, and Elaine and I were simply awestruck. Miles grew up in the right place at the right time, as the myriad photographs signed personally to him from the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein and Rouben Mamoulian readily attest. Every corner of the Institute held a marvel!

And Miles himself is a walking encyclopedia, hugely charming, delightful and droll, full of astonishing anecdotes that are literally a personal history of the American musical. I mean, how many people can begin a story, “I was having dinner with W.C. Handy one night…”

Late in the tour, Miles showed us his favorite treasure – the original portrait done of him by the legendary caricaturist Al Hirschfeld (pictured below). For those of you unaware of this great artist, Hirschfeld was a fixture of the Broadway stage for most of the 20th Century (he lived almost to 100) and you had NOT arrived until Hirschfeld had done your portrait.

In the photo above, you see us posing at the end of the tour with Miles, raconteur extraordinaire, before the original oil portrait of stage and early film star Jeanne Eagels, and the portrait of Miles as a young man. Between these is a very rare photo of British stage sensation Ellen Terry (Shaw’s leading lady) in the role of Lady Macbeth.

All in all, it was a landmark day, one to remember forever – and we didn’t even see the second floor! (That will be for next time.)

Cheers,
Marc

N.Y. TIMES NAMES ZICREE BOOK AMONG ALL-TIME BEST

2006-03-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Just got emailed the following, from the New York Times...

Cheers,
Marc

READING LIST
Science Fiction for the Ages

Following is a list of favorites, with commentary, by the writer of the Book Review's new science fiction column. Titles are listed in alphbetical order:

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
By WALTER M. MILLER JR.
All you need to know about my youth is that I was taught this subversive exegesis of man's religious impulse, wrapped within a story about a post-nuclear future, in the 7th grade, the same year I was studying for my bar mitzvah.

Cat's Cradle (1963)
By KURT VONNEGUT
The perfect, Platonic balance of science and fiction, one that still finds room for merciless satire and a moral that resonates to the present day: that self-destruction is mankind's one true calling.
Review

A Clockwork Orange (1962)
By ANTHONY BURGESS
A lovely little tale of behavioral modification therapy and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, so punk-rock that Burgess spent the rest of his life denying that the book had inspired the punk-rock movment.
Review

The Crying of Lot 49 (1965)
By THOMAS PYNCHON
Due to space limitations, I can't offer my complete explanation of why this is a science-fiction book, so for the sake of efficiency let me simply say to anyone who disagrees with my classification of it as such: You're wrong.
Review

Gun, With Occasional Music: A Novel (1994)
By JONATHAN LETHEM
I think this Lethem kid could be a big deal if he'd just give up his highfalutin literary ambitions and embrace his inner sci-fi geek. Hope it all works out for him.

Looking for Jake (2005)
By CHINA MIÉVILLE
I don't pretend to be completely versed in Miéville's work, but what I've read of it so far I find utterly fascinating. At age 33, he is already a master of gothic storytelling.
Review

The Man in the High Castle (1962)
By PHILIP K. DICK
My personal favorite from Dick's paranoid catalog, an unnerving alternate history of victorious Nazis and the I Ching that seems to be reading you at the same time you're reading it.

R is for Rocket (1962)
By RAY BRADBURY
Most readers' introduction to Bradbury usually comes via "The Illustrated Man," but this was the book that taught me all I needed to know about sci-fi. Such as: don't go back in time and step on a butterfly.

The Twilight Zone Companion (1982)
By MARC SCOTT ZICREE
The book that showed me it's possible to take a critical stance on a work of science fiction and love it at the same time. Also, I memorized all of its plot synopses so I could pretend that I've seen every episode of the show.

Watchmen (1987)
By ALAN MOORE and DAVE GIBBONS
Want to start a fistfight in a hurry? Walk up to any salesperson at Forbidden Planet and tell them this extraordinary graphic novel about psychologically wounded superheroes in a hopelessly modern world was just another comic book.

ZICREE REMEMBERS OCTAVIA BUTLER

2006-03-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

I just heard on the news that famed writer Octavia Butler died after a fall outside her Seattle home. She was only 58.

I first met Octavia when we were both starting out, back in 1975. She and I had enrolled in a UCLA writing class taught by science fiction legend Theodore Sturgeon. As a UCLA undergrad, I was forbidden from taking Extension classes, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from learning from Sturgeon, one of my favorite authors and a STAR TREK writer, to boot.

Michael Reaves was a T.A. in the class, and that's where I first met him, too (ironic that we're now co-writing the new STAR TREK script). He and Octavia -- who Michael knew as Estelle, her given name -- had attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1973, and I had just graduated from Clarion '75, where I'd sold my first short story.

My first impression of Octavia was how tall she was, and how dignified. She was very quiet and self-contained, observant and intelligent, and she spoke with a surprisingly low contralto voice. She was distinctive to a degree that once you met her, you didn't forget her.

At the time, none of us knew which of us would make it as writers. Ted Sturgeon was very encouraging to everyone, gentle and funny and wise. But our futures were unknowns.

One day, Octavia brought a chapter from a novel she was working on, which she read aloud. It was dense and packed with science fictional terminology relating to the alien culture she had created, and I found it impossible to tell out of context whether it worked or not. So, by the end of the class, I had no idea of Octavia's skills or prospects.

But then, several years later, her novel KINDRED came out. The tale of a modern black woman who finds herself back in slave days, I found it wonderfully written, sensitively observed, powerful. I knew then that Octavia was a major new writer, and that she would have a flourishing career.

As the years passed, we'd run into each other every now and then. I was always thrilled to hear of her latest triumphs, and I was gratified to see (and hear from her editor Betsy Mitchell) that her books were being packaged and promoted as mainstream fiction, not SF. Octavia also mentioned that she had taken a Dale Carnegie speaking course, so that she could overcome her fear of speaking to crowds. She remained charming, funny, sweet, very human and real.

We last spoke at this past year's BookExpo, where the above photo was taken. It was good to catch up, to reflect with gratitude how we'd both made it, both accomplished our ambitions on our own terms, written works that had moved people and had lasted.

We spoke of getting together soon, and I'd have liked that very much.

It's tragic that she's gone, what a waste. But the gift of every writer's life is the knowledge that our work -- what we thought and what we felt, the best of us -- lasts beyond us to enrich others, and to share.

It's not enough, given the fragility of life and its transience... but it's something.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE ON GRASSY KNOLL!

2006-02-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

Well, at last here’s the photographic proof – Zicree on the grassy knoll in Dallas.

Of course, the fact that I was eight years old when JFK was assassinated might be viewed by some as an acceptable alibi, but there’s always that nagging doubt…

Actually, this photo was taken last Friday, when Elaine and I were in Dallas to teach a weekend seminar of actors, directors, writers and producers on how to have a successful career in the Industry. The weekend went wonderfully well, especially as the talented Lamkin family – actress mom Kathy¸ editor/casting director daughter Katie and NASA engineer dad Steve -- were helping us lead the class. Kathy showed her DVD of her heartbreaking and wonderful performance as Mama Boone on the season opener of NIP/TUCK -- which should win an Emmy if any performance deserves to.

On our day off, we visited the Sixth Floor Musuem, which is devoted to the Kennedy Presidency and assassination -- in fact, the Museum is housed in the Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald actually shot JFK from a sixth floor window. It's eerie and remarkable to actually look out that very window!

In the photo on top, you can see me in front of the infamous Grassy Knoll; to the left behind me is where the second assassin allegedy fired from. Below is the photo of me in front of the Depository itself. The sixth floor on the right hand side is where Oswald positioned himself... and the car on the street is literally where JFK was first shot. Tremendously moving and sad to actually be there.

A once-in-a-lifetime weekend, and experience.

ZICREE DAD TURNS 75!

2006-02-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

My father, Stuart Gordon Zicree, turned 75 the other day, which is quite an achievement for anyone! We celebrated in high style along with his wife Sherri at a splendid Indian restaurant. Great fun.

But most all, we were celebrating a miracle, for two years earlier at Christmas my father survived a series of strokes, a near fatal heart condition and stomach cancer -- all at the same time!

Remarkably, he's fine now, with all his faculties intact. To meet him, you would never dream he had been through all this. But because didn't expect to survive, he came out the other end of that experience totally at loose ends, not knowing what to do with the rest of his life, or why he was here, really.

So the two of us embarked on a journey of exploration to answer that question. On my side, I began asking questions of my older friends who were living full, joyous and creative lives, among them 85-year-old RAY BRADBURY and 95-year-old NORMAN CORWIN (who wrote the movie LUST FOR LIFE and still teaches at USC).

Along the way, I wrote some ideas, guidelines and suggestions for my Dad. I also find them very valuable for myself, because whether we're 25, 50 or 75, we all need to remain curious, connnected and committed to this incredible world we've been given, this miracle of the life we all lead.

What I wrote for my dad follows. Enjoy.

Cheers,
Marc

FOR DAD

I will do something new today...
because I love my wife.
because I love my kids.
because I love my life.
because I'm learning to love myself.

I will talk less and listen more.

My answers will come by acting, not thinking.
By doing, not talking.
Through my heart, not my head.

I will embrace willingness.
I will meditate.
I will volunteer.
I will speak from love, be positive.
I will repay with gratitude and action.
I will be of service.
I will write thank you notes to my kids.
I will send a bouquet to my wife.
I will take guidance from others.
I will be open to what the universe offers.
I will do what scares me.
If I say something is "not me," I will recognize that's a good thing and then do it.
I will remember that life rewards the brave.

I will list what I loved...
at 10.
at 20.
at 30.
at 40.
at 50.
at 60.
at 70.
at 80.
(... and the things at eighty should be new and adventurous!)

Remember the power of yes -- saying yes to life, to love, to the universe.

I will give off a loving warmth and draw others to me.
I will keep negative thoughts to myself.
Complaining does nothing but drive people away.
Saying, "I don't know," is not the end of the conversation, but rather the beginning of how you find out.
I will grow.
I will learn.
I will risk being brave.
I will use this miracle well.
I will do things I have never done.

Remember to ask yourself, "Is that an explanation or an excuse?"

I will take contrary action.
I will jump before I'm ready and in the jumping be ready.
If my kids invite me to do something, I will do it without question at least once.

And here's my pact with you if you do the above: for everything you do that scares the shit out of you, I'll do one thing that equally scares me.

ZICREE HELPS ACTRESS LAND SUPERBOWL COMMERCIAL

2006-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Another first in my storied career.

About a month ago, my very distinctive-looking friend Natasha was at a non-Industry get-together and announced that she was looking for someone with a possible line toward getting hold of a "STAR TREK-type" uniform. She had an audition for a commercial the next day for the role of a Trekkie and wanted to come in character.

She didn't really expect anyone to be able to help her on such short notice -- little did she know. It turns out I have a genuine STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION crew uniform, from when I wrote for the show. In fact, I'd worn the costume this past Halloween!

Natasha came over to the Zicree manse to check out the jumpsuit. Fortunately, she's five ten, the same height as me, so it fit her perfectly. She went in uniform to the audition, went again in it to the callback and landed the role -- beating out 500 other actors! (None of whom had come in uniform...)

Natasha was elated -- she'd always adored STAR TREK and longed to be a Vulcan... and the pain-killer commercial was starring LEONARD NIMOY!

But when they showed her the costume they'd made for her to wear during the shoot, it turned out to be baggy and ill-fitting. Natasha asked if she could wear my uniform for the shoot. But, of course...

She also wondered if I knew anyone who could put her in Vulcan ears. I connected her up with my friend, the brilliant makeup artist JAMES LACEY. Because of their conflicting schedules, James had to put her in the ears the night before he six A.M. call time -- so Natasha ended up sleeping in the ears.

But it all paid off. Because of how amazing and authentic she looked, they put her right up front -- and gave her the major closeup and also the best reaction shot of the entire commercial. She's the star of the thing, right up there with Nimoy.

And best of all, it ended up as a commercial during the Superbowl, so the entire country saw it in one fell swoop. It doesn't get better than that.

So now Natasha and I are both permanent part of the STAR TREK legend.

Just goes to show the benefit of going that extra mile -- and telling people EXACTLY what you need.

If you want to see this charming and funny commercial, log onto www.ifilm.com/superbowl/

And as for spotting Natasha, don't worry, you can't miss her. She's the one with the ears.

Cheers,
Marc

BRADBURY TEACHES ZICREE SECRET OF LIFE!

2006-02-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

Just spoke to my wonderful, brilliant, eternally-young friend RAY BRADBURY today and will be seeing him next week.

Ray has been a great friend in recent times and has been mentoring me on my new book, LOVE, GLORIA, a memoir about my mother that will be completed by May.

One of the proudest moments in my life was when Ray recently asked me to write an introductory piece to the forthcoming limited-edition COMPLETE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. Ray was moved to tears when he read the piece -- what could be better than that?!(I'll post the intro here sometime soon.)

I first became close with Ray after my father suffered a series of life-threatening events two years back -- heart, strokes, stomach cancer -- all in a matter of two months. My father survived amazingly well, but afterwards was looking to find meaning in his life. I sought out Ray to learn from him the secrets of his amazing creativity, vitality and joyfulness. I thought at first I was doing this just for my Dad, but soon realized these were vital lessons for me, too (and anyone, for that matter).

What follows is some of what Ray taught me. The lessons continue... and what a great gift that is.

Cheers,
Marc

WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM RAY BRADBURY

·Get up and work, five days a week.

·If you need help getting your work done, reach out to those who love you. They want to help.

·Take time off on the weekend. Be with those you love.

·Live from love, work from love, and do everything else from love.

·Find joy in every day, every hour, every moment.

·Save everything that matters to you, and keep it within reach.

·Get out into the world, no matter how difficult.

·Laugh at what limits you. It pits your life force against the darkness. (This doesn’t mean you can’t be pissed off at it, too.)

·At the same time, always keep fighting to be and do your best.

·Never sell out, and don’t suffer those who have.

·Do everything with gusto.

·Take naps.

·Help your friends, and view everyone with compassion.

·Stand up for yourself. Modesty is not a strength.

·Answer your own phone.

·Mourn for those who are gone and don’t forget them, but don’t bury yourself with them.

·Cry easily. It’s not a weakness.

·Never grow up. At least, not in the areas where it counts.

·Stay curious about everything.

ZICREE AND NAPOLEON DYNAMITE PRODUCER PITCH MULTI-PICTURE PACKAGE

2006-01-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

The exciting life continues. Yesterday, my friend CHRIS WYATT, producer of the $100 million-plus grossing cult sensation NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, dropped by to interview me about co-writing and directing the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode for NOW PLAYING Magazine.

Chris and I go way back as friends. I first met him when he interviewed me about the first MAGIC TIME novel for CINESCAPE Magazine. I was impressed with what he wrote and invited him to join the Round Table I run. At the time, Chris was a grad student at the USC film school. He started coming to the Table, graduated USC, then one days announced, "I'm going to be gone for a few months -- I'm heading off to produce a movie in Idaho."

"Idaho!?" we all said. "Who's ever going to see THAT?"

Well, it turned out to be NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, which played Sundance, sold for millions to Fox Searchlight and went on to become one of the biggest hits ever. None of which didn't surprised me, because I knew from the start that with his intellect, drive and charm Chris would be a huge success.

After interviewing me, Chris and I went to a meeting at a thriving film production company to discuss the possibility of affiliating with them on the four-picture deal we're setting up to make some of the unmade RAY HARRYHAUSEN films, whose rights we've acquired. We'll see where that leads...

By the way, on the George Lucas front, I showed the photo of me and the big G to someone at the gym, who told me the following story: Years ago, he'd been an actor and auditioned for AMERICAN GRAFFITI. It was just him and Lucas in the room. At the end of audition, Lucas said to him, "I'm sorry, but you're just INCREDIBLY wrong for this role." Then he added, "Listen, you're the last audition of the day and I'm all done here, so how about I take you to lunch, by way of apology?" They had a wonderful lunch together, and he said that Lucas was just a terrific guy.

ZICREE MEETS GEORGE LUCAS

2006-01-29T21:53:00.000-08:00

Well, they talk about Hollywood as being a place of incredible chance meetings -- I guess tonight proved that old maxim.

Elaine and I had scheduled dinner with Michael Reaves, my collaborator on the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode with George Takei that I'm writing. But many of you may not be aware that, in addition, to being an Emmy winner, Michael has also written a number of STAR WARS novels, including DARTH MAUL -- SHADOWHUNTER and the upcoming DEATH STAR (with Steve Perry).

At any rate, Elaine and I are sitting in Hamburger Hamlet in the Valley tonight, waiting for Michael, when I glance across at the booth opposite and spy someone who is probably the least likely person in the world I would imagine to be there, just noshing on a burger with a teenager. I think to myself, that's either HIM, or someone who bears a bloody uncanny resemblance to him.

The man finishes his meal, and then walks over to another booth to thank the couple who just picked up the tab for his dinner. They say, "Well, it's the least we could do, given how much you've enriched our lives."

At which point, of course, I rise and introduce myself to the fellow -- who DOES, in fact, turn out to be GEORGE LUCAS!

I tell him I'm having dinner with Michael, who has written some of the most successful STAR WARS novels ever, and tell him I've written and produced for such shows as SLIDERS, STAR TREK - TNG, etc. It's a cordial conversation -- and best of all, I happen to have my camera with me... for probably what's the best photo op I've ever had.

Lucas heads out, and Michael shows up a few minutes later... having missed meeting up with his boss by moments. Which probably makes for a better anecdote, anyway.

Just another evening in Tinsel Town... or Tatooine, for that matter.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE HANGS WITH FARSCAPE AND GALACTICA HONCHOS!

2006-01-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

Last night, we had quite a stellar confab for the students we mentor -- actors, writers, directors and producers all.

ROCKNE O'BANNON, creator of FARSCAPE, ALIEN NATION and SEAQUEST, was our featured speaker, along with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and INVASION director MICHAEL NANKIN (Rock's on the left of me, Michael Nankin on the right). We also had DAVID SIMKINS, showrunner of the upcoming BLADE TV show and a writer-producer on such hits as ANGEL, BRISCO COUNTY, LOIS AND CLARK, ROSWELL, CHARMED and DARK ANGEL.

Joining them was DOMINIC COMPERATORE, a brilliant actor I cast in the lead role of Cal in the MAGIC TIME scene I directed and who just had a major role opposite GEORGE CLOONEY in Steven Soderbergh's new film THE GOOD GERMAN. Also in attendance were LESLIE SILVA, star of the Showtime series ODYSSEY 5 and a regular face on shows such as ENTERPRISE and CSI; KEN MADER, director of CARNIVORE (and a partner on DEAD STOP, a feature I'm making); and JONATHAN KAPLAN, a talented TV writers with credits including NYPD BLUE.

We spoke on such topics as how to continue to write from your heart and how to survive crushing rejections and setbacks -- something vital for anyone who wants a long-term career in TV and film. It was also fascinating to discuss the changing nature of television -- with Michael Nankin having just written an ABC pilot, Rock about to shoot his fabulous CULT pilot for the new combined Warners/UPN network CW, and David Simkins waiting to hear if his BLADE series is picked up. Not mention my little STAR TREK adventure...

How cool and exciting it is now to making TV drama -- knowing it can air on broadcast television or cable, on computers and telephones, be downloaded onto iPods, play over the Internet, and be seen on a screen anywhere from 100 inches across down to two! (In fact, Simkins mentioned to Michael Nankin that he got hooked watching BATTLESTAR GALACTICA after downloading it from iTunes and watching it on his iPod.)

Quite an evening! Lots of warmth and good fellowship. Truly, a night to remember.

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE AND REAVES WRITING STAR TREK!

2006-01-25T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well, Michael and I are busy writing "World Enough, And Time," our episode of STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES, and it's coming along GREAT. Our goal is that there won't be a dry eye in the house by the end of the episode.

Additionally, a friend of mine who must remain nameless (but is one of the top concept designers working in Hollywood, having designed many of the most famous characters seen in SF films in recent years) has signed aboard to design several of the characters in our episode, including a very cool one we're referring to as "Barbarian George."

The design will see much more development, but here's an initial image, altered froma publicity shot of how George Takei looks now (which is simply AMAZING).

Enjoy. More adventures to come...

Cheers,
Marc

ZICREE TO WRITE AND DIRECT STAR TREK!

2006-01-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

The word is finally official! I'm going to be co-writing and directing the STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES episode "World Enough, And Time," starring George Takei!

My collaborator is Emmy winning STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION writer Michael Reaves.

For more info, check out www.startreknewvoyages.comBut here's a visual clue as to why I'm so jazzed about this, taken when I was twelve...

And here's the article I wrote relating the amazing way this all came about:

BACK ABOARD THE ENTERPRISE

by Marc Scott Zicree
copyright 2006 Marc Scott Zicree

My relationship with STAR TREK goes way back, to when I was a kid and first saw the ads for TREK before it premiered. From the moment it first aired, my life was changed forever. THE MAKING OF STAR TREK was the book that first made me want to be a TV writer, and the Christmas present of a visit to the actual set when I was twelve (for the shooting of the last original episode ever shot, “Turnabout Intruder”) was a dream come true.

When I grew up, I got to realize my dream of becoming a successful writer and producer in television, and to meet and become friends with many of the TREK writers who first inspired me, from Theodore Sturgeon to Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, David Gerrold, Jerry Sohl and Dorothy Fontana. (In fact, I even had the pleasure of working with David Gerrold on an episode of SLIDERS when I was a producer on that show.)

Selling to STAR TREK – TNG and DEEP SPACE NINE (the episodes “First Contact” and “Far Beyond the Stars,” respectively) was a further step in achieving my ambition of being part of the great history of STAR TREK, and it’s been marvelous to work with and get to know such marvelous performers as Armin Shimerman, Roxann Dawson and Robert Picardo.

There was one actor I was eager to work with but somehow never found the opportunity – George Takei. I’d always thought he was a superb actor, one who rarely got the opportunity to show his range or power.

I first met George when I interviewed him about “The Encounter” the long-lost episode of TWILIGHT ZONE he starred (brilliantly) in, as research for my book THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION. Since then, we’d crossed paths many times, but I’d never had the chance to work with him.

But then several months ago, I had the good fortune to moderate a STAR TREK panel at a science fiction convention put on by UCLA. Walter Koenig was on the panel and told me about the NEW VOYAGES episode he was about to star in. Intrigued, I checked out their website and was very impressed by the high quality of the work being done.

More than that, I thought they were getting TREK right, doing it with a passion and skill and sly humor that was enviable. I ended up downloading the second episode and showing it to everyone I could get to watch it (including some friends who are running some of the top SF shows now on the air).

Which was where my friend Michael Reaves came into the equation.

Back in the late 1970s, Paramount had intended to do a second STAR TREK series entitled STAR TREK – PHASE II. The studio spent millions building sets and buying an entire season of scripts. One story they loved was pitched to them by Michael Reaves, who had just recently broken in as a TV writer. It was a terrific story in which Sulu ended up thirty years older as part of the adventure.

Ultimately, however, Paramount decided to make STAR TREK features instead and the plug was pulled on PHASE II. As a result, Michael’s story was never made. Michael filed the story away and went on to become an Emmy winner and Writers Guild Award nominee, plus a New York Times bestselling author.

But I’d always loved Michael’s story and realized that now – thirty years later -- it would make a great NEW VOYAGES episode. Michael and I updated and expanded his storyline. I then contacted the NEW VOYAGES producers and met with them. Once I got their enthusiastic response, I met with George and his manager to see if George might be open to doing the episode. I was most gratified by their positive response.

George is now aboard to star and Michael and I are about to begin writing what I feel confident will be one of the landmark episodes of TREK. And as a special bonus, I get to direct it! (Did I mention that in the years since I stepped on the TREK set as a boy, I’ve also become a director?)

So in a few months, I’ll be stepping onto those marvelous sets in Ticonderoga, New York, to collaborate with one of my favorite actors. I’m sure it will be with a sense of déjà vu. When I was a kid, they let me stand on the transporter and even sit in the Captain’s chair.

Maybe they’ll let me do it this time around, too.

STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES
“World Enough, And Time”
Writers and Director

MARC SCOTT ZICREE, co-writer and director, has written and sold more than 100 scripts, including credits on STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP SPACE NINE, BABYLON 5, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, FOREVER KNIGHT and TWILIGHT ZONE, as well as numerous pilots for Showtime, ABC, NBC and syndication. He's served as Executive Producer on REAL STORY (a pilot project in association with Tom Fontana), Producer on SLIDERS, Co-Producer on THE LAZARUS MAN, executive story editor on BEYOND REALITY and story editor on FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH - THE SERIES. He's also the author of the best-selling TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION. His work has been nominated for the American Book Award nominee, Diane Thomas Award and the Humanitas Prize.

Zicree has recently completed work on the acclaimed MAGIC TIME trilogy of novels for HarperCollins, the most recent of which, MAGIC TIME – GHOSTLANDS made the 2005 Los Angeles Times bestseller list. Additionally, over the past season he has had pilot development deals with Universal and Twentieth Television and is currently in negotiations to write and executive produce four movies for the Sci-Fi Channel with NAPOLEON DYNAMITE producer Chris Wyatt. Beyond this, he is at work on DEAD STOP, a TWILIGHT ZONE-style anthology film he will be co-writing, producing and directing, in association with Michael Reaves, CARNIVORE’s Ken Mader, BABYLON 5’s Julie Caitlin Brown, Roxann Dawson, Armin Shimerman, Robert Picardo, John Rhys Davies, and STARGATE’s Michael Shanks.

MICHAEL REAVES, co-writer, has written for STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION, TWILIGHT ZONE (Writers Guild Award nomination) and dozens of other series. Recently, he won an EMMY for writing and story-editing the animated BATMAN series on the Fox Network. Additional credits include serving as writer-producer on Steven Spielberg’s INVASION AMERICA, story-editing GARGOYLES for Disney and scripting (with Richard Christian Matheson) the movie FULL ECLIPSE for HBO. Michael is also New York Times bestselling author, with more than 20 fantasy and science fiction novels to his credit, with titles published by Bantam, Tor, Berkley, etc.

Most recently, Reaves has completed co-writing the book INTERWORLD with Neil Gaiman and penning THE IRREGULARS graphic novel for Dark Horse. He is currently at work on film, TV and book projects, including the hardcover STAR WARS novel DEATH STAR for Random House.