My uncle brought a star to the show when he invited his good friend William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run author) to the festival. After the ceremony we went to a café by Paul’s hotel where we talked about writing, show biz, books and other passionate subjects… Well, Bill and Paul did most of the talking and I soaked the information up like a dish sponge. Nolan spoke like he has never lost his love for writing; telling stories drives this man and he is very good at it. I think I surprised him because I had his book Logan’s Run memorized and some of his films as well.

I spent the month previous to the ceremony researching Nolan and came across his film, Burnt Offerings, on Amazon. It was a great picture! Burnt Offerings was directed by Dan Curtis, a classic director that usually did films for TV, starred Bette Davis, Karen Black, and Oliver Reed. The story was spotless. If you get the chance to watch Burnt Offerings and Trillogy of Terror, please do, they come highly recommended.

After our drinks we dropped Paul off at his motel and I drove Bill to his house in Washington. Natalie and I had a fabulous time talking with him. One of Nolan’s good friends was my favorite author Ray Bradbury? How nice it would be to become a fly on the wall during their writing sessions?

Nolan, invited us in his house, which as excited as we were, of course we obliged. His walls were filled with books, all read by or written by William F. Nolan, it was quite a monument. Numerous trophies, statuettes and figurines decorated the tops of his bookshelves. I gave Bill a copy of Emerald City, and he gave me permission to send him my scripts. I look forward to seeing him again.

Sci Fi Wire published an interesting article about the Logan’s Run Blu-Ray and the possibilities of a needed remake. I was not a fan of the Logan’s Run movie because it distorted Nolan’s original creation; a book that effects our generation today. The following is from the “Can the Logan’s Run Blu-ray explain the remake holdup?” article.

Science-fiction movies and TV shows with something to say are a dime a dozen, but ones that actually say something are infinitely rarer. The reason for this is that the ideas behind them are intriguing, but seldom are those successfully explored or executed; for every District 9, there are a dozen movies like The Box that just never manage to capture an audience’s attention, much less the essence of their core concept, in a way that resonates, much less entertains.

For my money, Logan’s Run is one of the genre’s revered “classics” that’s terminally guilty of being a great premise with some of the worst possible execution; Hollywood evidently agrees, which is why a number of filmmakers have tried in the past several years to remake or reinvent it for contemporary audiences. Now that Logan’s Run is being released on Blu-ray, we decided to revisit it to see precisely what it is that’s so potent in its mishmash of cultural commentary and futuristic fun, and consider what it is (other than obvious legal entanglements and such) that keeps a reimagining from coming to the silver screen.

The original film was adapted in 1976 by David Zelag Goodman from William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s novel of the same name, was directed by Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days) and starred Michael York and Jenny Agutter. The story takes place in the 23rd century and follows a “sandman” named Logan (York) who becomes a fugitive, just like the people he once hunted, after he is assigned to find Sanctuary, a mythical place where people over the age of 30 survive instead of subjecting themselves to “judgment,” or termination, at a ceremony called Carousel.

Tread the rest of the article please visit Sci Fi Wire’s original post. Can the Logan’s Run Blu-ray explain the remake holdup?

Confession.

This was my first intimate-first-hand experience with a film making process, and what a process! Each phase was vibrant, unexpected, incredibly stimulating, and each delivered a healthy dose of vigor straight to the chest.

Ali talkin back to Greensleeves!

Ready. Set. Write.

The writing process lasted until around 2:30am, Saturday morning, with the script coming to a final draft during the last 60 minutes. It’s amazing how many story lines, bits of backstory, left field lightning strikes, large arc revisions, and sheer volume of ideas got worked over during those first six to eight hours.

Hot Cold Read.

The call was at 8:30am, only six hours later. My first goose-bumpy moment was during the first cold read around the kitchen table. The smell of oats and coffee and energy drinks from the night before lingered throughout the room.

What had, up until that point, been purely an intellectual exercise became something in the world. It’s own being. That first moment the dialog was being read with some scene direction, tingles. I am feeling it again just thinking about it.

Location! Location! Flightpath!

Then it was off to the location, Discovery Park. After some brief scouting and meandering, folks getting comfortable, reading bits of dialog back and forth, it was into scene one, shot one.

Colin bringing the heat.

We got some strange looks, even got a talking to from a park official who was very nice, just wanted be sure we were on the up and up. The morning was productive, not too hot, not too many bugs, no attacking caterpillars, no nettles, and very few planes. The afternoon was a bit different.

After our ten minute hike to the Greensleeves location, adjacent to a road, and only ten seconds away by vehicle, the air show started to ramp up. And the nettles said hello to our feet, ankles, and hands. Kara – our resident wildlife consultant – flipped out the idea that the back-side of fern leaves helped to alleviate the nettle stings. Everyone seemed to agree. Psychological effect or not, it worked for the crew.

Then something strange happened, planes. Lots of planes. And helicopters too. Henry calling “Holding for planes.” became a common refrain, as well as did “Wait for it…” while waiting for the plane sounds to fade.

Can I get a sandwich?!

After breaking for lunch, snacking on – yes – subs, Karl and Pete showed up to deliver and capture some sweet sweet tree lines, which took less than 15 minutes.

Heading back to the Greensleeves tree – this time we drove for ten seconds, instead of walking for ten minutes – we pushed to close out the day of shooting. Ali did an amazing job. Walking through forest floor in heels is not a relaxing avenue. And she kept delivering it, take after take, with enthusiasm, authenticity, and focus.

Brad, our wily-woodsman in purple blazer – no shirt required, brought consistent energy, wit, and got a taste for getting good audio capture in tight forest spaces.

Natalie and Kara kept everybody focused on the script and oh hey – shouldn’t she be holding a sandwich in this shot? As well as lugging gear and cracking jokes.

Oh, and the cars and pedestrians. There must have been a wedding reception at the cultural center down the way, as there was a fairly steady stream of both throughout the afternoon. All the passer-byes were polite, it’s just that cars make noise. All that and more plains.

You know it’s funny, I don’t recall any planes during the lunch break?

Kara rocks it! Editing begins!

In the blink of an eye.

After getting back from the park, and Kara blasting through her lines with great emotional delivery, the crew separated to focus on the remaining bits of work.

Colin on the climactic effects shot, and Henry on the rough cut.

After a few hours of ripping the data from tape to disc, final cut was fired up. My second goose-bumpy moment was after the first few cuts of scene one were made, and a review playback happened. Suddenly it wasn’t just imagery, it was the beginning of a narrative.

At some point during the evening, things start to get a little blurry here from lack of sleep, we got a delivery from Eric who signed up for music on the project. He had delivered a couple themes as starting ideas.

My third goose-bumpy moment was when we dropped one of the musical ideas onto the rough cut of the getting lost montage. Again, it leapt up the scale of independent existence.

Stuff happened. Amp was purchased. Progress was made. Morning came.

We will, we will, save you.

Over to post-location number 2, pull in the effect shot – amazing. Now it’s down to cutting for time. It was another fascinating experience to watch experienced folks have to make tough decisions about how to reduce, how to make more potent, how to leverage the delivery to communicate the idea in it’s most efficient form.

It was the groups baby, and it wouldn’t quite fit.

Some how we got there. Then we got the beach ball. And we hadn’t saved. It was after this that I asked for a save every time it seemed like a good idea for the remainder of Sunday. I’m sure it was annoying, but seems it was a good call.

Contractions are only a few minutes apart at this point!

Providence, not coincidence.

Over at Eric’s place (post location #3, not only did he write some stellar compositions, but he allowed us to finish up at his place. AND he let us pick some raspberries during render) the final bits started to fall into place.

Pete threw his audio processing prowess at our teeter-totter leveled audio and brought a huge selection of appropriate effects, Eric put the final touches on his themes, Henry and Colin got Greensleeves locked.

This was another fantastic moment. There were three groups of minds, three machines (all Apple machines thankyouverymuch), all working on a problem. All bringing technology to bear on different aspects of the same artistic endeavor. All working together. All pushing through the final hour. And the best part?

No one had an ego about anything. Everyone was in pursuit of the best possible quality of final product, and the best idea, regardless of where the idea came from. It was a truly humbling experience, and I am so thankful to have been a part of it.

We finished with plenty of time to burn a disc, and deliver to Georgetown with a score of minutes to spare.

The drive home was surreal. The McDonalds was gross but sensorily sufficient. And for quite some time, I just sat in wonder, fidgeting, smoking, sipping, thinking.

What just happened? No, wait, who cares. I loved it. More please.