Any crew returning for B5:TLT

[Andrew_Swallow]

JMS has announced that many cast members will be returning for Babylon 5 :The Lost Tales, have any of the crew been rehired?

[Jan]

Actually, he hasn't *announced* any cast at all, he's only said what he'd like to do, and that was in a magazine interview that may be as much as two months old now. What JMS has posted regarding crew is:

Because some of
the crew and others we wanted won't be available until October, we've
pushed a bit, which is fine, since it gives me a bit more time to get
the script where it needs to be and start laying out my shot list as
director.

and

We had to push shooting to mid-November in order to accommodate
availabilities of different people, because this had all come up in
kind of short notice...but we'll be in the new stages by the end of
October, and a few key members of the crew have already been hired. So
we're good to go.

Which gives us no indication of whether any of the original crew might be being approached for this. Given the boundless kudos JMS has written about the crew, I'd suspect that he very well might try to assemble many of the original team but that would also probably depend a lot on where filming will take place. We don't even know that yet.

Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

If they're shooting in Vancouver for example, I think it's highly unlikely that any of the original LA-based B5/Crusade team would be working on it. It would be more likely that some of the people that worked on Legend of the Rangers could do it, but frankly, I'm not sure how much attachment JMS has to folks who just worked on a one-off project six years ago. But one way or another, it will be interesting to see who he ends up with.

[Joseph DeMartino]

JMS also did two seasons of Jeremiah in Vancouver, so he's worked with a great many productoin people there who he could want to involve in the production. Of course, at this point we have no particular reason to believe that TLT will be shooting in Vancouver. JMS made a passing reference to the possibility of shooting in Canada (which could also mean Toronto), but he's also mentioned the possibility of shooting in the L.A. area. Either way he could have lots of crew people that he'd like to have on the new project, depending on their availablity and schedules

Regards,

Joe

[Shabaz]

JMS also did two seasons of Jeremiah in Vancouver, so he's worked with a great many productoin people there who he could want to involve in the production. Of course, at this point we have no particular reason to believe that TLT will be shooting in Vancouver. JMS made a passing reference to the possibility of shooting in Canada (which could also mean Toronto), but he's also mentioned the possibility of shooting in the L.A. area. Either way he could have lots of crew people that he'd like to have on the new project, depending on their availablity and schedules

Regards,

Joe

Dreamwatch said it is shooting in Vancouver. To quote the relevant sentence: "The project was greenlit in early July, with production due to begin in Vancouver this September for an initial release in Spring 2007." Correct me if I'm wrong, but Vancouver wasn't explicitly mentioned in his SDCC panel, right? Which could mean they got that information some time after the more vague 'I want to do it in Canada' remark, which could imply they had some firmer statement to base a more explicit 'it is shooting in Vancouver' sentence on.

edit: Oh, and there is this, from a JMS post in the SDCC newsgroup thread:

Ultimately, whether we shoot in Vancouver or elsewhere
will be a function of the deal that gets made locally.

jms

So when he said Canada, he was definitely think of Vancouver, rather than Vancouver or Toronto. It might be what Dreamwatch is basing themselves on for their unambiguous 'production to begin in Vancouver' though. But so far. Vancouver seems to more likely candidate with the information we have now.

[Dr Maturin]

I'm interested in researching whether or not any actors or filmmakers who have done work in either Canada or Australia have made any statements about evil corporations "outsourcing" American work to foreign countries.

[enjo]

eeek ... LiM, have you by any chance been reading Friedman's 'The World Is Flat'?! (not sf or even sf-related of course, but to someone my age who apparently wasn't payin enough attention to enough stuff along the way, it almost sounds like sf ).

Anne

[Dr Maturin]

Nope, never read it. I may read it in the coming years, though.

[AaronB]

Nope, never read it. I may read it in the coming years, though.

First you need to finish Controversy Creates Ca$h written by your avatar.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Here's what JMS said about the topic last night/this morning:

JMS Posted:

I'm kind of up against it right now on an assortment of deadlines, so
this'll be quick, but I did want to address some of the questions that
have been asked.

Yes, we're shooting this HD, so this is going to be quite a learning
curve for me as a director, since I've never shot HD before. There's
also a HUGE amount of green-screen involved, so again, lots of learning
to be done.


For those who are getting the B5 scripts books -- and eventually the
B5:TLT scripts will be released -- you'll notice a substantial
difference between them and these scripts in that I decided to kind of
direct them on the page more than usual: calling out specific angles
and camera directions, locations and setups more than in any prior B5
script. It probably resembles an animation script more than a standard
TV script, because it incorporates my directorial notes, shot for shot,
as we go.


The first three-segment DVD is called "Voices in the Dark." We've
narrowed down the cast, and hope to have their deals closed this week.
There are already ten crew members working on this thing up in
Vancouver, pulling together stages, offices and other prep work. The
first day of shooting will likely be either November 13th or 14th (due
to a Canadian holiday). The last twiddlings to the script should be
done by this coming Monday. Storyboarding starts the end of this week.


It's balls-to-the-wall right now, but it should be fun in the end.


jms

[Dr Maturin]

First you need to finish Controversy Creates Ca$h written by your avatar.

Feh. Propaganda. I'll give it a look for comedial purposes once it hits the bargain bin, though.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

eeek ... LiM, have you by any chance been reading Friedman's 'The World Is Flat'?! (not sf or even sf-related of course, but to someone my age who apparently wasn't payin enough attention to enough stuff along the way, it almost sounds like sf ).

Anne

Heh, this book is in my reading list pile...maybe I'll get to it

[Jan]

And there for a moment the thread had returned to topic....

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

And there for a moment the thread had returned to topic....

Jan

I know...I tried, I really did. But the book...I have it...*whimper!*

So...ahh, yeah. Looks like some of the crew are back. I wonder exactly who.

Jon

[Jan]

Hmm...maybe I can email a few of the folks I've made contact with when I was asking about scripts...

Jan