Private Space, "Arroyo" Buzz, and More...
Good Morning, Citizen Producers... here's your top-of-the-week update for July 19th, 2010.
Tuesday marks the 41st Anniversary of the Moon Landing. I've been an Apollo kid since I was five years old, and my interest in aerospace and aviation -- and recently, my intense interest in private space -- gave me the background to talk a little about the transition from a government-run Space Program to a private one. You can see that story -- my background, the things we did right, the things we did wrong and where things are headed -- by clicking here: http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=56&load=3898
(Some prior PJTV users may need to register to see the video)
What does that have to do with Declaration? Well, the plot of my screenplay, AURORA, follows a mission to Jupiter set 20 years in the future; but the theme of the movie is really the recovery of the frontier values that made America what she is: individual responsibility, hard work, intelligent risk-taking, innovation, courage and tenacity.
We'll talk about all of these elements in great detail in the near future; for now, here's a little tease picture of one of the stars of the movie:
In other news...
The "elevator pitch" for THE ARROYO continues to generate the best responses Jeremy and I have ever encountered for any project we have ever been associated with. (The term elevator pitch refers to the 40-second thumbnail description of the movie that you can give on the elevator ride up to the office.)
Interest in this film is white-hot among the few film insiders we have shared it with, and we continue to develop those relationships this week.
Finally, we have gotten off to a tremendous start! We have signed on enough of you Pioneers to meet all of our web-hosting and other operational expenses, and this week we continue to widen out our appeal and keep the membership steadily growing.
Jeremy and I have been, and always will be, comitted to utter transparency with regard to our plans and motives regarding you, our Citizen Producers. So let us briefly explain something that puts us in a bit of a quandry, and how and why we plan to respond.
Starting later this week, we will be presenting celebrity interviews. First up: KEVIN SORBO, of Hercules and Andromeda fame. He has a lot of terrific things to say about old and new Hollywood, the role of heroes in modern society, the decline of masculinity, earned effort, and a whole lot more. This content is made available by you, our citizen producers, and once we reach a critical mass of memberships it will be made available only to you. But until then, we are trying to find the best way to provide members-only content, versus the need to promote the Declaration model and sign on new members.
So what we would like to do is this: take a strong 10 minutes of the interview, and push those out wide on YouTube to generate interest and bring new potential members to the site. Then, all of the "inside" parts of the interview -- in this case, Kevin talking about his inspirations as an actor, his work on Andromeda and Hercules, etc. -- will be members-only content available only for our Citizen Producers (and only for registered members of PJTV, who is co-producing this content, at least for the time being).
Hopefully, this will be the best of both world's: a solid, widely-available interview, coupled with even more members-only content available just for you.
The Kevin Sorbo interview is utterly mesmerizing -- at least, I think it was. That will be up later this week. Until then, we can't wait to hear from you. Let us know what you think in the comments section below, or in the TOWN HALL forums.
More soon. And, as always, thanks for your support and for being a Pioneer.
Bill
- Bill Whittle's blog
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As a citizen producer, I look
As a citizen producer, I look forward to the "inside info." But I also want to do my part in raising the consciousness of other would-be citizen producers. So, when these "strong 10 minutes" interviews become available, will we also be able to post them or links to them on such services an linked-in and facebook?
Yes, Pastor -- that's exactly
Yes, Pastor -- that's exactly right. They will be embeddable on your Facebook page. And it makes us very happy to see that you understand our situation and are behind this strategy.
As someone deeply,
As someone deeply, obsessively fascinated with the power of first-run syndicated shows to bypass cable and broadcast networks, Kevin Sorbo's two two most famous projects are like members of a Greek pantheon to me. :)
Travis, he talks a lot about
Travis, he talks a lot about both Adromeda and Hercules in the members-only segments. We should have those up about a week after the first one, which will be later this week.
It's a more ambitious mode of
It's a more ambitious mode of space travel than 2001 had, even if it is thirty years ahead. There's something to be said for that.
I for one did not join for
I for one did not join for special perks like members only content. Thank you for offering us a chance to participate in something so ambitiously and audaciously American. Keep working on marketing and I will spread the word in my own small way while we wait for that first movie.
SGT USMC 1ea
Deus est Semper Fidelis
I just "signed up"
I just "signed up" Bill.
Thanks for the effort in putting together this unique way of poking a finger in Hollyweirds eye, and giving the American people a way of helping get decent movies I'd like to see run again.
I really miss eating "movie popcorn" over the years, having refused to pay even a small percentage of my entertainment money to that tribe of anti-American zealots that churn out their unhealthy ideas now.
Good luck with it all.
I sure hope this works.
Semper Fi
Not Over.
Hi Bill Individualist from
Hi Bill
Individualist from Big hollywood here. I just signed up. I normally don't go for these kinds of things but I am trusting that you will make this work. I must say as a science nerd I love the idea behind Aurora.
I have been complaining so long about Hollywood never making movies I want to see and now I have a chance to try to do something about it even if it is a risk.
Godspeed with your project Bill.
Bill, I trust your judgement,
Bill,
I trust your judgement, fully, with respect to finding the "right model" to get this done. It's all about getting it done.
PJTV has done a good job of attracting visitors and growing members. Just go, man, go!
Best to you,
Ryder
Where's the Sorbo interview?
Where's the Sorbo interview?
Hi Bill. Would you please
Hi Bill. Would you please let me know where to audition? I am a conservative actor wanting to be in films created by fellow conservatives. Thank you.
Thomas Edison said "Genius is
Thomas Edison said "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Well, the perspiration aspect definitely applies to all areas of success. I hope that behind the scenes, you guys are burning the midnight oil -- because the content here makes me wonder. Don't get writer's block!
Hi Bill, Talked to you on
Hi Bill,
Talked to you on Facebook about a year ago. I'm the former Sub Sailor and you said you were working on a Sci-Fi script.
Remember Bill, the biggest problem with Nuclear Reactors in Space is no gravity. Normal pumps, tanks and some control valves will not work also normal Steam Generator design would not work either.
Good Luck with Declaration Entertainment.
How about some updates?
How about some updates?
Look like I am late to this
Look like I am late to this movement. There seems to have been a bit of a lull in comments lately, so let me chime in:
I am really geeked by the concept of Aurora -- good, "hard" sci-fi is always a treat. But I think your choice of Arroyo as a modern Western is going to be a major hit. Topical, timely, and yet, traditional. Great!
I'm keen on these movies and
I'm keen on these movies and look forward to both of them. I'm just wondering -- is the plan to produce a whole line of approximately homophonic movies on different themes? I'm running out of variations in my limited imagination ... "Arroyo", "Aurora", "Error, huh", "A row o' yuh", "Arrow -- Yo!" "Er, a yoyo". It's a little hard coming up with story lines to match some of these titles. But I believe in your resourcefulness... Hmm, I suppose "Oh, Row! Rah!" could be a romcom built on the drama of young Americans in the tense pre-olympic trials, and those cheering them on...
:-)
You forgot "Err Oy Yo," a
You forgot "Err Oy Yo," a delightful fish out of water story about a comically naive young Jewish man making the mistake of his life: joining a blue-collar boxing gym in 1970's Philly - with lots of conservative themes built in, of course.
And you thought our bad writing was limited only to our titles...
:-) Good one, Founders.
:-)
Good one, Founders. Sorry all, I"m slow in signing up, so I haven't an un-anonymous handle yet. I just happen to obsess over word games. I think these are two excellent stories to start with. I'd like to see some nonfiction too. I thought "Amazing Grace" was a terrific concept, but very badly executed. I was deeply disappointed that in the "blockbuster" version a few years ago, they had to put oddball skews onto all the protagonists and that they injected anticapitalist subthemes everywhere possible. The evil crony capitalists making up the opposition were such caricatures they stole the show as clowns but only provided a shallow, and not completely accurate, understanding of the issues faced by these guys. The portrayal of Newton falls only slightly short of slander. The producers are so frightened of religion, they can only pull out stock cartoonish versions of it. The movie wasn't even redeemed by any thematic aspects that could be used to draw out the meaning of "grace" in a christian context. I'd like to see it done properly.
How about a "politically incorrect (but historically correct) guide to the crusades"? Robert Spencer has done all the research upon which the screenplay can be constructed; all that's needed is some good character and dialogue writing.
Nobody has yet done an serious Life of Paul. It could be called "Are you!? Oy!" :-)
I'm serious about the life of Paul business. That life shaped the evolution of the entire western world. It's an epic adventure with everything you could want in a great movie epic. There is sufficient scholarly speculation about Paul's backstory to add in lovely intrigues about his possibly early love life, heartbreaks, schooling under one of the great Jewish teachers of all time, Gamaliel. While partial biographies abound it cries out for a good writer to fill in the necessary details.
While we're at it, how about a movie about a swashbuckling pirate who finds himself deeply in debt (perhaps a loosely metaphoric rendition of a closet socialist who becomes president and then is faced with fiscal reality). It could be called "Arrh! ... Oi owe!"
:-)