Coming Attractions
Hailing Frequences #5, 4.21.24
Hail and well-met, fellow travelers.
Like sands through the hourglass, so go the workdays of our lives. It seems as though this week hardly existed — but that often happens when I’m on assignment. For many like myself, writing is a sort of fugue state.
I’ve found when getting a first draft on paper, I’m running twin simulations in my head. In one, I’m a casual member of the audience, watching for the first time with no expectations beyond ‘is it entertaining’? In the other, I’m a producer reading the draft and giving notes on execution and affordability. They sit like proverbial angels and devils on my shoulders. The former wants to see the coolest thing possible at all times, while the latter is forever echoing things like “page count” and “unnecessary SFX shots.”
Like all things, it’s a balance.
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
This week, the public got their first look at the new feature film, Transformers One, coming to theaters later this year. As a first-generation Transformers fan (or Gen-1, as they say in the fandom), I was lucky enough to be asked to help out with the story of the film. It’s a prequel to the franchise, set before the War for Cybertron and the schism between Optimus Prime and Megatron.
You can watch the first teaser trailer here:
This is just a taste of what’s to come. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Transformers One is loaded with action, adventure, humor, darkness, and a metric ton of heart. If you remember watching robots battle on a Saturday Morning and found yourself weeping at their rise and mechanical fall, I think you will enjoy it. Autobots… roll out.
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
In terms of my current projects, a few updates!
I’ve officially finished a first draft of the pilot for PROJECT COVE, which is now off to my producing partner and fellow EP on the project for her pass. Pilots are often rather tricky, given all the heavy lifting they have to do — establishing character, tone, series premise, hints of the series to come, all while ostensibly throwing in a “plot of the week” they have to resolve. This one was a blast to write, with plenty of worldbuilding to keep it unique.
I’ve also broken the pilot to PROJECT FIRMAMENT. I’ll be cleaning up the treatment to send to the studio next week. Another fun — if very different — genre. When choosing projects, I’ve found its healthy to keep a varied diet of types of stories in your current drafts, so that you don’t get too burnt out on one or the other. I’ve been lucky to be able to choose my projects that way.
PROJECT PHANTASM is officially out to feature producers, awaiting early reactions — hopefully positive!
PROJECT CONTAINMENT has had some potential movement, but also reimagined as a horror feature. More developments on that as they solidify.
A LITTLE Q&A
FanArtKate asks,
If you could play one Star Trek character, which one would it be?
I’m tempted to answer this from the perspective of which Star Trek characters are my favorite — but to be frank, I think the reason I love any particular denizen of four quadrants is because they were performed so brilliantly by said actors. I wouldn’t presume to say I could ever play a better Odo than the brilliant René Auberjonois.
Instead, I’ll say that if I ever did get a chance to be in Star Trek, I’d love to play someone in Starfleet (naturally), but someone non-human. It’s a bucket list opportunity for me to be honored with rubber forehead prosthetics. Maybe Cardassian or Andorian… or dare I say Klingon? I’d gladly take a pair of Vulcan or Romulan ears, though, any day.
ONE COOL THING
Recently, I was invited to an electric vehicle event sponsored by the city of Glendale. I got to test drive a number of electric vehicles, including an e-bicycle, which was loads of fun and reminded me why I like to bike rather than drive everywhere.
Incidentally, I also got to ride along in the famous (or infamous) Tesla Cybertruck.
What I’ll say is this — once you’re inside, it seems quite a bit like a normal car… except when you turn, you can really feel the four-wheel steering at work — like slow-motion Tokyo drifting at 5 mph.
Also, it’s especially hard to forget you’re in a Cybertruck due to all the stares you get from civilians passing by.
Anywho, that’s all for this week. What is there left to say, except… keep on (cyber)truckin’?
Aaron Waltke
Glendale, CA