Here’s the pitch, as we presented it a few years ago:
STARCROSSED does for science fiction what The Larry Sanders Show did for late night talk shows and what Ricky Gervais has done to The Office. The show is a 30 Rock style comedy, that follows the weird and wonderful experience of bringing an earnest space soap called Starcrossed, to TV viewers around the world.
Starcrossed, the show within the show, has explored soap opera situations in galaxies far far away for over a decade. Despite being largely ignored by its network, it is adored by an international audience of millions of crazed (and crazy) fans. The series chronicles the thrilling life and otherworldly loves of Steed, a rugged, fast-talking, quick-witted sky jockey with a taste for adventure. Steed is billions of light years from home, on a grueling mission to rid the galaxy of evil aliens hell-bent on universal conquest. Complete with rubbery aliens, styrofoam planets, wobbly set pieces, temperamental space vehicles and erratic computers, Starcrossed weaves endlessly complex stories of love, betrayal and forbidden inter-species romance. And as in life, the drama begins long before and after the cameras roll.
Making Starcrossed is as much an adventure as the show itself, and is populated with many strange and unpredictable life forms of its own.
The actors of Starcrossed are a cross-section of sci-fi standards: from beautiful, down-to-earth, aliens to slow-witted “method” sky jockeys; highly-trained thespians to botoxed bimbos; preening narcis-sissies to balding neurotics. Behind the scenes we find an even more chaotic combination of characters. The bizarre sets of Starcrossed teem with another form of wildlife: the crew. Gorgeous, doe-eyed make-up and hair “artists” spend more time working on themselves than their actors. There are grumpy grips and zen-like electricians, beautiful, stoned, carpenters and sleep-deprived PAs struggling to wrangle wayward actors. The loony First Aid/Craft Service lady flings strange and suspect sandwiches about, while the camera department hazes yet another new recruit. The dazed DOP keeps wandering off in search of that perfect light, while the unintelligible AD rants, rages and tears his hair out.
The production office is the gravitational hub of the Starcrossed universe. Everything that happens onscreen has its genesis here, and orbits around the mad, bad and brave souls who keep Starcrossed somewhat on time, and always over budget. These are the real, and really weird, cubicle-dwellers who bring all of the out-of-this-world action down to earth.
No group is more eclectic, unpredictable, and vicious than the staff writers. While some keep their heads down in the hopes of flying below the network radar, others are more than ready to endlessly battle out the finer points of pointless science fiction and science fact. At the first sign of trouble the writing “team” dissolves into a politicking mass of breakdowns, temper tantrums and terror.
Guest stars from all realms and decades appear to play roles on the sci-fi soap, pay the rent, rant and rave, relive their glory days and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Alcoholics, boors, sociopaths and fresh young faces selling their souls for a shot at stardom, arrive weekly with their entourages of agents, managers, friends, family and vegan pet psychics.
Behind-the-scenes storylines and themes are interwoven with sci-fi action and out-takes from the space-soap itself. STARCROSSED is a best-of-both-worlds combination, a one-two punch of biting comedy and glorious sci-fi spectacle.
Welcome to the “reel” world of the alien-zapping, tongue-twisting, Hollywood-hustling universe of STARCROSSED!
I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to make Starcrossed my follow-up to A Dog's Breakfast
and Stargate Atlantis
. Unfortunately, all I find myself with is a number of scripts (a feature, a 1/2 hour pilot and a number of for-the-web episodes) and 2 and a half years of development hell! After developing Starcrossed as a 1/2 hour comedy it was then decided that a 1/2 hour comedy isn't what the cable channel was looking for. They then became very excited about developing Starcrossed as a web series, only to discover (after a year of humming and hawing about it) they didn't think it would work as an advertising model.
That said, ScyFy have kindly agreed to let us have Starcrossed back, and for that I am very grateful. However, the legal side of this arrangement will still probably take many months to finalize...and even if it does finally get resolved, there are bound to be strings attached. This experience has made me seriously question the way Hollywood develops shows. It just seems like a colossal waste of time and energy (not to mention money) and that's just the projects that DON'T get made!
I don’t remember who said it, or for that matter what exactly they said ;-) but it was something along the lines of: “if you can't work in the system then get out and create your own”. I want a future where television is created like independent film. As it stands right now, the cost of making a television show is prohibitively expensive using the usual (pardon the pun) channels. In order to be feasible in an indie filmmaking way it would have to be much cheaper to produce. Something that's very difficult to do within the current union guidelines. Sanctuary
tried to go it alone, but eventually had to resort to the tried and true method of cable show (and good for them for making THAT happen!) Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
and The Guild
have succeeded where many others have failed...mainly because they're smart, entertaining and created and promoted by savvy souls with marketing smarts! I imagine that they were also cheap to make (to be fair I have no idea how much they cost or how they do from a financial perspective, but they certainly don't work on the usual TV budgets) Web based entertainment also needs to be as easy to access on my television as it is on my computer, in order to compete with the rest of the junk the networks and cablers out there! That said, Indie Television is an area I'm definitely eager to explore!
In the short term, I’m going to be wary about giving away the rights without knowing that a project can be made in some form or another!
I hope to revisit Starcrossed again, as I’m convinced that it would be a terrific show about Science Fiction a topic that's been near and dear to my heart for just about my entire life!
Now the bright side!
I want to make a series (whether for the web or for television) that could work as a show unto itself as well as a proof-of-concept for Starcrossed. The show would follow a has-been never-was sci-fi actor who is struggling to create a place for himself in today's do-it-yourself web, convention, self-publishing, web serial world. I'd like it to be something akin to the brilliant Steeve Coogan in the "Alan Partridge" series...with a healthy dose of Galaxy Quest thrown in. I've even spoken to a few of my old cast mates about the possibility of roping them into the ensuing madness. As always, I'll keep you posted!
Inspiration for this project comes from the following:
Ah, yes, my evil plan to become the Martha Stewart of horror! I’ve been working on this one for a while!
Here’s the concept:
A team of real estate speculators have bitten off more than they can chew when they sign on for a televised, high-pressure house flip. The home soon shows it has teeth of its own. The network drops two eccentric designers into the mix and the “cosmetic” fixes start spiraling out of control. Tempers begin to flare. As the clock counts down to midnight Halloween eve, the team discover that it’s not just the house they’ve brought back to life. This is war. War against drab colour combinations, poor Feng Shui, each other, and of course, the living dead - shuffling toxic horrors that their reckless quest for a quick buck have unleashed on the world.
“Design of the Dead” is a zombie film that takes a darkly comic bite out of the greed driven house-flippers of the pre-recession property market. It is a wickedly funny combination of cheerfully inane real estate reality show and edgy horror.
The problem I’m having is that it’s a bit outside my scifi genre appeal so after completing a rough draft it’s been usurped by paying sci fi projects like The Untitled David Hewlett Sci Fi Project. That said, I’ve got a copy of the treatment out to a couple of producing friends and the hope is to have Design of the Dead start making it’s way through the development/Telefilm funding process up in Canada.
I know that people are eager to have other projects to get involved in so...If you find yourself with a burning desire to come up with some kind of fun zombie/interior design poster or graphic design elements for Design of the Dead then post them here! I'll have a look and see about putting together a gallery or possibly using them in the pitch or on online marketing site?
My inspiration for this project comes from films like these (in no particular order):
I would kill to revisit A Dog's Breakfast
...hey, we’ve already got a built in audience that can also handle conventions, screenings, merchandising and promtions...what more could anyone want?! I always thought that the A Dog's Breakfast
sequel should be called “Heir Of the Dog” and follow Patrick’s attempts to become an actor. Having met Ryan, he figures it can’t be that difficult...not if someone like McGillion can do it (I mean Ryan right?)! So while visiting Marilyn and Patrick on the set of “Android Screams”, Ryan’s latest SyFy movie of the week, he gets a small role and proceeds to cause all sorts of chaos...oh and did I mention that he and Mars are supposed to be looking after his nephew, Marilyn and Patrick's genius baby Sebastian? Not that I’ve been thinking about it much! ;-) Nothing more than ideas and a few giggles at this point, but certainly something I intend to pursue when people aren’t paying me to write sci fi pilots!
and 
. Unfortunately, all I find myself with is a number of scripts (a feature, a 1/2 hour pilot and a number of for-the-web episodes) and 2 and a half years of development hell! After developing Starcrossed as a 1/2 hour comedy it was then decided that a 1/2 hour comedy isn't what the cable channel was looking for. They then became very excited about developing Starcrossed as a web series, only to discover (after a year of humming and hawing about it) they didn't think it would work as an advertising model.
tried to go it alone, but eventually had to resort to the tried and true method of cable show (and good for them for making THAT happen!) 
and 
have succeeded where many others have failed...mainly because they're smart, entertaining and created and promoted by savvy souls with marketing smarts! I imagine that they were also cheap to make (to be fair I have no idea how much they cost or how they do from a financial perspective, but they certainly don't work on the usual TV budgets) Web based entertainment also needs to be as easy to access on my television as it is on my computer, in order to compete with the rest of the junk the networks and cablers out there! That said, Indie Television is an area I'm definitely eager to explore!
