Friday, April 25, 2008

Greetings Zoners! This week, most of the emails I received from listeners revolved around the anticipation to hear TZ Radio Dramas produced from new script ideas. Another words new shows that are NOT based on the original stories from the Rod Serling TV series. For years I’ve been pleading with CBS to allow me to commission writers to pen fresh story ideas and I’m thrilled to report that they have agreed to let this happen. Several great authors are currently writing brand new TZ Radio Drama scripts and as soon as I receive them, I send them off to CBS for approval. So the most asked question to my blog has been “when will we start hearing some?” Well, the answer is - you already have: A few weeks ago we presented “Free Dirt” tarring Eric Bogosian. Written by Charles Beaumont, “Free Dirt” was to be televised as a Twilight Zone television show in the mid 1960s but the show went off the air before it could be produced. Dennis Etchison, our script supervisor, wrote the radio adaptation based on the final draft of Beaumont’s Twilight Zone TV script and the original short story. I'll let Dennis explain, he writes: “Free Dirt” was my favorite Beaumont story. I found it inscrutable and struggled for years to figure it out. Now, with his script as well as the short story to work from, I think I finally understand it. Sort of. It’s still fascinating, which it’s supposed to be. The ending is utterly original, mysterious and haunting – all characteristics of Beaumont’s writing. This one is perhaps the most haunting of all. This is truly a “lost episode.” It’s really something special for the fans.” Thanks Dennis! In my opinion, this is one of the best shows in the series and I hope listeners had a chance to catch it, if not it will be available for sale and download soon.

And there have been two other radio episodes that were not seen on the TV series: “Gentlemen Be Seated” another Charles Beaumont story that was commissioned for The Twilight Zone but never produced. William Froug replaced Bert Granet as producer of the TV series in 1963 and this is one of the scripts that was shelved by the new regime, which had a different view of the show. So, our radio version, which stars Stan Freberg and Mike Starr, is the only TZ version of this show. It is currently available for download and sale. The other is “Pattern For Doomsday” a commissioned but unproduced script by Jerry Sohl. Our radio version stars Henry Rollins as “Jody Hallam” a tough but somewhat charming gambler who is chosen to be one of a group of citizens sent to a new world to colonize it (also available for sale and download).

In the months to come you’ll be treated to never before seen (or heard) stories called “Who Am I?” by Jerry Sohl, “Now You Hear It, Now You Don’t” by yours truly, “The Amazing Dr. Powers” by Barry Richert, “Beewinjapeedee” and “Snow Angels” by JoBe Cerny and many others. It never slows down here at Falcon Picture Group, LLC especially where TZ is concerned!

Well that’s all for now, check back with me next week for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Thank you -- I’ve really enjoyed your emails regarding my blogs – keep them coming and also feel free to email me directly at camari@falconpicturegroup.com I do my best to answer everyone as soon as I can.

In one recent post to my blog, a listener remarks that some of the music in our radio versions is music he remembers hearing on “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.” The mere mention of that series brings a smile to my face. I, like so many of our TZ fans, grew up listening to “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre” produced by the one, the only, Himan Brown. I remember staying up late each weeknight to listen to this awesome radio drama series on my local CBS affiliate WBBM in Chicago. From the very first announcer’s words: “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre Presents …” I was glued to the radio. Then came the sound effects of a doorknob being turned and the ominous creaking, squeaking door opening ever so slowly (the same door was used on Himan Brown’s earlier radio series “Inner Sanctum Mysteries”). Himan was a master at keeping listeners riveted!

For years I tuned in as many nights as I could stay awake; the series came on at 10:30 pm and ran till Midnight, so often times I fell asleep before the climax. I remember this series with very fond memories. As a pre-teen I wrote Mr. Brown a fan letter and to my delight he wrote me back a long handwritten response! Can you imagine my thrill when I received a return letter from HIMAN BROWN?! I remember that my letter asked him if I could act in his series and if I could help him produce the series. Mr. Brown was so sweet in explaining to me the ins and outs of the series – to this day he is one of my inspirations for becoming a radio drama producer. Years later I had the great pleasure of having lunch with him in New York. I was like a kid in a candy store :o) I learned so much from him from just that one lunch. I’ve kept in touch with him over the years. He’s 98 and still producing and going strong!

As far as the music you hear in TZ, yes, some of it is the same music heard in “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.” The reason for this is in the 1950s CBS produced a stock music library that they made available to many of their radio and TV productions. In fact much of the music that you hear in the original Twilight Zone TV program utilized much of this stock music. Years later when Himan Brown produced “The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre” he also used some of this music library. Now, years later I too am using some of this stock music for my TZ radio dramas. Factoid: If you’re an old-time radio fan you may notice that in the later “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” radio series, they also used this stock music.

Well, I should soon be getting rough mixes of the TZ radio drama “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” starring Bonnie Somerville and Charles Shaughnessy from the geniuses at Cerny American Creative. I can’t wait to hear what they’ve done with it. It’s one of my favorites from the series about a future society where 19-year olds undergo a kind of plastic surgery called a “transformation” which makes them beautifully identical to millions of others. One free-thinking girl resists having the procedure even though her family and friends are pushing her hard to have it. Next week I’ll be able to talk about this show.

Until then, I’ll see you next time IN THE ZONE!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Well, this week I got the rough mixes in from Cerny American Creative on “Night Call” which airs the week of May 5th. Aside from some sound effects tweaks, which are being adjusted, the show is one of my favorites to date. It stars Mariette Hartley who did an amazing job of playing a character much older than she is, the character of Elva Keene. Elva is an 80 year old invalid who lives alone in her house in Maine and one stormy night she starts to receive phone calls from - wait a minute, I’m not going to spoil it for you, tune in and find out! When I directed Mariette in this episode I was so taken by the way she wanted to record her performance. Usually the star of the show records in Los Angeles and the supporting cast records all-together in our studios here in Chicago at a later date (sorry if that spoils it for some of you : ). Then the two sound files are fused together by the geniuses at Cerny American Creative. Anyway, most stars in LA will read his or her line one by one and give me several “slightly” different takes of each line. Not Mariette -- she wanted to go through the entire script in one take only stopping to redo a line if she made a mistake (which wasn’t often). At first it kind of threw me but once she got going - wow - it was amazing! I didn’t want to throw her off from her flow so I just let her do her thing and I’m glad I did! I followed along with my script and
circled any dialog that I wanted her to give me a safety on later but overall, she performed the entire script in one take! I was really blown away by what she did and how she did it. She’s such a tremendous actress and she totally nailed the complex character of Elva Keen – I can’t wait for you to hear it. If you haven’t guessed already, I enjoy casting stars of the original TV show in these new radio versions. Past stars include: H.M. Wynant, Shelley Berman, Peter Mark Richman, Beverly Garland, Orson Bean, Morgan Brittany and Bill Erwin. I never cast them in the roles they appeared in on the original TV episodes -- I cast them in completely different roles in completely different episodes. Fans of the original TZ show know that Mariette Hartley co-starred with Robert Lansing in The Twilight Zone TV episode “The Long Morrow” written by Rod Serling, originally televised January 10th, 1964. Our radio version of “The Long Morrow” starred Kathy Garver in the role Mariette originated.

Well that’s all for now, check back with me next week for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Hi everyone, I hope all is well with my Zoners out there in radio land. This week was crazy busy: On Tuesday Lou Gossett Jr. was amazing as he starred in two shows for us, an updated, modernized radio version of “Steel” and “Probe 7 – Over and Out.” It’s so much fun to hear what an amazing actor like Mr. Gossett brings to these stories. Rod would be very proud I’m sure. I can’t wait to let the talented audio engineers at Cerny American Creative get a hold of these two shows and work their magic! Look (or should I say) listen for both these shows sometime soon as I know you’ll be quite impressed.

World famous mystery writer Dennis Etchison turned in his first script of a brand new TWILIGHT ZONE story – “Now You Hear It, Now You Don’t.” He wrote it based on a story idea by yours truly – a story idea that was inspired by my 80 year old mom’s slight hearing loss. My mom refuses to get a hearing aid and it’s a source of constant high jinx in our family gatherings. My mom is a wonderful spirit and she just won’t let us talk her into getting one so I decided to have a TWILIGHT ZONE story written about it. Only this story isn’t funny, it’s quite frightening actually. With all new story ideas being written by our writers, the story must pass muster with CBS as they have a very specific approval process. So before you’ll hear any new stories they have to be green lit by CBS. I’m hoping that this one will and you’ll be hearing it on a radio station near you later this year or early next. My hope is to cast Ann Francis in the starring role of Rose Lynbrook (my mom’s name is Rose) the rich and powerful owner of Lady Lynbrook Cosmetics. More on that later. I also received a terrific script in from writer Barry Richert called “The Amazing Dr. Powers” – I found it fascinating and I’m hoping CBS will accept this one as well so we can produce it later this year.

Also this week I sent 2 scripts to David Carradine for his consideration and next week I’m sending Sean Astin 2 scripts for his consideration.

Well that’s all for now, check back with me next week for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!