Today I received an excellent TZ script from prolific radio drama writer Michael Elliott. Michael lives in London and writes many of the “Harry Nile” scripts for radio producer Jim French. Jim is someone that I admire very much. He’s the producer behind “Imagination Theatre,” “Harry Nile,” and “Sherlock Holmes” three excellent examples of radio drama being produced today. Jim’s website is www.jimfrenchproductions.com.

Michael is one of the writers working on original TZ story ideas. He just delivered “The Time of Your Life” a truly great script that I’m hoping we can produce later this year. Without giving anything away, it’s the story of a woman who’s husband is killed and she gets him back after making a pact with the Devil who’s not interested in her soul, but he is interested in something else – what that is I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until it’s produced. The Devil character has some great dialog and I have just the actor in mind to play that part. The star of the show is the woman character and I’m hoping to cast a great actress. My first choice would be Mena Suvari. I think she’s an amazing actress and one that would put a special spin on this character. I first became a fan of Mena Suvari after watching “American Beauty” which won best picture in 2000 but I became a confirmed fan after watching her as a semi-regular on the HBO series “Six Feet Under.” Alan Ball, who wrote “American Beauty”, produced and often wrote “Six Feet Under” is an absolute genius and if you’ve not seen either of these, I highly recommend that you do.

Next week I’m planning on spending the day with Bob Benson at Cerny to put the final tweaks on “On Thursday We Leave For Home” starring Barry Bostwick, so I’m looking forward to that and for you to hear it soon. Well, that’s all for now, see you next time for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!

Still working hard on “On Thursday We Leave For Home” starring Barry Bostwick. It’s about 3⁄4 finished and Bob Benson who is heading up this one over at Cerny American Creative said I should have a first draft of it by Friday of next week. From this first draft I make copious notes and send them to Bob and then he makes a second draft and then more notes and by the third round or so it’s usually time to come out of the oven. : )

After “On Thursday We Leave For Home” we’ll be mixing “The Prime Mover” starring David Eigenberg. For those of you who are “Sex and the City” fans, David played the role of “Steve Brady” Miranda’s love interest. David came in to the studio to star in this show and “A Penny For Your Thoughts” which we aired earlier this year. It was a lot of fun for me and the cast to work with David, he’s a really talented actor and very genuine person. I’ve kept in contact with him and he’s going to play a role in my Old Testament audio project, The Word of Promise. For those of you who are not familiar with The Word of Promise, it’s an audio Bible starring Hollywood celebrities.

The New Testament (20 hours on 20 CDs) is already released, you can order it at www.thewordofpromise.com or buy it at any retail stores that carry Bibles. The Word of Promise is not only star-studded, it is produced in dramatic audio style with sound effects and a full music score by prolific Italian composer Stefano Mainetti. The New Testament stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus, Michael York as the Narrator, Stacy Keach as Paul, Louis Gossett as John, Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene, Terence Stamp as the Voice of God, John Heard as Matthew, Lou Diamond Phillips as Mark, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Mary, Mother of Jesus, Chris McDonald as Luke, John Schneider as James and many other wonderful stars.

It’s word-for-word from the NKJ translation and is distributed by Thomas Nelson, Inc. I’m very happy to say that it’s the #1 selling audio Bible in the world. Currently I’m producing The Old Testament, which will be 60 hours on 55 CDs. It stars Jon Voight as Abraham, Richard Dreyfuss as Moses, Gary Sinise as David, Marcia Gay Harden as Esther, Malcolm McDowell as King Solomon, Michael York as the Narrator, Stacy Keach as Job and many other wonderful stars.
I’m also producing a Youth edition of the New Testament with wonderful youth stars as well. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

But getting back to David Eigenberg – you can see David in the new “Sex and the City” movie coming out later this month so my hat’s off to him! Well, that’s it for now, check back with me next week for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!

This week we continue to work on “On Thursday We Leave For Home” and it’s coming along just fine. Barry Bostwick gives a stellar performance as Captain Benteen. This episode has some great supporting players in it as well, including Mike Starr, Christian Stolte, Elizabeth Ledo, Richard Henzel, Kurt Naebig, JoBe Cerny, Jennifer Joy, Meg Thalken, Tracy Hernandez, Jeff Lupetin and of course Doug James, our series announcer who almost always takes on a role in each story. Two of my kids are in it too, Amanda and C.J. Amari. Both have appeared on other TZ radio dramas. Amanda played opposite Stan Freberg in “The Fugitive” and C.J. played opposite Hal Sparks in “Long Distance Call.” They have the acting bug and so I’ll do my best to not have them end up someday on a True Hollywood Story : )

In other news: I’m also about to launch a new radio series based on Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Detective. Stacy Keach and I have talked for years about producing a radio drama series on the detective that he portrayed in TV and films. Well, I’m happy to say it has finally taken shape. Here’s some info on it:

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICKEY SPILLANE’S MIKE HAMMER

Nobody writes mysteries like Mickey Spillane … and nobody solves them like MIKE HAMMER! The no-holds barred Private Eye returns! This time in fully dramatized “theatre-of-the-mind” audio adventures starring acclaimed actor Stacy Keach, complete with a full supporting cast, sound effects and music.

While other detectives bend and manipulate the law, Hammer holds it in total contempt, seeing it as nothing more than an impediment to justice, the one virtue he holds in absolute esteem. Produced in association with The Mickey Spillane Estate, these brand new audio adventures follow the New York-based Mike Hammer in his self-appointed role of judge, jury and executioner to an assortment of bad guys.

Hammer is supported in his quest for justice by his gorgeous secretary Velda along with Police Captain Pat Chambers, District Attorney Clarence Spencer and Mike’s collection of New York City street people including: Ozzie the Answer, Maya, Mike’s next-door-neighbor and extremely hot yoga teacher, Benny the Knife, Philly Brock, Moochie Burns and Dahlia – the buxom bartender of the Lite ‘N’ Easy Saloon. Even the show’s jazzy theme song “Harlem Nocturne” by Earle Hagen is back, which features a deeply melancholy saxophone, and sets the gritty tone for each episode.

This collection features a trilogy of brand-new Mike Hammer mysteries:

Dangerous Days – When Hammer rescues a crazed young woman clad only in a medical gown, he's flung into the shadowy world of secret ops and international terrorism. New York is the target, and Mike Hammer is the only man who can prevent a massive catastrophe. But will he find out who the real enemy is before it's too late?

Oil and Water – The one woman Mike Hammer might have married is back in town. But when she's murdered after making an appointment with her ex-lover, Mike winds up investigating a massive conspiracy involving a powerful oil company. Hammer thinks he's close to the truth, but has he been played for a sucker all along?

Proof Positive – Mike's secretary, Velda, is seriously injured, and her elderly neighbor is killed when a package containing a memory stick is sent to the wrong address. Who is willing to kill to get their hands on the stick? With Mike's friend Maya in charge of the office, Hammer goes on the trail of America's most explosive secret.

“I don’t want to arrest anyone. I just want to shoot somebody” – Mike Hammer

___________________________________________________________________________

The first collection of 3 stories will be available through Blackstone Audio this Fall. Look for Volume 1 at book chains everywhere or at the Blackstone Audio site at www.blackstoneaudio.com

I know that talking about Mike Hammer is off the subject of TZ but since it is dramatized radio, I thought you might want to know about it.

Well, that’s all for this week, catch me next week for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!

Today I spent most of my day down at Cerny American Creative sitting in on the final mix and helping tweak “Number Twelve Looks Just Like You” starring Bonnie Somerville & Charles Shaughnessy. I’m happy to say it’s finally finished and just in time as it airs the week of June 2nd and we have to send it out to Westwood One at least two weeks prior to airdate. I think it came out great and I’m hoping listeners will enjoy it. Bonnie and Charles do amazing jobs in roles that have tremendous range so “bravo!” And you’ll hear some other familiar voices in it too like Mike Starr, Linda Reiter and David Darlow. Next up to be mixed is “On Thursday We Leave For Home” starring Barry Bostwick. This one is about a group of settlers on another planet who have been waiting for 30 years to be rescued and taken back to Earth. Their leader, Benteen, originally played on television by James Whitmore, is reluctant to give up his position as the center of their lives and so actually resists the rescue when it finally does happen. The character of Benteen is very complex and James Whitmore did an astonishing job with it on television. The actor taking on the role in the radio version needs to be sympathetic and project quiet decency and kindness yet at the same time have the rigidity of a seasoned military leader. I chose Barry Bostwick to star as Benteen and I’m very happy to say he knocked it out of the park just as he did in the lead role of “And When the Sky Is Opened” a show we produced last year. On the original TV show “On Thursday We Leave For Home” was one of the hour-long episodes so with the radio versions being about 40 minutes, Dennis Etchison had to carefully reduce the show’s length. He does this by shortening some of the lengthy speeches and editing or omitting dialog that will not take away from the show’s meaning. If you’re a regular listener of TZ radio you may notice that in our radio shows that are adapted from the 30-minute television scripts (the majority of them) Dennis has to carefully “pad” the shows to make them 40 minutes. This is usually accomplished by an added lead-up scene to the main storyline or an additional scene in the story and also by adding pertinent dialog to the current scenes. I think that often times Dennis’s added dialog and new scenes help the listener understand the story better because, after all, this is radio and we don’t have the advent of any visuals. I think “On Thursday We Leave For Home” is going to be a great show from what I’ve heard so far.

Well, that’s all for now … catch you next time IN THE ZONE!

Well, this week we're in the throws of mixing "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You" starring Bonnie Somerville, Charles Shaughnessy and Mike Starr. I'm really happy with the way it's turning out and Bob Benson at Cerny is heading this one up. It's a really spooky one and I'm excited for listeners to hear it on the air very soon. The mix process for most TZ's takes about 100 hours of production with generally one main engineer (in this case Bob Benson) and then several assistant engineers ­ one to edit the dialog, two to create the Foley (sound effects), one to add the music and the main engineer who oversees and engineers the final mix. Generally the first thing that is recorded is the star's dialog in Los Angeles (or here in Chicago if the star is in town). That way the supporting Chicago actors and I can listen to the star's performance and get a feel for the pace and style ­ and so we can take notes as to how the star pronounces character names. For example, a name like "Dana" can be pronounced with a hard "a" or a soft "a" and it wouldn't be good if the star said it one way and the supporting cast said it another now would it??? So before I direct the supporting cast we do our prep work. The entire supporting cast receives their scripts with their role(s) circled about a week in advance. When they come in to the studio we record a rehearsal and then take a break and then record "the show." We record the rehearsal because in editing the final mix together we may borrow pieces and parts and replace them from "the rehearsal." It just gives the engineers a safety.

Then after we've recorded twice, we take a lunch break before going through the same process on a second script. I make sure that everyone eats a lot of food and are full because the microphones are very sensitive and can pick up stomach noises. The only downside to that is everyone is so full they sometimes get sleepy : ) I like to direct the supporting actors while in the room with them and not from a director's booth. We have two Neiuman U-87 microphones set so that actors can work both sides of the mics, that way we can have as many as four actors having dialog with each another at one time. The actors are always standing at the mics and they move in and out per their scripted lines. I am very fortunate to produce and direct this series in a city (Chicago) that boasts some of the best vocal actors in the country. I have about 10 "Zoners" that appear in most of the shows and then I mix in new actors to give the shows fresh voices. We always tease the new actors about it being their first time and we sometimes put them through a friendly initiation : )

Ryan, our in-house sound engineer, keeps a close watch on the VU meters making sure that the actors are recorded at the proper levels. Then all of the sound files are sent to Cerny American Creative to be assembled and mixed. Stacy Keach records the Narration usually twice per year about 10 shows at a time. These sessions are either done in LA or in Chicago depending on his schedule.

Well, that's a little info on the process --- come back often to check this blog. I'll see you next time in THE ZONE!