Well this week I received an amazing TZ script written by Dennis Etchison from a story idea by Robert Patterson. It’s a brand new story (not based on one of the original TV shows) called “Mrs. Pierce Is Praying For Me” about a small-time hustler who’s down on his luck and running from the mob. When they put the squeeze on him by beating and nearly killing his brother, he learns a lesson about what really matters. His brother always got him out of jams when they were kids, but this time it’s his brother who needs help. Seems there was an old woman, Mrs. Pierce, who lived down the hall in the building where they grew up who had a special power - but that’s all I can tell you without ruining it. I’m hoping to cast and record this one sometime this year. Listen for it on a radio station near you.

And speaking of radio stations: Last week we mailed out a very cool TZ CD promotional mailer to 2,500 radio stations in the hopes of adding some of these stations to our growing list of about 150 stations right now. We haven’t mailed anything like this in a few years and it was time. If you don’t mail a promotional flyer out on your syndicated radio show just about every year the station count will degrade. The reason for losing stations for the most part is due to a format change. If we’re on a “Talk” station and then that stations suddenly decides to go all “Spanish” well, guess what?...we don’t offer TZ in Spanish so TZ and the station has to part ways. Even without a TZ promotional mailer we’ve managed to add quite a few stations over the past year, thanks to the great work by Westwood One and in particular, Stuart Greenblatt our affiliate coordinator. Stuart and his staff at Westwood One have done a stellar job of adding stations to our list and syndicating our show. Radio stations are a life’s blood to the continued success of TZ. The radio stations broadcast the show and the show has commercials inviting listeners to visit our website at www.twilightzoneradio.com where CDs and downloads of our episodes can be purchased. This revenue helps support the continued production so I greatly appreciate each and every one of you who has bought our shows and supported what we’re doing.

In other news, I’m thrilled to report that the week of June 23rd, Sean Astin is recording and starring in “The Amazing Dr. Powers” an original story (again not based on one of the original TV shows) by Barry Richert (who is a first time TZ writer but if this story is any indication of what will be coming -- it will be the first of many) and “Who Am I?” by Jerry Sohl. “Who Am I?” was an original Twilight Zone TV script that was never produced because the series was cancelled before it could be. In “Who Am I?” a man awakens one morning to discover that he has a different face, though no one else seems to notice that he has changed. It’s similar in feels to the Charles Beaumont story “Person or Person’s Unknown” yet very different. Both of these shows are going to be great and I’m psyched that they will both star one of my favorite actors, Sean Astin.

On the MIKE HAMMER front, our amazing writer Matthew Elliott has turned in the first script entitled “Dangerous Days” and it is fantastic. I’m in the process of casting the parts and we’ll be ready to record this in the next 10 days or so. Stacy Keach is not only starring as Mike Hammer and executive-producing the series, but he’s also composing and performing all of the music.

Well, that’s all for now, I’ll see you next week for more NEWS FROM THE ZONE!

Well, I’m proud to announce that TZ won a very prestigious award last week - it won an “Audie Award” for “the best audio adapted from another medium.” It was up against some major competition including “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” and TZ came away with the prize! The Audie Awards are to audio what the Academy Awards are to motion pictures so I’m very honored that it won such a coveted award.

Last year TZ won 8 radio awards of excellence including AFTRA’s highest honor “The American Scene Award.” It also won The XM Nation Award for best radio drama on Sonic Theatre, channel 163 (which is XM’s radio drama channel). It’s really great to win awards but what makes me most happy is to see that TZ is finally getting its due. Last year, besides winning so many awards, it was picked up for national syndication by Westwood One and we got the green light from CBS to begin adding new story ideas into the mix - - that’s what I’m really jazzed about. It’s funny, but being so close to it, I just expect everyone to love TZ as much as I do but it’s like anything else, things take time and success doesn’t happen over night.

Being so “into” radio drama (old & new) it’s so rewarding to begin to see the series finding its fan base and carving out its own little niche. One of the things that has helped us find an audience is that some of our radio shows appear as bonus material on DVDs of The Twilight Zone TV shows sold in Image Entertainment’s Twilight Zone Definitive Collection of 28 DVDs. This is the most amazing collection of The Twilight Zone TV show you will ever find. My friends at DeepDiscount.com sell this complete collection of the Twilight Zone TV series on DVD for the incredibly low price of $164.89 (I don’t believe anyone, not even Amazon sells it for less). The retail price is $299.96 so you save a whopping $135.00 off the sticker! Here’s what DeepDiscount.com says about it: “Explore the depths of the unknown in this complete collection of TV episodes from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Funny at times, heartbreaking at others, THE TWILIGHT ZONE was one of the most unique and inventive television shows ever created. Rod Serling developed the series on the premise of watching people experience things so bizarre they can only be part of a fifth dimension. Serling appears at the start and finish of each episode, acting as the viewer's guide through the TWILIGHT ZONE. Consistently compelling, moral, and thought provoking, the series still inspires remakes and contemporary spin-offs. All 156 episodes from the classic show are collected here.” And for those of you that might be interested in purchasing this amazing series on DVD from DeepDiscount.com, here’s the link: http://search.deepdiscount.com/dvd/Twilight%20Collection

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