Episode 1 Wrapping up

I' m wrapping up production on episode one of The Puppet Diaries - an animated series I've been working on for the past couple of months. The series explores what it's like to work at a public television station as told from view point of puppets. Think Sesame Street meets The Office. I produced it doing frame-by-frame animation so it has a stop motion, claymation-like quality to it only without the plasticine mess since it's all done digitally(translation: VERY slow process, yet highly enjoyable). I really wanted to avoid the slick, fluid, 3D look of computer animation that can often seem cold, machine-like. I prefer the old Christmas claymation TV shows like Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer. It all had that great hand-made look to it. I'm also a big fan of Aardman Animations work, especially Wallace & Gromit. I did the voice overs for the main characters and I had a friend help out with a voice over for a female character.

I'm thinking of posting it online around Christmas time.

Quarterlife

Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick (creators of Thirtysomething, My So Called Life, Once and Again) have launched a new series Quarterlife. But this program won't be seen on any of the networks. It's for distibution exclusively on the web. In an L.A. Times article, Herskovitz explains that they've left television for the net because "a confluence of government policy and corporate strategy is literally poisoning the TV business." Herskovitz explains that "networks today exert a level of creative control unprecedented in the history of the medium. As owners, they have a responsibility to satisfy themselves that their product is competitive and successful. The problem, of course, is that these executives often have little background or qualification for making creative decisions."

Herskovitz and Zwick gave up their network deal with ABC and financed Quarterlife with their own money to maintain complete ownership and control of their show.

I've watched the show and I have to say it's one of the few times I've seen network quality writing and production values for a program developed exclusively for the web. It has all the hallmark Zwick and Herskovitz touches that made their previous shows so engaging. Smart, punchy, angst-ridden dialog and incredibly powerful, silent moments. Herskovitz and Zwick are masters of making an actor's simple gesture or a knowing look scream volumes.