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Scripts and Snow.

Well, the script for BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR-ROBOT is really something! Deniz Cordell is penning this one, and I gotta tell you it's a hoot! Walter Koenig read the first 86 pages (thats all we have at the moment) and was impressed! He had a few suggestions, which will be added to the draft, and I think the whole thing should be finished by the end of the month. This will be unlike ANYTHING Colonial has produced before. It's a black comedy, theater of the absurd, and our first time doing sci-fi. The characters are great, and the story is very original. You won't listen to it and say "Oh, this is like ...." Walter will headline this, along with the Colonial Radio Players.
We'll be recording this in the summer, and depending on post-production, we hope to deliver it late fall.

KING SOLOMON'S MINES has been plagued with recording cancelations due to good old New England Ice. Most of the country is going through rough weather, and we are not exempt. I had to cancel two sessions due to my coming down with the flu, and then had to cancel two more due to snow storms. We're trying again next week!

When we taped POWDER RIVER SEASON TWO three years ago we had the same problem. I remember the Custer episodes were canceled twice due to snow. But two years ago, when we recorded CAPTAIN BLOOD from Feb-April, we had NO problems with snow; and I think we had eight sessions for that one.

I'm starting to think about the cast for MOONFLEET. I am hoping to start this one in March.

So much to do!

HALLOWEEN in FEBRUARY

Yes, that's what it feels like around here with our production of Ray Bradbury's THE HALLOWEEN TREE in full swing! The show has been in post production for a while, and we are all thrilled with how it is turning out! I might even venture to say that it is possibly our best effort to date! In just a couple of weeks you'll be able to get an idea of what I'm talking about when we release a teaser for the show. With Chris Snyder working his wonders in the editing department, Jeff Gage turning out a magificent score (with three songs to boot!), and the story by the great Ray Bradbury ... who could ask for anything more? So keep checking the CRT site in the next couple of weeks .. we will post the trailer in the marquee on the home page!

Well, I have been taken out of action with the flu, since last Friday! I've been sick before, but never like this. I had to cancel Monday nights recording session for KING SOLOMON'S MINES, although we did a short 15 min. session for some re-takes that were badly needed for THE HALLOWEEN TREE, so J.T. Turner was here, did his takes, and then I did mine, and each line brought on a coughing fit to die for (I kindly waited for JT to leave before I attempted the lines). But, it's done and now editing can continue!
Feeling a little better today, and in the next couple of hours I'll see about the session scheduled for tomorrow night ... hopefully we'll get it done.

CRT heading for SPACE!

In all the years we have been producing radio plays at CRT, we have never done science fiction. Even the three productions we have done with Ray Bradbury were not quite sci-fi ... more fantasy I would say.
Well, that will change this summer! I am VERY excited to tell you all that we are going to produce BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR-ROBOT. This was a book written by Walter Koenig in 1988. Walter played Pavel Chekov in TV's STAR TREK, as well as in seven of the motion pictures. He also is known for the role of AlfredBester in Babylon 5.

Mr. Koenig will be joining us when we record the program, and will also be appearing in it. We are really looking forward to bringing it to life with the CRT Players, thousands of sound effects, and one of Jeff Gage's brilliant scores. Deniz Cordell is writing the audio script from the original novel, and Chris Snyder will do post production.

I've been a great Star Trek fan for many, many years, and this is just an amazing chance to work with one of the "Original Series Cast members," and also to thank him in return by producing his book BUCK ALICE and pulling out all the stops to make it into a first class audio production he will be proud of.

more recording

Another Monday! We recorded episodes 2 and 3 of KING SOLOMON'S MINES. Good session (and a few re-takes for THE HALLOWEEN TREE which is in final edit). I'm very happy with the results of KSM so far, and I think it will be a good one! It should see a release on CD (in a full feature length version) and also on XM Radio's SONIC THEATER (should be on in May or June). Hoping for a hit in Barnes and Nobel and Borders!

We will record next Monday and Thursday, and then the master vocals for this production will be complete.

Deniz Cordell has completed the script for our upcoming production of MOONFLEET, from the book by J. Meade Falkner. I am very excited about this one, and thinking about the casting. We'll move on it quick as I want it out for the summer. This will be a 10 episode series on XM, and will have a CD release as a continuous program (note the cool poster from the 1955 MGM film, based on the book)

4:30 AM. I gotta stop these crazy hours.

JOIN THE CLUB!

Some of you who read this blog may not realize that we have TWO CRT fan sites! We are in YAHOO GROUPS , and brand new on FACEBOOK. So far, Yahoo is much more interactive and our fans sure do have a lot to say! It's a lot of fun and the place to go for the latest CRT news. We have 70 members and it would be GREAT to get a whole bunch more!

Not sure I understand FACEBOOK yet, and there isn't too much interaction at the moment; I guess the site has to grow a little.

Many of the Colonial Radio Players are in these groups and I know they would love to hear from you!

Hope to see you there!

ZORRO is DONE!

Very happy to announce that this morning at 12:30am I finished the script for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS! Now it needs to be given the approval of Zorro Productions and then we can start the casting process. It is written as a six episode series for broadcast, but will released on CD as complete feature. From what I know, this is the first time ZORRO has been presented as a radio drama. If anyone knows otherwise, I would love to know!

COLONIAL RADIO POD CAST

We're gonna Pod Cast for a year! I have joined a group called Audio Drama Talk which is a large forum of folks who produce them. I realized that there is a whole new audience we have yet to discover, having only had our productions available in retail, whether it be on CD, Cassette, or download. So, I thought we should join in the fun and try a pod cast!

Jack Ward from The Sonic Society in Halifax Nova Scotia, will host the monthly program which I think will run a year. You will be able to go to the Sonic site and download these shows for your i-pod, or home computer. The show will be hosted by Jack, and will include interviews with various cast members, behind the scenes tales, and maybe even some bloopers here and there. Each new show will be available towards the end of month.

Here is the line up from Feb thru Dec.

FEB: Powder River: The New Owner / The Moment of Truth
MAR: Father Brown: The Three Tools of Death / The Queer Feet
APR: The Dibble Show: Flippin Flapjacks / The Great Bank Robbery
May: Old Ironsides – Escape to the Wind
JUN: Little Big Horn
JUL.: Minot’s Light / The Devils Bargain
AUG: The Dibble Show: Burstin’ Bagpipes / Here’s Lookin’ At You, Kid
SEP: Powder River: The Wind In The Mountains / The Iron Horse
OCT: Behind The Scenes With CRT
NOV: Jack And The Beanstalk
DEC: A Christmas Carol

OUR 13TH SEASON IS UNDERWAY!

Last night we started production on KING SOLOMON'S MINES and also recorded episode 9 of FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES. Lots of fun and a great cast! Shane Clarke was in both episodes (Shane has been with CRT for all 13 years), and Hugh Metzler, J.T. Turner, Amy Sheridan and Brian Rust. Everyone delivered some great stuff and I can't wait to get the dialog into editing and post. KSM's is on the fast track and I hope to have it released in March.

We are expecting to see FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES, VOL. 1 released to CD very soon; the masters were sent to Blackstone a week or so ago. We will continue to release individual episodes for download to Spoken Network as they are completed.

Also, we are in negotiations to produce our first true Science Fiction production! This is a genre we have not dabbled in, but we are hoping to roll on this one in the summer - and it's gonna be a big one, folks! We are talking with the author of the book, and hopefully we will be able to announce this soon.

thats all for now.

Recording tonight

Kevin McLeod has joined the production team for KING SOLOMON'S MINES which starts recording tonight. Kevin did the music for our FATHER BROWN series, and I'm very happy that he will do the honors for KSM! Eric Busby will produce the show, and along with myself the cast includes J.T. Turner and Hugh Metzler. We also have two new actors joining CRT tonight, so I am looking forward to a good time.

Long nights lately as I rush to finish the script for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS, pulling two all-nighters (after all dayers) that ended around six in the morning. I'll finish this script tonight after we record, and then it's done and we can move onto the next phase of production!

Pretty soon I hope to be able to tell you news about our TV series! How cool is that!?

Now it's time for an equipment check for tonight.