Productive day! Got some more editing finished for our XM show. We delivered 7 weeks worth for season 2 so far, so I have lots more to get ready. Cutting some of our feature programs into half hour episodes. Today I was working on KIDNAPPED. So .. the process goes something like this

1) put a copy of the entire program on the screen - so you see the show on the grid.

2)Cut out all the opening / closing credits, end of act / start of act tags.

3)Figure out how much you need to cut to fit the show into five 24 to 25 minute episodes. (In the case of KIDNAPPED, I needed to eliminate 12 minutes). I start with editing out long pauses, and after that I trim parts of sentences, scenes; so its not a hack job and makes sense!

4) Split it into 5 segments, add the opening and closing CRT theme to each episode, for the broadcast.

5) Split each segment into 2 acts

6) Add bumper music from the original KIDNAPPED score at the end / start of acts.

7) Write the host narration for each episode (Including the credits for what actor is in which episode)

8) Record the host narration

9) Edit the narration, then

10) insert it into each episode, and over the closing theme.

11) Send it off to XM!

Kidnapped took pretty much most of the day today, and most of yesterday. Next up is THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE. We recorded this one five years ago, so it will be difficult to trim because I havent heard it in years and I wont remember where certain scenes are.
Anyway, thought you might like a peek at the process.

A friend said he saw CAPTAIN BLOOD on the shelf at three different Barnes and Nobles! I hope it is selling!!

Still not 100% after my illness, so I think I'm actually going to crash early tonight (which means I'll wake up at 4am. I cant seem to sleep more than 4 hours. Odd)

Keep listening!

Well, I am somewhat back in action again after a week off due to ILLNESS! Hey, at least thats one way to stop working! I rarely get sick, but when I do, it's like the Lusitania going down. Started with some gall bladder issues just before we recorded SOMETHING WICKED, which I didnt want to believe at first, but then I came around to reason. My lower back was a in lot of pain, and then, lets top it all off with the flu! That was my week! I haven't done anything with CRT (except write a bible for a possible tv project) all week. BUT - now that I am living on salads (oh gawd help me) and the only thing left of the flu is a cough, I am back to work editing down "Kidnapped" for an XM Broadcast this season.

Thank's to the The Audio Addict people can now post comments on my blog (I always thought they were turned on but I guess they weren't. I dont know how to do this stuff)! So thanks, AA! Once again you have solved a problem for me! (Now she has to show me how to use these links things because I just wasted a half hour trying to link her site using these stupid link "letters and slashes and dashes" things! AAARRGHHH!

Other news - Next Monday we record a re-make of our 2001 production TREASURE ISLAND. So that should be fun! I love that story - it is one of my all-time favorites, and I know we can do a more polished, trim and snappy version for the CD release! Same script as before, just a new cast and steppin' on the gas peddle.

Recording A PHIL BYNRES MYSTERY starts 2 weeks later - and then I need to start thinking about writing my next 20 POWDER RIVER scripts for Season 4 that I want to get on XM in February.
Speaking of which, POWDER RIVER started its new season (and our second season) on XM yesterday! I am really starting to like this series, and the mail we get from listeners is amazing! Out of all the shows we have made, the ones that people write to us about are DIBBLE and POWDER RIVER! It's great to think that someone likes it enough to spend time writing a letter or an email. That is a wonderful compliment.

OK, time to get back to it.
Aloha!

Two very long days - and we have SOMETHING WICKED in the can! Well, the vocals anyway. We'll be in post for about 3 months. Today - working on the new Bradbury script! Ray gave me permission to adapt this book into a radio play, so I am hoping to have it finished later this week so I can send it off to him for his comments.

Why do I still call them "Radio Plays." Some people call them Audio Drama, Audio Theatre (which to me sounds like a home entertainment set-up, which is what you get when you google the phrase) some call it Audio Cinema. They're all good. I just prefer to stay with Radio Play. It has equity in the name - and everyone knows instantly what you mean. When I have used the term "Audio Theater," or "Audio Drama," the response is usually "Huh? What's that?" then I tell them, and then I hear back "Oh, like an old time radio play!"

Radio Play. As soon as you say the word, everyone instantly knows you mean. To some, they may think of a mono, scratchy recording. However, when one says "Movies," one doesnt think of square screen black and white flickers from the Golden Age. They think modern film. If someone hears one of our shows, they won't think it was recorded 60 years ago (at least I hope not). Maybe if everyone called them radio plays people would be thinking of them in terms of modern programs, as we do now with movies.
Then you get into the debate of podcasting and such; "an i-pod is not a radio, so why do you still use the term radio play" I have been asked. I reply with "a television set is not a motion picture theatre, and a DVD or VHS is not a 35mm reel of film, yet we still call them movies." Personally, I dont care what they are called. I'll stick with Radio Play or Radio Theatre though. It has a very rich history, and I love history; it's something to build on.

Had a good, productive day. Met with Jeff at Victor and Mae's CHINA CUISINE (My favorite restaurant - Main Street, North Reading folks) - and we talked about upcoming projects. He is in the middle of composing tracks for our new series A PHIL BYRNES MYSTERY, and then he moves onto SOMETHING WICKED. You know, Ray wrote an incredible script. Where the Disney film took some liberties, the script he sent us is "by the book." I can only imagine what Jeff will do with the Carousel scenes (and Ray reminded us "it must be the funeral march') - and Jeff has the Calliope down pat from our TOBY TYLER a couple of years back. I can't wait to get into the middle of this one!

Now, it's time to crash and put the Beatles on!
JR

POWDER RIVER may start a run on a station in Illinois, which is very cool! They carry us when they re-broadast Dean Spratt's "Thursday Night Potpourri," on the W0KIE Satellite Network, but in the re-bradcast we dont air until 2AM, so this way we would be Sunday afternoons. We'll see if it pans out! Dean is now running Season Three of PR, and you can hear it on the internet feed - at 11pm EST. Tonight is episode 2, so check it out! Dean does a great job and we have been with him since last October. You can find the link on the Colonial website www.colonialradio.com and it is listed on the homepage under "Colonial on the Air"

Chris Snyder is editing our production A VISIT WITH AESOP (our 193rd production) which is pretty cool! J.T. Turner performs this (and created it) as one of his several several traveling school shows, and I asked him if we could record it as a radio play - and he said yes! We actually taped it last February, but then everything went crazy two weeks later when we started recording CAPTAIN BLOOD, and then we went right into DANDELION WINE and then the final 10 episodes of POWDER RIVER, so poor Aesop was sitting on the the shelf waiting ... waiting .... waiting. BUT, the wait is over and the show is now in post!

Today - lets see - assigning the voice casting for the upcoming TREASURE ISLAND ON THE FAST TRACK, well, I added the "on the fast track" part myself .... then meeting Jeff Gage to give him some CAPTAIN BLOOD copies before he jets off to Chicago to see WICKED for the 50th time, then more writing.

~JR

Getting ready for recording SOMETHING WICKED, which begins next week. We are also going to be re-recording our TREASURE ISLAND a couple of weekes after, followed by A PHIL BYRNES MYSERY in late September. We have a BRAND NEW series in the works too! I'll announce that one very soon - it is being penned by a wonderful writer from the UK, M.J. Elliot!
Me? Working on dramatizing a book from Ray Bradbury that we are planning to record in the fall, and starting to kick around some ideas for POWDER RIVER - SEASON 4. So that is my Wednesday.

CAPTAIN BLOOD

I was at my local Barnes and Noble store tonight, and low and behold, there was our CAPTAIN BLOOD on the shelf in the audio section! I had not yet seen the finished product, and it was VERY cool to see it there on shelf! So naturally i bought it! Our cast copies are on the way, but hey, it was in my hand and ..........
It looks great, very slick packaging and the CD's look great!
Off to record some Dibble into's for the XM show. Yes, it's 1:00 am, but I like recording in the middle of the night.
Later!
JR

Thanks!

I never really understood the Jack Benny turning 39 every year gag until now (now that 39 is in my long ago distant past)!

Thanks to everyone who sent me e-cards, card cards and emails on this, the darkest of days. Seriously, they were very much appreciated!

CAPTAIN BLOOD continues to sail - and thanks to all of you who have written to me about it (It's always great to hear that someone is listening!!).

More later - just wanted to say thanks to everyone!
cheers
Jerry

Vacation thoughts

How nice is this?? The first Monday in four weeks that we are NOT recording! After a POWDER RIVER marathon - recording 10 episodes in 4 weeks (and writing them all in the weeks between each session) - I am really enjoying the stress-free day. CAPTAIN BLOOD appears to be going well! I have yet to see the finished packaged product, but hopefully that will happen this week.

Today is one those incredible New England days - it feels like 78 or so, and there is a strong, cool breeze and the air is clear with no humidity. I'm still glued to the writing desk, but its nice with the window open. I decided that next summer I am taking a vacation! I haven't had one in years. I am thinking maybe a week on the Cape, or something quiet up north. Maybe two weeks. I love my work, I really do, and so far this year I've written 37 scripts, re-vamped two others, and still have a full length program to write, 20 more episodes of POWDER RIVER starting in October, and editing new programs, and our XM series, and recording on top of all that .... so yep, I could use a break! Waaa waaa waaa. No, I'm not complaining - I'm just looking forward to some time away. But you know what will happen? When I am away, I will come up with new ideas, and after a week I'll be dying to get back to work. Odd.

A FUN NIGHT

Well, last night we got most of the cast together and broke the champagne bottle over our production of DANDELION WINE! It was a great party with tons of food and deserts (including Marcia's 100 proof tart), and the show was played on the incredible BOSE system ... almost three months to the day that we recorded the vocals! Now we sit back and hope we have a hit on our hands. The program will be released December 1st, and will be available on shelf at Barnes and Nobel, Borders, and online everywhere, worldwide!

In other news, Chris Snyder is going a mile a minute on the POWDER RIVER series, and we are only five episodes away from total completion!!

I am also VERY happy to announce that we are going into production with a brand new series!! This September we roll on a new Detective, film-noir style drama called A PHIL BYRNES MYSTERY, written by Sable Jak. I love the scripts, and I am looking forward to producing this series!! I'm figuring out the casting now.

That's it from the writing desk,
cheers
JR

UPDATES

We held our final audition yesterday for our upcoming production of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and we cast the two lead roles, which are played by two 13 year old boys. I always get nervous when a role needs to be played by a youngster, because you run the risk of not being able to cast it. Well, we had FIVE incredibly talented kids read for these two roles. Each had their own unique personalities and charisma and I wanted to cast ALL of them (and I am not just saying that). Boy, these guys were good. I emailed Ray when I got home and asked him about another story of his that I would like to do - so we could have all these kids in it, and he said YES!! I need to adapt the book into a script, so I will do that soon and hopefully, if they are available, we'll capture all these incredible talents in that production.

J.T. Turner is great! He read with these kids so I could listen to the voices, and I really appreciate his opening his Church so we could have the auditions there. Thanks, J.T.

Nancy Curran Willis is going to direct this production, as I have mentioned before. She is always so prepared! Nancy did a fantastic job with DANDELION WINE, and I know she will go to town with the dark side of SOMETHING WICKED.

Speaking of DANDELION WINE, we are having a cast listening party this Thursday night!! This will be the first time the cast has heard the show, so it should be a fun time!

POWDER RIVER - Season Three is DONE!! We recorded the last three episodes last night. It was a great session, and it was awesome having Tom Berry and Mark Cafazzo back in Studio G playing two of our most hideous villains in the series to date. Season 3 starts airing this Thursday night on the W0kie Satellite Network (the link is on the CRT site under "Colonial on the Air" on the home page) and it will run every Thursday night at 11pm. ) It opens our second season on XM Radio Sept. 4th!!

That's all for now! Hope you're all having a good summer!
cheers
JR