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| Posted by Amy Berg - Story Editor | |  | | 11/4/05 8:59 pm So you wanna know how the writing process on Threshold works? Anyone? No? Too bad, I’m gonna tell you anyway. Since mine airs tonight, I figure this is the perfect opportunity to let you in on how an episode of the show comes together. “Revelations” was born out of a conversation between executive producer Brannon Braga and co-executive producer Dan O’Shannon before the writing staff was even assembled. They’d just taken in a Vincent Price double feature and were sitting down afterwards, talking about Threshold. Dan thought it’d be cool if the show explored religious themes, and pitched out the metaphor of the alien invasion as a harbinger of the end of the world. Is this the ultimate battle between good and evil prophesied in the Book of Revelation? And what would happen if the aliens gained influence over a religious leader, convinced him what was happening was for the greater good? Sound creepy? Yeah, I thought so, too. So that’s where the idea came from. Now that we have a story, the next step is to pound out an outline and get it to the studio and the network. Once approved, it’s on to writing the first draft of the script. Then the second draft. Then the revisions. And more revisions. And then someone tells you you’ve gotta change the name of one of your characters because there really is a Joe Schmo living in Podunk, Indiana. There are other clearance issues to deal with as well. For example, did you guys know that most editions of the bible are copyrighted? Okay, you did. But I didn’t. And I thought it was fascinating. So there. Once the script is in good shape, we have a big production meeting with the heads of every department. This is usually the first day of prep on the episode. Basically what that means is you have a week to get everything together -- build sets, make props, find locations, etc. You also have to cast the show. Which can be really nerve-wracking if you’re someone like me. You see, I’m one of those really empathetic people. Not in the good way, but in the embarrassed-on-your-behalf kind of way. So as you can imagine, sitting in on three days of auditions can be pretty rough. But, I tell ya, there are some great actors out there. And most of them you’ve never heard of. So I’ve got to give props to all you as yet undiscovered folks for sticking with it. Why? Because acting is hard. There’s a great Rosalind Russell quote to this effect. Something like, “Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly." That’s what it must feel like to audition. So, kudos to all you actors out there. I empathize. Too much, in fact. Kudos also to our guest cast for this episode. They’re terrific. In particular, we’ve got a fabulous “special guest star” this week in the form of James Frain, a talented Englishman with an American accent that’s better than mine. Which is funny, see, because I’m American. Alright, that's enough for now. More later, once you’ve had a chance to watch the episode. I’ll give you a sneak peak inside the production process and maybe throw in some behind the scenes tidbits about what went on during the shoot. Cheers, Amy P.S. Be sure to tune in tonight for an all new episode of Threshold!! | | |
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| Posted by Andre Bormanis - Producer | | | | 11/4/05 8:01 pm As the resident alien expert, I thought it would be appropriate for me to write about Threshold from the alien’s perspective. Put you in their shoes, as it were. I’m speaking figuratively of course – the aliens have no shoes, let alone feet to put them in (on their home world, bi-pedalism is considered an utterly primitive form of locomotion, and especially bad taste on formal occasions). But they do have an agenda, and I think it deserves a fair hearing. Let’s start with some fundamentals. Planets like Earth are few and far between in this great big universe of ours. A lot of complicated physics has to go just right to create a world ripe for life: the planet has to be big enough to hold onto an atmosphere, but not so big that the surface gravity squashes everything. It has to be the right distance from the right kind of star so it doesn’t freeze or fry. Said star also has to be located in a life-friendly stellar neighborhood, i.e., the kind that doesn’t have too many cosmic rays or killer asteroids. The list goes on and on. Yes, I know, there are billions of stars in billions of galaxies, but that doesn’t mean there are hoards of planets out there you could happily call home. So many things can go wrong at so many stages of the process that the odds of making a world as lovely and lively as Earth are slimmer than a flatworm on Jupiter. Good planets are hard to find. That’s just the way it is. As any Californian will tell you, there’s nothing like great weather and a nice view of the coast to jack up the price of real estate. And when you get more than one person interested in a given piece of land, the inevitable outcome is a bidding war. Sometimes the bidding war can get a little nasty, especially if the current owner of the property doesn’t want to sell. But a reluctant seller never stopped a real estate deal that was meant to be. Ever hear of eminent domain? It’s a law that says the government can buy your house and tear it down to build something else, even if you don’t want to move. The aliens have their own version of eminent domain. They’ve been eyeing our property for quite some time, thinking how nice it would be to live here, and how much better off our Big Blue Marble would be if only they were running things (admit it, the place needs work, what with the pollution and overcrowding and global warming and so on). But here’s the catch. These little green Donald Trumps don’t actually have the interstellar moving van technology to relocate their species. So instead they’ve decided to do the next best thing: knock on Earth’s door with an unmanned space probe that can rewrite human DNA, turning us into them! It’s kind of like buying a nice place out of town for your genetically engineered kids. Someday, if all goes well (and when I say “well” I’m speaking of course from the alien perspective) humans will be transformed into a radically different form of life. At the moment, only a small number of people are in the early stages of this mutation, but it wasn’t so long ago that just a few Europeans crossed the Atlantic in three little boats to stake their claim on the American continent. And that turned out alright for everybody who was already here, didn’t it? Okay, maybe this isn’t such a good thing. But if this alien land grab is successful, at least we won’t have to wear shoes. | | |
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| Posted by Bragi Schut - Creator Supervising Producer | | | | 11/2/05 3:08 pm Hm... My very first blog! Where to start... where to start... How about the beginning!? The idea for the show. Well, believe it or not it all started with a single image. It was something I saw while I was driving down the FDR in NY (that’s where my family is from). I was visiting the folks and I was driving along the east river and it was pouring rain. I mean, drenching downpour -- the kind that soaks you in about a millisecond. I look out the driver side window and, through a curtain of rain, I see this rusted old freighter inching it’s way along. I remember there was something kind of creepy about it... you could just make out a shadow in the wheelhouse, presumably the captain, and he was standing there, just staring out to sea. I started imagining different scenarios. How frightening it would be, being stuck at sea for months at a time on a lonely freighter. They probably don’t have much of a crew. Maybe ten, twelve guys... one radio... A lot can go wrong on a ship. I started visualizing different scenarios. I’ve always been a huge fan of monster movies and science fiction films so my mind started spinning in those circles. Aliens. They’ve crashed into the ocean (or maybe it wasn’t a crash at all, but something more sinister?). The aliens somehow get onto that freighter and they start taking over the minds and bodies of the crew. By the time the freighter pulls into harbor, nobody knows it but the entire crew has been over-written. Changed. They’re no longer human. Wait a second -- stop everything. It would never get that far, I realized. We’d know about it as soon as a UFO entered the atmosphere. We have people watching for that kind of thing. Hell, we probably have plans to deal with that kind of thing. I remembered an article in Popular Mechanics about a contingency plan for first contact. They didn’t cite any specific sources, but they seemed pretty sure the US had a plan. It might be tucked away in some drawer, collecting dust, but there had to be a plan. Not having a plan would be a HUGE oversight... And if there’s one rule in politics, it’s cover your ass. So there had to be a plan. Which means somebody wrote it. That got me thinking about the poor shmuck who wrote it. Can you imagine having written the plan that everyone on the planet is counting on to save our collective asses? Talk about pressure. So that was the kernel of the idea. I threw the concept at my father who was riding beside me in the passenger seat. He just shook his head. Crazy kid looks at a boat and starts thinking about aliens. But I was starting to get really excited. “The plan is called Threshold,” I told him. “It’s got three stages or levels. The second stage is called Foothold. That’s when things get really ugly and the aliens have established a foothold on our planet.” “Let me guess. The third stage is called strangle-hold?” my father ventured. “Yeah! Exactly! But we don’t get to strangle-hold for a while. That’s when we’ve almost lost and there’s one last ditch effort to put ourselves back on top of the food chain.” So that’s where the original idea came from. Hope you enjoyed my very first blog... Now, if someone can tell me where the hell they got the word “blog,” I’ll be real happy. Wait, stop everything! Dan O’Shannon, the co-executive producer, just poked his head in my office to tell me it stands for “web log.” Yes! It all makes sense now! So thanks for watching the show everyone! And please pass along the good word to your friends and families... and keep rooting for Molly and the Red Team, because they have some hard times ahead. --Bragi Schut | | |
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| Posted by Amy Berg - Story Editor | | | | 11/2/05 2:44 pm Someone’s gotta be the first to post, so it might as well be me. I’m a story editor here on Threshold and in case you’re like my parents and have no idea what that means, a story editor is basically a staff writer but with a better office. Since this is the first post, I should probably talk a little about the show before beseeching you to watch my episode when it airs Friday, November 4th at 9pm. So here goes... There are aliens among us. There was this probe that appeared over the bow of a naval vessel, you see, and it emitted this high-frequency signal. And all those who were exposed were changed by it. Their DNA mutated, their brain waves altered. They were no longer human. Those who survived the change made it back to shore and now they’re trying to infect the rest of us. By whatever means necessary. But don’t worry. We have a plan. It’s a really good show. You should watch. But I don’t have to tell you. You guys already watch. Why else would you be reading this? So here’s what you have to do for us. Tell your friends. And your acquaintances. And that ex-girlfriend you don’t talk to anymore but you heard her neighbor has a Nielsen box and you really want to do us a solid. Now I don’t know if you guys noticed, but we’ve got an exceptional cast on this show. Carla Gugino. Charles S. Dutton. Peter Dinklage. Brent Spiner. Rob Benedict. Brian van Holt. Who am I forgetting? Oh yeah, Linus. He plays Molly’s dog, Monster. He’s got a great cameo in next week’s episode (which is called “Revelations” and airs Friday, November 4th at 9pm if I haven’t mentioned that already). Now onto what you guys really want to hear about. Behind the scenes stuff. And since you probably don’t really care about the excellent craft service in the writer’s office, I’ll start with the cast. Carla is amazing. A consummate pro. Always comes prepared and always has great ideas. I’ve never seen an actor improve a scene the way she can. Dutton is the sweetest man alive. He doesn’t get a chance to show it often because of the nature of his character, but he’s got a great laugh and an incredible smile. Guess we’ll have to save that for the episode where Baylock quits government and starts writing full-time for The Onion. Rob Benedict. Rob is absolutely essential to the show because he’s playing you. He’s conveying the fear and uneasiness we want you to feel when you watch the show. And he’s in a band, so he’s super cool. What can you say about Peter Dinklage? I mean, have you seen Station Agent? I don’t need to tell you how talented he is. And just as Carla can improve a scene, he can improve a line. With his delivery alone. Amazing stuff. Brent Spiner claims to remember every line he’s ever spoken in everything he’s ever been in. I called him on it, gave him an episode title from ST:TNG and had him recite some lines from it. How’d he fare? Well, let’s just say from now on I’m gonna watch what I say around him because he’ll be able to throw it back in my face twenty years from now. Brian van Holt is really hot. Girls, you know what I’m talking about. He’s also the most playful person on set. Gets along with everybody and everybody gets along with him. He’s that kind of guy. Just don’t ask him to pull a gun out of a holster three times fast. Sorry, Brian. I had to do it. Well, that’s enough to bore you for now. More later. But first I’m gonna have our show creator, Bragi Schut, write a little something about how he came up with the idea for the show. Fascinating stuff. Cheers, Amy P.S. Friday, November 4th at 9pm. | | |
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