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19 March 2009 @ 03:56 pm

Progress, HOORAY! **SPOILERS**

Well I am very happy to say that the Suburb Sim snowball is now well and truly rolling down hill and picking up speed. The writing team have been very busy and the next 3months of episodes are sketched out and ready to be filmed on set. There's some serious character progression going on, some new faces and I think some juicy storylines for readers. Though the writing is done I am always busy at work:

Characters:

Rosalind Franco - Cast, simmerville actress Glorietta Wooblershield.
Sue Bridges - Not cast, no front runners. Female, mid to late 40's. Initial 12episode contract leading to more if successful
Guy - Not cast but a couple of possible's to approach. 3-6month story-arc
James - Late 20's, early 30's. 1 episode, 2 scenes.
Karen Ward - Cast.

In addition we are looking for regular extra's. It by no means guarantee's aire time but both the characters of Keith Gleeny & Emily Ward started as extra's.

Contracts:

Five terminated: Justine Cairns, Dean Ludlow, Annette Greggs, Oliver Reed, Ajjan Mendes.
Two extended: Honey Michels, Jessica Yetler

Shopping List:

•Coffee Mugs/Cups
• Tatoo Parlour
• Female Dressing Gown
• Beer cans/bottles
•Character Funeral Clothes

If anyone knows where I can find any of the above I'd be most greatful! Its the first day back on set tomorrow and I can't wait!

Tags: casting, suburb sim

Current Mood:

jubilant

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17 February 2009 @ 05:52 pm

I'm getting bored of saying over and over how appalled I am about the lack of updates, but it really is quite obscene. For a drama that 's supposed to be set in a "Soap" format there really is no excuse. Currently I am sketching out a ten episode story arc and none will aire until all have been filmed - at least that way there will be a continuous run of episodes for the viewers to get engrossed in. We've left SS at such a crucial time what with Penelope's illness, Marc's death and just as Laura's nightmare is going to unfold.

Episodes 124,125 & 126 have been written and scripted. My juices are flowing again so I hope to make some headway over the next few days, get the scripts written and get filming underway. I've hired a couple of actors, renewed a couple of contracts and said a few goodbyes to some foudn cast members.

You will also soon see a Suburb Sim banner change. Many of the characters have or are soon going to depart and we have some new cast joining so look out for the changes.

I also need to start thinking about updating the sets. They are looking a little tired, hurriedly put together, Suburb Sim needs a little more style! And that goes for the characters clothes as well, certain members attire is a little dull! I need to spice it up!

Here's some little hints and spoilers - there's a pregnancy coming up, there's an affair of the heart and as if we didn't already know a murder trial!

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14 July 2008 @ 12:25 am

I can't believe how ridiculously long its been since a) my last post here and b) the last episode of Suburb Sim aired!! Horrendous!!

Starting out with the new episode - The Suggestion - I also decided it was high time for a clean up on the Suburb homepage. I think the new layout is great, its more attractive, concise and generally has a much much better feel about it! The only thing that I do need to work on, probably to update next month, is the banner. With several cast changes coming about it will need to be re-done - as it is Keith Brooks (Garth) and Kaleesha Weaver (Cathy) are already outdated. I was sad to hear that Kaleesha had left us, she was poached by another network for a soap which, as it happens, didn't work out. However, she's decided that because of the timeline in Simborough she wouldn't come back - her children are are teens, her husband is an elder and she feels she must focus on family life before its over. I quite agree, but its a sad loss to the cast.

In addition to that we will be losing 6 cast members over the next few months, 4 of them in the very near future. I need to think about replacements. One new male cast member seems to have disappeared on me so I need to re-cast that role and there are a couple of cast members that simply have "dead in the water" characters right now. If I can't think of a decent story then I'll chop them. However, there is a chance that we will have Hazel Starr-Grey joining the cast and I can confirm that I WILL be offering to renew Honey Michels (Lisa Benton) contract later this month. I think her character has fitted in nicely and perhas may save Paul Kane's (Harry) bacon because I was thinking of chopping his character too. Hummm......decisions!

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01 November 2007 @ 05:13 pm

Episode 114 - The Frightened Friend aired today and I'm quite happy with the Episode. It was cut a little shorter than it was supposed to but actually I think it ended up better. I'm trying not to end all the episode's on cliff hangers - sometime's its not needed, a simple monologue esc page can be just as effective.

I'm mapping out the Episode up until and just after xmas and there's some major changes in cast. Suburb will get a makeover, some new sets and we will be losing some characters. As already Kaleesha Weaver has been snapped up, she's filming her last scene's with us this week. Another 3 main characters will be gone by the new year and possibly a few more after that. I can't say much but it'll be a massive storyline and there WILL be at least one death included. Honey Michels joined us on set and filmed her first scenes as well and she seemed to fit in nicely. She has a 6month contract with us, as all new characters get, but there is definately the possibility that we may keep her on.

Ruins, has once again taken a massive bashing. I'm afraid we were waiting for the Bon Voyage deal but it all went wrong in Simborugh and was cancelled so many of the sets and items we were waiting for will no longer be available to us. I REALLY want to do this film, but its taking a long time...as is the other series I wanted to do ....The Couch.

Altogether though I'm just glad we got an episode of SS out. That must be first priority. If I can get a load of filming under my belt and really hit it hard perhaps we'll have some free time to do some other things!

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09 September 2007 @ 06:42 pm

Goodness, goodness, goodness!

Well I had some shocking news at the office this morning, Kaleesha Weaver's been snapped up by another channel and she won't be renewing her contract with Suburb Sim! I should have known she'd leave at some point but I guess I just wasn't thinking it would be this soon.....she and Amar are a great couple on the show and with their recent storyline I was hoping that they'd both stick around for a while. Now I totally don't know what to do in terms of Cathy & Sangeev's storyline. Amar's contract isn't up for termination, and even if it was I wouldn't want to lose him, so somehow I have to come up with a convincing storyline for the split of Cathy and Sangeev! Oh dear!

But good luck to her in the new project. At least I'll be able to continue watching her on screen, and she's a Simborough resident so I hope we stay friends. Can't stop....must start rewriting!

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18 August 2007 @ 01:38 pm

Decisions & Projects

Gosh, well I have a lot on my mind! And lots of work to do - I really shouldn't be writing here, I should be working! Chang Lee films has taken me on to direct the movie "Ruins", I'm very excited about it and am looking forward to doing some actual film work.

Suburb Sim
SS is going along quite nicely. We got two episodes aired and I need to get to work sketching out the next 5-6 episode arc. Sydney & Paul's wedding is only just around the corner, Tom's in a coma, and there's some other stories bubbling under the surface waiting to come out. Poor Daniel Oognata's had some bad luck this month with his family so I'll try and take the focus off of Rico for a while - though this may be a little difficult with a story I had planned for the Franco's.
We have a couple of new actors joining for some small story arc's and I'm looking forward to working with them on set and getting the stories going. Honey Michels has just flown in from Simmington Hills and once she's done with Paul Yates at "Pure Gold Agencies" she'll be driven to set so we can get to work
Although I announced that SS wouldn't be a weekly airing soap anymore, this was really just to save myself, I do really want to keep it airing weekly as much as possible, otherwise I find storylines' just get lost and its easy to forget what happened last episode. Anyway, things are working out well.

Ruins
I've been given the priviledge to direct the upcoming movie "Ruins". Based around a adventure archeology theme the film tracks archeologist Charles Benthorpe as he travels the world searching ancient worlds and ruins. The script hasn't been written yet but the basic story has been sketched out and it'll probably have to be filmed in a three part series to allow for upload and movie size space.
As far as I know Charles Benthorpe hasn't been cast yet but I've heard that the producer's are interested in possibly casting Alphonzo Swain in the role....though I don't even know if they've contacted him yet. His sidekick Brenda Jarvis has been given to Kristina Graham, a young actress from Roswell. Her mother is Renee Graham, aka Reese from Arrendale Heights. I'm excited about working with a actress totally new to the industry....lets hope this makes her big!

Possible new series
I'm vaguely contemplating a new series but shown in a completely different format. I have the idea to make a *silent* series that will actually show on sim's TV's rather than web based. Rather like the productions by Simmerville Studio the series would be made for that screen. We would music to intimate the moods of the scene's rather than actual dialogue and viewers could then create their own stories....i.e they would have an idea what was happening, but nothing concrete. This idea is still in concept but I would like to see it through to fruition. I'm going to investigate a few storyline options, how it would be made, etc. I think that once I have the music sorted I could film the scenes and see where I go....I think I'll make a pilot episode and see how it goes down. Of course, this is only an idea, I haven't thought of characters, stories, cast etc at all yet.....I will contact Glorietta Wooblershield at Simmerville to find out how their material is produced.

What else?
Well of course, though I'm not in charge of it there is Make Me A Model to finish and also my mother is busy with STAR magazine which hasn't aired for a few months. All these projects make it hard going but as long as I can get the outstanding stuff done then we'll be ok. MMAM only has a couple of episode's left and so will soon be concluded. I must get to work on it..and until then other things must wait!!

Current Mood: productive

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28 July 2007 @ 05:10 pm

I'm having a slight breakdown over here at the Suburb Sim headquaters. Filming has been going well, and we have the stills for two episode under our belts. So today I started and finished the script editing and loaded the showereel - ready to go. Or so I thought! The terminal crashed and I think I've lost the whole lot....3 hours hard work with the script, one i was really proud of, and I think its all gone! I'm gutted!

We used a terminal called Homestead so I emailed the technics to see if they can retrieve anything. The terminal crashed and when we entered back in all the saves to current pages were still there....but newly created pages, of which I'd done at least 30, all had gone! I'm VERY annoyed right now! And I so wanted to get the episode out today but it will have to wait as I dont' want to touch anything until they contact me again and I doubt that'll be before Monday. All I can hope is that because they're an American company (we're filmed in Britain and its 17:00 over here) they might work Saturday's and I might get some feedback today, totally cross your fingers everyone as I don't know if I have the heart to get straight back onto the machine and do it all over again - I doubt the writing will be as good. :O(

Current Mood:

stressed

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15 April 2007 @ 12:04 am

I can't believe it....after months of speculation about the series we aired Episode 108: The Little Green Man.

I'm very happy with post-production as I think the Episode came out fairly well. I'd forgotten how many things were going on with the characters....and also what's still to come. Now I have this episode out I am once again motivation to start working on the others so tomorrow I will finish filming Episode 109 & crack on with Episode 110. We have filmed some of the scenes for 109 already...mostly the court scene's with Keith Brooks. It needed several alterations and additional cast members so took time to sort everyone out ready for filming. In addition the roof blew off in the middle of filming and it started raining inside!! It was pandamonium.

We also need to get working on the new set for Rachel Lawson's house. It is a grand place, showing how much Merle really did leave to her and in turn showing her up for the small amount she was furious that Rosy got her hands on. She has some interesting stories coming along and many characters are due to get tangled in her web so i can't wait to see how the episodes span out.

I added a small questionaire to the forum....just to get some constructive feedback from viewers. I know that I have my favourite characters that i enjoy writing for more than others and I wanted to get the public's views on this. Who's the best and least favourite character? Why do they like certain characters and not others? Favourite storylines? That kinda thing. I'll be interested to read what comes back to me and it'll sure influence a few decisions I make over the coming months.

Other than that life is very good in the Hood. With the expansion into Greater Simborough and the new Hood Upgrade everything is purring like a baby...life seems to be getting on track again. I interview for the Gloria Show and am this month's cover of STAR...can you beleive it! I know my mother's the editor but she wouldn't put me in if the public weren't interested. Emily and I are saving at the moment so we can snatch a bigger house as soon as one is available. Some new flats have gone up in town but their only 1 and 2 bed which is no use to us. Sarah is growing fast and we may have another child so would like another room. The bungalow we're in at the moment is only 2bed and planning permissions restrict us from building another story so we can't expand in any direction. There are a few houses that may be up for sale soon due to elderly owners so I keep an eye out but you feel bad about wishing someone to die so you can buy their house.

Anyhow, lots of writing to do,

See you all soon.

Current Mood:

pleased

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29 March 2007 @ 05:52 pm

Things are looking up

Well as from next week things are looking up for the future of SS. We have had many problems on set lately....ever since the weather front system arrived all the actors seem to have been in a strop and things have been taking soo long to do. Just getting onto the sets has been taking up to 15minutes at a time.

However, Simborough council has granted a new hundred pound system which should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. With this up and running we should be able to whizz along! I can't wait! I will finally able to work on SS without getting hugley frustrated!

Current Mood:

ecstatic

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09 March 2007 @ 06:20 pm

I'm feeling really unmotivated at the moment and that in itself is annoying me. I can't believe its March already, SS was supposed to start airing in Feb after xmas but it still hasn't. Its not that I haven't written the scripts....I have done them up to Chapter 120, but I simply haven't had the time to get to the studio. The journey there takes so much time, and now because of problematic weather conditions, where it could take 5minutes before its more like 25 now. Sometimes I just don't want to go in because I know the time it'll take.

Filming for the nexp part is nearly complete...there's only one scene left to shoot which is a relatively easy one but we need Harry Olf for it, and would you believe it, he's off sick. The mood on set is sad at the moment as we're filming the last scene's for Keith. He's been here from the beginning and its sad when sims move on but it is the way. I'm also slightly regretting giving long term contracts to the Franco girls....or more I can't believe I was such an idiot with naming them. They've been in SS nearly a year now and I still get their names mixed up, that was a bad mistake on my part....I don't know why I didn't realise it would become a nightmare to remember the correct names and which is which. I mean, Alita & Anita....what was I thinking!! There are a few options, 1) I write one girl out. 2) I develop a storyline where she one girl want's to change her name. Perhaps I could develop a nickname for one of them or something. Whatever the case is I need to do some soon as its doing my, and probably the viewers, heads in!

Personally life is hectic. Emily and I are still stuck in our little home with Sarah. There are rumours at some new hood laws restricting growth even more, due to the weather. They're thinking of opening up a new area called Greater Simborough, and encourgaing new movers to go there so there's less load up time. I think when we get enough money under our belt I may do that. My social life is also very hectic at the moment, and other than Producing SS I am looking for a new job which takes up a lot of time.

Alas, all I can update on at the moment is that SS is coming, we're filming, scripting, writing....I just can't tell you when it'll start to aire again.

Current Mood:

discontent

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04 February 2007 @ 08:13 pm

Time to get busy!

Life has been fairly quiet at work and I've had a large amount of time to sketch out the next few months storylines and scripts. I'm once again aspiring to get back to basics, have a more "normal" storyline that loads of things that frankly wouldn't occur in normal life. Saying that however there are some quite serious storylines coming up which I hope to develop and through them we'll see some major changes to characters lives and the cast as several members move off. Its a hard thing to do to cut characters but sometimes they just get really stale and there's simply nowhere for them to evolve. It should be interesting to say the least, to see what happens and I hope we have an exciting future in store.

The actual filming has been held up because I simply haven't found enough time to get down to the studio. I'm about to go to Apple Valley to record on the new talk show so fitting everything in has been hard. I can't wait to meet Em De'Long and Fiorenza...I know so much about them. I'll also be meeting Gloria Fardage for the first time....I know her old character Jen so well but she left before I came onboard.

I also need to do some hardwork on the characters themselves other than storylines...including a lot of wardrobe shopping. Much of the characters wear the same thing day in day out which gets a little boring...I want to spice stuff up a little. I also want to do some promotion posters of the cast so I need to set up photoshoots and the like.

I'm very excited about how the whole thing is going to be honest but I am very overworked at the moment. Mum's magazine STAR seems to take an extroadinary amount of time...and the studio is often not available due to filming Make Me A Model. My idea's for a big new movie series have been once again put on the back burner.....it just takes too much time, time which I haven't got.

Anyway....I must stop talking and do more work!

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05 January 2007 @ 11:59 pm

When to start??

Well I'm finally back but Suburb Sim seems to be in disarray. I can't seem to get the cast and crew all together in one place at the same time. We need to set a definate date for re-airing but I'm coming to the conclusion that we may put it off slightly until Feb. This'll mean that we can film and get a few episode's under our belt which, I think all parties concerned will agree, is much less stressful. When you get to Fri and some scene's for that nights episode still haven't been filmed, well, you'll see me pulling my hair out! That's why I keep it short!

I have several new idea's for Suburb. I want to bring the storylines down a bit, not such huge events, but small family style tribulations. I finally agreed one particular story with Susan (Penelope) who has come to terms with the story and is happy at the moment to follow the direction we want it to take....it would be sad to lose her. Penelope's a great character so we shall see.

I've also had some slightly worrying news as well, it seems that Justine (Laura) and Amar (Sangeev) are being sniffed out by another company!! I don't want to lose these actors....but I guess all soaps move on and that's kinda the point. We'll see how the situation develops but their contracts are up for renewal so if they decide they want to leave then they can.

On a good note I have been writing a lot lately. My plans for this year have once again changed so the movie series has once again been put on the back burner. I won't have enough time to develop that and SS at the same time.

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26 October 2006 @ 11:18 pm

Well I have been a bit slack lately and the Suburb Sim schedule has really suffered because of it. However, I am to say that we are now back on track. Friday's episode will be out tomorrow and we have already sketched out all the eps until the end of "season" as we're calling it, even though its just a short break. Filming is also complete for Episode 106 and I've managed to convince the crew to come in on Sunday to film 107.

The airing schedule is obviously going to go a little mad, we're going to be doing two - three weeks of double episodes, Weds and Fri so that we can get everything complete before I go.

I'm very excited about the expedition now its only around the corner. I still have so much to sort out though and its taking a lot of time. I'm sure I won't be able to get SS out of mind though, even there, so the pen and pad will come in handy for sketching out future storlines....and with 6weeks in the rainforest I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to do that!

Anyway ciao for now, must do some editing!

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11 October 2006 @ 09:44 pm

Wow, I'm soo busy at the moment. We missed the airing schedule last week....I was so annoyed with the publicist at doing that. At this tight schedule we can't afford to miss Friday slots but I'm afraid its going to happen this week too, there simply isn't time due to other commitments to get an Episode out.
The 10 show run ends with a dramatic cliff hanger and a number of stories building up and so we need to get the 10th out on the 10th November. I guess the viewers will get a couple of double doses in the coming weeks.

On set I'm busy as I'm getting new headshots for all the cast to update our cast page with. There's also been some call for a collection of stills showing off the set and locations so I'm also working on them. I'm not sure yet whether they will be hosted on the website or the yahoo groups....I'll see how much space they take up.

More good news is that I may be leaving my current job for a new one in the new year which is part time. This means many, many more hours free and so I can really focus on Suburb Sim and perhaps the movie series that I've really been wanting to get to grips with. This movie series has gone through several guises in my mind already but I think I've ended up at quite an interesting idea. The new drama will be shot in series and in movie format. I'll need to write the story and then start getting both camera and voice over artists ready. I've fallen for a lovely new actress called Amata Forrester-Miller and really want to showcase her in this line-up. We'll see....perhaps I won't even get the job!

Current Mood:

contemplative

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26 September 2006 @ 05:55 pm

Everything is going well with Suburb on the run up to the 110th Episode. I have fully mapped out the story to 108 and filming needs to commence to make sure that all the episode's ship in the correct time. Some of the actors are going to feel a little left out as with some important stories coming up...especially the ones that will be left on a cliff-hanger, I need to focus on the main characters involved in these storylines. I hope the other's will understand....I will do my best to get them heavily involved when SS returns after christmas.

I noticed some discussion's on the board about the two new characters of Rachel Lawson and Maggie Nelson. I hope in time that people grow to like these new additions. There was a definate space for a character such as Maggie, Rosy is so polite and nice that I felt I needed a sparring gran, someone who didn't want to act her age, someone who gave as good as she got and someone I could develop into a good ol biddy. As for Rachel she has a major story coming which is subtley coming through now, I know people don't like her but I hope this story changed they're minds. She's really not a nice piece of work, I hope I can do it justice and turns people's views around

Anyway, I must go and film some more scenes and set up a couple more sets.

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21 September 2006 @ 11:06 pm

So, I'm the new director

So, it's all finalized and though not officially published I am now the director of Suburb Sim. Chang remains the producer but he said he simply couldn't cope with producing and directing! Great news for me. I'm so glad to finally get my hands on this soap, I can finally resign from work at the cafe and actually do something worthwhile with my life.

All is currently going well on SS. I've had some input into it over the past few weeks and I think we've got some good new characters and some good stories coming up. I want to focus on the characters a little more, really develop them into well rounded individuals which may mean we have to slow down story pace a little but I think that that in itself is no bad thing. A story becomes better when we feel for the people involved. We are also working to the Nov 10th deadline at the moment where Suburb Sim will end until after christmas. There is to be an extended break from the soap and we need to leave it on a great cliffhanger...hopefully this will be achieved.

I also want to cull some characters off. There are a couple of characters that are simply existing in the soap and really not giving much to any stories, they are old and need to go. I currently have sacked one person and am deciding over another 2 at the moment. I don't like to have to big a cast and its gradually getting bigger, we need to cut it down. So I'm sorry, but some have to go!

I also have some big plans for another couple of series. Both have been in my mind for some time but time is really the only delay. Getting SS out weekly is a hard task and I am thinking of cutting it down into season's so that I can work on other projects. I really want to bring out a movie series, which I know from Chang (after filming Leaving Sageway) is a BIG time consumer. Leaving Sageway was ok but not of great quality, but I can only get better by practise. These two movie series I have planned will hopefully see me move into movie rather than story board media and if successful storyboard may take a back seat....I'll have to think about the possibility of ending SS. We'll see. Neither of these new projects have been properly sketched out, though I have a couple of actors in mind for possible parts, but it will take A LOT of work. However, these will be done in season's giving me the flexibility of filming an entire season before releasing any information. This means that I can do it as slow or fast as I like without having to worry about the lack of an episode. The other thing I will have to look at is filespace online, as storing high quality movies is a very big filespace user...and I think costly in terms of building a website. We'll see,

Anyway, I must go to bed....so many thoughts rushing through my mind,

Sam

Current Mood:

jubilant

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