Production Diary #1 - Let's Make a Thing!

Woof. 

No one should ever stay up for 18 hours by choice. Unless you’re training to be a navy seal, or something. It’s rough. BUT I would not trade that final livestream for anything. We had such a blast finishing off the campaign with all of you and are still amazed at how much momentum we were able to build to finish 22K over our initial fundraising goal!!

So, what have we done so far? Honestly, this update is as much for me to stay on top of things as it is for you to enjoy. There are so many things to manage and people to coordinate with the production that it’s important we stay extremely organized. Our google drives are (neatly) littered with various production documents, spread sheets, and script materials as we try to put together the Wayward Guide production puzzle.

The different tasks on my To Do list run the gamut as far as being creatively stimulating, but what I like most about producing is how varied one’s responsibilities are on any given day. I can laugh writing the script, tear my hair out looking at a budget, enjoy myself surfing the internet for location inspiration photos, and then cry and tear my hair out while writing the script.

Luckily, our lives have been made infinitely better by our great team. Production Coordinator Alexis Brown is the glue that holds all of the departments together, while also working double time (since this is low budget) scouting locations and working with contracts. Producer Ryan M Murphy helps pick up the slack on EVERYTHING ELSE. There are hundreds of things we could be thinking about in a given day and Ryan keeps us on the right track.

Paige Draney, our costume designer, has been conceptualizing the looks for the 30 characters in Wayward Guide. Here are some of her initial thoughts on the look and color palette for Artemis and Paul: 

Artemis Wardrobe Concept

Paul Wardrobe Concept

Most recently, we welcomed Wes Middleton to the crew as our 1st AD. An important role, as he will be in charge of scheduling and keeping the ball rolling while we shoot.

Lots of phone calls. Lots of emails, but we’re chugging along. With each day, we gain a liiiitle bit more clarity as to what Wayward Guide is going to become. The goal is to find the right balance between cost, scheduling, and quality in each department at our scale to deliver the best product. And it is challenging.

I’m being a little general in this entry because things are in a bit of a general state right now, but expect lots more videos, pics, and entries coming your way over the next couple weeks as we continue to work.

Brian

P.S. Here are some fun BTS from the Starkid update vid we did with Nick Lang:

Nick Lang getting all wolfed out