JC Hutchins and Geek Cred talk Stranger Things

Just finished a great interview with JC Hutchins for his podcast Hey Everybody (great, a very in-depth piece that will be out next week), and while I was browsing around afterward, I found out JC had already been talking about Ep05: Disconnect on Geek Cred with Steve Riekeberg.

I’m posting this in my feed because I really think JC nails a lot of the challenges and the ideas we worked with on Disconnect, and if you enjoyed the episode, this little behind-the-scenes preview will be a fun snack before JC’s interview with me drops on Thursday. The whole interview is terrific, but if you want to fast-forward to the Disconnect talk, roll forward to about 29:50.

 

 Geek Cred Episode 33 [44:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I think of Geek Cred as the NPR of geek podcasting, and host Steve Riekeberg is definitely living up to the name.  If you like this episode, check out the interviews he did with Jonathan Coulton, Leo Laporte, and Wil Wheaton, among others.  I think Terry Gross is the only one who has him beat for geek media guests.

Post Your Thoughts on I Look Forward To Remembering You

As Episode 05: Disconnect circulates through the Internet and we wrap up Singularity 2009 (Did I say Balticon?), I’m setting my sights on the next episode for Stranger Things.

I did an impromptu Twitterpoll and the audience voted overwhelmingly for Mur Lafferty‘s time-travel/mystery/romance piece “I Look Forward to Remembering You.”

I originally heard the story on episode 61 of Escape Pod, and knew even then that it was something I wanted to do.

This week I’m going to download Escape Pod #61, reacquaint myself with Mur’s story, and begin the adaptation process.

I’ll be posting updates here and on Twitter as I work through the script. Post your thoughts about the story and what it means to you.  I’ll be referring back to these comments as I construct the screenplay, and eventually, the movie.

• Follow me on Twitter.
  
• Listen to Escape Pod #61: “I Look Forward To Remembering You.”
• Post your thoughts on the story below.
  

Stranger Things: Ep05

When their prize reality star goes missing, a monolithic network enlists the aid of the entire world to find him.

Disconnect (Stranger Things episode 5) just went live on the site yesterday. Feedback is good so far. Leave your comments below or on the site itself.

Written and Directed by Earl Newton

Starring Jonathan MacQueen, James Donadio, and Rachel White

Another Sigler/Newton Grungefest

In what marks our third (fourth?) collaboration, Scott Sigler — excuse me, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Scott Sigler and I team up, this time with the good folks at Mevio.com, to bring you Jigsaw’s Top 5 Cuts, a series of creepy/awesome videos promoting the upcoming Saw V DVD release on January 20.

Scott hosted the video, shot by Mevio, and post-production done by me.  Special props to Kevin Capizzi for the wicked Horror House door animations, and of course, our own David W. Kanter for his excellent music supervision.

Watch the first video here.  The next four will be emerging from now till Tuesday.  Then go pick up a copy of Saw V, and tell ‘em Newton and Sigler sent you.

For those of you keeping score, this was identified as Secret Project #2.

Scrippets Now Installed

The WP-Scrippets plugin has now been installed. Now I (and you, in the comments section) can write pieces of script, in proper formatting, directly on the website. Read here for instructions on how to use it.

This plug-in is the result of a collaboration between John August and Nima Yousefi.

UPDATE:
This plug-in works, but isn’t quite perfect yet on the iPhone. I’ll fiddle with it later, when I don’t have scripts due. Like, in August.

New Sci-fi Horror Script complete

Had to power through that one fast, as it was required by some important folks.  Will tell you more about it when I can, but for the moment, I can say it’s a real mindjob.

New Script

After an insane bout of getting the Mac repaired after an accident with a statue (later), I’m back to writing a new script.

It’s more classic, space-oriented sci-fi.

And at the same time, like nothing you’ve seen before.

It’s going to be gritty, and bittersweet, and violent.

And I can’t say more now.

“Pure Love” complete

Just finished the third draft of “Pure Love”, the feature film I’ve been working on for the last month.

It’s going out to the readers right now, but I’m confident we’re close to the final draft.  Here’s what some people have been saying about it so far…

• “Gutwrenching…”
• “Intense, wicked, and twisted.”
• “A killer tale of addiction, desperation, and need…”
• “A mindf*ck of a movie…”

So, needless to say, I’m pretty pleased.

Will keep you up to date on its progress.

UPDATE:

This has to be my favorite comment so far: “It reminded me of a Tarantino flick, Blow, and a Twilight Zone episode having a threesome.”

Stranger Things wins 2008 Parsec Award

On August 31, at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA, Stranger Things won the 2008 Parsec award for Best Video Podcast.

Thanks go to the Parsec committee, honor to our fellow nominees, and above all, enormous gratitude to our fanbase. You make us what we are.

The acceptance video:

Possible LA Trip

I’m making tentative plans to be in LA at the end of September, and along with that, there’s the possibility of doing a Stranger Things meetup.

If this is something you might be interested in, drop me a line and I’ll see about setting something up.

No promises yet, but I’ll know more as we get closer to the start of September.