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Date Posted: 16:23:33 11/13/01 Tue
Author: Shirleym
Subject: LCA part 2

So... let's see, I forgot to tell you that when we got there on Friday, Jim and Jeff Murin were giving a talk on script-writing and submission. I only got there for the very end of the talk, but it seemed like they'd done a great job with it and that it had been very informative. You could see they were passionate and excited by the subject and they really got down to the fine points and answered a lot of questions from the audience. For example, I caught them talking at the very end about, when writing a script, you NEVER write, "soandso RUNS across the street". They said you have to describe HOW soandso runs across the street. It all has to be there in the script.
So all this time I thought that Roy and Peta had ... well... as they say in this part of Pennsylvania, "different" ways of running.
Now I see it was all right there in the script-writing. They must have actually WRITTEN "Michael runs like a wood nymph to the drain pipe" or... "Nikita runs like a chicken to the freight elevator".
Who knew???... :P

Hooooooookay...
So
Friday night after the wrap reels Minuet, L and I were exhauseted and went to bed...
And I would just like to stress that I did NOT stay up till 2:00 am discussing Roy Dupuis' many talents and virtues...
Ummmmm ummmm~mmmmmmm ... not me... noooooooooooooooooo SIR.

Saturday, I skipped the opening ceremonies and just caught a bit of some of the auctioning before the lunch break. This is where I got initiated into exactly what LCA is all about. I knew it was an auction to raise money for charity, but what I DIDN'T know was the bit about the actors from various shows auctioning off Coke cans. Yes, one of the highlights of this event is that each participating actor does "whatever it takes" to get as much money for a regular red can of Coke as they possibly can.

Take Alan Von Sprang- (I'll TAKE him, I'll TAKE him!!)
He's the actor who morphed into Michael in "Under the Influence". I had just seen that episode a couple of days earlier, so when I saw him there at LCA, I recognized him immediately. (He's a LOT better- looking in person that he was on LFN.) He was very good with the auctioneering and has this intense, serious look on his face all the time (slightly knitted brow) and then every once in a while he smiles and you can see that he really doesn't take himself all that seriously. He was actually doing auctioning for "Earth Final Conflict" where he wears a lot of makeup and plays an alien now.

After all the EFC things were auctioned, he started taking bids on his can of coke. He was doing quite well with it for a while, but then things slowed down a bit and, as I remember, he asked what he could do to bring the bid up. "MORPH into MICHAEL and I'll give you everything I've GOT!!", I wanted to say... but I hadn't brought enough money to bid on what I wanted and his coke can too.

Little by little, he took off all his clothes, getting more and more money for his coke can as he went along... until he was down to his "skivies" (as Mick would say) and he held the can up and sauntered back and forth across the floor with his trousers down around his ankles, that intense look on his face, just as though he were dressed in a suit walking down 5th Ave. As I remember, he got a good amount (over $1,000, I think) for his can, which (by the way) is REALLY nice... :P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```

After that there was a directors' panel with John Bell, James Rait, Ted Hanlon, Terry Ingram, (and Jon Cassar standing by as he lead the discussion). There were a lot of interesting things discussed that I don't remember all of right now, but I DO remember a couple of things that Jon Cassar said. One of them was that he was NOT happy with directors who don't watch the previous episodes of a show they're going to direct. (GO JC!!!) I asked him if he also wasn't very happy with *writers who don't bother to watch previous eps as well. He hesitated for a moment and then said... "You could say that, yes". ;)
There was some discussion about how Producers will look through a director's reel to see if they like his work, but they'll fast forward through it, because no one has the time in the TV business to spend an hour just watching a tape.
He also said that directors are always trying to "top" what's already been done in a show - always trying to prove themselves - to do something new and different.
About Roy, he said that Roy knew the character of Michael better than anyone else and guarded that character very carefully. He said that after a while, he (JC) got to know the character of Michael well too and could tell a writer when RD was going to say that Michael would never say suchandsuch a thing and ask for it to be changed. Jon said if the writer tried to argue with him (JC) about it, he'd say, "Look, you can change it now, or you can be getting a call from Roy at 3:00 in the morning. It's your choice."
Whatta guy... :D

From what I saw of Jon Cassar, he seems to be a really special person. People who've been to LCA often say that, but I just thought they were being nice and maybe a little director-struck. But I have to say that he's really something. He's bright, intelligent, talented, has a great (but kind) sense of humor, can dance the time warp reeeeeeeally well... AND can auction a crumby little shredder from the National Enquirer off for hundreds of dollars. *g*
Nigel Bennet wasn't able to be there for the auction because he was working this year, but JC ran it with a great balance of control and Marx Brothers- like humor. I had a ball.

During a break, I was able to tell him how much I'd enjoyed his directing and how it's made me laugh and cry and sit on the edge of my seat with excitement... and on another break, he told some of us that, although he's not directing any of the first thirteen eps, he's going to be directing some of the episodes of "24" after that. Wooo HOOOO!!
Can't WAIT.

To be continued...

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Replies:

[> Veeeerrrrryyyy interesting. Hey, I would like to get a call from Roy @ 3:00 in the morning!!!!!! -- Petty, 18:04:04 11/13/01 Tue


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[> [> Moi aussi, Petty, moi aussi !! Thanks Shirley, for these great debriefs! Sounds like Mr. Von Sprang wasn't too bad in that department either !! Jon Cassar sounds very interesting.....can't wait to see the eps of "24" that he'll be directing! Does anyone know if Sean Callery & Blaine Johnson are doing the music for the show? It's pretty good. -- mary(josephine670), 23:04:15 11/13/01 Tue


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[> [> [> Good catch mary(josephine670) *wave*, both Sean and Blaine are indeed doing the music for "24." -- --L, 11:17:40 11/15/01 Thu


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[> I can't get over the image of specific directions: "Michael runs like a wood nymph to the drain pipe" and "Nikita runs like a chicken to the freight elevator." Oh, that is hilarious! Thanks, ShirleyM. Looking forward to your next debrief. -- Gretchen, 23:13:34 11/13/01 Tue


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[> [> I agree, Gretchen. And might I add that Shirleym seems to really enjoy de-briefing, particularly when discussing whatshisname's can? -- SCC, 00:35:48 11/14/01 Wed


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[> ROTF My favorite debriefer strikes again! LOLing at the description of them running. But, you forgot to mention that JC is not only a bright cool gentleman, but downright gorgeous. -- Zzoo, 12:48:30 11/14/01 Wed


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[> Re: LCA part 2 -- Erin Goeller, 12:59:56 11/14/01 Wed

I was just wondering if anyone knew of an address that you could write to Jim and Geoff Murrin at. I would like to write and ask how the did some of the props they did for LFN. Also, what was said about RD knowing the character of Michael better than anyone else, I believe is true. After, all he is the actor that was playing him. I really think it is great that the writers would change somethings that the character was supposed to do or say, because the actors and actresses who played the character didn't think they would do that.


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