Ask Him Yourself!

[Kc]

I would like to know when/if we will ever see anymore rain episodes??? Something about the rain just makes it very serious and creepy!!!

Um... yes.

[pmchawk]

I have a non-WA based question. Were you or Blair ever part of a message board discussion, similar to (fan theories, speculation and such) but prior to the WA universe?

[Kc]

I have a non-WA based question. Were you or Blair ever part of a message board discussion, similar to (fan theories, speculation and such) but prior to the WA universe?

I think we commented on Lostpedia at one time, but that was about it.

[daveyman23]

I think I read somewhere here that you would be performing the second to last episode live in July next year and then the audience would get to hear the final episode after that. Is there still plans to do this? I live in NJ but I want to use my vacation off work in the summer to come to LA and be there.

If this is still happening, are there any concrete dates/a location? I want to plan this in advance!

[Kc]

I think I read somewhere here that you would be performing the second to last episode live in July next year and then the audience would get to hear the final episode after that. Is there still plans to do this? I live in NJ but I want to use my vacation off work in the summer to come to LA and be there.

If this is still happening, are there any concrete dates/a location? I want to plan this in advance!

Yes, but nothing concrete yet... We're looking at July 12. Once we know, we'll post about it.

EDIT: July 19th

[daveyman23]

Great thanks so much =D Never been to LA before and this is the best excuse I can think of. If I can catch Comedy Bang Bang at the UCB theatre while I am there it would be even cooler

[shadrak]

Why are seasons 3 and 4 awesome while season 2 is good and season 1 is "meh"? Was there a change to process? Is it more experience? Is it staff relationships?

The production and editing is better as well as the acting itself. Michael's character is a lot more natural and seems to be controlling his borderline personality disorder a little better as the series goes on.

How does the financing structure work? Is this a full time position for you? If not, I would love to see some of the work you could do without distraction from operating costs...the show is very high quality if you are doing it on a shoestring budget.

[Kc]

Why are seasons 3 and 4 awesome while season 2 is good and season 1 is "meh"? Was there a change to process? Is it more experience? Is it staff relationships?

The production and editing is better as well as the acting itself. Michael's character is a lot more natural and seems to be controlling his borderline personality disorder a little better as the series goes on.

How does the financing structure work? Is this a full time position for you? If not, I would love to see some of the work you could do without distraction from operating costs...the show is very high quality if you are doing it on a shoestring budget.

There are some that would say the opposite, but it's all a matter of preference. I would definitely agree that we didn't hit our stride until about Chapter 8 or so.

Why is it "better" now? Well, it's a lot of things. The biggest is experience. As the series has progressed, the creative team has just grown. So many things are just "gut reactions" now in terms of editing and writing since we've been doing it for so long. When something feels off, it's off.

However, the entire series has undergone staff changes since the beginning, and many different editors and staff have come and gone that it's sometimes difficult to maintain consistency. There's also that burden of raising the bar continually. When we first started out, what aired would not have been "passable" by today's standards. Now, we meticulously Foley just about every character interaction with their environment: footsteps, paper movements, cloth, chains, fight scenes, etc... Back in the day, we mostly used stuff we already recorded or far more stock sfx.

Speaking of which, our Sound FX and Music FX libraries have grown. Many times we can use sounds we already recorded, or we've licensed more volumes over the years. Our music library was VERY limited when we first started out. Now, we have more to use and customize to what we want for a scene. We're still limited by what's available, since most of our music isn't custom scored, but we do have more choices.

I feel that I have improved as a writer. In the beginning I lacked the confidence in myself and what I was creating. I have learned so much from this entire process and from my mistakes, and really am looking forward to starting fresh and new with another story and new characters. There's still a lot more I can learn, and won't deny I have areas I could improve, but I know learned my strengths. Still, moving onto any new story is scary, as the old characters become so engrained in your head that creating a new voice could be difficult.

The biggest thing that has changed is the amount of time it takes to create the show. EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER NOW, and not just a few hours, but days more. We used to only get one usable take per line, and move on once we got what I thought we needed. Now, we have at least 2 if not more. We do that for better scenes, but also because not all our actors can perform at the same time like they used to. The series has grown almost too big for too long, and actors move away. Fortunately, they are still the amazing dedicated performers that make this show amazing.

And Editing? Yeesh... that takes forever now. It used to be able to be one person, now it's at least 3. Voice cutter: takes all the good takes and stacks them onto one timeline. 1st Line editor: The person who edits the episode and puts all the pieces into place, records foley. And last, Supervising sound editor: Me. I do more foley, add the music, and continue to edit everything to maintain consistency for everything. In all, it's a TON of work just to bring one episode every week. Writing, still all me for the first drafts, but we have 2 people who proof them, and the outlining process is much more thorough and longer since everything's coming to a close.

So, in short, it might be because we work longer and harder on everything now, than we did a few seasons back. And I didn't even mention the technical work on the web, social media, the store, etc... Grayson and I pretty much live this stuff, and greatly look forward to the break that will come in July. It's hard to run a marathon for five years. To think, I actually started this process with hair!

How does the financial structure work? Well, we do receive ad revenue, but that barely covers much for now. I won't go into most of the costs, but a lot is still self-funded along with the store sales and donations. Honestly, the donations and sales have kept us running at times. We do pay people, but it's barely enough to make sure they don't quit... One day I hope to be able to pay people what they are worth. A lot of the investment in this is because, hopefully, this will launch several careers. What we lack in $, we make up in heart.

Is this a full time position? No, sadly. I work a regular 8 to 5 to support myself and the show. My fulltime job involves post-production stuff and animation at a university, so it has lended a lot of opportunities for zinterns and facilities to use, so cheers to my job! Honestly, it wouldn't be possible without it.

And while doing We're Alive full time would be amazing, there's also that part of me that knows that I HAVE to work on the show after I get home from work, otherwise it won't get done in time. The more idle time you have, the less you use it productively. That being said, I have to thank my wife for being as supportive as she has about the show. It does get in the way of us having a "normal" life. Then again, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Unit]

Almost 40 pages long, I haven't gone through it yet so I apologize if this question had already come up.


Have there ever been any theories or ideas that have come up on the forum here that you thought were good ideas and actually integrated it into the storyline?

[Kc]

Almost 40 pages long, I haven't gone through it yet so I apologize if this question had already come up.


Have there ever been any theories or ideas that have come up on the forum here that you thought were good ideas and actually integrated it into the storyline?

No. The only things I've ever altered were things just to clarify, details that may have been missed the first time.