Lost Productions - T.O.A.S.T.T - Part 1

I rarely start a project without finishing.  However there have been a few productions over the years that were planned, even started, but they were never completed for various reasons.  I'll occationally post about these movies and TV Shows just to share the productions that might have been.

T.O.A.S.T.T - 2001

Background images are from graphicstock.com

TOASTT, also known as The Organization of Assassination, Spying, and Time-Travelling was the TV show I started to produce after The Curse.  It was set to be filmed during the summer and the 2001/2002 school year at SIU in Carbondale. 

I wanted to do a show about time traveling since I had found some great historic locations in Southern Illinois and because I wanted a project that could use costumes from several time periods. A time-travel adventure just sounded fun. 

I had been working on a novel for several years about a government project that used criminals as time-traveling agents with weird code names.  Each criminal would be given a second chance when the project was complete if they did well.

It was set to star Morgan Thomas as the anti-social yet brilliant computer hacker and expert forger, Melantha Kalahi, who was given the code name Coyote. She was both intellectually snobbish and deviously clever, but has a terrible time getting along with anyone.  Actually most of them have trouble getting along with other people in general and each other in particular. Coyote has serious trust and abandonment issues but I can't remember why.

Brittany Ann Whalen was cast as the sexy con-artist and pyromaniac, Selena Pipilini.  Her code name was Delilah, because she was beautiful, charismatic, and had a way of getting men to do whatever she wanted.  The fact that she was a pyromaniac was an unusual addition to the sassy vamp style of character she had going, but that made her more interesting. 

Michelle Chapman was cast as the mentally unstable assassin/serial killer Amelia Brenchly.  Her code name was Sage, although now I can’t remember why I gave her that code name. She definitely was the character with the most layers and depth, and she had more of a dark history and secret past than any of the others did.  Sage was a psychotic who was used as a guinea pig by the government to see if they could cure and control a psycho to use as a weapon.  She had a device implanted in her head that prevented her from being able to kill anyone and there was an episode towards the end of the season that had a plot revolving around what would happen if her impulse control device stopped working during a mission (in Victorian London of course).

In the grand yibble tradition of having three female leads and one male, the last agent of the Time Team was a guy.  Mike D was cast as the dark and brooding Jason Nevers (a name I am reusing because I like it so much).  His code name was Sorcerer because he was good at making things disappear.  He was the only agent who was not a convicted criminal.  He was a former government agent on the run from his employers because he knew too much and tried to quit. Somehow the scientist in charge of the super secret project was able to let the government give him a second chance as long as he stayed with the project, thus allowing him to stop running for a while.  His main character traits resulted in him being the dark and brooding nay-sayer of the group.  His biggest job in the group was the keep the others in line and out of trouble, so he was the leader.

It would also have starred Michael Meyer as Dr. Ross Gennings, the leading scientist in charge of the operation.  When I asked Mike if he would be interested in playing the part he said he would only do it if he could have a bionic eye and a robotic arm.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to work that, but I agreed.  So in the script, Ross is described as having a bionic eye and a robotic hand/arm, as well as a partial prostheses leg so he walks with a limp.  I came up with an explanation for it at one point that somehow involved Jason saving him, but I can’t remember what it was and apparently didn’t write it down.  On the surface he was a funny, honest, hard-working scientist with a heart of gold, but he was not nearly as nice as he pretended and could bring the rambunctious agents to standstill with a few strong words.  He was in many ways like a father and the agents were like his kids.

Other characters included the chief medical officer, Dr. Terri Wilson, the coffee-break loving technician Trent, and the wise-cracking, semi-arrogant super computer that operated the Time Machine, control room, and several parts of the base, named Tempest. 

Most of the modern scenes for the show took place in an underground super secret military base, as you would expect.  The first episode was titled “Anything But Angels”.  It was the pilot where all the characters are introduced and the main plot of the series is set up.  The characters go on a modern mission to steal an ancient Egyptian statue of the cat goddess Baste named the Gift Bearer, primarily to see if they can work together.  Here’s an excerpt from this part of the script that I have to share because I think it's funny and it sets up the initial interaction of the characters very nicely:

Scene 7

            Setting:  Outside Complex entrance Above Ground (at Night)

            Jason emerges from the shadows of the doorway, then beckons behind him and one by one the girls step out of the shadows.  All four are dressed in black, with black backpacks and headsets on.  Only Jason carries a gun. 

SELENA:  Why are you the only one who gets a gun?

JASON:  Because I'm not a criminal.

MELANTHA:  That's not fair!  What if we get attacked?

JASON:  (smiles)  Run.  Preferably towards me, and I'll shoot around you.

MELANTHA:  (suspicious)  Really?  Do you have good aim?

JASON:  That depends.

MELANTHA:  On what?

JASON:  On how much you piss me off between now and the time I'm shooting at you.

            (Melantha glares at him and reaches for the gun)

MELANTHA:  Give me that!

JASON:  Back off!

            (they wrestle for the gun.  Finally Amy breaks them apart and grabs the gun, returning it to Jason)

AMY:  Can it, you two!  Let's get the knick-knack and get back -- I'm hungry.

            (they move away from the base and over to a black car)

SELENA:  This is the get away car?

MELANTHA:  Maybe it's faster then it looks.

AMY:  Who's driving?

JASON:  Who brought the keys?

            (they all check their pockets.  No one has them)

SELENA:  Damn it!

JASON:   Oh come on!

MELANTHA:  I thought the slut was supposed to bring them?

SELENA:  I told you to get them, freak geek!

AMY:  Hold on!  So, no one brought the fucking car keys?!?

SELENA:  It's her fault!

MELANTHA:  No, it's not!

JASON:  I don't believe this! 

Of course they completely and totally fail, which results in Dr. Ross insisting on a music montage of team building excercises such as go-cart racing, bowling, and a bad movie marathon.  By the time the next mission comes up they have a much better repoire with each other.  The second mission takes into the home of a billionaire who received stolen information about the project and they are tasked with getting it back (someone else will do the “clean up”).   Of course they manage to infiltrate the mansion while the host is throwing a masquarade ball (of course, since it’s me), which included a scene where Brittany and Michael’s characters had to do a dance routine as a distraction while Michelle’s character beat up bodyguards and Morgan’s character hacked into the host’s computer.  They succeed with their mission, but just barely.

The second episode introduced the first time-traveling mission.  The agents are never told why they have to change that moment in history, save that person’s life, etc., but they do it in order to get their reward and avoid being killed for failing their mission.  The episode takes place in Champaign, Illinois (gee wonder why I chose that place) in April of 1912, and their mission is to stop a young widow from committing suicide after she is told that her husband died on the Titantic.  

Of course the mission isn’t really that simple and there ends up being a murder mystery that has to be solved in order to save their target. The episode includes lots of corset jokes, a food fight in period garb during breakfast, and a scene in a horse drawn carriage.  It’s a short scene, obviously, and I did research on carriage rentals and  actually had calculated exactly how much time I could afford to film with it.

Other episodes would have included a trip to the Wild West, a mission in Ancient Rome, a murder mystery in the Middle Ages, a trip to 17^th century France, and a misguided mission in match-making set in Regency England, as well as a few episodes that take place entirely in the base. 

This show was actually the closest to be filmed than any other of the “lost” productions, even Devil in Disguise.  Scripts for the first two episodes were written and the other ten episodes for the show were outlined and had some dialogue scenes written. There were costumes designs, a few set designs, props had been purchased, I’d actually written up a budget (that I can’t seem to find now), and locations that were set, although nothing was scheduled.  I gathered contact info from the cast and made sure they were willing to film in the summer before school began.  It was fully cast and ready to go.  We even did a read through.

So what happened?  Why wasn’t it filmed? Why did the show have a silly name like TOASTT?  What legacy did it leave behind, if any?

Find out the answers next month in Part Two of Lost Productions: TOASTT!

And just for fun here's a "poster" I whipped up and outlines for two of the episodes:

Images are from graphicstock.com

 Ep 3 – WESTWARD ‘HO

         Coyote and Sorcerer are sent back to the Wild West as bounty hunters chasing after a pair of devious train robbers.  When they accidentally save the wrong train from being robbed they discover a boxcar full of prostitutes moving west to join a new brothel that’s opening in the nearby town.  Eventually the agents discover the brothel is really a cover for the robbers, who are actually the sisters running it.  The boxcar full of prostitutes were coming west to join the sisters and make a gang of outlaws, eventually planning to earn enough money to quite the business for good.  Can the agents help the women and still complete their mission?

Background from graphicstock.com
Drawings of the girls by Ayrayus
at https://www.fiverr.com/ayrayus

Ep 7 – MISS MATCHED

         Coyote and Delilah are sent back to Regency England to play matchmaker for Augustina Coverly and Lord Josiah Evergreen.  Only one is a hopeless halfwit and the other is a pompous twit.  Somehow Delilah and Coyote have to get the two together, avoid being matched up themselves, and keep everyone out of scandal before they say “I Do”.  Hopefully they can accomplish their task before they kill each other.

Production Diary - Twisted Tales: Charming

Once a month I’m going to talk about a specific production, what it was like to film it, and what was involved in making it happen.  This month I’m going to talk about Twisted Tales: Charming.

Twisted Tales is a collection of short films with a common theme – taking a fairytale and giving it some sort of twist.  In Charming the twist is that four fairytale princesses meet up for a picnic and get a chance to chat and hang out for the first time in awhile.  They are actually Queens and have been married for 5-10 years.  While talking they each mention their husbands and three of the princesses start to get suspicious about similarities in their own Prince Charmings – who all turn out to be the same guy.  It’s an idea that has been done before, but my take on it is a little different and pretty funny once the actors got a hold of it. 

The Script

Charming is a script I’d had in the back of my mind for a few years and had been keeping it as an emergency script if I needed one at some point.  In December of 2009, I was in need of a few scripts and had chosen the Twisted Tales concept to give the scripts a direction.  Charming was a perfect choice to write as a Twisted Script. 

It was originally supposed to be filmed during the Twisted Tales Winter Shoot.  I had trouble getting actresses for the shoot, but managed to beg and plead to get enough to film. The original cast was Annamarie MacLeod as Snow White, Diana Neatrour as Belle, T Jones as Cinderella, Julia Mayfair as Briar Rose, and Andy H. as Prince Charming. 

However, after freezing our bits off while filming Hulde all day in the middle of a blizzard everyone was exhausted so we opted not to film Charming.  I decided to film it when the summer shoot rolled around, but had to make some major changes to the script. 

The first scene with Snow White and Belle was supposed to be filmed outdoors with Snow White decorating a Christmas tree.  The majority of the script was set inside the dwarves cottage and involved hot tea, fresh cookies, and cloaks.  Why we decided to film a movie that took place mostly outside during a blizzard instead of a movie that took place mostly inside I don’t know.  I’m not known for making sense.

Obviously I changed the script to be a picnic outside the dwarves’ cottage and rewrote most of the lines and scripted blocking to reflect the new season and surroundings.  The only line kept from the original scene that doesn’t really fit is Briar Rose insisting that she’s cold, but it lead into a fun argument with Snow White so I kept it anyway.

(Type) Casting

I had very specific criteria for casting Charming: I need four women who were available to film on June 30. They had to be able to walk, talk, and breathe – and honestly I could have worked around the walking and talking, so breathing was really the main requirement. 

That’s it. That was all I asked for. 

Honestly, actor availability is how I usually end up casting things.  Luckily I have some pretty awesome actors on standby most of the time. 

In the end, the best thing about filming Charming was not only getting to work with some of my favorite people, but getting to see the four main actresses playing parts that were very different from what they usually played.  I tend to type cast.  If someone is good at something then I tend to cast them to their strengths.  I find it hard to break that type-casting mold sometimes, and I’m trying harder these days to cast against type if possible. 

The first person cast was Brittany Ann Whalen, who agreed to play the part in early June.  Since she was the first to jump on board the project I let her pick which princess she wanted to play.  I have always cast Brittany in two main types of roles: ditzy heroines and sexy vamps.  In the Gift Bearer she played the lead role of Peri Silverstone who was a cute ditz, and then parodied herself when she played the ditzy Periara in the Cursed Destiny of Pandora’s Gift Box.  In Dream Chasers, Eidolon, and Quatrain she played a lot of sexy, sultry characters and/or angry, impatient bitches.  

Then I did the ultimate type casting in Little Red where she plays both a sweet ditz and a sexy bitch.  Left to my own casting I probably would have put her in the roll of Cinderella, but I’m glad she played Belle.  Belle is intelligent but calm over all and is very different from any other part she’s played and that was really nice to see.

Syndi Eller agreed to participate shortly after Brittany, and I let her choose as well.  She chose to play Cinderella because of the name similarity – Cinderella…Syndi Eller.  She’s kind of always wanted to play Cinderella for that reason I think.  I made Cinderella a clumsy ditz and honestly Syndi is the last person I would have cast in that part because I tend to type cast her as badass bitches.  She’s played three characters in four shows.  

In Dream Chasers and Eidolon she played the goddess of Death and was a cold but quirky bad ass.  Then she played the villain in The Cursed Destiny of Pandora’s Gift Box.  Most recently she played a determined bounty hunter in Little Red.  In my mind she will always be the goddess of death so seeing Death play Cinderella made my brain hurt.  In the end I was actually quite excited to see Syndi in a totally different kind of part and it was really fun to watch her be a klutzy ditz, which she was quite good at playing.

The next to be cast was Rachel Anderson who agreed to play the part with less than a week before the shoot after I begged and pleaded a bit.  Rachel has probably suffered from type-casting the most.  Ever since she played a bungling, hilarious bandit in Destiny in 1996, I have tended to cast her as the crazy, zany chick.  If any part called for someone to be hilariously loopy and bizarre I almost always cast Rachel in the part.  

From May in the Destiny Trilogy and the cab driver in the Perfect Combination, to France Wah in Pandora’s Box and Madame Genna in Eidolon she’s played a lot of weirdoes.  She’s played some non-weirdoes too such as Heather in The King of Elflin’s Daughter and Tilia in Mind Games, but overall the bizzaro characters far outnumber the more normal ones.  I really enjoyed casting her against type in Charming as the take charge, down-to-earth Snow White.  It makes me want to cast her in more roles like this.

The day before the shoot, I was frantically trying to find someone to play Briar Rose.  I was hoping to get Jen Weber but she was busy.  When Rachel Zoralee offered to play the part I was thrilled.  Rachel Zoralee is…hilarious.  She’s not just talented, she’s really fun to work with.  I haven’t filmed with her as much I would have liked to over the years, but I filmed enough to type cast her too.  

In The Dragon and The Unicorn she played the strong willed mentor Dottie and I had her reprise that kind of role in Pandora’s Box when she played Thebe in episodes 13 and 14.  However, I’ve also cast her in over-the-top characters like The Great El Banyo in Destiny III and Ione Aldat in Frumpy Gets It. So technically she’s not really cast against type in Charming, since she’s playing the outrageously over-the-top Briar Rose, but it’s just great seeing her play any role honestly.  I’m clearly a fan. 

The four women worked really well together and it was great to see people who haven’t been in the same shows act opposite each other. Brittany has worked with both Syndi and Rachel Anderson before, but they hadn’t worked with each other, and two of them had never met Rachel Zoralee before the June shoot.  Rachel and Rachel have been in four shows together, but have never really acted with the other in a lead role. 

And Prince Charming?  Kevin Meyer is married to Brittany Ann Whalen (-Meyer) and since I needed actors he came to the shoot with her (thanks Kevin!) Twisted Tales wasn’t his first time in an SFF production.  He was first seen as a menacing basement ghost in Episode 6 of Eidolon.  

But Little Red, The Devil & Kitta Gray, and Charming – all filmed in the same weekend – are the first chances he’s had to do any real acting because the ghost in the basement had no lines.  He just sort of stared…menacingly.  Unfortunately I seem to be type casting him already because all of the parts he’s played so far have been guys who are a bit of a bastard.  Clearly I need to cast him as a nice guy soon.

Getting in Gear

I wanted each of the princesses to be dressed in slightly different periods/styles since that’s actually easier to find in my mother’s costume storage then four dresses of the right sizes that are from the same period (unless I wanted to go Greek, I got plenty of tunics). I chose something Renaissancey for Snow White, and put Belle in an 18^th Century gown (both outfits are some of my favorite costumes by the way).  

Costuming Syndi and Rachel Zoralee was a bit more tricky because they both have big…chests, and since a lot of the costumes my mother has were gathered for high school students they were not as well…chested…as adults.  Luckily my mother had a beautiful 19^th century pastel and ivory gown that fit Syndi really well.  I wanted Briar Rose to be dressed in something medieval since she had been asleep for 100 years and was behind the times in fashion.  That actually made it a little easier and my mother helped fashion a great gown for Rachel.

Since they were princesses – actually Queens at this point – they all needed to have crowns of some sort which were not that hard to find, although Briar Rose’s crown is a bit lack luster, though it looked good and seemed fitting. (Fun Fact: Belle’s tiara is the one Brittany wore at her wedding.)  However Queens and crowns need elegant hairstyles – mostly to make sure the crowns are well anchored to their heads and won’t fall off.  Brittany’s hair was long and easy to style into a sophisticated bun.  Syndi’s was a bit more of a challenge since her hair was shorter, but it looked pretty good in the end. 

And then there are the Rachels.  Since Snow White has hair as black as ebony – and Rachel A had blond hair – a wig was needed.  I chose a nice black, curly wig that was styled after putting it on Rachel.  I think it looked pretty nice, but seeing Rachel with black hair was pretty weird.  I think she looked really cool, but…different. Although Rachel Z’s hair was brunette and Briar Rose (aka Sleeping Beauty) didn’t really have to have blonde hair, we put her in a wig anyway because her hair was too short to style.  The wig I had on hand happened to be wildly curly and hard to tame.  It was also styled after it had been attached firmly to Rachel’s head so it was a little easier to style. 

Since we had plenty of time to film and it was a short, easy script we actually took the time to get properly gussied up with not just semi-elaborate hair styles but also make up and jewelry.  Those girls were blinged out in the end.

Let's Shoot!

After everyone was ready we headed off to the Urbana Arboretum to film.  The problem with shooting in central Illinois at the end of June is that it can be pretty warm.  The day was hot and muggy with an approaching storm, which lead to an annoying wind that messed up the audio but didn’t really cool anyone off.  All the actresses found ways to keep themselves cool between takes.  Brittany was lucky and had a fan, but Rachel A’s creativity takes the cake.

We filmed the scenes the active scenes first where people were entering or meeting up, and then filmed the very long picnic scene.  Each girl was supposed to bring something and we decided to have Belle bring chocolate covered donuts.  That would be a good idea - if it was March or September, but it was the end of June.  Although the cast was wilting by the end, the real victims of the heat were the chocolate donuts.  They actually had to be used in a couple of bits and shoved in Rachel Z’s mouth at one point, which led to a rather sticky situation with melted chocolate all over.

The ladies persevered and we all had a lot of laughs.  There are several bloopers where the actors just can’t stop cracking up.  The shooting was done in about an hour and a half – less time then it took to get everyone ready – and we wrapped filming before it started to rain.  Heading back home, everyone got out of costume and de-wigged for those who had to.

Then we ordered pizza and watched the footage.  Sadly Rachel Z had to leave before then, and we said a fond farewell to her.  I had some change left over from buying the pizza and decided to once again pay the actors my going rate of 25 cents each (techies get 50 cents).  Yes, I pay slave wages.

The whole shoot from actors arriving to actors leaving took less than five hours and I think Charming is the fastest movie to be filmed.  I had a fantastic day filming with five amazing actors and I can’t wait to work with all of them again someday (hopefully soon).