25 Days of SFF: Day 15 - Top 5 "Lost" Productions

Recently I’ve done several poll on the SFF Facebook group to determine the Top 5 of lots of different things. For the 24 days leading up to the 25th Anniversary (and the day itself, of course) I will be posting a new Top 5 list each day, using the highly scientific and unbiased results from those FB polls. I’ll try to make these posts short but I’m pretty long winded and like to talk so…they’re probably all going to be pretty long. Enjoy? 

 Top 5 Lost Productions

There are many productions that never get filmed for various reasons.  Most of the time the reason is because I haven't written the script, or even a part of it. At most I have the idea written down, a brief summery, and maybe a detailed outline.  I've had a lot of ideas for films over the years but most of them never even get close to production.  However some of them have gotten close.  Some had fully written episodes, costume designs, and initial cast lists (or casting hopes I guess).  A few of them even had a scene filmed or a full read through of the script.  But for some reason they failed before the starting line.  

Here are the Top 5 productions that were almost filmed.  To qualify for this list the production had to have at least half of or a fully written script, had a scene filmed, or other significant pre-production done for it like costume designs.  I have not included scripts that are finished but could still be filmed because I don't consider those productions to be "lost" yet. 

Obviously there was no voting for this one.

#5 - State Line Road

Sometime in 2011 I came up with the idea for State Line Road.  I was living in Kansas City at the time and there was a street called State Line Road because it was literally the road that was the state line. On one side of the street was Kansas, on the other side was Missouri.  It gave me the idea about a different kind of "state" that you could be halfway in - the state of life and death.  What if someone died but wasn't fully dead, they were walking down State Line Road you could say, neither dead nor alive. 

I took this concept and ran with it.  I set it in the Cursiverse where The Curse, Dream Chasers, and Eidolon all take place and used some characters from those shows.  The story that emerged was a young woman , Becky Flynn, who goes ghost hunting for fun after watching a video of Zoey Zurrell telling people how to hunt and capture ghosts.  She ends up accidentally dying and although she isn't really a ghost hunter, she still gets sent to Ghost Hunter Hell which is a horrific place where ghosts torture hunters.  She makes a deal with Atropos, the Goddess of Death, to reform five ghost hunters - including Zoey - and set 100 ghosts free.  If she can do that then she gets a second chance at life.

However since can't make her alive the best she can do is give her a fake body and allow her ghost to possess it.  This allows her to leave her body in ghost form to walk through walls and do other things as needed. Unfortunately whenever Becky is surprised or shocked her soul literally jumps out of her body and her clothes are left on her corpse which leads to fun line, "Don't scare me like that!" I get naked when I'm scared!" Eventually she gets the hang of imagining her soul wearing clothes when she's outside her body and she no longer has the naked problem.  It's a bit complicated but fun.

There's a lot of plot twists and new characters including a blind seer named Cece Montgomery who helps Becky to fulfill her mission. There's a major subplot with Cece and a lot of fun scenes with them.  Although I didn't actually write the episode that introduces Cece I kept a file with bits of dialogue I wanted to use eventually.  I didn't want to film any more TV show after Eidolon, but I couldn't imagine SLR as a movie.  I decided to do a series of episodic short films - each episode would be only ten minutes.  I thought this would be a good compromise.  

I had two and a half scripts written and several people cast in the main roles.  My casting wish list was for Annamarie MacLeod to play Becky Flynn - I even talked with her about it and she agreed to do it if she had the time.  Obviously I wanted Syndi Eller and Brittany Ann Whalen to reprise their roles as Atropos and Zoey Zurrell, and I cast Kate Weber as Cece Montgomery. 

So what happened?  I got writers block halfway through Episode 3 and couldn't finish it.  I also took a good hard look at the locations and general requirements as well as the amount of time actors would need to commit to film it and realized it just wasn't feasible to film it.  I loved the idea though so I have been slowly working on turning it into a novel.  I've posted some scenes that I've written for my 100 Days of Writing prompts so if you like the concept and want to check them out go here.  The SLR chapters/weeks are 9 (Becky dies), 12 (after death), 22 (Zoey's video although it isn't Becky watching it), 60 (Death gets a day off). 

#4 - The Crown of Ensor

The Crown of Ensor is actually my very first lost production.  I came up with the idea in 1997. The crown I made for Balthazar in Destiny III was paper mache sprayed with gold paint and decorated with jewels. For some reason it broke apart and I realized that I could finish breaking it into six pieces which gave me the idea of for the Crown of Ensor.  

Ensor was the King of the Time and transferred his power into his crown before he died, splitting it into six pieces and giving one piece to each of his children.  He was afraid that his enemies would use his power and his children to take over the universe so he asked the Cult of Time, his minions, to cast a spell to make his kids forget who they were then scattered them through time so no one could hurt them or reunite the crown. 

The oldest daughter, Dia, recovers her memory and realizes her father's death has sent the universe into chaos.  There needs to be a ruler of Time to maintain order and the Cult that should be responsible for that has been infiltrated, sabatoged, and has gone into hiding to protect the whereabouts of the children and the crown.  Dia decides to use the limited power of her piece to find the others and reunite them.  She manages to contact the Cult of Time and gains their help.  Traveling through time she finds her siblings one by one and has to convince them of who they really are and help them get their memories back. 

Of course there is a villain - a prince from the kingdom that is trying to take over the universe who is sent to find Dia, gather the children, and reunite the crown.  If he marries Dia he would have the right to rule beside her and he could crown himself King and rule the universe so he tries to seduce her and epically fails.  Then he kidnaps her and her siblings - who have been reluctant to work together until now - put their differences aside and save her.  In the end they reunite the crown and Dia becomes the Queen of the Universe.

It's a big weird, I know, but I thought it was a really good idea at the time.  I wrote half the script in 1998 and, although I was still filming Mind Games at the time I was trying not to film anything more.  I had to kick my filming addiction.  I tried my equivalent of a nicotine patch: doing costumed photoshoots so I could have the joys of dressing people up, exploring the characters, but not actually have to film it.  It was a one day photoshoot instead of a multi-month film shoot.  I was able to get seven people together who I was hoping to cast if I ever did actually film it.  

I did film one scene in the winter of 1998 underneath the monstrous bushes in front of the Homestead because it looked so cool to be in the hollow inside them when they were covered in snow.  I wrote a scene grabbed Danny Skirvin and two others and filmed it in an hour.  I have no idea what tape the footage is one.  I've checked every tape I have and the scene is no where on them.  So I either taped over it or I used the blank end of the Dragon & The Unicorn tape that I lost decades ago.  I still feel sick over the fact that I lost that tape. 

In the end I never fully finished the script and obviously never filmed it.  Like I said I was trying really hard not to film.  Clearly that didn't last and when I decided to write and film Pandora's Box I recycled several things from the Crown of Ensor for it.  The children's names were based on their assigned color and were really terrible to be honest.  

There was Dia Mond - a lady from the Turn of the 20th Century played by Morgan Diektus, Turlo Sapphire - a medieval wizard played by Danny Skirvin, Alizarion Crimson - a modern day military leader of a revolution somewhere in Latin America played by MT., Ayman Thystin - an 18th century prince played by Ryan Segovich, Esmerelda - a greek priestess played by Rachel Anderson, and Zarconia Gold - a futuristic thief played by ZS.  I also cast Chris Hutchens to play the villainous Prince Darius Black. 

Some of those names may look familiar to you because I used a few of them in Pandora's Box.  Turlo Sapphire became Turlo Masion and shared the intellectual "wizard" personality.  Alizarion Crimson became Catalina Crims and shared the miltary rebel leader personality. Zarconia Gold didn't have a name change or much of a personality change either.  Zarconia was the youngest sibling and was the same age as Zarc in Pandora's Box - 16.  The name was different but Esmeralda was basically a weaker version of Diyara.  The villainous prince because the villainous General Darion De Carlo.  I even kept the color-coding for the characters although it was not necessary.  

Since I had taken the time to design the costume for Crown of Ensor I recycled some of them for Pandora's Box, more notably Prince Darious' main costume which became General De Carlo's military uniform.  I also used one of Esmerelda's outfits for Diyara and Zarc's outfit (and general style) for...um...Zarc.  Although it was never filmed it lived on in a way in the names and costume designs in Pandora's Box.  

I always intended to turn it into a book someday but I'm not really sure if the idea is good enough to bother with.  I also no longer have any copy of the script or even the outlines and summaries because the computer disk they were all on became corrupted and I was never able to retrieve the files from it.  I still have the disk but I highly doubt I'll ever be able to actually recover the information on it.  Unfortunately the photo album I had with all the pictures in it got lost in the mail when a box I was shipping from CA to IL when I moved back home disappeared enroute.  The only photos I still have are the few that I scanned in (some badly).  I'm still really upset about losing those!

#3 - The Devil in Disguise

I have already written a Lost Production Diary post about this one.  The Devil in Disguise was written for Ryan Segovich who was slated to star in it.  The script was written, the cast was set, costumes were designed, several locations where chosen and although we didn't do a cast read through I was planning to do one eventually before I filmed it in July and August. 

Yeah, that never happened.  Mostly because I became obsessed with Pandora's Box and didn't want to stop writing new episodes and filming more. I also wasn't able to secure one of the locations I really wanted to use - Grand Central Station in Chicago - and wasn't sure what other location I could get to replace it because it was written pretty specifically in the script. 

If you want to learn more check out the Lost Production Diary for The Devil in Disguise.

#2 - T.O.A.S.T.T.

This is another Lost Production I have already written a post about.  Actually I wrote two posts about it because I couldn't fit it all into one post.  Basically T.O.A.S.T.T. - The Organization of Assassination, Spying, and Time-Traveling had a terrible name and although I really liked the characters and the basic concept it really wasn't a great script.  I didn't think that at the time but I came to realize it later.

The futuristic time-traveling machine would have been impossible to build and there were both structural and logical problems with the script and even the concept. Although the first two episodes were completely written, ten episodes had been fully outlined, costumes were designed, actors cast, and we even did the read through it fell flat for the above reasons and more.  

If you want to learn more check out the Lost Production Diary for T.O.A.S.T.T..

#1 - The Return of Lucifer Jones

I actually keep forgetting about this one but it's the only literal lost production.  It was filmed but the tape was lost and it was never edited, and now it never can be.  Morgan Thomas might have the tape but I don't think she does.  Regardless it will never be completed much less watched.  I would say it's a pity but it's really not.  It was a bad script. 

In the fall of 2002, Ryan Homberg was visiting SIUC and hanging out with the gang at SPC-TV.  We all decided that since it was the weekend and we had nothing better to do let's shoot a short film for Tape & a Stick's fourth episode - Shampoo & a Bible.  

Weird, right?  Take & a Stick is a bit of weird concept but I really liked it. Basically each week two different and random items are chosen, and three different directors have to each come up with a short film that incorporates those items somehow.  The first episode was obviously a tape and a stick.  The second episode was Balloon & a Sock, the third was Soup & a Cookie, and the fourth was Shampoo & a Bible, but the episode was never completed.  I think I was the only one who filmed a short for it. 

Since Ryan was there I decided to write the sequel no one asked for to The Adventures of Lucifer Jones.  Neither Katie Johnston nor Russell Martin were there to reprise their roles as Angela the Mistress of Darkness and Bennie the Psychic Psychotic Sidekick.  It's a weird show that's very campy and makes fun of itself while constantly breaking the fourth wall so as silly as it is I still like it.  Ryan was able to return as Lucifer Jones, of course, and we had Angela's sidekick/minion, Vesper, become the new villain. 

However she is a total flake and a terrible villain so her new sidekick, whose name I can't remember but was played by Brittany Ann Whalen, does all the work and eventually kicks Vesper to the curb and takes over.  Brittany was in all leather and black and looked a lot like Zoey from Dream Chasers.  There was also a group of cultists who had written their own bible and Brittany's character had created a shampoo that brainwashed people.  

I really don't remember anything else about the plot or even the filming besides shooting a scene with Brittany and the girl who played Vesper in the tiny closet in SPC-TV.  Why don't I re-read the script you may ask? Because I don't have it.  Unlike The Crown of Ensor I didn't lose the script because the disk it was on got corrupted, I lost the script because...well...I physically lost it.  We decided to film a movie the next day at like 1o or 11 at night and I didn't start writing until 2am. The script was hand-written in two hours and finished at four o'clock in the morning which explains why it was SO BAD.  It was like I vomited up the script and said "let's go film this piece of sh*t."  

Even if I had the script I would never bother to re-film it.  It was even worse then Attack of the Cookie People (which was also a short film for Tape & a Stick) which is really saying something. It's probably a good thing that the tape is lost.  The only sad thing is that Brittany was pretty kick ass as the villain and Ryan did a great job as Lucifer Jones.  I will miss their performances, but nothing else.  It is truly a lost production in every way and that's probably for the best. Somethings should just say lost. 

Lost Productions - T.O.A.S.T.T. - Part 2

Previously on Lost Productions: T.O.A.S.T.T, we learned the origin story of this never-produced TV series, which was set to be filmed during the summer and the 2001/2002 school year at SIUC.

It would have starred Morgan Thomas as Coyote (a genius computer hacker), Brittany Ann Whalen as Delilah (a slutty con-artist pyromaniac), Michelle Chapman as Sage (a technologically “reformed” psychotic assassin/serial killer), Michael DiVecchio as Sorcerer (a former agent of the gov. who’s good at making anything disappear), and Michael Meyer as Dr. Ross Gennings (the brilliant scientist in charge of the project).

The project was fully cast with two episodes written and the other ten outlined. Locations were chosen, costumes designed, even a few sets designed, some props had been bought, and a preliminary budget drawn up. There was even a read through with the main cast (possibly without Michelle Chapman though, I can’t remember if she could come to it or not since it was at the end of the semester).  It was all set and ready to be filmed. 

So what happened?

Well, during the read through, two of the actors started making fun of the scripts – the plot, the dialogue, the characters, and the general idea of the show.  I was very sensitive about my creative work in those days (pre-medicated and unstable bi-polar days), so it not only annoyed me during the read through, it actually really hurt my feelings.  Reading through the first episode was bad enough, but I knew that one had some problems.  However, I was kinda proud of how the second episode turned out and was really looking forward to filming it.

The negative comments almost got worse during the second half of the read through (in my BP mind at least, which had a very warped view of everything that happened).  By the time we were done reading both episodes I was angry and fed up.  I declared then and there that if the scripts were so bad that there was no point in filming them and I just wouldn’t do the show. I don’t really remember any of what was said, but I do remember feeling hurt, confused, and really pissed off!

A few days later, after I had calmed down, I began to realize that the guys were right. The general idea for the series – criminals as time-travellers hired by a secret government agency was not exactly cliché but had several major plot holes. The plots seemed contrived and some of the dialogue was stilted, although I still don’t think it was that bad (no worse than most of my scripts at least).  The characters were fun and had a lot of potential, but, with the exception of Sage, they were fairly obvious stock-character types.  The actors would have made a big difference in giving them dimensions, I think, but they never got the chance.

The real problem is that there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense.  Why would the government hire criminals to travel through time? That just seems like a really bad idea.

And why was the time-travel necessary?  What was the point of the missions? They weren’t making any big changes in big events, so what did the government gain from each mission? Those questions were never answered in the script and never intended to be until the last episode, because I didn’t really know the answer myself. Bad plan, Yibble, bad plan.

Also the technology involved with the super-computer and the time machine, etc. was badly explained and clearly not researched at all. It made no sense. Actually there was only a very minimal explanation of how things worked, and a lack of explanation is just as bad as no explanation at all. And if what little you explain is bad science and makes no sense than that’s just sad and jeer worthy.

I’m not good at writing Science Fiction – I’m much better at writing magic stuff, and TOASTT was way more science and not really any magic, so I pretty much screwed myself from the beginning.

And then there’s the name:

T.O.A.S.T.T.

The Organization of Assasination, Spying, and Time-Travelling.

Who would take a secret spy agency seriously (or a TV show) with a title like that?  At the time I thought it was funny.  It’s not.  It’s just stupid.  I have no idea why I really liked the acronym beyond the obvious fun you can have with titles like Burned TOAST and Buttered TOAST, but bad puns are not worth the stigma of a terrible title. And of course it has to have a double “T” at the end because of the Time-Travel part of the organization name so it’s actually TOASTT – which looks even more stupid! 

So I knew there were problems, and at some level I knew the guys were right in their general assessment of the show, but there’s no way in hell I would have admitted that to them at the time! Instead I focused on the logical problems as the “real” reason I cancelled the show.

Almost all of the modern scenes take place in an underground base. Lots of rooms with no windows and maybe some slightly futuristic looking hallways.  Okay, I could handle that.  If I can assemble a space ship out of random locations for Mind Games, then I could find places that would work for an underground base. Not a big deal.

What I couldn’t do was build the kind of set needed for the room with the time-travelling machine – or build the machine itself.  There was no space in the SPC-TV station to put up a set that big and no room anywhere else where I could build the set and leave it up for 6-9 months.  Also, my budget was very small and didn’t factor in the cost of building that kind of set because I had no clue how to do it or how much the materials would cost. My design wasn’t great either.  I knew going into the project that the time-travel room would be my biggest obstacle, but I didn’t want to admit defeat.  However, anything I would have been able to cobble together would have looked cheesy at best and horrific at worst, so it was a good thing it didn’t happen. I will admit that played a big part in sticking with my decision to cancel it, although I will be honest that I also didn’t want to apologize (which I was not very incapable of back then) for throwing a temper tantrum.

In the end it became clear that the project was too big and expensive to do well in the technical sense and both the concept and scripts needed major overhauls. 

It’s been almost 14 years since began pre-production on TOASTT, and although I have felt nostalgic towards it from time to time, I am very glad that I canceled the show before we got into production.  I have no regrets about not filming it - especially since the show that came after it was really wonderful in my opinion, and much better written.

The Legacy of TOAST

Even though TOASTT was never produced or had even one scene filmed, it has left a lasting legacy (albeit an unknown one in most cases) in some of the productions that came after it, most notably in The Gift Bearer, which is the show that I did instead of TOASTT.  I still wanted to film a show involving time travel and eventually came up with the idea for The Gift Bearer.  Elements of TOASTT are evident throughout the show if you know what to look for.

First off, the government agency known as the Echelon was modeled a lot after the organization in TOASTT, only it had been set up a long time ago as opposed to TOASTT, which was just starting.  The Echelon was a shadowy, secretive agency and not a lot is known about it in regards to how it began or why the agents travel through time to complete missions.  However, the questions of how and why aren’t as important in The Gift Bearer, simply because the base is not the main setting and the audience isn’t following the agents as main characters in the same way as they would have in TOASTT.  For the first ten episodes the agency doesn’t even have a name, and the audience doesn’t see the base until the very end of episode 16.  The Echelon is in the background while TOASTT was in the forefront.

In the unfilmed, original season two of The Gift Bearer we met characters directly taken from TOASTT during several scenes that take place in the Echelon base during episode “14” (that’s the script number, in actuality it would have been episode 28-30).  A lot of the agents in the base are directly taken from TOASTT including Dr. Indigo Green (known as Dr. Terri Wilson in TOASTT), Tempest, Trent, and Sage. 

There are numerous scenes with Sage and implications that she has a crush on Xavier, and a strange sort of friendship with Camilla. There’s even at reference to an agent named Sorcerer in one scene, although he never appears on screen.

Many of the traits and part of the personalities of TOASTT characters were incorporated (or influenced) into some of the main characters in The Gift Bearer, although they obviously have completely different back stories.

Minerva definitely ended up with a lot of Coyote’s traits including her genius with computers and, most notably, her aversion to people.  However, Minerva was a lot more fun and goofy, where as Coyote was much more serious…and kind of grumpy. Morgan Thomas was originally cast as Coyote and I ended up writing the part of Minerva for her.

Aspects of both Sorcerer and Dr. Ross where channeled into the characters of Xavier and Crumby. Both Sorcerer and Xavier are very talented guys who work for the government, and have a serious brooding quality as well as a sarcastic sense of humor.  However, Sorcerer dislikes the government and works with them reluctantly, whereas Xavier was raised from birth as a government agent and it takes a long time for him to turn against them.  I originally envisioned Michael DiVecchio playing Xavier since he was slated to play Sorcerer, but it didn’t work out and Xavier was played (rather magnificently) by Russell Martin.

Dr. Ross and Crumby both have a great sense of humor, and are like father figures to the main characters. Both characters are brilliant scientists who created the time machine that the government uses. However, Dr. Ross is a little goofy and Crumby is a bit more sarcastic and serious.  The biggest difference, of course, is that Dr. Ross is in charge of the whole time-travel part of the project and the time-agents are directly under his command.  Crumby doesn’t have that kind of power at all. He’s not in charge of anything at the Echelon, at least not by the time the series starts, and has to obey their orders like all the other agents. Sadly, Crumby does not have a bionic eye, a robot arm, or a prosthetic leg like Dr. Ross did.  Michael Meyer would have loved that, since he was cast as both Dr. Ross and Crumby.

The Gift Bearer is a much more complex and tightly written show that explores the consequences of time-travel as well as the thrill of it. The characters have much more substance and are more colorful and engaging.  The general concept of the series is better – instead of seeing the Echelon/TOASTT from the inside, we follow a trio of sisters who travel through time with a gold ball and a magic statue (which works better than a time machine, believe it or not).

Dialogue and snippets from TOASTT was used in various scenes through The Gift Bearer.  Even an entire episode got recycled.  The Gift Bearer episodes 5 and 6 – Roman Around and Mother Nature – where the governor of the local provence is being driven mad by his sister who is poisoning him was the basic plot used in the unfinished episode 4 of TOASTT – also titled Roman Around.  Hey, it was a good title – worth using twice.

Locations I had scouted for TOAST were used in GB. The 18^th Century fort used in several episodes of The Gift Bearer was where I had intended to film episode 9 (All for Won) of TOASTT where they go back to 17^th century France in a Three Musketeers themed mission. That same fort – Fort De Chartres – had a wonderful stone chapel that was used in episode 9 and 10 of GB and would have been used in episode 6 (Bad Habits) of TOASTT.

Costumes that I had designed for TOASTT were used in several episodes of The Gift Bearer, where the designs for the Victorian fashions in Good Mourning (episode 2 of TOASTT) were used in Negotiations and The Spider and the Fly (episodes 7 & 8 of GB). 

 One of Delilah’s designs for Roman Around (episode 4 of TOASTT) ended up being the design for Octavius’s Venus outfit in the other Roman Around (episode 5 of GB).  The basic design of Sage's costume also served as inspiration for the costumes the three sisters wore.

The monk’s robe Crumby wore in episode 9 and 10 of GB would have been worn by Sorcerer in Episode 6 of TOASTT, and the full Regency outfits worn in episodes 19 and 20 of GB were originally designed for episode 7 (Miss Matched) of TOASTT.

So some of the best bits of TOASTT found their way into The Gift Bearer. 

However, there have been other productions that TOASTT influenced, including another “lost” production called Anything but Angels which recycled two and a half of the characters and the title of the first episode (which became the title of the show). Anything but Angels had a major plot element that I really liked and eventually recycled that into the 2012 production of C2.  

 Also, Zoey Zurrell’s character in Dream Chasers was heavily influenced by the character of Delilah in TOAST, including her sassy attitude and clothing style.  Although there were obviously many differences between the two, there are also many similarities as well, including the line "bite me" which was often used by both.

I had a whole list of jokes and bits in a file for TOASTT that I liked and although I still haven’t been able to use them all, pieces have appeared up in other productions such as The Gift Bearer, Anything but Angels, C2, Twisted Tales: Little Red, and Eidolon. I still have the file and there are a couple of jokes/bits that I really want to find a way to work into another script at some point, so its legacy lives on to this day.