Updates…
Been a while since I last posted anything hereabouts, so let’s catch up, shall we? And just to go easy on my somewhat addled brain, we’ll work backward…
1. I had a nice rendezvous with the H1N1 flu and we battled mightily. It came in hard and took me down for about 48 hours before I was able to mount a counter-offensive that has lasted ever since. Nasty wanker of a virus, this thing. Not to be trifled with. Finally got back into some push-ups today and then spent the afternoon raking leaves. Felt good to be active again after two weeks of pretty much doing diddly-squat.
2. HELLstalkers has gotten some nice media mentions of late. While Vodafone will shepherd the launch across most of Europe, Verizon customers will be able to enjoy the adventures in the US & UK (Vodafone owns Verizon, so that works out pretty nicely.) Additionally, both networks are planning a nice bit of publicity and supposedly, co-author Joe Nassise and I will enjoy some exposure to approximately 250-350 million cell phone customers. Pretty nice, indeed.
3. Along those lines, I’ve signed a similar deal with Blackbetty to release Parallax and Vicarious for cell phone users as well. The deal and parameters are the same as the deal for HELLstalkers and you’ll be able to find both books (y’know, in case you haven’t read ’em yet >gasp!<) on both the Vodafone and Verizon networks.
4. Been working the ol' buttocks off on THE FIXER. We'd initially been slated to shoot the pilot starting November 1st, but due to some legal issues, we've pushed the production back to January 2010 now. No worries – we're still on-track for a 2010 debut of the series. And it's going to be incredible. The principals that have been lined up are stellar – all of them perfectly suited to the roles they'll play. It's incredible to see actual talented professionals playing the characters that I created on the printed page starting to come to life. Can't wait to get them all in front of the camera.
5. We're working right now on bringing out a brand new trailer for the series. This will be the first of several that we release to help build buzz and anticipation for the series. It was shot on our glorious new cameras (3 of 'em) in full 1080p high definition. The footage is absolutely amazing. The days of bloated production budgets and enormous crews may be coming to an end. The equipment and technology have gotten to the point where a tight group of visionaries can get everything done. We expect to release the first trailer next week sometime, the post production crew is tweaking things right now.
6. Speaking of which, if you haven't been over to the Facebook Fan Page for THE FIXER, then you’ve missed a glimpse of the new logo for the show. Or you could just head over to THE FIXER website and see it there. And yes, the website is currently being re-designed. The new design is breathtaking. Just wait…
7. I turned 40 on October 24th and got an iPhone, which is the monkey’s balls as far as I am concerned. How the hell did I function without this thing for so long?
I’m probably forgetting a few other things, but that will do for now. Anyway, I’m stoked to be almost 100% healthy again. Time to get back to training!
Fantastic, Jon! Thank you for all of the updates. I am so sorry that you had the H1N1 virus and was so ill for so long. It’s a good thing that you were in tip top shape beofre this or you might have been really down and out for a longer period of time. Have missed you updates and tweets. Looks like everything is as scheduled, though delayed and I am looking forward to more great updates from ya!Hope that you will be at 100 percent real soon! 🙂
Glad your better dude, I did wonder where you’d dropped off to!
All great news! I’ll let you in on the secret of #5 though. That’s been the case for a loooooong time, pro casts and crews can just be too damned lazy. Not always true but when you see what low budget folks pull off with just working harder you wonder why it costs eleventy billion dollars to make stuff sometimes. Wish I was there for the whole thing 😉