Well, dear readers, the cat is out of the bag, which is a good thing since a bag is no place for a cat to be. Did you know than in the summer of 1970 I appeared in a terrible thing called The Drunkard and sang a song entitled Pussy in the Bag? Where was I? Oh yes, the proverbial cat is out of the proverbial bag and I don’t care who knows it, but hopefully many will know about it now, as our press release is finally showing up, most noticeably at Broadway World. This is, of course, the first official announcement about the new web series. So, here, in all its glory, is the first official press announcement about the series.
It has been VERY difficult for me not to blab everything, but I was a good boy and didn’t. And I can’t reveal any of the Broadway vets who’ll be doing small roles and cameos but so far it’s a very nice list o’ people and I’m hoping that the press release gets others I’ve worked with to contact me about it. This began a bit over three months ago when I had a conversation about creating a web series for Sami. I had something rumbling around in the back of my head and that idea is what eventually developed into what we’re doing. As I say in the release, I very much wanted to do something with a LOT of physical comedy, like Lucy or Laverne and Shirley, and I also wanted it to be kind of a That Girl for now. And since the character is an aspiring actress/singer, that meant I could have an original song in every episode – not plot songs – there are no plot songs – but her auditioning for things or singing in clubs – that sort of thing. And miraculously, the money for it was found quickly, although it’s micro budget SAG/New Media, so the budget is certainly not what you’d call large. We’re hoping we can somehow get this to catch on when it airs on Amazon Prime and that we can do a second season. There’ll be ten episodes in season one, each running between twelve and fourteen minutes, eight shoot in NYC and two shoot here, when the character comes home to visit.
Getting Cindy to do it was a key thing and the timing worked and I could not be happier. Kerry O’Malley was the only person I thought of to play her mother and that worked out, too. Then there were many discussions about the title – the title became a “thing” – Sami was worried that people would think the character was her, to which I responded, the character is really not like her at all – the character is actually likeable. She laughed and I told her the reasons I thought it was a perfect title and the long lineage of sitcom titles that used the actual first name of the actress playing the lead – Ellen, Roseanne, I Love Lucy, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and on and on. I also think SAMI is just a great title of a somewhat unique name and I think it will look great as a logo, which Doug Haverty is creating. Richard Allen is doing the musical stuff, we have a really good camera and sound crew in New York and we’re still looking for one in LA – that shoot doesn’t happen until mid-October, so there’s a little time. The one other lead regular is the character of Sami’s BFF – we have two good candidates so far, whose self-tapes were very good and I’m sure we’ll get a few more, plus self-tapes for some of the small roles. We’re all very excited about doing it. Oh, and of course our wonderful Marshall Harvey will be editing it.
Otherwise, I did watch a superb documentary last night, entitled The Ghost of Peter Sellers, made by director Peter Medak. He was asked by Sellers to direct a pirate comedy called The Ghost in the Noonday Sun. The failure of the film and the horrible shoot has haunted Medak for over forty years and this documentary was his catharsis. I won’t say too much, but Sellers was apparently a hugely difficult person to work with, sabotaged both Medak and the film, made everyone miserable, and, years later, when he was next door to where Medak was shooting a film, came and said hello and was surprised when Medak told him why the film had been a horror show. It’s a very interesting film and ultimately a very moving one and I recommend it highly. I also watched thirty minutes of a documentary about filmmaker William Friedkin – I like a few of his films, but he’s too loud for my taste. But it’s interesting and I’ll stick with it, perhaps finish it before going to sleep.
Yesterday was quite a short day, due to the alarm not going off and me sleeping past one-thirty – nine hours of sleep. Once up, I had a plethora of e-mails to answer, I had to write the owner of Broadway World, as our press releases haven’t been going up, at least that I can see, so they checked into it and other than being very backed up with releases, they did bump us up in the queue, and I was happy when the web series release finally hit last night. Otherwise, I spent what little of the day was left getting our new releases ready to announce, which should happen this evening if all goes according to Hoyle. I had two beef tacos from the local Mexican jernt I liked and once again I did not step out of the house into the 104-degree heat. I wrote blurbs, got the audio samples for one of the releases where they needed to go, and approved that master, but didn’t approve the other master – it just wasn’t quite good enough and I lucked out at the last minute and found an alternate source, which we’ll use for the parts I wasn’t happy with. I really didn’t stop until about seven, at which point I watched the documentary. I had some pretzels and some cheese during the evening. I’m not sure I ate 1000 calories total, so that’s fine.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll get the new sound samples where they need to go and then we can hopefully announce in the evening hours. I’ll write the commentary, which will take a few hours, I’ll eat something and I will go out to get it, since I must do a couple of errands no matter what, we’ll continue casting, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal – just two people, so that will go quickly. Saturday, she of the Evil Eye comes so I’ll have to go have a light breakfast and do some stuff. Then I can at least somewhat relax. Sunday is our second rehearsal and with our full cast, Monday is the second rehearsal for the three who aren’t coming tomorrow, Tuesday is our stumble-through, and then Wednesday is our show. I’ll have a big announcement to make at the end of the show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, do the new sound samples, write commentary, eat, do some errands and whatnot, announce the new CDs, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Mr. Peter Sellers? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, thrilled that the cat is out of the bag.