Welcome Mr Foley!

ah, there we are. I think.

Hi!

Hi, Andrew!

OK, everybody, we'll give it a few more secs for any later-comers and then we'll get started

Derek! Hey! Thanks for coming. Thanks to everyone for coming, actually.

hi am ola, i just joined the room

I got over 100 responses this week, so I expect a lot more

They may show up yet, Dan.

I'd like to lay out the rules before we get started.

Just so it doesn't descend into madness with everyone talking at once, you should IM me your questions and I will pose them to Andrew. I've instructed Andrew to only answer questions he gets from me. We'll allow for some discussion after each question, but he will mostly be listening and responding to me. I will ask every one without editing and it will keep us focused without too much chaos.

Especially Rakshi, who went above and beyond the call of duty (and possibly reason)…OK, over to Dan for The Rules.

hopefully

sound cool with everyone?

I'm famous for that, Andrew.

I'm not helping already, aren't I…

yep

I thought the chaos was the best part of online chat? I mean, understood

cool with me

most of all, let's just have fun. this should be as relaxed as possible and if anyone wants transcripts after the fact, drop me a line

Would how this session came about be a good place to start this all?

Yes, how did this session come about?

I could pop a transcript up on TMF if you like Dan

The Real Best Part of Online Chat is the typos. Remember that, you'll be seeing a lot of them from me, I fear…

I suppose the first question should be: what is this new Jeremiah material?

That's a good one. The new Jeremiah project--well, there's a couple of them, the comic book, and the role-playing game. I'm going to be concentrating mostly on the comic, because I'm writing it.

So: the comic. It was originally announced as an online series in a strip format, once a week, to begin in February.

That didn't happen.

The reason it didn't happen is because both the project and the story grew into something much bigger. It's called THE LAST EMPIRE, as I suspect most of you know.

Can you give us a little background on how the comic came about? i.e. where the idea came from

The comic came about because of Platinum Studios' Scott Rosenberg.

He wants to keep building on the world that was created by JM Strazcynski on TV.

I think we all want to see JMS' world expanded upon!

One way to do that, while we're waiting to see what happens next with the series, is to build the world in other media.

Scott's a long-time comic fan, so comics were a natural way to go, but there's also the RPG, and a couple of other options are being considered.

how will the world differ when build in a comic media?

So is it still planned as an online strip, and when will we see it?

J: TLE will be released serially online before it's packaged for print.

It'll be appearing in weekly chapters of around 5-10 comic pages apiece.

In addition to the comic pages, there will be a heavy interactive component. Click on a character--get some background on the character. Click on an establishing shot of a new city, you'll get some history of that city.

The online material will be included in the print version as appendices and indexes.

cool

What can we expect from the direction of the art itself?

The art will be full-colour. Pencils will be supplied by an amazing artist named Carlos Ferreira through Fabricio Grellet's Magic Eye Studio.

The guy is amazing--he's got a bit of a Barry Windsor-Smith vibe, his pencils are tight, and his likenesses are bang on.

will likenesses of the TV actors be used?

Just getting to that--the likenesses of the actors will definitely be used, and this is one of the things that have caused a delay. I believe we'll be getting likeness approval from Luke Perry, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, Sean Astin, and the rest in the next couple of weeks. Once that's solid, we should be able to move ahead with the actual pages fairly quickly, knock on wood.

BTW, One of the reasons I wanted to do this chat was to let people know where the book was at--and having done that, I want to keep it going, with semi-regular updates on the project--script samples, art samples, and whatnot--at the boards at the Jeremiah Portal.

Will the comic be available free or will it be a paid media?

The comics will be free online. I'm not sure whether they'll remain online when the print version is released.

*applauds*!

>bows modestly<

Will the story be action driven, or more psychological?

Well, one doesn't preclude the other, so I hope, when all is said and done, the answer to Dan's question will be "yes".

Will we see all the characters we know from the TV series, and/or are new characters going to be introduced?

We'll be seeing a lot of characters from the TV series, including a few people probably never thought they'd see again. And there will definitely be several new characters introduced.

That said, I regret to inform any Erin and Theo fans out there that those characters aren't appearing in The Last Empire…

Oh no I was hoping for more Theo

interesting…

is it known for how long will the comic be produced?

wasn't "Theo" originally supposed to be male anyway?

Can you give us a rough idea of the timescale of the project - target dates for publishing online and on paper?

How long the comic will be produced is a good question. Since I got on-board, it's very much been a priority at Platinum to get the comic up and running. But comics take awhile to put together. Add in the technical additions for the online version, things like getting actor approval on their likenesses and so on, and these things take time. I can say that I'm working on the script for Chapter 10 of (currently) 33 today, and it's expected that the chapters will start appearing before the story is fully drawn--though hopefully not so incompletely drawn that we miss a week.

I forgot to mention one of the big delays--US customs deciding that the screener videos for Season 2/3 constituted a potential terrorist threat, leaving me hanging with only screenplays to understand characters like Mr. Smith and Gina (both of whom play major roles in TLE).

Yay Gina!

The screenplays are great, but it's amazing how much like Ezekiel Mr. Smith reads when all you've got to go by is dialogue…

Any hints about the actual plot?

Without giving too much away, of course!

give! give!

lol smithteller, I bet you read the last page of a book first, too

The story starts with Lee Chen realizing that Something Bad Is Happening. It's happened before--a couple of years ago, when Markus' friend Sarah (who you may remember from a brief appearance in the opening Jeremiah two-parter) disappeared.

well…what if I'm hit by a bus?

Oh, now I'm going to have to watch that episode again!

Jeremiah, Kurdy, Mr. Smith, Gina, Lee Chen, and several other Thunder Mountainers head out to find out exactly what the hell is happening along the coast of Oregon. They think they're ready for anything, but…

The "Newcomer Integration" lady?

That's the one.

I didn't even have to look that up on my own website

Well-done. Give Pete a stick of rock candy.

hehe!

Sorry--I was watching the opener an hour ago, getting ready for this…

Might a comic book of Jeremiah confuse fans of the original Jeremiah comic book?

That's a good question. As the book will be appearing online through the Jeremiah Portal, I hope people will be able to understand that this is based on the TV show based on the comic by Hermann Huppen, and not the actual comic book.

And The Last Empire will only be released in English, per Hermann's wishes.

Is the world of Jeremiah influenced at all by current events?

Hooboy. How to answer that one…?

chemical warfare, pandemics…the usual…

I think of the TV series as commenting on wider philosophical issues rather than being influenced by specific ones. The comic has some specific historical parallels, but they're not "current", so much as interesting.

But inside of that, certain events and the overall arc of the story could be taken as a commentary on current events, yes.

Clear as mud, right?

no, pretty clear…and interesting.

can you give us an example?

I'm leery of getting too specific, for fear of ruining the plot, so all I'm going to say is look at the title, and consider the historical connotations of empires--from the point of view of those who lived in one, and those who ruled them…

Is there any JMS influence to the story or is it completely your own creation?

Well, JMS is a huge influence, obviously. He created this incredible world, and we all want to do it and him proud. He wasn't involved in the details of the plot itself--the story was written by me and Ryan McLelland, who's also handling most of the online bonus material.

One thing I have been doing, quite regularly, is watching the DVD's I've got of the series--really trying to capture the rhythms JMS set up for the characters. I really want their voices to ring true.

The dialogue between Jeremiah and Kurdy, Kurdy and Smith, Smith and…everybody…hopefully these will be interactions that you guys will appreciate. They've been a hoot to write.

Actually, it's post-Interregnum.

What is the time frame for the comic? Does it begin right after 'voices in the dark'?

Hm. Remember that relatively few people have actually *seen* Interregnum!

Only in Canada

yeah, that's tricky. I'm hoping to have the comic come online shortly after Showtime airs the remaining eight episodes in the Fall.

the FALL?

In my ideal world, the chapters would actually go online at the same time as the show aired the previous week, so people could get their "fix". But those kind of details are out of my hands.

So Showtime are going to show the unaired eps then?

if I can front that one, we just don't know, yet.

They have apparently been responding to some emails saying the fall, but have announced nothing yet

officially, that is.

I know everyone at Platinum would love for you guys to see the new eps sooner rather than later, but it's really in Showtime's hands. Go here

http://abyss.hubbe.net/jeremiah/excl/buzz.html

ok

to find out what you can do to nudge Showtime (and the Sci-Fi Network as well, I believe) to get the last eight and a new season up and running…

Mr. Smith sometimes got put in the back for some of the episodes of season two, will he be a major figure in TLE?

<-- big fan of Mr Smith, good question!

Mr. Smith will be a MAJOR figure in TLE.

If only because he's one of my favourites to write.

*APPLAUDS!*!

One of our chatters felt that sometimes the TV show stretched realism a little bit - availability of ammunition and fuel, for instance. How important will realism be in your story?

A GOOD decision.

He's going to be put in a situation he's never been in before--some people are actually going to start thinking maybe, just maybe, he isn't crazy…

I already believe him!

Me too!

Ditto!

…which opens up a whole other can of worms. It's easy to say, "You shouldn't have done that," but it's a lot harder to say, "You should do that," when you know it's going to cause someone pain…

I don't. I'm a big cynic, me.

Well, I think everyone here knows Smith is the Sanest Character in Jeremiah. But that doesn't mean the other characters know it.

YES!

Are you being influenced at all from the original Comic Book by Hermann Huppen?

For reasons I'm not entirely clear on, I was directed *not* to be influenced by anything but the show. This probably ties into the worry about people confusing the two Jeremiahs.

Will the storyline give more back-story on the characters themselves that we didn't see in the series?

I'm not really sure. If you mean factual biographical details, there may be some of that in the bonus material. The back-story is something I believe is being dealt with more in the feature film Platinum's developing, which is a prequel set at the time of the Big Death.

That said, things frequently come up in the actual scripting process that weren't there in the outline. So who knows, there may yet be more back-story--I'm only a third of the way in…

Who do Platinum have writing the Prequel movie? and will that, is that, was that a comic?

I believe they're just about to sign a screenwriter to the project, but I don't know who it is. Actually, I think I've already said everything I know about the film project. Will it be a comic? Scott Rosenberg's got a longstanding and undeniable love for the medium, so I wouldn't be surprised if one was put together at some point. Of course, it couldn't hurt to write him and demand a comic, his e-mail address is…

…No, I better not.

How will you be involved in the RPG?

The RPG, as I understand it, is being designed to lend cohesion to the Jeremiah Universe. It'll put exact locations and dates to places and events that haven't been given that yet, and it'll put the events of TLE in context with those on the show. I'm not directly involved with it, but the characters, organizations, and locations from the GN, as well as the show, will be thoroughly represented in the gamebooks.

If I can interject here just a bit…

Oh, please do. Dan, for those who don't know, is right there in LA with the company. I live in Canada, and get all my information through e-mails and phone calls…

and give a little background to what Platinum is trying to do.

Platinum is creating an entire Jeremiah world picture where every medium is taken into account and has an effect on every other medium

the events of TLE will be taken into account while creating the RPG and any future that the series may have, will have to acknowledge the events of TLE

They're being very careful that everything fits together and acknowledges everything else, no matter where it appears.

That sounds like a great idea

.. the complete opposite of Doctor Who

or Star Trek or a lot of other things that cross mediums.

…but in English only. That will make things interesting when the film is released…

It's really an interesting approach. I remember being infuriated back in the 90's when the second season of Twin Peaks completely invalidated half of the Diaries of Laura Palmer book I'd shelled out good money for…

sorry, back to Andrew now.

Well, the film is a different beast. The comic will be English only, out of respect to Huppen's work on his own series of graphic novels. The film, I'm sure, would be released in the standard manner.

Ahh, but with exception of a handful of B5 books, it all hangs together!

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to be part of this project?

My background: the less-than-serious version can be found here, on the Platinum website

http://platinumstudios.com/people/andrew_foley.php

*waves from Vancouver, eh?*

Another five minutes folks, then we'll have to wrap it up. At least I will, the rest of you can stay all night if you want to.

so if you have any burning questions, throw them out now.

How I got involved: I've been working with Platinum for a few years now, scripting and creating a number of comics, so I've got a pretty good relationship with Executive Editor Lee Nordling and the staff at the office. Scott had hired Ryan McLelland to write an outline for the story, and they were looking for a scripter they could rely on.

Thanks for your time. Looking forward to the comic.

So they came to me, and now we're here. That's the short, boring version.

You can also see samples of Andrew's previous work on that same platinum website listed above.

I understand Dan's got things to do, but I'm game to hang around for a bit more, if anyone else wants to.

Actually, for those who are at all interested in me and my work, we've got ten pages of my first Platinum GN, Age of Kings, here

http://platinumstudios.com/titles/age_of_kings_samples.php

There's a few non-consecutive pages of PARTING WAYS, a project I'm putting together independently with Scott Mooney and Nick (X-Statix) Craine here

http://www.moon-man.com/comics.htm

If you really are desperate for something to read online, I've got a LiveJournal at

Yea!

http://www.livejournal.com/users/andrew6/

live journals rock.

AND I'm hoping to become at least a semi-regular presence at the Jeremiah Portal Message Board run by Monica Hubinet (hope I spelled that right), which I believe is here

http://abyss.hubbe.net/echo/

hubinette

Sorry. I knew I was going to get that wrong, but I had to try…

how can we purchase GN from Platinum?

Platinum graphic novels--the print versions--will be available through standard venues when they actually get out. They've got an ambitious original graphic novel publishing plan, with more than fifty books in the works, but I'm honestly unsure of when they're going to start releasing them. There are a number of Platinum projects that have a previous publishing history that may or may not be available--you can check the Platinum website for details on each of those.

You can also buy merchandise from some of Andrew's other works at http://www.cafeshops.com/platinumstudios

Really? LOL. I actually did not know this…

It's a brand new store they just set up. No Jeremiah stuff yet. Legal stuff, but soon.

Here I am with all my links lined up and ready to go, and the one where people can actually GET stuff, I don't know about…

cool I want an Ace Of Kings Baby Doll T Shirt

OK, everybody. That's my time. If you want to stay and chat, please do, but the moderated section of this is now officially over. Thank you all for coming and if anybody wants transcripts, please email me at the Portal.

Thanks for arranging this chat, Dan

Thanks a lot, Dan.

Thanks Dan

bye Dan

Bye Dan!

Dan's been holding my hand all week about this session, which wouldn't have happened without him.

Thanks!

Dan's the best.

this was a very cool idea for fans to meet the meat behind a project

OK, so who am I talking to, here? Rakshi, you've got SeanAstin.net, correct?

Thanks for doing this for us, Andrew.

thanks, guys, talk to you all soon.

Yes.

I do.

I'm just a fan, I don't have a website!

It's been my pleasure, honestly. I was very nervous about it--I know I've got big shoes to try and fill, here--thanks for taking it easy on me.

I'm going to post this chat in the Jeremiah section as soon as Dan sends it to me.

Um, Rakshi, you can select and copy it, I've done it already

We appreciate you giving us the time. .. really.

Oh! OK.. never done a yahoo chat before.

Nor I!

I swear I don't actually know her, but Monica Hubinette's site 'The Abyss' is excellent. A really good resource.

I hear that petegaley has a good site!

Yes, I hear that too.

Pete has an AMAZING site!

yeah, I agree smithteller, I check the forum at hubbe.net most days at work

Great, I'll have to check it out.

I link to it about a billion times.

Monica's name has come up several times in conversations with Dan and Scott--they refer to her by her first name, I only knew her through the Abyss, so it was a bit confusing for awhile there…

I hear petegaley really ought to update it soon too

*giggles at Pete*

He can mention a chat with the writer of the new Jeremiah graphic novel, maybe…

Andrew, how helpful are these sites in what you do as a writer?

So can Sean-Astin.net

The Abyss is where I was told to go for message-board action. Sean-Astin.net was recommended highly by Dan.

Will do!

Awww.. I love Dan.

Andrew, you DO have vids for all 2nd season, don'tcha? (I do!)

I eventually got to see the screeners, but I didn't get to keep them--my editor, Lee Nordling, needed to see them, too, and Platinum only got so many copies from MGM…

You're lucky, we haven't seen ANY of season 2 over here in the UK

and boy, did I need to see those episodes. I'd totally misread Smith's character. I was dreading working on him, till I actually saw Sean Astin's portrayal. Now, like I say, he's a personal favourite.

You were right when you said the dialogue has a flavour of Ezekiel in the first couple of S2 eps

But totally change by episode 15

A friend of mine was VERY sceptical about Smith, he eventually slowly came round to believing in him over the second half of the season.

There had to be a Smith. A total outsider.

(who really isn't crazy)

<--- believes in Mister Smith

Isn't he wonderful? Andrew, did you get to see 'Crossing Jordan'?

I've seen all 35 episodes of Jeremiah. Watched the last one just a couple weeks back (didn't see them in order, unfortunately--needed to get a handle on Smith and Gina sooner rather than later).

I'm disappointed that we won't see more of Erin. The way Marcus said "no" to her left me personally feeling that more could happen, after the Daniel problem was resolved.

Gina's unique in Jeremiah - an optimist

And what was it that Mr Smith told her, that she had to go away and wouldn't come back?

true…

why Gina?

Gina because she's a major character in The Last Empire.

I can't wait to see where you take her character. She has so much potential IMO

Andrew, what's the chances of another chat.. once you get the actor's permission… so we can get a preview of the artwork?

I was SO looking forward to that today!

I've had a great time doing this chat, I'd be willing to do another one any time, really.

Make sure you keep us posted on the hubbe.net forum!

I'm hoping to get some artwork up and available for viewing on the portal and the message boards as soon as possible.

YES!

Will do!

YES! that's great, Andrew.

Once again, thanks for your time, Mr. Foley.

What I really want to do is make sure that Jeremiah's fans understand that the character has not been abandoned by Platinum. I was going around some of the forums, and it looked to me like it would be too easy to get that impression, and it really isn't the case, so I'm hoping to build up some enthusiasm, in spite of things like Showtime's will-they-or-won't-they playing with the last eight episodes.

Again, happy to do it, smithteller.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this comic, it sounds like nothing I've seen before online!

That's good. There's a lot of life in Jeremiah

the show's effectively dead, is it?

I'm really not in the loop with the show, but I have been told that there's still a good chance of it being picked up by Sci-Fi, if…and I've got a quote here, gimme a sec…

here it is:

"How fast a new saga begins will depend upon both the ratings for the next 8 hours, and the amount of mail/buzz generated."

mail to Showtime?

*is ready to send tons of emails and letters*

who said that? Sci-Fi programming?

What are the chances of Luke, Malcolm and co returning though? I would imagine they've all lined up other work by now…

Someone from Platinum…I've got the quote cut and pasted from an e-mail, but there's about a dozen people I've been talking with over the week, so I'm really not sure who said it…

Sean Astin said at a convention that he's signed for 8 more episodes with MGM if it goes to a third season.

It seems to me that it's easier for actors to get involved with multiple shows these days, as the cable networks don't always insist on 22 episodes like they used to. But again, I'm just a comic guy, so take everything I say about TV with a pillar of salt…

true.

"just" a comic book guy. Perhaps you don't realise that we actually appreciate graphic novel writers!

Have to run. Andrew…again… thank you so much. Will be posting this very soon.

Pete… good to see you!!

Going up to what Rakshi said last--I think the Sci-Fi network would be the place to go with your support for the show.

thanks Rakshi. have a good one!

Bye everyone…. and… I'll remember that about scifi…

bye all

thanks, Viridian--it's nice to be appreciated.

Neil Gaiman has to be one of my personal heroes - he's how I got my name!

Viridian has me to thank for introducing Jeremiah (and Mr. Gaiman!)

Oh yes. Thanks to Pete for introducing me to Jeremiah and Neil Gaiman!

Pete Galey: Opening Minds

But Pete has me to thank for introducing him to Tori Amos

True.

well I think I'll head off now. Thanks for the info Andrew and best of luck with the writing. Hope to see you on Abyss forum

See you soon.

Bye everyone

Bye Pete

I've got to go, too. The dog has just about had it with me not taking him for a walk. Does anyone have any last burning questions?

It is nearly ten pm here, it's nearing Pete's bedtime

must mosey, but this has been fun, thanks Mr. Foley, keep us informed

will do. Thanks, Gavin!

yes! Given that god is infinite, and that space is also infinite, would anybody like any toast?

bye!

42

I could go for some toast, yes. Anything else?

sorry, couldn't resist that one.

bye

I shall wait by my computer eagerly for any sign of the strip! Thanks so much for being around and answering our questions

Great work, Andrew, thanks for coming out!

Looks like we're done. Thanks again to those who're still here, hope to chat with you some more soon. Have a good evening/night/morning/afternoon.