millsworks

I’m at the cusp of a very busy time which, of course, means I am procrastinating wildly (like writing this blog post) in a nonsensical effort to kick away all the tasks I have set for myself.

Silly monkey.

The editing on the Ruffus The Dog project continues. Our version of The Christmas Carol is nearing completion and the work of promoting it is already gearing up in anticipation of our December 17th release. We’re even planning on having a theatrical screening here in Toronto to mark the occasion and celebrate with everyone who worked on it. I’ll post more on that later.

Also as part of the overall Ruffus Project we’ve been working on a series of illustrated graphic novellas based on the original shoes. These are going to be really cool and colourful publications for young readers. Sort of a mix between Classics Illustrated comics and Fractured Fairy Tales – but with a dog in the middle of it all.

Another part of the Ruffus Project is the beginning of a new web series based on the original episodes called Ruffus Rhymes. These are going to be similar to the original fairy tale episodes we’ve been posting online, just as silly and irreverent, but shorter and using classic nursery rhymes from around the world as fodder for our fun.

The Rubber Chicken Players is another web series we shot this summer. It originated from the minds of Jim Taylor and Fred Stinson and then snowballed into a collection of movie, book and theatre parodies featuring – yep – rubber chickens. The full edit on that won’t begin until the Christmas Carol work is completed but some preliminary episodes have been cut together and they are incredibly stupid – which is a good thing. When that is ready to come out I’ll be sure to holler.

My wife, Karen Valleau, has her own web series in development, a delightfully sweet project called My Kitteh! for young audiences. It’s entirely her project but I’m acting as the tech monkey for her vision.

My pal, Fred Stinson, is diligently working on his own web series with Alyson Court called Fuzzy Bunny. It’s definitely not for kids but it is all sorts of juicy, dirty, goofy fun. Fred’s writing all the episodes. I’ll be directing. I think we might be shooting next month; I’m not sure – ask Fred.

All of the above work is pretty much self-financed, with the exception of The Christmas Carol that has been partially funded through the generous support of our Indie go-Go donors – so while it takes up the majority of our time it doesn’t provide a pay cheque. You win – you lose – it’s all good. By the way, we’re going to start another round of financing through Indie Go-go to ensure the timely completion of our Christmas Carol. More on that later.

So what is it with all these fucking web series?

Hey, I’m not the only one.

Toronto boasts a very large Web Series Community creating shows like Jason Leaver’s Out With Dad, Jill Golick’s Ruby Skye P.I. – both award winners – and many others including: Tights & Fights, Microwave Porn, and Pretty In Geek. What we’re doing with Ruffus and our other projects are just a small part of a growing seachange in the development, creation and distribution of entertainment within the interwebs, spearheaded by (among others) Felicia Day’s phenomenal success with her own production The Guild.

I’ll be blathering on more about that when I have time to collect my thoughts. Eventually, as I alluded in earlier postings here, I want to redesign this site – and even change the URL – so this blog becomes a combination news aggregator and creative space with an extra little corner for the occasional rant. I know what I want it to be and how I want it to look, I just haven’t found the time to sit down and code the new pages yet. Soon.

Meanwhile, I’m going back down to the basement to work on Ruffus and take the occasional break to work on my separate adult graphic novel project, that long overdue feature screenplay I want to shoot next year and a batch of pitches for television series my agents hopes I get finished before anything else. I didn’t mention those? Yeah. More stuff.

Silly monkey.

P.S. The other thing I have to do is find a paying gig so I can continue to finance all this work and deal with the bills that are piling up. Maybe I’ll buy another lottery ticket. Yeah. That’ll do the trick.

Silly monkey.