Thursday, May 29, 2008

Con Brio

This past weekend here in Los Angeles was MoonlightCon. A fan-organized event, the three days of panels, presentations, tours, and events drew over 200 attendees from all over the country and the world, including Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands.

And did I mention the fans put the whole thing on?

I came by the Friday evening meet-n-greet, along with EP Harry Werksman, who shared the sizzle reel from the season 2 pitch and dropped some tantalizing hints about what the plans for season 2 were.

Yes, I'm afraid "were," not "are" -- I've heard nothing about a pickup for MOONLIGHT, and we're quickly approaching the no-go point in terms of actor and writer availability, with the sets already struck. A miracle could prove me wrong, of course, and I'd be happy to be so proved, but we are in miracle country on this. Harry did say that the DVD set is being planned, with probably a fall release. Yay!

Saturday I was joined for the writers' panel by Ethan Erwin, who co-wrote the finale with me, and Jill Blotevogel, who wrote many of the season's best-loved episodes. We arrived early, in time to catch the end of a very interesting and well-researched presentation on character archetypes embodied by MOONLIGHT characters, illustrated with video examples: Beth as the Gorgon vs. Amazon, Mick as the Gladiator vs. Messiah. Props to Cinemama on a great preso, which as I told her, made us writers sound smarter than we are. :)

The panel was fun, if a little daunting initially in the formality -- I'm much better talking to people one-on-one, not from some crazy raised dais like declaiming from the mount. We talked about our respective backgrounds and the episodes we wrote, and then turned to audience Q and A, with many insightful and articulate questions from the floor.

Thanks to everyone involved for making us all feel so welcome. As writers, we don't get out much and get a warm reception like that even less! We should be so lucky that all the projects we work on spark such passion and community.

It was an amazing event. Huge congratulations to Lisa "Leeser" Gerry of Moonlightline and all the organizers.

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