ValueSubtracted

Related to this article, VFX supervisor for "Picard," "Strange New Worlds," and season 4 of "Discovery" posted this rather interesting thread to Mastodon:

Reading the article going around about Bryan Fuller’s Discovery, and people’s “What If” scenarios reminds me of 2016 and my brush with it interviewing for the VFX department there:

I got a chance to interview as a potential Compositing Supervisor. It’s a trend which continues today that some productions have small in-house groups to concept things, sometimes do shot work, directly interface with a show to do certain things faster and cheaper than going to vendors, like previs.

I get to Los Angeles Studios downtown to talk to the Producer, and the first thing I notice in being in the offices; no real concept art to be found, no white board with scheduling info; I think I saw 3 pieces of artwork (only one of which was ever reflected in the show, but more about that later). No one really in the office yet, but it was also a late evening and they weren’t in production yet.

Kinda a red flag, but maybe the stuff was somewhere else I just couldn’t see.

I go through a pretty standard interview process, and when asked what questions I might have, I start with some pretty standard ones: How many hours a week? 60. How big a team? 20ish. What types of work are you planning on doing, concept, prep shots, actual shot production? All the VFX work of the show.

OK big red flag.

That is not enough to do this kind of show in the 2010s. Maybe a TNG show with TNG amount of effects an episode, but not modern TV.

When do you start shooting? In months. Do you have scripts to breakdown and budget staff? No. Any scripts at all? No.

WHAT? These two things do not go together, especially on a new show. Pilots for shows will float around for sometimes years being prepped and budgeted.

Do you have art for phasers, transporters, warp, or even ships? They showed me like a temp transporter. And the 3 pieces of art on the walls. Maybe they had more and didn’t want to show me. I did sign an NDA

What kinds of shot pipeline do you have? We have Lightwave and Nuke. No I mean pipeline. Nope.

At that point, I knew this was going to be a disaster and wanted no part of it. I finished up pleasantly with them, and got the hell out of Dodge. There is bootstrap small high performance team work, which I’ve been a part of, and there’s throwing yourself into a meat grinder. It didn’t matter if they wanted me, I didn’t want them. Which was crushing for a lifelong Star Trek fan.

Months away from shooting and no scripts on a completely new show that was supposed to launch a streaming network is a recipe for disaster.

Later, I found out that after spending millions of dollars in prepro, Fuller had “departed” and all those people were sacked. Fuller, while being responsible for some really loved shows, also has a history of lots of aborted projects, or projects he left really early on. But I’m sure other people actually know that story better than I.

At that point Alex Kurtzman was brought in to actually make a show that could be produced. I went back to the VFX place I was working for, and would just be a viewer like everyone else. I wouldn’t get a chance to work on Trek until 2019 working on Star Trek: Picard for DNEG.

Anyway millions were wasted for nothing that was able to be shot. Just something to consider with “What Ifs” of Star Trek. I really hope someone writes a book about Star Trek production someday.

School boards are also very vulnerable to this kind of coordinated attack:

Low voter turnout, [Take Back Alberta leader David Parker] said, is the key to victory.

"Albertans and Canadians are apathetic and lazy. They never show up," he said during another October 2023 speech in Calgary. “You could take over every school board in this entire province."

If you want continuous music streaming (that is, it's not on-demand, and you'll listen to whatever's playing), Stingray Music (formerly Galaxie) gets the job done.

I also use CBC Listen, primarily to stream their radio stations, but they've got loads of podcasts and music playlists as well.

Were there any local laws that require the contract to be awarded to the cheaper/better provider, even if there are local companies?

Governments are always pressured to take the lowest bid, regardless of whether that bid is realistic, and regardless of how often it blows up in their faces.

I've heard Tawny Newsome talk about this show on a podcast, and in this particular case, it's the opposite - Paramount+ wanted a live-action comedy, Kurtzman wasn't sure it would work, and Newsome had to talk him into it.

That said, the industry as a whole has been in a state of contraction, and the big Paramount merger is imminent, so who the hell knows what will happen?

You're right, of course - but I'm going to continue to be unimpressed until we get some actual details!

More of a set of bullet points than an actual "plan."

Financial incentives, not penalties, to help consumers afford things like more energy efficient appliances, electric cars, and better home insulation.

Great - details, please. What kind of incentives, and at what stage of the buying process will they be applied?

Canada’s biggest emitters will contribute their fair share

Does this mean the existing carbon tax on industry will remain in place, or...something else?

Investments towards energy efficient buildings, electrified transportation, and more.

Meaninglessly vague without details.

Ensuring fairness for Canadian industries on the global stage, and better integrate with allies in the fight against climate change.

Word salad.

From a structural standpoint, it seems like a good way to have a rotating cast of guest stars while still having an ongoing mystery for the leads to explore.

Well, Bashir (and I think his buddies from the Institute?) are proof that it's possible. I've never delved into novels or other things about the Eugenics Wars, though.

Controls’ file says that Georgiou was brought to the prime universe in 2257, ”but after a few years we lost contact.” The events of season two of DIS take place almost immediately after season one, unless there were ”a few years” between the resolution of the Klingon war, and the USS Discovery setting out from Earth to pick up her new captain on Vulcan in “Will You Take My Hand?”.

I wonder if our boi Ash Tyler had something to do with that when he covered up what happened to Discovery (and, I guess, to Leland). Maybe he decided to remove Georgiou from that whole situation and falsify a record saying she disappeared some time later.

I also wonder if Ashy T. is still involved with S31 at this point - the man's a Klingon, so he's got the life span for it.

I really think we need another reference point - I wouldn't say any of the "new" series seem particularly like Star Wars, aesthetically or tonally.

I also don't think Star Wars should have a monopoly on certain types of storytelling, but that's neither here nor there.

It's still on track to close within the next few months.

I have my doubts that the tv side of Trek will be affected too much, but maybe the new management will be able to remove some of the roadblocks on the theatrical side.