Author: Bjorn Munson

Producing

Film Budgets… Through a Film Lifecycle

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

One wonky thing I’m endlessly fascinated by is film budgets. When you realize that an hour of modern “prestige” TV can top $10 million, yet the average Hollywood blockbuster is over $100 million, you know certain choices are being made and risks accepted. And yes, I know traditional theatrical distribution and traditional network and cable distribution have business models that can inform and support these widely disparate budgets. However, I lap up little tidbits from…

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Various and Sundry

Meanwhile, in a Galaxy soon to Not be so Far, Far Away…

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Unless you’ve been living under a tauntaun, you know that Disney is adding Star Wars sections to its theme parks. And since it’s Disney, they are going all out. The sci fi news site, io9, was part of a group of journalists that got the tour the attractions, still feverishly being prepared for later this year (summer for Disneyland (California) and Fall for Disney World (Florida). If you’re the slightest bit a Star Wars fan,…

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Various and Sundry

“Our desks were never meant to be our altars.” Work as faith in the 21st Century

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Coming off my post on Monday about having hobbies as hobbies and nothing more, I stumbled across an article by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic about the reverence that work and “busyness” has in modern American culture. America has long had a paradoxical status as a Calvinistic Babylon, to reference historian Michael Kammen. To follow along that allegorical thought, if all hobbies ought to be hustles, leisure time itself is suspect. Being unproductive is almost…

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Various and Sundry

Get Creative… Off the Clock

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I had the opportunity over Presidents’ Day weekend (aka Washington’s Birthday weekend for OPM sticklers) to do something I can’t remember doing in a long time, if ever: painting miniatures. Many of my gamer friends have various Warhammer and related armies and I know my efforts are not remotely in their league. They paint minis regularly. In fact, for several, it’s a bona fide hobby. One preditor friend (that’s producer-editor for the uninitiated) has taken…

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Writing

Taking Silly Very Seriously

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

As mentioned earlier this week, I will be appearing at this year’s Escape Velocity on Memorial Day weekend, both presenting a producer’s guide to moviemaking and with Jabberwocky Audio Theater (JAT) doing a live performance. Last year, JAT did an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic War of the Worlds since it was the 80th anniversary of Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast. It was great fun to update a radio adaptation to the present day and set it…

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Producing Writing

Where I’ll Be: Escape Velocity 2019

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Last week, I got confirmation that Jabberwocky Audio Theater has a thumbs up to do a live performance at the Museum of Science Fiction‘s annual science-expo-meets-pop-culture-convention, Escape Velocity! Escape Velocity 2019 Promo from Museum of Science Fiction on Vimeo. We had a chance to do a live performance of War of the Worlds last year which was well received (and a lot of fun to do as well). We don’t know the exact date and time of our performance –it’ll be…

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Producing

In Case You Want to Misbehave

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

A lot of my efforts these past few months have been working on building the audience for Jabberwocky Audio Theater. Frankly, a great way to do that is with a giveaway. As recipients of the JAT Mailing List know, JAT is running a second giveaway during this “pledge drive period” between our seasons. This time, we’re focusing on Firefly, which more than a few listeners have compared my space opera, Rogue Tyger to. What can…

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Producing Writing

Choose Your Own Theater Adventure

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’ve enjoyed more interactive theater for a long time, whether it’s traditional audience response (applause/boos/hisses) or more modern breaking of the fourth wall or simply the immediacy of staging a show “in the round.” I’ve often thought about staging a play for our local Fringe festival whose outcome is decided by the audience… perhaps after they’ve weighed in on several decision points. I thought about those ideas again when I read a piece by Alysia…

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Producing Various and Sundry

We’re All Mad Marketers Here

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

While this is really more of a Team Jabberwocky thing, specifically Jabberwocky Audio Theater, it’s time to put on my marketing hat which is, by its very nature, mad! Regular readers may recall that we did a Doctor Who giveaway last year and we’ll do a few more this year: all to help build an audience for Jabberwocky Audio Theater. You may also remember that I’ve occasionally mentioned the work of Russell Nohelty on behalf…

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