Books I heartily recommend to anyone:

Ken Grimwood's Replay - the blurb will make it sound like a rip on Groundhog Day, but it was written about 10 years before that, is more than 10 times better, and the replays cover entire lives, not just one day... truly one of the best books I've ever read, and one I foist on people all the time... and they in turn foist it on their friends as soon as they finish it...

Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South - it's one of his few standalone alternate histories, and better for it. Not everything needs to be a series.

The entire Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin, starting with Another Fine Myth... comedy fantasy adventures - need I say more?

Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land - it needs to be in your reading experience. It just does. You will grok why later.

Since Niven and Pournelle were brought up, an enthusiastic yes to Lucifer's Hammer and Footfall. Let's not forget The Mote in God's Eye, either. They also did some great worth with Steven Barnes (who does excellent work on his own) with The Legacy of Heorot. And in a similar vein, I should also mention Dan Simmon's Hyperion.

I have a great fondness for The Belgariad and The Malloreon series by David Eddings. Start with Pawn of Prophecy. He writes wonderful characters, and I hate the fact that we'll probably never get a movie or mini-series out of these - Catherine Zeta-Jones was born to play Polgara.

As much as I love Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker books, I'm a bit of a purist in that regard - the radio series (as least the first 12 episodes) is the original and definitive version, and the one I return to. However, I must recommend his Last Chance to See, which is a non-fiction book about his travels with Mark Cardawine to find incredibly endangered species before they disappear.

Recent books? As Trey said in the episode, anything by John Scalzi. Actually, I agree with most of their recommendations, but I will throw in that I'm a big fan of Gaiman, and had no problems with American Gods. As a matter of fact, there's a line in the book that I likely influenced. Ernie Cline's Ready Player One is excellent.

This was just published last week, but I read it earlier this summer - Alan Eisenstock's Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fanfilm Ever Made is quite good - there's lots more to the story than you've read in Vanity Fair or seen in Backyard Blockbusters...

I've managed to completely miss this thread due to work the past week, but I'm going to make a few points - some may be pithy, some may be uncivil, but by ghod, they're going to be said, so Mike, please hold off on the ban hammer.... :)

Regardless of what TheGreg thinks, Backyard Blockbusters is MY movie. I, and I alone, control the hows, whys, and wheres of how it will be viewed and distributed.

This will never happen - if anything, at this point, it will never happen to stop leeches like you. And right here, this also destroys your argument - I do not choose for it to be freely available on platforms like Bitorrent. If it were to be placed on some freely available service without my permission, it will have been done so illegally and without my permission, and your downloading of such would be an illegal act.

One way or another, if you want to see this movie, Greg, you're going to pay for it.

What about something like iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, or something like those, you might ask? Well, if the film were to end up on such a service, someone's going to have sent some money or consideration my way first, and then you as a user would have the right to view the film on that service. Plus, you will have paid (either in money or your time viewing commercials) for that right, so no problem. However, if someone were to rip that file/stream and place it somewhere where you can download it for free, then again, this would have been done so illegally, and your downloading of such would be an illegal act.

You wanna buy a DVD/BluRay/implantable corneal projection system eventually? No problem, I'll be happy to sell or rent you one when that day comes. However, if someone were to rip that disc/data and place it somewhere where you can download it for free, then again, this would have been done so illegally, and your downloading/acquiring of such would be an illegal act.

One way or another, a legal exchange will be made where I receive something of value from you in exchange for the right to view the film.

Now, this is not to say I'm in this for the money. While I'd like to make back what I put into this, I've been lucky enough that I've not had to support myself with my films - although that year and a half I spent unemployed except for finishing the film was starting to get rough...  Moving forward, I would prefer to be able to support myself with these kinds of projects, as I have other movies I'd like to do - but I can't continue to make them without at least recouping my investments in the prior projects. Greg's poorly thought out vision of the future of media and content distribution removes that option for me. Under Greg's immature worldview, my freelance filmmaking ends here.

And that, my friends, ain't an option, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, I will clarify something - as much as Backyard Blockbusters is my movie, it's also not. It's Trey Stokes' movie. It's Sandy Collora's. It's James Cawley's, Chris Hanel's, Eric Zala's, Kevin Rubio's, Dan Poole's, and on and on... it wouldn't exist without the original creative works of, along with the help and cooperation of all these people, most of whom I'm happy to be able to call friends after all this. I have to protect not only my film, but their films as well, as all were generous enough to let me have access to their materials. Yes, in all cases, it was free - no one charged me for the use of clips from their projects in the film.

But the difference here, and the one Greg seems to ignore in his Bitorrent argument, is that it was done with permission. If I didn't have permission to use a clip, I didn't use it - end of discussion. I wanted so much to include footage of George Lucas from the official fanfilm awards, but I didn't, because I didn't have the right to those clips. Yes, those clips were freely available on the internet, but to use them would have been foolish, and potentially actionable - except in Greg's fantasyland were all ideas and content are free, apparently. But Torrents are, for the most part, illegally duplicated without the permissions of the original copyright holders - those types of files have no legal right to exist, and in downloading them, you are committing an illegal act, Greg. Doesn't matter if you disagree or not - you are, and you could be held liable. Will it ever happen? Probably not - but it doesn't change the fact of the legality, no matter your ill-informed opinion of the matter.

You say you charge an hourly rate for your services, Greg? Why do you feel I'm not entitled to the same? I'll be happy to screen the film for you at my standard freelance rates, since you seem to feel that's the only equitable way to compensate someone for their work. I have created a tangible product, although you foolishly disagree - Backyard Blockbusters exists. The experience of watching this film, either alone or with an audience, exists. You are paying for that experience - the method of delivery (online, theatrical, DVD, screening it on the side of a barn, me shoving an iPad playing it right up in your face) may vary, but the experience does not.

So one way or another, you're going pay to see it. It may be a pittance, it may be only your (or my) time, but you will contribute or convey something of value to me (or intermediaries acting legally on my behalf) to have that experience.

Or you won't get to see it. It's that simple. Just because I made a thing, does not entitle you to view it. You don't wanna pay? I'm fine with that. Keep your money.

But I'll be damned if you'll still get to see the movie for free, Greg.

As for everyone else - I hope you enjoyed the discussion in the episode, and forgive me for unloading. I hope I get to screen the film near all of you soon... in the meantime, I've uploaded quite a few excerpts from cut sequences to my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/ZTeamProductions/videos) for you to view...

I don't have any real news on future screenings yet, other than a rejection letter from Sundance that arrived this week... :(   It was always a longshot - but then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

We're getting hammered in the voting - one or two of the other entertainment entries seem to have obscenely inflated vote counts - so please, vote/like of both Facebook and YouTube, and encourage your friends to di the same - this is too good a screening opportunity to miss! Thanks!

Hey guys - thanks for the likes - but apparently the ArcLight people didn't put up all the details...   

This is the important link - go to https://www.facebook.com/ArclightCinema … 0205980784 where you can actually vote for Backyard Blockbusters in the "Entertainment Documentaries" section. They will be counting both the amount of views each video gets on their YouTube page, as well as the amount of votes the films receive on Facebook.

Thanks!

Getting close to finishing the film - hope to be able to announce a premiere screening soon... but in the meantime, there were some stories were just too long to include, or didn't fit with the final versions of certain segments in the final film, so I've been posting these extended interviews as a way to build an appetite for the actual film... there are four online so far:

Sandy Collora talks about casting Batman: Dead End

Robbins Barstow talks about his other famous film, Disneyland Dream

Trey Stokes discusses getting to remix the original Pink Five at Skywalker Ranch on Lucasfilm's dime

Chris Strompolos talks about recreating the giant rolling boulder for Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation

I plan on posting a new one every Friday, so either subscribe on YouTube, or keep an eye on the Facebook page!

Conventions are always home to strange happenings...  haven't listened to the episode yet, but to connect this to Trey, one year at SDCC Trey & I were waiting outside a restaurant for a table, and we watched a bicycle mob and a zombie run go past both within minutes of each other... and not long after, I noticed Richard Taylor from Weta walking right towards us - he sees us recognize him and stops to chat - we introduce ourselves, and I figure I'll never get another chance like this to meet him, so I give him a copy of American Scary...  later that night, I bump into him again at the Lucasfilm party, and he said "oh! well, if you're here, you're not just some fan on the street, are you?" I ended up talking with him for about an hour (he was a Crimson Skies fan), traded business cards, and I've had a sporadic email correspondence with him since...

I could write a book about DragonCon happenings... 

Gotta disagree with you there... I noticed those guys the first time I saw the movie opening night, and listening to this episode was the first time I'd ever heard of her supposed telekinesis...

Anyway - Fig finally got me to sign up in here after I plonked him with this one in on FB last night...