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December 29, 2006
Greatest Stories Never Told: The Web Series
We have spent the last month working on a wonderful project that should burst forth from The History Channel website in a matter of weeks.
We are creating web-based videos of the stories from my first two Greatest Stories Never Told books. The History Channel is going to create a Greatest Stories Never Told web page on their site where the stories will live. The History Channel is billing it as, and I hope I have this right, their first original web series not associated with an ongoing TV program. Which is pretty exciting.
It is especially exciting because it will also cross promote the books. Just to help you keep score: First there was Timelab 2000, a series of history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston that aired on The History Channel. This led to the books. Now the books have led to a new series of history shorts for The History Channel website. Wacky world, eh?
These ones are very different from the Timelab pieces. They are longer, with more information and more attitude. They are hosted by an amazing young Boston stage actor named Timothy John Smith who really throws himself into each piece, and has a lot of fun with the material. (This is the first TV/film project he has ever done, and boy was he good!) Tim is also the artistic director of the Red Feather Theater Company.
The editing and the music on the pieces is very aggressive. The result is energetic, entertaining, and just plain enjoyable—if I do say so myself. We shot 20 of them, and they will probably be on The History Channel website by mid January.
We shot the pieces a week before Christmas in historic Buckman Tavern in Lexington. (A shout out to the Lexington Historical Society for making this possible!) It was the perfect location. It has a great historic look, it is closed during the winter so we could completely take it over, it is a short walk to Peet’s coffee, has wireless internet, and is only three minutes from my house. Of course it is also filled with priceless, irreplaceable historic objects, so we took great care of everything while shooting. Dillard Morrison and Mike Lee did a great job of lighting, giving the nearly 300 year old location a funky new look. We were aiming at a mix of hip and history--hope we hit it!
The History Channel asked us to complete the project by the end of the year, and we took them at their word: our final edit is scheduled for the morning of New Year’s Eve. A whole lot of people have worked very hard at a crazy time of year to make this happen, and I am very grateful to all of them for doing so. It's been a wild ride the last four weeks getting them ready for air, but I think it is fair to say that everyone involved has had a whole lot of fun.
Posted by rickbeyer at December 29, 2006 05:41 PM
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Well apparently TypeKey has reconsidered and decided to let me comment! So first I was distressed that you added verification to the Ghost Army blog, but then I found out that it worked for me now (which it didn't the last time I tried--maybe 6 months ago). So let the comments begin!!
Posted by: SantaFeKate ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.rickbeyer.net/astonish/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 8, 2007 07:36 PM
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