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Dec
23
2013

So what’s Carter and Season 10 up to?

A number of interviews with the creative team behind XF and Season 10 have popped up lately, and they have been very revealing on how Season 10 came to be and where it is headed: Joe Harris at Things From Another World; Chris Carter at MTV; Chris Carter, Joe Harris and Denton J. Tipton (IDW editor) at Nerdy Show.

Carter projects: Coming in February 2014

Chris Carter is finishing post-production of the pilot of his next series, “The After” (extensive coverage here). It will ‘air’ online at Amazon Prime in February 2014, before a decision is made to order a full series or not. Below: a photo from the shooting (from Back To Frank Black).

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And in parallel he’s developing the story for another show for AMC (extensive coverage here).

From MTV:

Carter has also been busy with non-X-Files material. He’s finishing up a pilot for Amazon called “The After” which, according to the new studio, “follows eight strangers who are thrown together by mysterious forces and must help each other survive in a violent world that defies explanation.”

Then there’s the super-secret AMC project he’s working on. “I wrote a script that I got a good response to,” Carter said. “Right now it’s still in the development stage.” Regarding the subject matter, Carter only conceded that it has something to do with conspiracies. Seems like he’s heading back into familiar territory.

And so this is where we are, precisely one year after December 22nd 2012, the would-be date of the alien invasion that Carter burdened himself with by referencing it in the X-Files finale. Eleven years after that finale, what we get on making Dec-22-2012 the ‘end date’ for XF3 is this (from Nerdy Show; major troll on Chris’s behalf!):

“I think that’s a significant date, but… there was this idea that we would shoot for 2012, I always though that was a mistake and I’m glad that date is passed.”

Below, a Flukeman commission by Michael Walsh… who didn’t do the art for #6-7!

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Season 10: “Am I vague enough for you?”

It appears IDW first got the idea for the comics with the 20th anniversary of the series and approached FOX. Joe Harris was hired to write up ideas. Eventually Carter got involved, and steered Harris away from certain plot points, and gave Harris certain feedback for what became the first story arc, “Believers“. After that, Harris sends Carter drafts for review but by the sound of it Carter has little to say and lately hasn’t even had time to go through them (he seemed unaware or forgot that monster-of-the-week type issues were upcoming!). Whatever Carter prevented Harris to cover in “Believers” is something that Carter hopes to use in a potential third XF movie, and this territory is off limits for Harris for the foreseeable future (incidentally meaning that Harris is aware of certain story elements of that XF3!). And this is how Season 10 is evolving, Carter being ‘executive producer’ but essentially giving Harris free rein to do whatever he wants apart from dealing with certain specifics — we suspect resolving the William issue, or actually making colonization happen. And if, if XF3 happens, Harris hopes that they will manage to have the comics storylines nicely fit into and lead to the movie. Which is nice for coherence’s sake, but also means that Season 10 is, in some ways, bonus adventures/side distractions/stand-alone material, before the grand finale that is as yet unrevealed. Enjoyable, but somewhat frustrating!

Some quotes from MTV:

Carter: “I’d never been involved in the comics before because I had no time and really no inclination,” Carter explained. But when he heard what was being planned for the series, he offered to step in. “I think they’ve been doing a really good job,” he said. “I like that there are characters coming back, they’re bringing characters to life, and that tickles me.”

And from Nerdy Show:

Carter: “It’s really Joe who is driving this […] a product of his imagination […] IDW, they’ve taken the lead, they’ve taken the reins”

Carter: “Even though we are calling it ‘season 10’, it’s a comic book season 10″Carter: “If there ever were going to be a third movie, we wanted to preserve certain things that wouldn’t corrupt that opportunity”

Harris: “Chris and I have talked about a potential third movie and what that would entail, or what that would address, what that would contain, and I am very mindful of that, and leaving a lot of space. I don’t want the comics to get into that specifically at all. If and when that is to materialize I’m pretty confident we could make it all work.”

Joe Harris at TFAW:

TFAW: How large will Scully’s son William figure in the overall series?

It’s all a mystery, wrapped in a puzzle, inside of an enigma. William is, obviously, a core concern for Mulder and Scully — for Dana, especially. And the events of our opening “Believers” arc didn’t do anything to lessen that.

But William is also a dear concern for Chris Carter, and I know he has business he wants to get to on that front, himself. So we’re touching upon things where appropriate, and when expected . . . but we’re being careful for other, very cool reasons too.

TFAW: Can you give us any hints about the alien invasion, or whatever else is coming next?

JH: If I told you about “the alien invasion” Chris Carter would excommunicate me . . .

Joe Harris interview for Comic Book Resources (video, text highlights). On XF Season 10:

It’s totally in continuity with the blessing of series creator Chris Carter. He has overseen everything I brought — he’s even offered some tweaks to make it better and preserve some things he wanted to preserve; mysteries he might want to tackle later at some date. It’s totally in-continuity, they are the present-day adventures of Mulder and Scully. It draws on everything we know, it continues the mythology while — I’d like to think — adding something new, so it’s not completely retro.

Bonus: another short video of Joe Harris on #5 and #6.

IDW Season 10: Changes in the team

Michael Walsh, who did the art for issues -5 and #8, will not be returning for more — for reasons unknown (perhaps the lukewarm reception his art got, arguably, although he has been engaged to another series, and he said in an audio interview for Comicbook Noise that he might return occasionally, but not as the main artist. Issues #6-7, #9 and #10 have some guests artists with Elena Casagrande, Greg Scott and menton3, however it appears that none of them will be the regular Season 10 artist: that one will be revealed with issue #11! Jordie Bellaire, who worked with Walsh, will be returning for colors.

There are changes on the covers side as well, with Carlos Valenzuela leaving after issue #9 and Francesco Francavilla arriving with #10. Comics Alliance has an interview with him.

Issues #8, #9 and #10 — and beyond!

The solicitations for February and March are out:

February 2014: Issue #9 is a single-issue arc. Writer Joe Harris: “It’s my first, original “Monster of the Month” (a term I’m taking sole credit for) story and it’s utterly disgusting, I’m sorry.” Exciting — although I’m worried 22 pages might not be enough!

The X-Files: Season 10 #9
Joe Harris (w) • Greg Scott (a) • Carlos Valenzuela (c)
“Chitter” A missing persons investigation leads Agents Mulder and Scully into a disgusting mess of human sacrifice, enough bugs to keep your skin crawling long after the issue is over, and The X-Files’ newest “Monster of the Month.” But what is “The Chittering God,” and why does it hunger for Dana Scully?
• 32 pages • $3.99
Ask your retailer about the menton3 variant cover!
Our first issue to feature an original “Monster of the Month”

XFiless10_09_cvr

March 2014: Issue #10 is also a single-issue story, and it returns to the mythology in a bigh way. Joe Harris teases us at length:

Issue #10 is a quasi-sequel to one of my favorite X-Files episodes, Season Four’s “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,” which presented a potential, speculative history of everyone’s favorite nicotine addict and X-Files foil.

Keeping in that tradition, we’re going to fill in some more blanks — some of which line up with what we know of X-Files and “Mytharc” continuity, and others that just won’t make much sense when you lay them over times, dates, events and relationships we already know — while attempting to tell a story that both serves as a love letter to that classic Glen Morgan-penned and James Wong-directed episode, as well as a springboard toward our next big “Mytharc” storyline kicking off in issue #11.  On the surface, this will appear to be a throwback story… but if you read between the lines, or panels (and if we do our jobs correctly!), you’ll learn a few things about our current, “Season 10″ rendition of the Cigarette Smoking Man, get some hints as to the nature of his unexplained resurrection following his demise at the end of the show’s final season, as well as learn a bit more about what amounts to a neo-Syndicate that’s popping up to make Agents Mulder and Scully’s lives difficult all over again.

Menton3 is joining us on interiors this time around (while providing another ‘Retailer Incentive’ cover), and this issue also marks the debut of the the amazingly talented Francesco Francavilla as series cover artist!

The X-Files: Season 10 #10
Joe Harris (w) • menton3 (a) • Francesco Francavilla (c)
“More Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” The ubiquitous foe of Agents Mulder and Scully has returned from the dead, raising many questions and burying many answers. Find out more about his resurrection, along with his past, in this special stand-alone story, which sets the stage for the next big story arc!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
• Ask your retailer about the menton3 variant cover!
• Special standalone story featuring the “Cigarette Smoking Man”!
• Eisner-winning cover artist Francesco Francavilla begins his run as the regular cover artist!

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Some art by Walsh from the upcoming #8 (original and with colors):

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Walsh: Did some traditional grey washes on some pages from this issue. Quite happy with how they turned out, I’ll probably incorporate this technique in to my work again down the road. As always Jordie did a great job colouring

Could that be a flashback featuring X?

This looks like it’s from #8 as well:

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And also a commission by Walsh that… we’re not likely to see inside the issues:

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And, Joe Harris on TFAW:

As a fan, is there a scene you’re just dying to write?

Oh hell yes. As I’m always scanning through old episodes, I make note of little hooks and references that might later work their way into a Season 10 story and cement us a little more within the mythology.

There’s a lot I’m looking into right now, and I really don’t want to reveal and spoil anything here. But I can give you two examples of moments and bits that would ring some bells with the fans, and which I really want to illustrate as either the center of an upcoming issue, or in a scene somewhere down the line, etc.

The first involves Mulder’s trip to a Washington, DC “head shop,” as mentioned in the Stephen King co-written episode, “Chinga,” where he ends up buying the iconic “I Want To Believe” poster that hangs on his basement office wall. I mean, can you imagine Mulder browsing through the bongs and glass pipes before he gets to the blacklight posters and patchouli?

The other involves Monte Propps, the killer who was the subject of young Fox Mulder’s famed work as a profiler before founding the FBI’s “X-Files” division, and who was mentioned in the very first episode of the show. I’d like to expand and expound upon that bit of lore a little at some point, too.

And I’d love to show more of Mulder and Scully’s past, at some point, if it works within the context of what we’re doing in the present.

These flashbacks do sound like something we could see in #8.

TFAW: Can you give us any hints about the alien invasion, or whatever else is coming next?

JH: If I told you about “the alien invasion” Chris Carter would excommunicate me . . .

But I can tell you that we’ve got lots of hooks and permutations of the X-Files “Mytharc” to explore, and new conspiracies to dig into. Lots of old friends, enemies, and characters difficult to classify as one or the other will be returning . . . some in unexpected ways, with motivations and secrets that keep this a forward-leaning series, rather than just a trip down memory lane.

We’ve got everyone’s favorite monster, Flukeman, returning in a two-part sequel to the immortally beloved Season Two episode “The Host” beginning in issue #6, and Mulder’s mysterious informant “X” makes a return from beyond the grave in issue #8.

Issue #9 is going to spotlight our first original “Monster of the Month” that I’m super excited to reveal. It’s going to be a pretty creepy experience, I can promise you that.

After that, we’re going to expand on the presumed history of everyone’s favorite nicotine addict a bit, both as a love letter to one of my favorite episodes, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man,” as well as an uncovering of some new details regarding the mystery of CSM’s reappearance in the pages of The X-Files: Season 10.

And all of this will propel us toward the next big, shocking multi-part storyline beginning in issue #11.

And Harris in the Nerdy Show:

“We’ve got a five-issue mythology story arc starting with issue #11. And after that we’ll be into year two of the Season 10 series being published, and I’ve got a few new ideas for single-issue monster stories and short two-part arcs as well”

Other releases: Volume 1, Conspiracy and Annual

The X-Files Season 10 Volume 1 was released on December 18 2013. It is a hardcover collecting the first five issues of the seriess, i.e. the “Believers” arc. This is the version that will be circulated widely, be translated — usually comic publishers go with collecting 6 issues in trade paperbacks, but IDW sees big with XF! IDW seems to be continuing the trend of collecting 5 issues, as Volume 2 has been announced for April. This also has an impact on the way stories are written and over how many issues they are spread over: Volume 2 should have “Hosts“, “For the Benefit of Mr. X“, “Chitter” and “More Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man“, and Harris has said that the next big mythology arc should be spread over issues #11-15 (i.e. Volume 3!).

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Joe Harris is continuing to sell his XF scripts!

Alongside Season 10, IDW is continuing the X-Files: Conspiracy series, which is the cross-over of the Lone Gunmen with other big franchises (announced here). Two issues are released per month, with awesome covers by Miran Kim and others. Now that they have Miran Kim back on XF, as she used to do the covers for the Topps comics in the 1990s, why don’t they have her do some interior art as well? There is also an interview by Conspiracy writer Paul Crilley at Comic Book Resources.

February:

The X-Files: Conspiracy: TMNT—SPOTLIGHT
Ed Brisson (w) • Michael Walsh (a) • Miran Kim (c)
The Turtles are doing their best to avoid trouble in Northampton. Unfortunately, trouble finds them in the form of the Lone Gunmen! The fate of the world depends on the Gunmen getting the reclusive Turtles’ help. Add in an undead menace and things are going to get downright dangerous!
• 32 pages • $3.99
The X-Files meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Written by Ed Brisson (Comeback, Secret Avengers)!
Art by The X-Files: Season 10 artist Michael Walsh!
“Tabloid Newspaper” Variant Cover by Joe Corroney!

The X-Files: Conspiracy: TRANSFORMERS—SPOTLIGHT
Paul Crilley (w) • Dheeraj Verma (a) • Miran Kim (c)
The Lone Gunmen’s trail of secrets leads them to evidence of extraterrestrial life—mechanical extraterrestrial life! Will OPTIMUS PRIME and his allies trust these human interlopers—and what secret conspiracy could involve CYBERTRON, anyway?!
• 32 pages • $3.99
Written by Conspiracy architect Paul Crilley!
Art by Transformers: Fall of Cybertron artist Dheeraj Verma!
“Tabloid Newspaper” Variant Cover by Joe Corroney!

March:

The X-Files: Conspiracy #2 (of 2)
Paul Crilley (w) • John Stanisci (a) • Miran Kim (c)
The event of the year concludes here! The Lone Gunmen have finished investigating several urban legends—a group of ghost-hunters, mutant turtles that live in the sewers, shape-changing alien robots, and a vengeful spirit from beyond the grave—after receiving Internet files from future that foretell a plague that wipes out most of humanity. Now it’s a race against the clock as the Gunmen, with Agents Mulder and Scully, attempt to save the world!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
• The event of the year sees characters from The X-Files interact with the Ghostbusters, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Crow!
• Ask your retailer about the Joe Corroney “tabloid” variant covers for each issue of the event!
• Each issue has a special subscription variant that depicts famous conspiracies with a new twist!

The X-Files: Conspiracy: The Crow
Denton J. Tipton (w) • Vic Malhotra (a) • Miran Kim (c)
Bernard is a decorated state policeman in love with his partner. But their romance is brutally cut short when both die following a high-speed pursuit and fiery car crash involving the Lone Gunmen. Bernard inexplicably awakens to find himself resurrected by an otherworldly crow and with only one thing on his mind: vengeance.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
• Art by Vic Malhotra (Joe Hill’s Thumbprint)!
• Ask your retailer about the Joe Corroney “tabloid” variant covers for each issue of the event!

As for April, as revealed in the Nerdy Show podcast, we are to expect an Annual for the X-Files, a once-a-year event, graphic novel-style stand-alone story, that will be scripted by none other than Frank Spotnitz (XF’s Number 2) and Gabe Rotter (Carter’s assistant and now producer on Carter’s next show The After)! This is some news, more and more 1013 alumni are joining IDW’s effort! Back in 2008-2009 around the release of I Want To Believe, Spotnitz had contributed in writing 3 issues of XF comics for the 7-issue run of the XF comics for Wildstorm. Many times over, Spotnitz had hinted on his official site that there were more comics coming, but that never materialized. Specifically, it had been announced in July 2009 that “Frank is at work on another original “X-Files” comic book to be co-written by Gabe Rotter, director of development at Ten Thirteen Productions and author of the novel, “Duck Duck Wally.” Look for the book to hit the stands early next year. [2010]” So I am guessing that this 2009 story idea is what will make its way to this IDW Annual.

Reviews

There have been many reviews, in particular with Season 10 moving into different types of storytelling (monster of the month) and as it gets better circulation with the first collected volume:

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Posted in Comics, News, XF3 | 3 Comments »

Nov
03
2013

Chris Carter’s shows: “The After”

Since The X-Files ended in 2002, and apart from 2008’s I Want To Believe and the aborted project Fencewalker, Chris Carter has not been associated with a creative project. But for the last two years, Carter seems determined to return to the little screen. There has been the TV series project Unique, which did not get sold in 2011. And now there are two projects simultaneously: The After and a second, yet untitled, show. See here for that second show.

From Sierra/Engine’s website:

TheAfter_title

From the creator of the X-Files
Chris Carter’s “THE AFTER”
What happens when the end is now?
13 x one-hour

THE AFTER is not POST-apocalyptic, it is REAL-TIME apocalyptic. It is Chris Carter’s take on what could and would happen at the beginning of the end. Suddenly, on a perfectly normal day, our power goes out. Our cell phones and Internet cease to work. We can’t communicate with our loved ones or watch the news on TV. Very quickly the world goes crazy.

SOMETHING terrible has happened out there… but WHAT IS IT? Is it supernatural? Geological? Biblical? With The X-Files, Chris created a format which many shows follow today, wherein some episodes are “mythology” episodes, following the continuing story arc of the show; while others are self-contained “monster of the week” episodes. We intend to employ a similar format with THE AFTER.

We first got wind of The After in September 2012, when Carter was described as “currently developing a new series for cable“. We got many more details in October 2012, when the series was being sold to buyers (co-financiers, cable TV, new broadcast platforms, international buyers…) in MIPCOM, an annual entertainment market event in Cannes, France. Deadline broke the news:

Independent TV studio, Georgeville Television has teamed up with The X-Files creator Chris Carter to finance a new drama series. Entitled The After, the series will debut at next week’s MIPCOM TV market where it will be shopped by newly formed Sierra/Engine Television.

Written by Carter, The After is a thriller which revolves around a mysterious, unexplained event. In the vein of The X Files, The After incorporates elements of science fiction, suspense, and real-world fear and paranoia. “Chris has woven his mythology magic within a very human, grounded story about the moment when we realize all of our worst fears about the world and its future,” said Georgeville CEO Marc Rosen, who co-founded the company earlier this year with Leon Clarance of Motion Picture Capital, the financing arm of Reliance Entertainment.

In addition to The After, GVTV is also financing a remake of the cult UK sci-fi series Blake’s 7 with feature director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) for Syfy, Hunters, a pandemic thriller drama from Overbrook Entertainment and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski at ABC as well Sense8, a supernatural series from the Wachowskis (The Matrix) and Straczynski. Sierra/Engine is handling the international distribution for GVTV’s projects, which also include Neil Cross’ midseason NBC pirate drama Crossbones. Carter has been looking at non-traditional TV development/production for his return to television after The X Files. Last year, he teamed with MRC for female-drive thriller Unique, which didn’t get set up at a network. Carter and Georgeville are with CAA.

The Hollywood Reporter also echoed:

This new series follows the aftermath of a mysterious event and will incorporate both supernatural and suspense elements that run through most of Carter’s work.

TheAfter_poster

While at MIPCOM, Georgeville TV CEO Mark Rosen was interviewed by 8 Art City (French media), and he gave many more details in his French-English mix. At that time, the promo image above from Sierra/Engine was already in use. This is a full transcript/translation of what he said:

In fact it’s not apocalyptic, it’s very apocalyptic. In fact it’s the first five seconds when it begins, the five minutes, the five hours, the five days, the five weeks. Normally, films — and even series, like “Revolution”, but films normally — they jump a period of ten years, twenty years, something that is ahead. Because you want special effects, production design, things like that. But with us, it’s really reality, it’s what happens if you and me we are here, something happens outside and we find ourselves in the middle of we don’t know, if it’s aliens, if it’s biblical, if it’s supernatural, à la Chris Carter in the X-Files.

Each week our group of characters will try to find exactly what’s going on. But as it’s Chris Carter we’re going to do twists and turns I think with the mythology. In fact it’s — he’s going to say the same thing — it’s the closest to the X-Files compared to anything else he’s done today. It’s because there’s a secret with what’s going on, supernaturally or otherwise, and characters who are trying to find that out. At the same time they have missions themselves: to find the family of one of them, to find medicine for another, and for that they hold on together throughout the whole series.

We are going to see the voyage between Los Angeles and New York in the first season, and afterwards we have twists and twists that Chris invented. I think that the audience who liked the X-Files will like this show here.

After MIPCOM 2012, in March 2013 the show was also shopped in MIPTV 2013 in Cannes. TV Wise had this to report:

According to a number of potential buyers who heard the pitch for the series, The After is in fact a thriller set in Los Angeles which explores the coming apocalypse. I hear that the drama begins after a strange event strikes the Earth. There is no government statement on this event and it is shrouded in secrecy and will ultimately lead to a far greater cataclysmic event. The series will follow a core group of characters who try to discover just what has happened and why, while also doing what they must to survive. One source described it as a combination of The X-Files and Falling Skies. “It’s a mystery series set right at the end of the world”, one source tells me. I also understand that, as one would expect with a genre show such as this, The After will be largely serialised and utilise season long story arcs.

As reported previously, around the San Diego Comic Con in July 2013, Carter mentioned he was working on cable projects. The following quotes might refer to The After:

On story ideas they never got to do on the X-Files: “I’m actually saving those for something else I’m working on right now”

On what’s next: “I’m working on something new, and with any luck it could be announced soon.”

And: “Right now I’m close to coming back to television but it’s to cable television. The scripts I’ve written for it, you could not do on network television.”

On August 14 2013, Amazon Studios, which is new in producing original content, announced that The After was among the show concepts it was picking up:

Amazon Studios seems to be gearing up for its next batch of scripted pilots, which is expected to feature both comedy and drama projects. The company already has greenlighted drama pilot Bosch, a police procedural based on Michael Connelly‘s novels about Harry Bosch, and Jill Soloway’s comedy pilot Transparent starring Jefferey Tambor. I hear there are several other projects that are zeroing in on a pickup. That includes The After, a drama from Chris Carter and Georgeville TV set at the moment of apocalypse. The X Files creator is set to write and direct. […] In its first-ever pilot orders in April, the company picked up 6 kids and 8 comedy pilots, five of which — 3 kids and 2 comedy — went to series to stream later this year and in early 2014.

It seems Georgeville TV is aiming more at new ways and platforms for entertainment, such as Netflix (the Wachowski’s and JM Straczynski’s Sense8), X-Box (Blake’s 7) or Amazon (The After). Since the success of House of Cards (Netflix, 2013), the trend of non-network, non-cable “TV” producers has been picking up. If you’re interested, you can read an interview with Amazon Studios director Roy Price on this novel approach to original content:

Amazon announced its first five original series in May, which were selected from a pool of 14 pilots. […]

Assuaging the fears of writers and creatives who might be reluctant to place the future development of something they have poured their heart into in the lap of the viewer, Price says the point is seeing what people react to, not using feedback to tweak the narrative or alter a story arc.

“That’s an important distinction, it’s about assessing how successful something is in its current form versus coming up with the answer – we are not proposing crowd-sourcing a show’s creative direction,” he says.

The bigger picture is that Amazon is betting that the audience outreach will, in bucking convention, unearth a gem that regular TV is not set up to find. “If you look at the history of TV, a lot of the game-changing shows came from networks that were new or coming off a bad streak because that made them more open minded” […]

The manner in which Amazon will release the content to those subs is under discussion, but Price is cool on the simultaneous release model pioneered by Prime Instant’s chief rival, Netflix, citing the need to build buzz and also the drawback of waiting for a series to finish production before it launches.

“It’s possible there is a middle-ground hybrid model,” according to Price. “That may be [put out] episode one, or one through three and then release the others as they become available. One may be too few and thirteen may be more than enough.”

Not two weeks later, the order for a pilot for The After was confirmed:

The X Files creator Chris Carter is close to a TV return with his first pilot in more than a decade. I’ve learned that Amazon Studios has moved forward with a pilot order to The After, Carter’s project with Georgeville TV. Carter wrote and is set to direct the thriller, which takes place at the moment of apocalypse. Georgeville TV, founded by Marc Rosen and Reliance’s Motion Picture Capital, first teamed with Carter for The After last fall when the project was taken to MIPCOM by Sierra/Engine TV. The After joins another Amazon drama pilot, recently ordered Bosch, as the company is looking to launch its first hourlong series. Amazon also has Jill Soloway’s comedy pilot Transparent starring Jefferey Tambor, and football comedy The Outlaws, written by Jeremy Garelick and Jon Weinbach and executive produced by Ice Cube, also is gearing up for a pilot shoot.

During August, Carter had this to say to Vulture:

Does that affect what projects you want to work on in the future?
Yeah, I’m involved right now with AMC and I’m also involved with Amazon [Studios], and these are, for me, new platforms and new approaches and they have different expectations. With Amazon, it’s completely uncharted territory, which is really exciting.

What can you tell us about the Amazon project? Is it true it centers on the moment of the apocalypse, which was something that was foreshadowed in The X-Files?
[Laughs.] That was what was reported in the trades. It’s not exactly a perfect description of the show. But because I’m superstitious I’m not going to try to elaborate on that. We are gearing up right now and it is a very exciting time; I think we’re going to start casting soon, and I think the show will take a lot of my storytelling experience on The X-Files and apply it in a really new and creative way.

In October 2013, pre-production of the pilot is in full swing, with several announcements of casting — accompanied by short character descriptions! First, Jamie Kennedy as “a professional clown”, Adrian Pasdar, as “an escaped convict who proclaims to be an innocent man who was railroaded”, and Aldis Hodge, as “a successful Beverly Hills businessman”.

Second, Louise Monot , as “Gigi, a woman caught up in the midst of the action”, and Sam Littlefield:, as “the mysterious Dark Shadow”.

The official announcement for the pilot for The After from Amazon only came on October 31 from Deadline, after casting was done:

Written and directed by Emmy-nominee Chris Carter (The X-Files), executive produced by Marc Rosen of Georgeville Television and produced by Gabe Rotter, The After follows eight strangers who are thrown together by mysterious forces and must help each other survive in a violent world that defies explanation. Sharon Lawrence, Jamie Kennedy, Aldis Hodge, Andrew Howard, Arielle Kebbel, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Adrian Pasdar and Louise Monot will star. “I’m very superstitious about talking about what I’m working on before it’s finished, and it’s more fun if it’s kept a mystery! So let me just say that this is a show that explores human frailty, possibility, terror, and the triumph of the human spirit,” said Carter, creator of The After. “I’m so excited to be telling this story with Amazon in this new frontier of television.”

Producer Gabe Rotter has been Carter’s assistant since 2001, throughout season 9 of The X-Files and I Want To Believe. On November 1 he posted the following: “Wrapped this morning after a long, arduous, AWESOME 15 day shoot all over LA. Exhausted, relieved, and super excited.” (information from the X-Files Lexicon‘s Matt)

The announcement above adds 4 more actors to the ensemble cast of 9: Sharon Lawrence, Andrew Howard, Arielle Kebbel, Jaina Lee Ortiz.

And thanks to IMDB we even have character names to go with that:

  • Kebbel as Tammy
  • Pasdar as Wade
  • Hodge as D. Love
  • Lawrence as Francis
  • Howard as McCormick
  • Monot as Gigi Generau
  • Ortiz as Marly
  • Littlefield as Dark Shadow
  • Oddly, Kennedy is not mentioned although he is in Amazon’s announcement: IMDB does not have the info yet, or perhaps his role is uncredited and his character will grow in importance in later episodes?…

Other characters complete the cast: Gangster -4, Fireman, Fireman Night, Garciela, Gang Leader.

IMDB also provides some crew — the most important of which might be the director of photography (Nelson Cragg, who has worked on Howard Gordon’s Homeland) and the production designer (Tony Fanning, who has worked as art director in some Spielberg films).

More info on the context of Amazon Studios from Variety:

As with Amazon Studios’ previous pilots, anyone on the Internet will be able to watch the pilots and provide feedback that the company will use to determine which pilots to produce as series. The dramas are scheduled to stream exclusively on Prime Instant Video and Amazon’s LoveFilm in the U.K. in early 2014.

In November, Amazon is expected to premiere its first original series, both half-hour comedies.

“We are very excited to be working with creators like Michael Connelly and Chris Carter, both epic storytellers in their own right,” Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “For the first time we are bringing Amazon customers hour-long programming and we can’t wait to hear what they think of these new stories.”

Amazon’s original productions and exclusive content are available to members of Prime, which provides free two-day shipping on select items for $79 per year as well as Prime Instant Video and other perks. The company had nearly 11 million Prime members at the end of the second quarter of 2013, analyst firm Morningstar estimates; Amazon does not disclose figures for Prime but said it added “millions” of new members in the third quarter.

And that’s where The After stands!

The usual process is for a pilot to be shot, which sets the general aesthetic and stroy threads. The studio then evaluates whether it wants to move forward with a half-season or full season episode order — in the case of Amazon and The After, using viewers input from the pilot as well. The pilot for The After was shot in the second half of October 2013, it now has to go through post-production and air in early 2014 (February?).

The show proper starts production and broadcast some time after that. So if all goes well, we will get to see The After sometime in late 2014. Amazon is an online platform, so it doesn’t have to align to the usual schedule for a TV season, i.e. start of broadcast in the fall and end of broadcast in late spring, The After could start any time in the year.

Although it’s way too early to form an opinion, and although the information that has filtered out might be misleading or too partial, from that short synopsis it’s true that The After sounds a lot like another run-of-the-mill big concept show the likes of which there have been many lately — and few of them have survived beyond their first season. For example, The Event (2010, 1 season, supernatural events and conspiracies involving extraterrestrials), FlashForward (2009, 1 season, people unexplainedly have a vision of their lives 6 months in the future), Revolution (2012, 2 seasons and ongoing, post-apocalyptic survival after a world blackout), Falling Skies (2011, 3 seasons and ongoing, post-apocalyptic survival after an alien invasion)… Most of those are broadcast on networks, not cable, and really feel like they were purposefully created to replicate Lost, a show that was both popular and addictive, using elements of Survivor and of the supernatural or science fiction or horror. Lost also used a premise of various unrelated characters who are thrown together and try to survive, like The After. It’s possible that Carter’s ideas are far away from all these concept shows, and we won’t know until more information is released.

Despite all that, it’s exciting to see Carter working on something new — his particular sensibilities that can be seen across all Ten Thirteen productions are unique and would enrich enormously today’s television.

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Nov
03
2013

Chris Carter’s shows: Untitled AMC show

Chris Carter is coming out of “post-XF retirement” — which I’m sure was very enriching for him personally! — not with just one but two projects for television: The After and a second, yet untitled, show. See here for The After.

The existence of a second show separate from The After was revealed on August 23 2013 in an interview by Vulture (full interview posted on August 27):

Does that affect what projects you want to work on in the future?
Yeah, I’m involved right now with AMC and I’m also involved with Amazon [Studios], and these are, for me, new platforms and new approaches and they have different expectations. With Amazon, it’s completely uncharted territory, which is really exciting.

You always like to do more than one series at a time. What’s going on with AMC?
They approached me with an idea that I really, really liked. It was actually a book. They wanted to know my take on it. At first, I turned them down; I said I didn’t have a take. Then they came back to me again with the book and asked if I would read it again. So I read it again and I did have a take on it. It also owes to The X-Files, and I’ve written a draft and I’m writing a second draft.

And is it a book that people might recognize?
[Long pause.] I’m not going to spoil it.

What current events would you mine to turn into an X-file?
Actually, with the AMC project, I think that I am treading on some of this interesting ground that Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange have uncovered for us.

You said once that you created the show to tap into people’s vulnerabilities and what keeps them up at night. Twenty years later, is anything keeping you up at night?
Um … yeah. [Laughs.] I have to say, I’ve become very interested in the spectrum of political discourse as seen on the cable news channels that are conveniently right in a row on my cable provider’s dial. I can flip from Fox to CNN to HLN to MSNBC, and I find myself at night flipping it back and forth through them and it’s something of an addiction. Not necessarily for the content, but for the context. [Pause.] And I’m writing about it.

And so your AMC show might touch on that as well, à la Newsroom?
There will be some of that.

You said you’re rewriting a draft now. Is this something that might be happening in the next year, two years, season?
I don’t know. It’s up to the Fates. I will be done with a draft shortly, so I will know more shortly.

…and that’s essentially all the information there is!

This is still a project very much in its initial brainstorming phases, much less mature than The After, which is developed enough to go on production. This show first has to go through many draft phases and discussions between AMC and Carter before AMC decides to go through with it (or not) and order a pilot to be shot — and then it might not necessarily go through all the way to series. So this is potentially something that might not reach your TV/laptop/device before late 2014 at best, 2015 more likely.

As reported previously, around the San Diego Comic Con in July 2013, Carter mentioned he was working on cable projects. The following quotes might refer to The After, or they might refer to this other project:

On story ideas they never got to do on the X-Files: “I’m actually saving those for something else I’m working on right now”

On what’s next: “I’m working on something new, and with any luck it could be announced soon.”

And: “Right now I’m close to coming back to television but it’s to cable television. The scripts I’ve written for it, you could not do on network television.”

In terms of subject, this is a much more reality-based project than The After —  it’s even the most down-to-earth project Carter has been involved with! The obvious association with his past work is the governmental conspiracy angle, although much closer to the conventional, agencies secrets and information manipulation, aspects rather than the New World Order conspiracies that are more allegorical storytelling devices than things he might genuinely believe in. We are also reminded of The World On Fire, the 2000 project with JM Straczynski (Babylon 5) that would have started from a very real political situation before deviating into war after an attack on New York City — and so failed to become a series because September 11 2001 happened.

The Thinker, "your friendly neighborhood anarchist" (from 2X25: Anasazi)

Richard Stallman and Julian Assange, holding a photo of Edward Snowden

Richard Stallman and Julian Assange, holding a photo of Edward Snowden

So: Wikileaks. NSA surveillance of civilians. Cover-ups of unethical military-sanctioned acts. Mass media. News outlets servicing one or other side of an argument. Hacktivism.

These are highly topical (XF Season 10 writer Joe Harris also mentioned them as sources of inspiration), and hotly debated issues. Things can get very political very quickly. It will be interesting to see what kind of approach Carter will take. Regardless, this kind of pitch is not something we would expect from a network channel, it is much more adapted to cable or independent productions.

Indeed, in recent interviews, Carter has mentioned how much more interesting he finds the development of scripted drama for cable in recent years compared to what has been going on in network television (a revelation that has dawned on him since he had time to catch up with shows other than his own since the X-Files stopped?). For example, in this 2012 interview:

What’s changed in the industry and writing/production process since you launched “The X-Files”?

There are more and different places to pitch and to develop, and I think you’re looking at the obvious eclipse of broadcast television by cable in terms of content. Things that you can’t do on broadcast now that you can do on cable, which is making it feel like a superior product.

It’s not more popular, but you’re watching viewership go up on cable so that now cable is actually starting to give broadcast a run for its money. […] You’re looking at a change, and that’s an exciting thing, but what it says to me is there are also opportunities to do inventive things on broadcast television and still get a large audience.

Was that what inspired you to write a cable show?

I love the idea — as do a lot of people who have done broadcast shows, where you’re doing 22 episodes a season — of doing six, eight, or 10-13 [episodes]. That is very appealing to me, and it actually allows you to attract a different kind of actor because they aren’t doing it 10 months a year, they’re doing it three months a year. That’s a benefit, too.

And more recently:

As The X-Files was nearing its end, a lot of shows were digging into darker story lines and profiling antiheroes. One example is obviously The Sopranos. Did you anticipate this shift?
It’s funny, I was a big fan of The Sopranos. It became kind of a threat to The X-Files in a way because they could play with language, character, and story in ways that we never could because of the limitations of network television. Not to say we would ever deal with [those topics], they were two different kinds of shows, but it was a freedom that they had that I think made us, certainly made me feel [30-second pause] … it made me feel … [30-second pause] … it made me jealous.

This shows that he is much more interested today to write for cable than for a network, and in a format more compact than the tiring and plethoric schedule imposed by a network TV schedule: around 10-13 episodes per year instead of 20-25, around 4 months of shooting instead of around 9.

The choice (was it Carter’s choice?) of AMC is also interesting. AMC started doing original dramas only relatively recently, and made a name of itself with two huge successes: Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The first is wrapping up in 2014-2015 (one season split in two), the second just finished (and gloriously at that!). AMC might be looking for replacement shows, and might see in Carter’s project a more heady, critical acclaim-oriented show as a counterpoint to its popular success of The Walking Dead. Also, obviously XF alumni Vince Gilligan was involved with AMC with Breaking Bad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything as far as Carter is concerned.

Let’s hope this germ of a show develops and that we’ll hear more of it in the future!

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Aug
11
2013

XF at SDCC 2013, Part 2: Season 10

Part of the San Diego Comic Con is still about comics, and IDW at SDCC 2013 was there to promote The X-Files Season 10, of which #2 came out the day before the con. Chris Carter and Gillian Anderson, present for the TV Guide panel, also participated on the IDW panel, along with IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall, XF Season 10 Editor Denton J. Tipton, XF Season 10 writer Joe Harris and Lone Gunman and conventions regular Dean Haglund.

IMG_24371

From left to right: Tipton, Ryall, Anderson, Carter, Harris.

The X-Files Season 10 IDW panel was somewhat covered in the press (less so than the TV Guide panel, the audience was also smaller):

Articles: Badass Digest | Wired | Joe Harris’ blog | Comic Book Resources (very detailed!)

Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Audio (bad quality, but includes Chris Ryall’s intro and an awesome joke on X-Files #3)

Interspersed below are also drawings from Michael Walsh, who has continued to tease with art from the next issues on his Instagram account — with a lot of Scully!

XF Season 10: More or less canon?

SDCC was the opportunity to ask Chris Carter repeatedly about the future of the X-Files, his role as executive producer of Season 10, and how do these new comics articulate with his vision for a potential third X-Files feature film.

More below the jump!

(more…)

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Aug
07
2013

XF at SDCC 2013, Part 1: XF3, BluRay, Carter projects

More than any other event earlier this year, and I expect more than any even for the remainder of 2013, The X-Files‘ 20th anniversary was celebrated at San Diego Comic Con International 2013. The size of the event and the media coverage it got is the reason why this was a key event. The big panel was hosted by TV Guide, the second panel by Season 10 comics publisher IDW, and then there were of course signings and pricey photo shoots.

X-Files’ 20th anniversary

sdcctvguide

This was the biggest cast & crew reunion since the Paley Festival in 2008. From right to left: host Michael Schneider; Chris Carter; David Duchovny; Gillian Anderson; James Wong; Glen Morgan; John Shiban; Darin Morgan; Howard Gordon; Vince Gilligan; and out of frame, David Amann (photo from syzzlyn). From the writing team, you could say that all the people who shaped the show were there, apart from Frank Spotnitz (in Europe, busy with other projects) and Gordon’s writing partner Alex Gansa. As would be expected in such media-intensive events, the focus was much more on Anderson and Duchovny instead of the rest of the creative team — given how short the panel was, some of them only spoke once!

Video of nearly the full panel

Video of the full panel

Host Michael Schneider posted a kind of “making of” of the whole event, which is a very entertaining read but is also revealing. The panel was organized by TV Guide, and within TV Guide, Schneider played an essential role: in inviting people and handling the organization of the event on the day. The involvement of FOX is nowhere to be seen apart from their mere approval. Still, we guess that they were watching, gauging interest in the X-Files to see if it has a future. The fans were certainly there!

More after the jump.

(more…)

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Jun
22
2013

Take Your Greatest Fear And Multiply It By X

One and a half decade ago (!), June 19 1998, “The X Files Movie“, better known by its main tagline “Fight The Future” premiered in the USA and Canada! (…and only in those countries on that day! That was a time when studios and audiences were less globalized and it felt like film reels had to cross the ocean by steamboat before reaching you. Release dates spread from June 19 to December 5!) Season 5 had just wrapped up, the show was so successful that FOX was willing to abide by the lead’s desire to move production from Vancouver to the more expensive Los Angeles, and Chris Carter was playing the Deep Throat informant with his fans: this was the high point of the show’s life.

Interestingly, 15 years later the same date was chosen for the launch of Season 10 of the X-Files in comics form. The same XF logo variant that was first introduced with Fight The Future is also used for Season 10, instead of the classic “typewriter X” of the show’s opening titles that was used for the Topps comics.

xfftflogo

xfs10logo

In rememberance, the definition of 1998, the year of Fight The Future, with Noel Gallagher’s Teotihuacan!

A day to celebrate! Let us hope Season 10 will be a worthy extension of the franchise.

For this occasion, X-Files News offers us a short interview with Chris Carter (which was done, apparently, some time in May or earlier in June):

XFN: You said once that Mulder and Scully were the light in dark places. What does it say to you that after 20 years, Mulder and Scully remain in the consciousness of so many people? 

CC: “I’m blown away by the show and the character longevity. David and Gillian struck a deep chord with their portrayals.”

XFN: Reminiscing about when this great ride started, we’ve read earlier versions of the pilot that included a character named Agent Drazen. Do you remember what your plans were for this character and why he didn’t make it to the final version that was eventually produced? 

CC: “I remember writing that character as a minor foil. He was named after a director. He and Scully’s boyfriend, played by Tim Ransom, didn’t make the cut, though Drazen disappeared before we shot. Something that’s not well-known is at the end of the pilot when Mulder calls Scully and she answers the phone in bed, her boyfriend’s beside her.”

XFN: Thinking back to the first day of filming the Pilot or even the whole shoot in Canada, is there a memory that strikes you about this first episode? 

CC: “I have many memories, but the casting of Billy Miles comes to mind. We saw many actors before Zach Ansley came in and nailed it. I also remember how hard it was to stage the abduction sequences, with minimal special effects.”

XFN: When you think of everything that you have accomplished what is the most rewarding moment of your career so far? 

CC: “We were honored by the WGA yesterday as one of the 101 best-written TV shows of all time. That is pretty amazing.”

XFN: We miss having a Chris Carter show on TV, what can you tell us about your latest projects? 

CC: “I’m working on several different scripts for several different networks. The TV business is very exciting right now.”

XFN: There have been rumors that Fox is planing something for the 20th anniversary of The X-Files, what can you tell us about that? 

CC: “I don’t know that Fox is planning anything, but I did hear this week that they’re bringing the series out in HD! Wow.”

XFN: It’s been heard through the grapevine that the show is being remastered to be released on Bluray, just like they’ve done with Star Trek. Is there anything you can tell us about this ambitious project?

CC: “I don’t think you’ll see the series in Bluray, but anything is possible.”

XFN: We’re really excited about the release of fresh stories via the new X-Files comics, but we’re curious, how will they fit between The X-Files: I Want To Believe and what we hope will be XF3? What can you tell us about this new stage? 

CC: “The comics will pick up after the end of the second movie. Look out for some surprises, though. And trust no one.”

XFN: The unavoidable question – X-Files 3, When? What? How? The fandom is there, the timing it still there… What is the missing piece to get this project up and running? 

CC: “XF3 will happen if the studio wants it to happen, and only then.”

XFN: You attended the Insect Fear Film Festival in February and attended The X-Files screening planned as the closing event for the Hero Complex Film Festival. What do you enjoy about these events and meeting fans of the show after all these years? 

CC: “I’m always struck by how generally nice and respectful X-files fans are. It makes it a pleasure to do these events.”

The XFN Quick 6: 

Favorite Food? Rufina’s chile rellenos
Favorite Word? Yes
Favorite X-Files Quote? Too many to choose!
Guilty pleasure? Wouldn’t you like to know.
I wish I had invented… A foolproof lie-detector
Dream Job/occupation: To surf one wave as Kelly Slater.

Thanks so much to Mr. Carter for the opportunity, and Mr. Gabe Rotter for your assistance during this interview!

This interview offers several insights.

First, after several rumours, this is the first official declaration that a HD version of the series is being prepared! An HD version would be used for broadcasting in modern TV sets, this is why Carter separates that item from a BluRay release in a somewhat puzzling remark — however once FOX will have an HD version there is no reason whatsoever not to release it in BluRay.

Second, he does tease Season 10 — but this is the only time he has done so, leaving principal writer Joe Harris to do all the promotion. This might also reflect the two creators’ relative contributions to Season 10, meaning that Carter is very little involved in this project beyond very generic indications. Joe Harris has been acknowledging and praising Carter’s contributions in all his interviews, however some of his replies sound like kind attempts to downplay Carter’s importance in the series. Carter’s participation as “executive producer” in Season 10 was/is a big marketing argument on behalf of IDW and is the only argument that makes this effort part of canon. His presence behind the scenes and absence in front might mean that this effort is not very important to him, or that we are witnessing a definitive passing of the torch.

Thirdly, Chris Carter’s characteristic few words and careful choice of words and what that says for Season 10 and a potential X-Files 3. All his answers were one-liners, he didn’t say anything more than the bare necessary and didn’t spend time on this interview more than was necessary. If he wanted to, if he really wanted this Season 10 project to happen, he’d be all over it. He has never been particularly extroverted as a character or internet-savvy, which is fine. But there are plenty of things he could do. In comparison with other creators who nurture their fanbase and know how to communicate and raise interest for a project that is close to their heart (Joss Whedon, Guillermo del Toro, JM Straczynski just to name a few) there’s a world of difference. He’s not particularly vocal on his other projects either. One possible reason for this is because he has become too afraid or weary of being the subject of attention and criticism, too averse to the idea of failure or of lack of acceptance from critics and fans. The hard work he poured in the X-Files and in “I Want To Believe” and the flood of criticism he got with the latter seasons of XF and with IWTB have taken their toll — the fact that he was hospitalized for exhaustion in September 2008 after a summer of promotion of IWTB is telling. He would like to step away from the spotlight, and that is perfectly fine, but he doesn’t seem keen to strongly defend his projects either. Perhaps, after “protecting his territory” by sticking with the X-Files after season 7 (his contract would end) throughout seasons 8 and 9 and all the way to IWTB, he has decided to relinquish some creative control and let the story go where it may. For the past five years, Carter and FOX have been playing ping-pong on whom the responsibility lies for launching the production of an XF3. If this relinquishing of control finally means that Carter is willing to let go of the idea of an XF3 and focus on other things, I’ll follow him on his next projects but I would just like him to be honest with the future of the things he’s created and stop this politically correct game of expectations.

Happy Summer Solstice!

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