#MakeMoreMST3K Weekly Update, July 12-16
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 18, 2021 at 09:22:52 PM
Greetings, friends!
Welcome to this week’s backer update. Starting today, Ivan and I will be sending out a weekly report every Friday afternoon, just to let you know about any progress we’ve made on the show and your Kickstarter rewards, plus any other news and interesting developments that come up.
We’re still working on those in-depth behind-the-scenes stories, but as they take a little longer to do, this approach will ensure you’re getting the weekly updates we promised.
This means some weeks you’ll get multiple backer updates from our team. More updates = more fun.
PRODUCTION UPDATE
Film Licensing: We’re still locking in our last 2 or 3 movies, but we have most of them secured — including our next holiday special, which, as a reminder, will feature Jonah, Emily, and Joel as co-hosts!
Episode Writing: Our writers are currently working on scripts for movies 4 and 5. Just to be clear, this doesn’t necessarily mean these will be episodes 4 and 5 — we don’t write the episodes in the order we plan to release them. Those decisions will come later, along with deciding which host gets which movie. Right now, the process is focused on writing the best possible riffs.
Pre-Production: We’ve booked a soundstage in Pennsylvania in preparation for our east coast production with Emily, Nate, Yvonne, and Conor. We’ll be shooting their episodes first, because those need to be wrapped up before that cast heads out on the live tour this fall. We’re still scouting for a place to shoot in Los Angeles, but have narrowed it down to a few options.
Props & Costumes: We’ve also gotten to work fabricating updated robots for season 13, and are in the midst of figuring out all the props and costumes we’ll need for the first movie, the script for which is pretty close to done. While we do that, Beez has already gotten to work on some of the costumes for the live tour.
KICKSTARTER UPDATE
1. The REWARD SURVEY has not been sent out yet.
At this point, we’re still expecting that we’ll be ready to send the survey within the next 2-3 weeks, but we can’t commit to a specific date just yet. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll send an update to let you know -- but until then, please don’t worry. You haven’t missed anything!
2. We’re switching to BACKERKIT for surveys.
We’ve decided to switch from CrowdOx to BackerKit as the platform for sending and managing reward surveys. We’re doing this because the two companies recently merged, and our understanding is that BackerKit will be the platform that sticks around long-term. So, we’re making the switch to BackerKit now so that you’ll still be able to re-download your digital rewards, even 2-3 years from now.
3. SHIPPING won’t be collected until later this year.
The other big decision we’ve made is that we’re not going to charge you for shipping physical rewards when you first fill out your reward surveys. That’s because USPS and carrier prices are fluctuating a lot right now, and we don’t want to over- or undercharge. Later this year – 4-6 weeks before we start shipping your rewards – we’ll follow up to confirm your address and collect your shipping fees.
4. We’re FINALIZING REWARD DESIGNS as fast as we can!
Fun fact: Over the last few weeks, we learned that international shipping is currently taking 2-3 times longer than it did during our first Kickstarter – thanks, COVID! – which means that we need to place all of our manufacturing orders a lot sooner than expected.
So, we’ve also been working hard to lock down more of our reward designs and plans… which means that we’ll have more previews to share with you next week!
For today, we thought we’d share a sneak peek at how much work goes into even the “simple” rewards, like the Gizmoplex 3-D glasses, popcorn buckets and drink cups. We take all of our rewards seriously, because we want to be proud of them, and we want you to be satisfied.
So, before placing orders, we also go through a process of getting tons of samples from potential manufacturing partners, so that we can evaluate everything from their print quality to the materials they’d be made out of. For example, here are some of the samples we’ve been evaluating for the KINGAVISION 3-D GLASSES:
Based on our budget, the basic pairs of Kingavision 3D glasses will still be the traditional cardboard versions -- but we’re also considering offering a “premium” pair with a plastic frame with Gizmoplex branding, which we’d offer as a new Add-On Reward in your surveys. (Let us know in the comments, or on the forums, if you’d be interested in those?)
We’ve also been going back and forth with manufacturers a lot trying to find popcorn buckets and drink cups for the official GIZMOPLEX CONCESSION KIT. The hardest part of that process is finding options that feel substantial and are durable. Most of the time, these items aren’t intended to be long-term collectibles… but we want these to last for years.
So, here are a few of the options we’ve been looking at:
Before you ask: yes, all of the options we’re evaluating are BPA-free.
But as you can see, there are also a bunch of choices and trade-offs to weigh: Do we want the popcorn bucket to be as big as possible, or should it be sized for a single person? Should it have a flat edge, or do we want the “scalloping” at the top that makes it feel more like an old-school theater box of popcorn? Should the cup have a lid and a straw, or should we focus on larger drink sizes? Can we get the shape and size we want for each item, but with a heavier plastic that is less likely to crack or warp?
All things we’re trying to figure out as quickly as possible.
And since these might not be the most exciting previews, here’s something to look forward to: next week, we’ll give you another look at how the MUSICAL SNOWGLOBE is coming along, and we’ll also share a full, colorized version of TODD NAUCK’S POSTER!
The beta test is off to an amazing start. The forums have been BLOWING UP since we announced them publicly in the last update. Our beta went from about 200 people to 2000 people! Not that we’re surprised. We’re delighted to have you join us, just please remember this is still a beta test, so things could be subject to change as we build out this community space.
Still haven’t joined? In case you missed the first invite, here’s another one — and if you use that link, you should be automatically added to the “Backers” group on the forums. (If you already signed up and aren’t yet recognized as a backer, here’s a post explaining how to get verified.)
What’s happening on the forums? In case you’re curious, here are a few recent discussion threads to get you started:
Finally, who among us hasn’t announced “I’m the wind, baby!” to a perplexed coworker? This thread collects MST3K references that have entered your everyday speech.
LIVE TOUR UPDATE
More Cities & Shows To Be Announced on Tuesday! We know some of you have been bummed to be left out of the recent dates for MST3K Live’s THE TIME BUBBLE TOUR. But mark your calendars for this Tuesday, July 20, because we’ll be announcing the SECOND WAVE of tour dates on mst3klive.com and some of you will be very happy.
Even More Cities Coming in the Next Few Weeks! If the second wave still doesn’t include a stop near you, don’t despair: THERE ARE STILL MORE CITIES COMING! We’ll be announcing at least one more wave of tour dates announced in the coming weeks. (Probably more than one wave, in fact.) Keep an eye on these updates for more.
All right, that’s all we’ve got for today.
If you’ve got questions or feedback, I encourage you to join us in a dedicated thread on the forums for this purpose. Have a magnificent weekend, everyone!
MST3K Forums Now in BETA! PLUS: Reward Survey Update and #MST3KLive Ticket Sales!
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Jul 10, 2021 at 02:15:05 PM
In This Update
- Introduction from Lesley
- Reward Surveys have NOT GONE OUT YET!
- Time Bubble Tour Tickets on Sale at 12pm ET
- MST3K Discussion Forums: Join the Beta Test!
Hello again, friends new and old!
It is I, Lesley!
You may remember me from Joel’s introduction a couple updates back. And I know that many of you are already familiar with me as a part of the MST3K team, either through the Kickstarter campaigns, or through the blog at mst3k.org. But just as a brief refresher:
I’ve been a devoted fan of the show since my preteen years. I wound up connecting with Joel after writing an article about the show that he really clicked with. I did this back in my former job as an editor in women’s media, and after I’d made a dramatic, less-positive first impression at a Cinematic Titanic meet-and-greet.* Anyway, Joel kept in touch, and within a couple of years I found myself advising on the first Kickstarter campaign, and then writing and riff producing on the new series…. and here we are, with me today taking charge of more regular communication with all you backers.
I share all of this to let y’all know that I am one of you (us?), and as I pick up the reins for more consistent backer updates, that I take communicating with you super seriously, because I know how meaningful it would be to me to get regular missives from the front lines of production.
I have a professional background as a writer and editor in many different spheres, and I hope to deploy those skills to keep these updates exciting for you. I know it’s not as magical as getting letters from Joel — and you will still get those! — but I am hopeful that I can provide inside looks at the making of MST3K that will be almost as interesting. If all goes as planned, you’ll be hearing from me – or another member of our team – at least once a week. We’ll be reporting on lots of different angles of how MST3K is built, but if you have a specific question or something you’re particularly curious about that you’d like to see covered in a future update, you can leave a comment below. There’s also an even better way to give feedback on updates, but I’ll get there in a second.
First, a few general updates for you.
No, you did not miss the reward survey!
The post-campaign reward survey is where you will make your final reward selections, like specifying what name you’d like in the credits, telling us what size t-shirt you wear, and also any remaining last-minute Add-On Rewards you’d like to grab.
We have not sent it out yet.
There are a lot of details to cover and we want to make sure we only need to do this once, so it’s taking a little longer than we’d anticipated, but we’re hoping it will be ready to send in the next few weeks. When we do, everyone who signed up to make a late pledge will also get a chance to finalize their pledge, select Add-On Rewards, and have their pledge collected. So, if you know anyone who was trying to get in the door before it’s too late, spread the word.
In the meantime, hang in there, and keep an eye on your inbox.
#MST3KLive tickets go on sale to the general public at 12pm ET TODAY (Friday, July 9th)!
If you see this email early enough, you’ll still have a little time to squeeze into the backers-only presale for the first wave of announced dates for THE TIME BUBBLE TOUR, featuring Emily Connor (Emily Marsh), Tom Servo (Conor McGiffin), Crow (Nate Begle), and GPC / Mega-Synthia (Yvonne Freese) taking on the legendarily ridiculous 1980s fantasy/horror film Making Contact. Find your local venue at MST3KLive.com and use the code MVSGN to get into the presale before noon ET today. After that, you’re buying tickets along with the general public, so no code is needed.
Also, remember, there will be additional dates announced in the coming weeks, so if you don’t see a nearby venue yet, it may still happen for you! I will keep you posted on new dates and cities as that information gets confirmed.
Also also, if you run into problems with buying a ticket, please contact your local venue directly — the ticket buying process resides with each theater and we can’t help you with problems related to ticketing.
Finally, I hereby formally invite you all to join a beta test for the NEW MST3K DISCUSSION FORUMS!
It’s actually absurd that we haven’t had “official” forums before now — luckily, MSTies are incredibly resourceful and independent thinkers, so you’ve been launching and running vivacious forum sites and online groups for literal decades.
We’re not trying to replace these existing MST3K communities, but I think we can all agree that it’s long past due for a fully-sanctioned MST3K community gathering place to complement the fan-run spaces. So, we’ve created Mystery Science Discourse 3000 (so named for the forum platform we’re using, Discourse, which is incidentally the same community software used by such internet luminaries as Boing Boing, Woot!, and Atlas Obscura).
Right now, we are still very much in a beta testing phase: kicking the tires, making sure the engine doesn’t burst into flames, that sort of thing. And now, you can be a part of it, by signing up here, taking a look around, and sending us feedback on what you think works well, as well as what could be better.
When you sign up, I strongly recommend using the same email address associated with your Kickstarter account. This will allow your status as a Kickstarter backer to be reflected there, and you can get access to any backers-exclusive forums stuff we do in the future. You’ll find a small group of folks has already been chatting on the forums for a few weeks; the #MakeMoreMST3K Street Team members got in first to start testing things out.
But, starting today, the forums are ready for everyone!
(Please do keep in mind that this is a beta test, so we are working on improving the space every day. When you see something that could be improved, we have a whole Forums Feedback category explicitly to collect your suggestions, or you can also direct message me.)
All right, friends, that’s all I’ve got for today… but I’ll be getting started on the next update on Monday, so be sure to speak up if there are things you’d like to hear more about!
Leave your questions and ideas in comments below, or head over to the Backer Updates Suggestion Thread on the forums and make it a more collective enterprise!
And in the meantime, have a splendid weekend.
--
*I fully freaked out and made actual squeaking noises, which was as much a surprise to me as anyone, given that I am very much not a starstruck, squeaking-noises type of person. Also I do not recommend this as a job search strategy! I got lucky. Very very lucky.
First MST3K Live Tour Dates Announced! Backer Presale Starts at 12pm ET on WEDNESDAY!
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jul 07, 2021 at 12:09:17 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
A New Plan for Updates + Meet the Alternaversal Team!
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Jul 02, 2021 at 12:09:15 AM
Dear MST3K Preservation League,
Hey everyone, it’s Joel again, and it’s officially summer now! You heard it here first. Now, get out there and have some fun! (And I really mean that: I’m making an assumption that I don’t think you’ve had enough fun yet. Got it? Good.)
Production Update
Things around here at Alternaversal are good and busy. As you can imagine, we’re still deliriously happy to be working on new episodes of MST3K, and things are seaming together nicely as our plans move ahead.
The big focus right now is on writing. Last week, I had a lot of fun being in the Writers’ Room with my old pal Mary Jo Pehl, and this week, our long-time “Prop Diva,” Beez McKeever, is also joining the writing team. In a few weeks, she’ll start making costumes for our cast and robots, but first, she’s spending two weeks writing riffs and sketches with us. Anyway, we’ll be telling you a lot more about the Writers’ Room in a future update.
But yeah, there’s a lot going on already. Remember, we’re not just working on these new episodes for Season 13. We’re also building the Gizmoplex, developing your Kickstarter rewards, and preparing for the upcoming MST3K LIVE tour. So, there’s a lot going on every day, which means I can’t always take the time to write these long, detailed updates.
However, no matter how busy things get, I also want to be alert to our promise to send updates more often for this Kickstarter, and not to leave you hanging when we’re focused on deadlines.
Even if I can’t always write each update myself, I want to make sure we’re still keeping you informed, so I’d like to fill you in on our plan for making sure that you do get regular updates through the entire process as we make and release Season 13, the Gizmoplex, and everything else that the Kickstarter made possible.
Basically, what it comes down to is: Starting with the next update, you’ll begin to hear directly from several important members of the Alternaversal Team, who are often the most qualified people to tell you about specific parts of what we’re doing.
See, I know it might seem like I’m responsible for everything happening around here, but if you think I’m able to manage a Kickstarter, develop our rewards, negotiate film rights, plan a content calendar, run a Writers’ Room, supervise all of our partners and artists, and also write a shimmering update every week, all by myself… well, I’m flattered, but no. I’m just a man. A man who has lots of talented help.
After all, MST3K has always been maintained and produced by a team of very talented people, and the Kickstarter campaign is no different. So, moving forward, these updates won’t just come from me, but from several members of our team. That way, I can spend as much time as possible doing the greatest job in the world – making more MST3K!
(Also, I know it’s important to some of you to hear directly from me, so don’t worry: I’ll still be sending my own backer updates every month or so.)
But yeah, by introducing you to more people on our team, we’ll be able to keep one of the promises we made during our Kickstarter campaign: to update you a lot more often this time around. And also, it’s important to me to give credit where credit is due. All of these folks have been helping all along, and we wouldn’t be making more MST3K without them.
So, I’m happy you’ll finally get to know them a little better.
The Alternaversal Team
SHARYL VOLPE is our Operations Manager. I’ll explain what that means in a minute, but first I want you to know that I met Sharyl when both our sons were on the same Little League team, about eight years ago. We started hanging out and talking – there’s lots of “hang time” when your kids are in sports – and it was nice to have another parent around to visit with who wasn’t overly involved with evaluating the performance of the team or the coaching staff. So we had time to talk, and our families became friends.
After the season was over, we stayed in touch, and I remembered that she had managerial experience with a big investment bank in New York City. So, when we were starting MST3K back up again, I decided to give her a call. Since then, we’ve worked together day in and day out for the last six years, and I’ve come to rely on Sharyl’s keen insights and ideas. She’s also written on the show as well.
As our Operations Manager, Sharyl is essentially the connective tissue between everyone working on MST3K. She makes sure we’re all where we need to be, and doing what we need to do. Right now she’s wrangling over 50 different writers for Season 13, and making sure that their schedules work out. She also oversees all of our administrative processes, from invoicing and budgets, to the numerous behind-the-scenes tasks that need to happen for each episode’s writing to eventually take shape as a usable script. And on top of that, she’s also a producer on the series!
Also, Sharyl is so great with people, and our team loves working with her. Part of that is because she’s an amazingly warm and thoughtful communicator. But, even more important, Sharyl is really intensely invested in making these connections. That’s important to me, because it means I can feel safe focusing on other stuff, and knowing that all of our relationships will be well maintained. Plus, she has a really keen sense of both the creative and practical considerations that have to be balanced to make the show great. We trust her judgement to keep the rest of us focused on what needs to get done, and to know what we have time for. So, the show really wouldn’t be able to get made without her.
MATT McGINNIS is a writer and producer on MST3K – and if you were able to join any of our Livestreams and Riff-A-Longs during the Kickstarter campaign, then you’ll also remember him as the host who introduced everyone, and helped us answer your questions.
I met Matt in the Movie Riffing Camp I did at Bucks County Community College, back in 2012. It was an eight week course with about forty people in it, so there was a lot of time for talented people to stand out. Matt’s group did some really funny, great creative projects... and it didn’t hurt that Matt sat in the front of the class, which made him easy to remember. When he first joined Alternaversal, Matt worked as my assistant when I traveled to cons and other events. But, when I started thinking about reviving the series, I knew I wanted him to be a part of it.
Since then, Matt has worked on basically every aspect involved in making MST3K. He’s the first person to screen possible movies and shorts, and he also works closely with Shout Factory to acquire film rights. Then, once we’ve got the rights, he’s a central part of making every episode. During pre-production, he is helping run the Writers’ Rooms, writing on every episode of the season, and also coordinating with all of our vendors and artists to make sure we’re getting everything we need. During production, he’ll be working on set, and will even be directing an episode or two, and then – when we’re done shooting – he’ll also be coordinating post-production to make sure everything gets edited and finished on time.
Beyond all of that, I really depend on Matt’s help for so many creative aspects of the show, from visual development, to world-building, to coming up with the series’ storylines.
Besides all that, Matt has written on several episodes per season for Seasons 11 and 12, as well as every live tour, and every issue of the MST3K comic book. The man’s a powerhouse, is what I’m saying. Plus he’s extremely creative and easy to work with, and a great person to spontaneously generate ideas with. Matt makes the whole process fun, and the show wouldn’t be what it is without him.
IVAN ASKWITH is our producer, and also the “man behind the curtain” when it comes to our Kickstarter campaigns. You already know Ivan from some of our other updates, but I still want to mention him, because you’ll hear from him throughout this whole process.
While Ivan is currently a producer on MST3K – and the voice of Ardy’s bulldog, Bonesy – he’s probably most famous for managing our two record-breaking Kickstarter campaigns… and several other big ones, like the campaigns for Veronica Mars, Reading Rainbow and Super Troopers 2. Each time he finishes one of these big crowdfunding campaigns, he swears he’s never going to do another one… but, as you can tell, he changed his mind and “came out of retirement” to help us with this one, and I think he secretly enjoys it.
During the Kickstarter campaigns, Ivan is really our “director”, and guides us through the process of figuring out everything we need to say and do each day. We rely on his insight to help us understand what’s important to all of you, and this season, I’m happy that we’ve expanded his role to also work more directly as a producer overseeing both the new episodes and the development of the Gizmoplex.
If you’ve never met him, you should know that Ivan loves making people happy, organizing details, and finding elegant solutions to problems. As part of our team, he puts his autodidact’s mind to solving challenges, and also to making sure everyone on our team is communicating well, and knows what’s going on. So, he’s a really important part of the MST3K picture.
LESLEY KINZEL is our Community Manager, and has also worked on MST3K as both a writer and an Associate Producer.
I met Lesley for the first time at a meet-and-greet after a Cinematic Titanic show in Boston in 2013, and the thing I remember is that when she met the cast, she kind of lost her mind. (Sometimes this happens. I get it.) But after that meeting, she wrote an essay about the experience, on the website she worked for back then -- and when I read that, it really filled in the blanks about what she was really like, and showed the intellect under the surface.
When I was first thinking about bringing back MST3K, she seemed like a good person to talk to about what the fan community would actually want to see. So she advised us a lot during that first Kickstarter, and went on to write and riff-produce on Season 11.
Today, I rely on Lesley to help me understand the “fan perspective” on MST3K. She really understands what MST3K is, and is also really good at sussing out what people expect, and how much to share in these updates, without sharing too much and boring everyone. And, because we know that she’s always listening to what everyone thinks and feels about the show, she also creates a really important “buffer”, so that I don’t get too caught up in everyone’s feedback and input while we’re making the show. Since we trust Lesley to understand and advocate for MST3K fans, it makes the rest of us confident that we can turn our focus to making the show, and know we won’t miss anything important that comes up.
So yeah. There are, of course, many more people involved in making MST3K happen, but for today, I wanted to “introduce” you to Sharyl, Matt, Ivan and Lesley, so that you’ll know a little bit more about them when they send out their own updates.
The Plan for Updates
Also, to make sure that we keep you updated, we’ve actually shifted most of Lesley’s job for the next year to make backer updates one of her main areas of focus. And remember, Lesley was already a professional writer when I first met her, so she’s got plenty of experience with planning stories, interviewing people, and writing quickly.
Moving forward, Lesley will act both as an editor for all of our backer updates, and also as a kind of “correspondent” who can act as your eyes and ears behind the scenes. She’s already got a lot of neat ideas that she wants to cover in future updates, but I’ll let you tell her more about that herself, since she’ll be writing the next update we send out. Also, if there are topics you’d like to suggest for future backer updates, you’ll be able to do that too.
So yeah, that’s the plan for updates, at least for now. And again, don’t worry: I’ll still send you updates too, when I have time. But whenever I don’t, now you’ll have at least four more people who can answer your questions, and keep you informed about what’s happening.
What do you think, sirs?
Cheers & Thanks,
Joel
Writing for Season 13 Begins! PLUS: Joel Answers Your Questions (Part 1)
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 11:36:35 PM
- Production Report: The New Writing Process
- Next Steps: What Comes After Writing?
- Ask Joel: Will production take place in Minneapolis?
- Ask Joel: Will MST3K riff more black and white movies?
- Ask Joel: What MST3K movie do you secretly like?
Dear MST3K Preservation League,
Hey, it’s Joel again. I hope you’re having a good week so far.
There’s a lot going on here at Alternaversal, so I want to give you another update on what we’ve been working on – and also, before I go, to answer a few interesting questions that we’ve gotten.
Starting the Writing Process
First, I’m pleased to tell you that we’ve been able to keep to the schedule we were planning, which means that our first group of writers started working last Monday.
We’re still experimenting with our approach to remote writing a little bit, but for now, our plan is to spend two weeks – that’s a total of ten writing days – writing each episode, with a group of 8-10 writers assigned to each movie. Since each episode of MST3K is about 90 minutes long, that means that our goal is to work through about 10 minutes of an episode each day, with a little time left over at the end to focus on anything that still needs extra work.
The way the day breaks out – at least for now – is that our assigned group of writers meet online for several hours and watch a section of the movie together, replaying it several times and pitching our ideas for riffs wherever we need them. Then, in the afternoon, our writers break off into pairs to “riff produce”, which basically means looking at all of the possible riffs that were pitched in the room, and selecting the ones that work best to put into the script. This is pretty similar to how we did it back in the day Minneapolis – except that now, of course, our writers are spread out and connected via Zoom.
And, even though we were planning to use last week as a kind of “trial run” to test out this new remote process, I’m really pleased with how it’s going and how much we’re getting done. Last week, a group of writers started on the movie and script for the next MST3K LIVE touring show, and this week, another group of writers started watching and riffing Robot Wars.
Anyway, that’s where we are with writing so far.
What Comes After Writing?
Of course, completing the script is just the first step in the pre-production process – there’s still a lot more that has to happen before we’ll be ready to start shooting.
So yeah, after we finish all of our revisions and “lock” the script for an episode, the next step involves working with our producers to “break out” each script, which means that we make a detailed list of all of the things that we need to create for each episode, like costumes, props, models, artwork, music and so on.
That list is important, because once we have it, we’re able to make sure that everything we need can be realized within our budget and schedule. So, that’s a big part of what our producers do – taking the ideas that the writers come up with, and handling all of the arrangements to make sure those ideas come to life on time, and without going over budget.
Of course, it also helps that we have relationships with so many wonderful, talented vendors and craftspeople, whether that’s Mike Norton creating concept art and production designs, Paul and Storm composing our music, or Beez McKeever creating costumes.
Going Inside the Writing Process
Now that I’m revealing more about how our writing process works, Ivan also asked me to mention that – for any of you backers whose rewards include the “Virtual Set Visit” – he’ll make sure you get a chance to see the writing process first hand before it ends, and to chat with some of our writers about what that process is like for them.
We want to make sure that we’ve really got the process worked out first, so that we don’t fall behind schedule, so it sounds like we’ll schedule that for August or September.
Also, I know that after the last update, we got several messages from backers asking how to submit samples and be considered as writers for the new season, so I wanted to talk about that here in case there are more people wondering. At least for these new episodes, I’m afraid we just aren’t able to review applications or consider new potential writers. In fact, we actually reached out to almost all of this season’s writers during the Kickstarter, to make sure they’d be available during the right dates, and able to start fast enough to keep us on schedule.
But, because I understand that a handful of you are interested in learning about movie riffing, I do want to remind you that we’ll still be hosting an online “Introduction to Movie Riffing” class later this year, and that there will also be a few spaces left to pledge for the Kickstarter reward that lets you join me, some of your fellow backers, and a few of our staff writers to riff a short film that will be included in the new season.
So yeah, if you are interested in attending the online riffing class, or joining me to riff a short for the new season, you’ll be able to do that when our Reward Survey comes out.
Anyway, that’s the main thing we’ve been focused on for the last few weeks, so I wanted to tell you a little bit more about how it’s all working.
Also, before I wrap up this update, I thought it might be good to answer a few questions that we received during the Kickstarter campaign, and just didn’t have the time to answer back then.
And, since I know a lot of you are still waiting patiently for more information about what you can expect in Season 13, I think some of these questions might be interesting to you.
Joel Answers Your Questions: Round 1
Justin Lerbakken, on Kickstarter, writes:
Thanks for your question, Justin -- and for helping us hit the goal, too!
On one level, the reason we put “Minneapolis” on our Kickstarter page is because that’s really where the show is from… and also, I think that there’s a specific Minneapolis “feel” that will always be an important part of the show, that we try to keep in the mix. Minneapolis will always be our “ancestral home”, and we want to keep that connection alive. (Some say it’s the water.)
But to give you the full answer, I also want you to try to remember how the world was just a few months back – prior to our Kickstarter – when there were a lot of open questions about how the show would be shot. When we were trying to figure out the best location for the Kickstarter, Ivan and I also agreed that it made the most sense to list Minneapolis as our home... because simply put, if strict lockdowns continued, we’d be shooting the show from EVERYWHERE!
(Remember, our original plan was built to keep the show going even if we had to shoot most of it remotely, so it was possible that each person involved would have needed to shoot their segments from home – which would put production all over the map: Florida, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis! But yeah, since we can’t list the location of a Kickstarter as “everywhere”, we thought Minneapolis was the best place to acknowledge.)
Anyway, to answer the other part of your question…
Now that the COVID restrictions have started to relax, we’re planning to split most of the production between the West Coast – since a lot of our cast reside in Los Angeles – and the East Coast, since the Alternaversal offices are located near Philadelphia.
However, some aspects of this season will still involve Minneapolis:
- Several of our writers for Season 13 are working from Minneapolis.
- Costume diva Beez McKeever will be responsible for all of our new costumes, which means those will all be made in Minneapolis.
- And, depending on how things work out with remote production and her schedule, Mary Jo Pehl might shoot some or all of her scenes from Minneapolis.
So yeah, even though a lot of our shooting will happen on the East and West Coasts, a lot of the creative magic will still come from Minneapolis. I hope that helps answer your question!
Rachael Rustin (@RustyRachel on Twitter) asked:
That’s a great question, Rachael – and to start, I want to reassure you that there are lots of old black and white movies that we haven’t riffed yet, good and bad.
Also, this seems like a good time to address something I’ve seen some speculating about online, about why we didn’t riff any black and white movies for the last few seasons. See, a lot of people seem to think that –
Well, that's what people seem to think... but I’m glad to finally talk more about this, because I think there was a misconception that Netflix asked us not to use black and white movies in Seasons 11 and 12. So, I want you to know that Netflix was really respectful of our choices, and never asked us to change the movies we wanted to riff.
Actually, it was my decision not to include some of those “sans color” movies for the last few seasons, and I’m happy to explain why.
To tell you the truth, when I watch stuff with my own kids – who are in high school – I’ve come to realize that kids that age don’t naturally find black and white movies all that inviting, at least at first blush. My kids enjoy some classic black and white movies like Hard Day’s Night, Dr. Strangelove, and the Marx Brothers… but those usually come with a bit of a pitch from me or their Mom.
So, I sometimes think that presenting a black and white movie may not be as engaging to newer viewers who are still getting used to MST3K.
Of course, I’ve never been interested in “dumbing down” Mystery Science Theater 3000… but, I also really felt that part of the value of having the show on Netflix was to help a new generation discover the show, and feel like they could get on board and be part of our community.
Also, when MST3K had to compete with big, expensive Netflix productions like Stranger Things for attention, I thought it might help – at least at first – to include some movies that felt a little more “accessible” to audiences that didn’t know about our show yet.
And you know, I think – at least for the last few seasons – that it was a good decision, because a lot of new folks have joined our community. In fact, when we looked at all of the reports after our Kickstarter ended, we found out that about 47% of you weren’t backers during our first Kickstarter, back in 2015. And, even more encouraging, we’ve gotten a lot of messages from that group telling us that they did discover the show on Netflix, and have now worked backwards to watch most of the older episodes as well. So yeah, I think it was a helpful experiment for us.
But now that we’re talking about it, I’m frankly relieved that so many of you also enjoy black and white films, because I truly love them. When we started making MST3K, we naturally included a lot of older movies – but it wasn’t because we specifically were trying to include black and white movies. (For one thing, older movies were more likely to be in the public domain, which made them easier to use.)
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that there might still be a place for those older movies on Mystery Science Theater… and since I know a lot of you have been missing them, I’m pleased to confirm that we’ll be riffing at least one black and white movie in Season 13.
I’m not ready to tell you which one just yet, but I will tell you it’s from 1961.
So yeah, even though we made a decision to riff more “accessible” movies for the last two seasons, I don’t want you to worry: we’re not just riffing newer movies.
Brian Kent (@wizofvideogames on Twitter) asks:
Brian, I’m really glad you asked about this. When I read your question, I actually thought it was really funny, because it reminded me that a lot of people assume we don’t enjoy the movies we riff. But yeah, it might surprise some of you to hear it, but I actually enjoy all of the movies we riff on the show, even though they’re not necessarily “good” in the usual sense.
I think I’ve talked about this before, but when we riff a movie, we don’t really think about it like we’re mocking or tearing it down. In fact, if you look at the percentages of our riffs, there are only a very small number that even reference the quality of the films we’re working with.
What we’re actually doing – at least, the way I think about it – is treating the movie like our “partner”, and working with the movie to make something new… which is a lot harder to do if you can’t find anything you like about it.
(Or, maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe it’s also a little bit like Stockholm Syndrome, where we spend so much time watching these movies to come up with riffs that we start to love them... or we find things to love about them, at least. )
To use an example from Season 11: I really love how awkward Carnival Magic is. I’m not saying it’s a “good” movie, but I think it’s still important to recognize that it really did its best. For example: that long Goodfellas-esque tracking shot walking down the midway was really ambitious... it just didn’t work with that many people in it. But you still have to admire the scope of the way they were thinking.
(Also, I don’t know if this is common knowledge, but in the first version of Carnival Magic, the chimp didn’t talk... but when the filmmakers watched it, they realized it wasn’t really tracking. So after the scenes were shot, they decided to make the chimp talk in post. That was their solution, and you can see how it turned out… but I think you’ll agree: having the chimp talk, and not say anything particularly funny, had a strange sort of magic and confusion to it.)
To give you another example, I remember watching The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, and at one point, there's a scene with that amazing-looking bird lady who sings, the Bluebird of Happiness:
I remember thinking that scene was just so beautiful… and the thing is, when there’s something beautiful in the movie to work with, it really also makes the whole episode of our show better too. That’s what I mean, when I say we’re really “partnering” with each movie we riff. If they happen to bring some moments of beauty and quality, it makes our episode better.
So yeah, the thing to remember is that the people who made each of these movies had to do a lot of problem solving to make things work. Sometimes they got it right, and sometimes they didn’t... but I still admire that they tried to make it all work.
Some people go on fishing trips to the boundary waters, Some people go on Ski Trips to Utah. Some people spend their time helping people in need. And, some people make movies.
As long as they accomplish their own goals, and the people working on them feel valued and respected, and hopefully have a little fun along the way, I don’t think these movies are failures.
Now, I know there are still a lot of interesting questions we haven’t gotten to talk about, so I’ll try to answer more of those whenever we have a few minutes free over the next few months.
Also, if you have other questions that we haven’t talked about yet, you can leave those in the comments below and we’ll do our best to answer some of them in future updates.
And finally, you should know that we’ve been making plans that will make it easier to share updates with you more often, even when I don’t have enough time to write them all myself.
I’ll tell you more about that soon, so that you know what to expect.
Cheers & Thanks,
Joel
