回加了，不用爬墙了
回加了，不用爬墙了。
转一下Johnny Capps的一篇访问，这家伙居然原来是学表演的，后来因为喜欢控制别人，所以改行了。
Merlin’s is one of the most overexposed tales of our time, with more than 60 feature films and 80 TV shows produced in its name over the last century.
So what is it about this 12th century folk story that inspires successive generations to put their stamp on it?
Johnny Capps, producer of the latest, hugely successful BBC Merlin series has several theories as to why it has captivated our imaginations.
First there is our fascination with magic and the art of the impossible, and many of Merlin’s legends and settings are rooted in history.
And, too, there is the Spider-Man, Buffy-type dilemma of an ordinary human burdened with an extraordinary power.
"Part of the appeal is, did Merlin really exist,” the 43-year-old Londoner says. “Was there this wise wizard, sword in the stone or lady in the lake? It could have happened, which adds to the intrigue, romance and longevity of the tale.”
Merlin is in its second season on Channel 10 in Australia, where it is watched by more than a million viewers each week. Capps has tagged it as bigger and braver than the first.
He hatched the original idea, aimed at a family audience, with his Shine Drama business partner in 2005 and took three years to nut it out.
"We needed a mythology for a high-concept show and Merlin just seemed to be right for re-interpretation for a 21st-century audience,” he says.
"We decided to start before they were famous because what appealed to us was a story of empowerment. What if we had a young Arthur who was not yet king and Merlin as a young wizard, coping with trying to be a teenager and at the same time his destiny and extraordinary power? And we subverted the expectation around Guinevere by making her a lowly servant girl.”
Unlike other production companies, Capps says Shine Drama creates the show concept and then hires writers to work on the format.
He was far from daunted by the huge body of work that exists around Merlin. “When you’re creating a show, you just become immersed in your own ideas,” he says. “You can’t look at it objectively and think ‘look at everything I’m up against’ or that is creative suicide really.”
And he insists Harry Potter was of little influence.
"As a producer you can obsess about other projects but all Harry Potter did for us was to underline the fact that a young audience are mesmerised by somebody with a magic ability,” he says.
Before his foray into producing, Capps worked as a film and TV actor but found it left him cold. 大叔，你当演员的确混不出头。
"I found it frustrating and creatively uninspiring because I enjoy being in control and as an actor you have very little creative control,” he says
So he returned to study at the University of Manchester and, while doing his Masters in acting technique, scored a script-tasting job at the BBC with feted TV scriptwriter Paul Abbott.
As he worked his way up the industry ladder as an editor and producer, Capps never stopped using his acting skills.
"I have an instinct for what dialogue works and what doesn’t and play all roles in my head.”
Deadlines are tight, with seven days and £1 million ($1.85 million) allowed for filming per episode and a three-day turnaround between final production and broadcast. 制作金费美剧的一半的样子。
"Our background is low-budget TV, so we know how to develop a production model where you can put all your money on screen,” he says.
The Merlin franchise has been Shine Drama’s saving grace.
"Merlin is escapism and a piece of entertainment that takes people out of their lives and allows them to think about something other than the global crisis for 45 minutes,” he says, adding that a third series has been commissioned and he has created a five-year plan for the show.
The second series has a similar feel to the first but has more action and greater emotional challenges. “Surprising things happen to Merlin and the romance between Arthur and Guinevere begins,” he says. “Morgana realises her magical ability and Gaius becomes a better father.”
Merlin’s relationship with the Dragon has taken on a new dimension because the beast demands to be set free.
"He is faced with a moral dilemma; will the freed dragon unleash revenge over Camelot,” he says. “There is a shocking twist in episodes 12 and 13 and people close to Merlin die.”
不过马上又要去法国，现在最需要的是补充睡眠。
又及，美国的Starz要播新剧The Pillars of the Earth，里面有梅林第二季里的山怪阿姨。
Premium cable channel Starz, looking to juice up a Friday night action-drama schedule left bare by the departure of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," will launch the star-packed miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth" on July 23.
Taking up residence in the former "Spartacus" time slot, now occupied by less-buzzworthy half-hours "Party Down" and "Gravity," the $40-million miniseries will kick off with a two-hour premiere. "Pillars," starring Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Donald Sutherland and Alison Pill, is based on the best-selling novel by Ken Follett and produced by action mavens Ridley and Tony Scott.
This is the second programming announcement this week from the channel, which is shepherded by former HBO executive Chris Albrecht, now Starz's president and CEO. Aiming at sci-fi fanboys and genre enthusiasts, Albrecht announced Monday that the channel has acquired the British import/"Doctor Who" spinoff/cult favorite "Torchwood" for air next summer. The extraterrestrial-themed BBC franchise will retain stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles, while adding some new faces.
Albrecht is billing "Pillars," which runs eight hours, as "event television" and "a must-watch" program for the summer. The network lost some of its Friday night momentum after "Spartacus" finished its first-season run. The show, despite star Andy Whitfield's cancer diagnosis, will return with a prequel to Season 1 next year. Whitfield, who is recovering from treatment, is expected to appear in some of the episodes.
"Pillars," set in 12th-century England, has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. First published in 1989, it was featured as an Oprah's Book Club selection on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 2007 and sold nearly 1.5 million copies the following day.
The miniseries, from Germany-based Tandem Communications, is billed as a sweeping epic with war, religious strife and political power struggles. Such period pieces have been in vogue lately, with Showtime's "The Tudors" racing toward a series finale and "The Borgias," about another wealthy, wacky, murderous influential family, queued up next. Starz, for its part, also plans a retelling of the classic "Camelot" tale, with Joseph Fiennes as Merlin and former James Bond girl Eva Green as Morgana, early next year.
转一下Johnny Capps的一篇访问，这家伙居然原来是学表演的，后来因为喜欢控制别人，所以改行了。
Merlin’s is one of the most overexposed tales of our time, with more than 60 feature films and 80 TV shows produced in its name over the last century.
So what is it about this 12th century folk story that inspires successive generations to put their stamp on it?
Johnny Capps, producer of the latest, hugely successful BBC Merlin series has several theories as to why it has captivated our imaginations.
First there is our fascination with magic and the art of the impossible, and many of Merlin’s legends and settings are rooted in history.
And, too, there is the Spider-Man, Buffy-type dilemma of an ordinary human burdened with an extraordinary power.
"Part of the appeal is, did Merlin really exist,” the 43-year-old Londoner says. “Was there this wise wizard, sword in the stone or lady in the lake? It could have happened, which adds to the intrigue, romance and longevity of the tale.”
Merlin is in its second season on Channel 10 in Australia, where it is watched by more than a million viewers each week. Capps has tagged it as bigger and braver than the first.
He hatched the original idea, aimed at a family audience, with his Shine Drama business partner in 2005 and took three years to nut it out.
"We needed a mythology for a high-concept show and Merlin just seemed to be right for re-interpretation for a 21st-century audience,” he says.
"We decided to start before they were famous because what appealed to us was a story of empowerment. What if we had a young Arthur who was not yet king and Merlin as a young wizard, coping with trying to be a teenager and at the same time his destiny and extraordinary power? And we subverted the expectation around Guinevere by making her a lowly servant girl.”
Unlike other production companies, Capps says Shine Drama creates the show concept and then hires writers to work on the format.
He was far from daunted by the huge body of work that exists around Merlin. “When you’re creating a show, you just become immersed in your own ideas,” he says. “You can’t look at it objectively and think ‘look at everything I’m up against’ or that is creative suicide really.”
And he insists Harry Potter was of little influence.
"As a producer you can obsess about other projects but all Harry Potter did for us was to underline the fact that a young audience are mesmerised by somebody with a magic ability,” he says.
Before his foray into producing, Capps worked as a film and TV actor but found it left him cold. 大叔，你当演员的确混不出头。
"I found it frustrating and creatively uninspiring because I enjoy being in control and as an actor you have very little creative control,” he says
So he returned to study at the University of Manchester and, while doing his Masters in acting technique, scored a script-tasting job at the BBC with feted TV scriptwriter Paul Abbott.
As he worked his way up the industry ladder as an editor and producer, Capps never stopped using his acting skills.
"I have an instinct for what dialogue works and what doesn’t and play all roles in my head.”
Deadlines are tight, with seven days and £1 million ($1.85 million) allowed for filming per episode and a three-day turnaround between final production and broadcast. 制作金费美剧的一半的样子。
"Our background is low-budget TV, so we know how to develop a production model where you can put all your money on screen,” he says.
The Merlin franchise has been Shine Drama’s saving grace.
"Merlin is escapism and a piece of entertainment that takes people out of their lives and allows them to think about something other than the global crisis for 45 minutes,” he says, adding that a third series has been commissioned and he has created a five-year plan for the show.
The second series has a similar feel to the first but has more action and greater emotional challenges. “Surprising things happen to Merlin and the romance between Arthur and Guinevere begins,” he says. “Morgana realises her magical ability and Gaius becomes a better father.”
Merlin’s relationship with the Dragon has taken on a new dimension because the beast demands to be set free.
"He is faced with a moral dilemma; will the freed dragon unleash revenge over Camelot,” he says. “There is a shocking twist in episodes 12 and 13 and people close to Merlin die.”
不过马上又要去法国，现在最需要的是补充睡眠。
又及，美国的Starz要播新剧The Pillars of the Earth，里面有梅林第二季里的山怪阿姨。
Premium cable channel Starz, looking to juice up a Friday night action-drama schedule left bare by the departure of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," will launch the star-packed miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth" on July 23.
Taking up residence in the former "Spartacus" time slot, now occupied by less-buzzworthy half-hours "Party Down" and "Gravity," the $40-million miniseries will kick off with a two-hour premiere. "Pillars," starring Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Donald Sutherland and Alison Pill, is based on the best-selling novel by Ken Follett and produced by action mavens Ridley and Tony Scott.
This is the second programming announcement this week from the channel, which is shepherded by former HBO executive Chris Albrecht, now Starz's president and CEO. Aiming at sci-fi fanboys and genre enthusiasts, Albrecht announced Monday that the channel has acquired the British import/"Doctor Who" spinoff/cult favorite "Torchwood" for air next summer. The extraterrestrial-themed BBC franchise will retain stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles, while adding some new faces.
Albrecht is billing "Pillars," which runs eight hours, as "event television" and "a must-watch" program for the summer. The network lost some of its Friday night momentum after "Spartacus" finished its first-season run. The show, despite star Andy Whitfield's cancer diagnosis, will return with a prequel to Season 1 next year. Whitfield, who is recovering from treatment, is expected to appear in some of the episodes.
"Pillars," set in 12th-century England, has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. First published in 1989, it was featured as an Oprah's Book Club selection on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 2007 and sold nearly 1.5 million copies the following day.
The miniseries, from Germany-based Tandem Communications, is billed as a sweeping epic with war, religious strife and political power struggles. Such period pieces have been in vogue lately, with Showtime's "The Tudors" racing toward a series finale and "The Borgias," about another wealthy, wacky, murderous influential family, queued up next. Starz, for its part, also plans a retelling of the classic "Camelot" tale, with Joseph Fiennes as Merlin and former James Bond girl Eva Green as Morgana, early next year.