Discovery Screening

As I approached The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center Friday night for First Signal’s outdoor screening (postponed from July 9 due to weather), I couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia as I got closer. For it was at this location that First Signal began production two years earlier.

After I parked the car, I wandered over to where they were setting up and then soon found myself inside the museum. Naturally, I walked into the room where the majority of filming took place. With the exception of it being set up for some sort of classroom instruction, the room was the same. Oddly, I found myself looking around for the table that we sat the projector on. Why it mattered after we wrapped after two years, who knows! The point being is that it was a nice memory.

Joining me for this screening was Daniel Groom, Director of Photography; Paul Noonan, General John Reager and Yefim Somin, President Sergei Tupolov. I hadn’t seen Yefim since we wrapped at the Discovery Center two years ago. It was good to catch up with everyone and reminisce a bit. When you’re making a film, it’s almost impossible to predict where it will end up after it’s completed. Having First Signal screen where we filmed it made for a great evening. My thanks to the Discovery Center for making it possible, to those that attended and to Senator Shaheen for her words of support.

After the screening I was talking about a new story in The First World Universe that came to me about a week ago. I have the name, logline and even the ending. Without giving away too much at this stage, think All the President’s Men meets Defense of the Realm.  The story centers around the following line that Elisabeth Seward, the National Security Advisor, says in First Signal, “But there will be a record of this meeting. Simply put there is a hole in the President’s schedule because she is here. How long do you think it will take before some intrepid reporter asks questions that I’m just going to guess you don’t want answered?” If all goes well, I’ll have a draft completed by the end of the year.

Yesterday I posted the last installment of First Signal’s actor interviews. Having rewatched each installment for social media and posting purposes, I have to say we covered a lot of ground. Sure, we talked about the process of creating First Signal, but it was the discussions that centered around the entertainment industry, the craft of acting and directing along with the contemporary issues of the times we are in, that I really believe gives the series legs. 

As First Signal enters the next phase of marketing and distribution, it’s time to look forward to bring new projects to life.

Scene One.