Happy Halloween!
There's nothing I love more than to share some exclusive goodies, especially when it comes from somewhere as exciting as Morganville! Make sure to scroll down for exclusive Behind the Scenes photos from the set!
So, if you haven't heard until now, New York Times best selling author Rachel Caine is adapting her Morganville Vampires books - 15 in all - for a hilarious fright fest of a web series. The first season is freely adapted by Rachel from the first novel Glass Houses.
Which makes it all the more sweet to see the behind-the-scenes movies and photos, because the reality of this web series is a long haul many books have made transitioning to another format. A realness steeped in long nights, insane shooting schedules (only 10 days!) and a fun-loving cast who were and are dedicated to making Morganville: The Series a wonderful treat for fans this Halloween season!
If you loved Rachel Caine's Morganville Vamps in their book form, she is really hoping you love how Morganville: The Series captures the spirit and heart of her vampires in a whole new way. She cannot be more pleased with the results and wants especially the Kickstarter fans to know it wouldn't have been possible without their generosity and faith in the project. And could not be more thrilled that Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry believed in the project enough to match the giving and hosting Morganville: The Series on their awesome YouTube channel.
As a newbie to the series, I have loved what I've seen of the characters so far and will be starting a live tweet #MVliveread -along for the Morganville book series on Saturday, November 1 on our @TMI_Institute Twitter account. Make sure to join us!
But just in case you can't read just yet, here's what you need to know about the show:
A brave teen (Claire Danvers) moves to the very isolated West Texas town of Morganville to (a) attend the local university, only to run afoul of the local mean (very mean) girls and (b) move to the safety of off-campus housing with three strangers. But the plot thickens when she discovers that her new housemates aren't crazy: Morganville really is run by vampires. They own it, and every one in it. Any now ... they own her.
Get to know the cast of Morganville: The Series
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| Ben Easter (Michael), Shane (Jordan Farris), Claire (Lindsay Seidel), Rachel Caine, Oliver (Robert Picardo),and Amelie (Amber Benson) all pose for fans at MCM London Comic Con. (Photo credit: Tez Greenwood) |
The show stars fan favorites Robert Picardo as Oliver (Star Trek: Voyager) and Amber Benson ( Buffy The Vampire Slayer) as Amelie, as well as Lindsay Seidel (Claire), Jordan Taylor Farris (Shane), Haileigh Todd (Eve), Ben Easter (Michael), Nikki Donley (Hanna), Afomia Hailemeskel (Monica), Jessie Mechler (Gina), Taylor Murphy (Jennifer), Gregory Connors (Brandon) and Chase Ryan Jeffery (Myrnin). It is directed by Blake Calhoun, known for his award-winning and groundbreaking digital series Pink and Continuum. The show was filmed on location in Texas on a Blackmagic camera.
Even though web series are seen as non-traditional formats, the casting process and scouting for film locations remained normal. Auditions were held in Dallas, LA, Austin, New Orleans and some digital (to give fans of the books a chance at the spotlight, too). Rachel wrote all the characters monologues for the auditions. The entire show ended up being filmed on location in Dallas in four separate venues, including a coffee shop, a turn-of-last-century Victorian home, a hospital, and a university. Nearly every episode ends with Rachel's infamous cliffhanger endings!
Exclusive Behind the Scenes from Episode 1 "Glass House"
| Photographer: Julio César Cedillo |
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| Ben Easter, who plays the mysterious and swoonworthy Michael, takes a turn in the chair under the careful eye of talented makeup artists for something special in the first episode of the series. |
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| Lindsay Seidel, who plays Claire Danvers, gets camera ready before a scene. |
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| It's busy on set as Amber Benson, who plays Amelie, gets ready to sport some killer heels. |
Get to know the author
Rachel Caine is a fictional character herself ... a pen name of writer Roxanne Conrad. Since 2003, Rachel has written in the adult Urban Fantasy genre (the Weather Warden, Outcast Season, Revivalist and Red Letter Days series) as well as in Young Adult fiction (the Morganville Vampire series and award-winning novel Prince of Shadows). She is the author of more than forty novels and many short stories, and is regularly featured in anthology collections, most recently the Charlaine Harris edited Dead But Not Forgotten.
Switching from book to film writing was easier than Rachel expected. The very first thing she did ended up setting the stage for the adaptation process and made it easier for her to focus on the story she wished to tell. Rachel says, "The first thing I tried to do, since I wrote the book in 2006, was to write down everything I remembered from it without re-reading it. That was fascinating, because what I wrote down was really the core story, and that turned out to be what needed to be told in the show. So while I did go back to the book, I did it for the purposes of review, not inspiration."
Fans might be wondering how a 10-day shoot in April 2014 could possibly yield a story they recognize. Rachel is confident the series delivers and explains, 'For practical purposes, you can only have so many characters in a show with this running time, so some characters from the novel, while really interesting, ended up not being central to the plot (like Miranda). However, I did think it was important to introduce Myrnin,who is a fan favorite character, into the mix early, so he makes a short appearance this season."
