Hi everybody!!

I know a lot of you are NOT in the local Twin Cities television area. So, in case you'd REALLY like to see the show you invested your hard-earned sheckles in, we've posted it to the internet at Blip.tv

You can see the entire 48 minute special HERE:

http://blip.tv/file/4314185

And please... if you hate it, don't tell me. LOL!!

Thanks again for all your support!

-Gordon

A big HELL-o to all of our loyal zombies and Kickstarter supporters! We have been working fast and furiously to finish the TVTV Real Meaning of Halloween Special Show for its October 22nd , 11:00 p.m. broadcast on the Minneapolis affiliate of the CW. Things are looking good but there is always more to do. That being said, we are throwing a party (a premier party that is) and we would like to invite, our faithful Zombie Minions (and a guest) to attend the evening's festivities.

That's you guys. In case I was being too obscure. YOU are the Midnight Zombie Legion!

The party is October 20th, 2010 and will run from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with the Kickstarter sponsors getting to attend the 9:30 showing of the Halloween special. This showing is specially designated for cast and crew so here is a chance to rub shoulders with the people who worked so hard to put together this special. The premier party will be at the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis, www.bellmuseum.org

Please R.S.V.P to Gordon Smuder at 612-379-9611 or spcglider@aol.com ... we'll get your name on "the list". Come join us on the dark side!

Hi everybody!

This weekend marks the last of the"big shoots" for the Halloween Special. We still have a couple shoots to do on greenscreen, but as far as studio shooting goes, we're closing in on the last of it.

We'll be getting footage of Dwayne's little adventure Friday and Sunday this weekend.

Woot!!

Hi everybody! Its been a while since I posted an update so here goes:

The filming is going very well. You're probably wondering what's taking us so long to shoot the show, though. Well, its all a matter of scheduling. Everybody we work with is a volunteer. Everybody. Even me. Since nobody is getting paid (quite a miracle when you consider the raging pile of talented professionals we have with us), we have to be very considerate and work around people's personal schedules as much as humanly possible. Of course, everybody is kind and mets us half-way whenever they can, but we're being particularly mindful that we are asking them to do this for free.

So the schedule is a bit more stretched out than would be in a normal "I'm paying you, get to work dammit" scenario.

And we are THANKFUL for all those good people pulling together to make the TVTV Halloween Special happen. Really... I love the English language but its falling rather short in the "expressing gratitude" department these days. But we do what we can.

As for SWAG...

We just got up to the $60 level packets. Our big mistake there was promising signed copies of the script. Its a) something like 60 pages long, b) expensive to photocopy, c) heavy to mail and d) hard to get all the writers in the same place to sign it in a timely fashion.

So this next level of packets is going to be a few more weeks before we get it all packed and sent out. Big apologies for that. Thanks for all the patience!

-Gordon

We're two shoots into the production schedule for the TVTV Halloweener (as we call it). Things are moving apace and going quite well.

We also just got back the "cast photo" from our on-set photographer Dmitry Futoryan. And I'm taking this opportunity to make a special apology to two very significant people missing from that photo. Because of scheduling (not only with cast but with the photographer) the photo is MISSING cast regular Amber Greenlee (Esmerelda the Gypsy) and our newest cast member Renee Werbowski who is stepping into the role of Miss Mansfield (originally played by Liz Hara and filled recently by Amber). But never fear, if they forgive me, we'll be having them sign the photo as well.

Also just in: I designed an all-new pinback button exclusively for our donors. And the cool part? They GLOW IN THE DARK!! Yeah, baby!! Its so cool you'll plotz!!

So stay tuned. We'll be moving forward and giving you more updates as it happens!

-Gordon

Hey everybody,

I'm thanking you again for all your support.

We started actually filming (video-ing?) the TVTV Halloween Special this past weekend! And so far, all is proceeding as planned. Your donations have made it possible for us to concentrate on the herculean task of generating an hour's worth of puppet funny without worrying about whether or no the landlord will can us and kick us into the street! (Kidding aside, the landlord at our studio building is a totally cool guy who thinks we are neat, but we still have to pay him to be there!)

So around now you folks are gonna start wondering when you'll be getting all that groovy swag we enticed you with.

Well, as you might guess, we didn't actually have t-shirts and buttons and stuff all packed neatly into boxes waiting to be sent as soon as the drive concluded. That's because generating all that stuff takes money... and well... you know we didn't have money to begin with. That's why we were fundraising through Kickstarter!

So here's what's happening... we are working diligently to generate those items (I just ordered super amazing glow-in-the-dark custom art pinback buttons today!) and as soon as we can start packing up and shipping out, I'll drop you all another update so you know its coming. I expect we'll have most of the stuff ready to go in about a month. So keep your eyes peeled for the next announcement!

Special note: For those of you who chose the TVTV DVD of Web Season Three, we'll be holding on until we have all of Season Three complete before we ship those to you. If you change your mind on Season Three versus Seasons One or Two, just drop me a line and we can change it up for you. No worries!

-Gordon

You guys rock my little puppet-y world.

-Gordon

Thanks to everybody who's chipping in at the last minute here... we appreciate it truly!

If we end up getting enough money we will be able to afford some on-air ads for the Halloween Special! Wouldn't THAT be groovy!!

-Gordon

Yahoo!!

Almost there... (stay on target!)... almoooost therrrre....

This is truly spectacular. We're hitting that goal with a vengeance and we have all of YOU to thank for it.

Now it is incumbent upon us to make the bestest Halloween Special we possibly can!

-Gordon

This is REALLY spectacular.

We have only four days left in the fund drive and we've exceeded our expectations handily.

It really makes me feel great to know that here are so many people out there who 1) like what we do, 2) see the potential that we see, and 3) have the confidence in our skills and talents to donate to the cause!

And we don't aim to disappoint.

Even when we weren't at 100%, I started working in earnest on things we'd be needing for the special... mostly stuff we really could use in regular episodes.

I tried to post some of these images before but the evidently didn't make it through the net to the website. So here they are... stuff I've been building like crazy over the last week or so. And there's plenty more left to build!

-Gordon

Hey everybody!

Here's a couple shots of the special TVTV SHRINKY DINKS you get as swag for donating $20 or more!

You'll get a sheet of character illustrations by groovy cartoonist Jay Fosgitt and a sheet of shrinky dink plastic. You simply trace and color the characters, pop 'em in the oven, and fawango! Custom TVTV Shrinked Dinks! You'll also get some little stands to turn your shrunken characters into little stand-ups!

Thanks to Jennifer for Shrinking these particular Dinks! :P

Due to one of our backers having to reduce their pledge amount, we are no longer OVER our goal!

Yoiks!

Looks like we're back on the trail, buckaroos! Time to round up them doggies!

If anyone out there was planning to donate but hasn't yet, it'd sure set my mind at ease if you could do it now!

Thanks for all the support everybody! You ALL rock the free world.

-Gordon

WOW!! I MEAN WOW!!

That's truly AWESOME.

We made our goal with time to spare!

Super huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated AND cajoled others to donate (the two things might be exclusive). As well as CONGRATULATIONS to all of you... since without YOU, we wouldn't have gotten this far. Good work, everybody!!

You have assured that we WILL be producing the Transylvania Television Meanin' Of Halloween Special! Good on ya!!

So that's it? No. Not really. We still have, like, two weeks left to put a head on this frosty cool mug of goodness! And from here on in, its all cake!

So if you know of anyone who has been holding out "until the last minute", don't let them get away! Remind them that the money we sought was just the bare minimum! If we get more donations, we'll be able to make the Special just that much groovier!

-Gordon

Hey everybody!

Sorry for being out of touch... its been a pretty busy couple of weeks.

As you can see by our numbers, we're doing REALLY well with our fund drive. But we're not quite there yet.

Also, please remember (and remind all your friends) that the 6K we're shooting for is only our goal. We can ALWAYS take in MORE than the stated goal. And believe me, it sure would make life better if we could! So even if we reach the dollar goal, don't let your friends and family slip away without giving us a little more support!

So... exactly what will all this money be going for anyway? Well, I'll try to be brief!
(good luck on THAT one!)

First, we need to feed our crew. And we're not talking pizza here. Did you know Jennifer has voluntarily taken on the (very difficult) job of "Craft Services" on our shoots? And being the conscientious and dedicated person she is, she MAKES food for our crew. Like cooking and stuff!
And feeding a gang of eleven to twenty people isn't cheap. Even if you do order pizza.

Second, its time for some upgrades. We've had an excellent crew helping us do all kinds of things, but in some cases, we are limited by our equipment. Most specifically microphones. When you're doing puppets, there's really no convenient way of "mike-ing" the cast. Lapel microphones get buried in clothing when the puppeteer has to contort himself to fit in a scene. Microphones on stands have to constantly get relocated because the puppeteers are always shifting around to get the movement right. So we're going to make an investment in some professional headset microphones... just like the Muppets use! Sort of.

Third, The Halloween Special needs to go beyond what we've already shown you in the TVTV Online Episodes. So we're going to build some new sets, create some new props, and build some new puppets! And while my guys are EXCELLENT scavengers, there just comes a point where you GOTTA go to the lumber yard or fabric store and cough up some cold, hard cash!
No.. they don't trade for puppets at Home Depot.

Fourth, we've been operating out of a lovely little space on Stinson Avenue for the past year. And we will need to continue renting that studio if we want to keep filming. So far, the rent (aside from two notable exceptions) has been coming directly out of our bank account. Yes, we defray the cost by selling DVDs of the show, but that doesn't nearly cover it. So part of the money is going to help us maintain that space while we shoot the Halloween Special!

And last, we DO intend to get this Halloween Special ON THE AIR. That means (lacking an actual sponsor for the show) we gotta pony up for an hour of air time on our local CW affiliate. And even at 11 o'clock on a Friday, that ain't cheap.

So there you have it. You can see how easily $6000 can be swallowed up by production even on a micro scale. But we aren't looking to retire on the results of this fund drive. We really just want to get enough money to make it as good as it can be and really show off our TVTV universe to the world.

And then we hope you like it.

-Gordon

Just shooting everybody a quick update about the state of things at the state fairgrounds. Mooo!