So, with just over a week to go until the (actual) series premiere, I figured I'd start up one of these puppies, taking a cue from my man, JJ Estes, over on Threadbare.
Creed has been an interesting journey and after getting an overwhelmingly positive response to the original pilot (changeling car and all), figuring out season one was a tough challenge because I was faced with all these new questions I didn't think about when I wrote the pilot off a bare bones outline.
- Do I want to introduce 'powers' into the show and take a more supernatural route or keep it firmly a real world based show?
- Should the series stay set in the near future or do I want to scale it back to the present?
- Is Atlanta the right choice for the setting or just the easy choice because that's where I currently live?
Lots of hard questions to figure out and I think season one will be reflective of that process. I've never written for a show with this high a number of characters and this magnitude of scope, so I took my time to figure it all out.
The idea for this show, oddly enough given the adult tone, is a return to those action 'toons from my childhood. Not so much with the cheesy lines and whatnot, but something that isn't trying to be spectacularly deep and complex. Rather just a lot of fun and exciting to read.
Television bores me these days, quite frankly. My favorite show, The Shield, just ended this past November and there isn't another show right now that I clamor to watch week after week. A lot of television feels like it's trying really hard, too hard in fact, to be clever and mysterious. Most of the time, continuity and characterization ends up being sacrified for the sake of whatever needs to happen that week and it's irritating.
But I digress. Creed isn't going to be any of that.
For some insight into the actual show, well going into the inaugural season, try not to look at 1x01 as the pilot. The story that kicks off in 1x01 carries on for six episodes, so in a sense, 1x01 through 1x06 combined are the true 'pilot' of the series. There's a central arc that runs through all six and by the end of it, we'll have met some of the faces of the city, the layout of the city, Haven's layout, and hopefully gotten a better feel for the rather large cast I'm touting.
I'm excited to write it all. I'm excited to see what people think of it. And hopefully anyone that is reading this gets more inclined to tune in next Monday.
- MJ
