Creed 1.5x2 Preview

Short blurb for tomorrow's episode, titled 'Decisions.'

Seraph reacts to the horrific events at Daberath High School while Tanya and Sage have to work through a slight case of PTS. Priest returns and wonders if the erroneous report was simply a screw job by the media or something deeper, while his father faces the wrath of an irate Mayor Hampton.

Creed returns this Tuesday

After a long time off, Creed will return this season with a 12-episode run. What we're doing is taking the back twelve of the originally planned 22 episode season and wrapping these into a season 1.5.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and support. It's much appreciated.

Season 1.5 Coming Soon!

I know it's been awhile! Update: the back 12 episodes have been drafted and we (Rob Kenneth) and I are currently going through rewrites. Ideally, I'm targeting a start date at the end of this month. I want to run the 12 eps straight through to the end with no breaks and we've got six in the can at the moment.

Stay tuned and thanks everyone for your patience.

Update

So obviously it's been awhile between episodes. The two month bout with pneumonia combined with a sudden increase of my workload at the real life job left precious little time for writing.

Having just finished up my second season of Connor over at MZP, I'm now able to focus on this show and Desperate Screenwriters.

I'm determined to finish both before the end of July, so I'm just going to air them as they come. Consider I'm six episodes up on Creed at the moment, that should be soon. Ideally, I'd like to air the show on Tuesdays and Thursdays until the finale.

Stay tuned.

Our First Trivia Winner

Mere hours after 1x06 went out, forum member Vinicius submitted all six correct answers and will be receiving a free Amazon gift certificate!

Remember, the trivia contest ONLY runs on the blog, so keep that page bookmarked after each episode is released to stay up to date with the questions.

Remaining Schedule Pushed One Week

1x07's set to air on March 2nd. Coming off of this brutal work trip and a recent bout with pneumonia, I'm unfortunately going to need a bit more of a breather than that. So I'm going to push the entire airing schedule back one week to give myself and my staff (of one) some time to get ahead of the game.

Remaining schedule will go like this:

1x07: March 9th
1x08: March 16th
1x09: March 23rd
1x10: April 6th
1x11: April 13th
1x12: April 20th
1x13: April 27th
1x14: May 4th
1x15: May 25th
1x16: June 1st
1x17: June 8th
1x18: June 15th
1x19: July 6th
1x20: July 13th
1x21: July 20th
1x22: July 27th

And that should give me enough time to get ahead of the game and continue unabated unless I come down with another illness. I hear smallpox is making a comeback.

- Michael Jay

Catching up

1x03's now up. As stated on the main website, 1x03 - 1x06 will be airing over the course of this week to get the show caught up (in combination with Desperate Screenwriters). And hopefully work doesn't stick me on 3 week trips of HELL so I don't get behind again.

Ep 3 delay

Rather than post this again, verbatim, I'm gonna copy what I wrote on the DS blog.

Should've posted this Friday, but it's been weird couple days. I'm currently in San Antonio, Texas (I live in Atlanta, Georgia) for work. I'm the Web, Media, & Design Manager for a restaurant concept I used to be a server at when I was still in school. Part of my job, since I've done every job in the restaurant (I've been a cook, server, bartender, kitchen manager, front of house manager, expeditor) is to be a member of the training team for new store openings. This means 14-18 hour days for two weeks straight.

Friday was travel day, followed by "get lost going to the store, then back to the hotel, then back to the store" day. My boss has the directional sense of... something... that's bad with directions.

Unfortunately, this has carried over to Creed, since these owners are fucking incompetent and hired a bunch of 16 year olds who can't work past 9pm (this place closes at 11, by the way).

So yeah, haven't sniffed a proof of 1x03 yet. I was hoping to get to it last night, but then my damn laptop battery died (this truly is a god awful trip at the moment, capped off with my credit card being phished and having $300 in charges ran up on it.

Long story short, double bill this Monday.

- MJ

Season One Trivia Contest

So, in our unrelenting efforts to persuade (read: bribe) people to check out the series, we've put together a little contest.

Here's how it works:

Shortly after an episode is posted, we'll post a trivia question on the blog. When we hit a planned hiatus in the season (after episodes 6, 14, and 18), participants need to personal message me (Michael Jay) on the Discussion Boards with all the answers. So for example, send me answers to six questions after episode 6, eight other questions after episode 14, and so on. The first person to send me all the correct answers each time wins. Winners will be announced here on the blog and on the forums.

So there are opportunities for three winners throughout the season. Each winner will receive a $20 gift card for Amazon.com via email. No need to give out any personal information in the process.

A couple of notes to remember about this contest.

- The trivia questions will only be posted on the blog. They won't be cross posted on the website or forums, so keep your browsers pointed to the blog on airing dates.

- The answers have to be sent to me in a personal message on the forums. I get enough email in a day already. I'm much more likely to miss a submission if it's sent via email.

The season starts January 5th. Good luck!

Season One Schedule

Here's the airing schedule for season one of the show. Dates are tentative and subject to change, but we will do our best to stick to these and in the event of a delay, we'll post here on the blog as soon as possible.

1x01: January 5th
1x02: January 12th
1x03: January 19th
1x04: January 26th
1x05: February 2nd
1x06: February 9th
1x07: March 2nd
1x08: March 9th
1x09: March 16th
1x10: March 30th
1x11: April 6th
1x12: April 13th
1x13: April 20th
1x14: April 27th
1x15: May 18th
1x16: May 25th
1x17: June 1st
1x18: June 8th
1x19: June 29th
1x20: July 6th
1x21: July 13th
1x22: July 20th

Q&A w/Michael Jay

::Interview conducted by Jay Everington::

You've mentioned the show has some comic influences. How will it differ from other recent comic-inspired shows and films that have been released? Would you say it has a heavy comic book influence?

Well for one, Creed was never a real comic book to begin with. The other VS and films that have sprung up lately were all adaptations of existing material. Creed is wholly original. All the characters are creations of myself and Robert Kenneth. So that's the big difference.

I'd say it has a heavy comic book influence just in the style of storytelling. Network television's gotten rather formulaic for me over the last few years, which is why I gravitated more towards your HBO and Showtime series. Cable shows that strive to be something different. Comic books have been around forever, but there's a sense of sensationalism in comics that I don't think you can get on the small screen without it feeling hokey. Just take Batman as an example. The Riddler's probably the silliest villain ever, but he works as a comic book character when I think it'd be tough to translate the same character to film. Jim Carrey and Joel Schumacher made this point for me years ago.

With Creed, the aim was to create a world that feels real and yet otherworldly at the same time. The reason I love Batman so much as a kid is the setting of Gotham City itself. It almost feels like another character in itself. That's not something that you really get on television these days. Creed's based in Atlanta, Georgia, but part of the reason it's set in the future is to attempt to capture that same feeling of entering another world yet still having it seem familiar.

The show obviously has very strong religious themes running throughout it, yet none of the characters seem to be particularly religious with the exception of Bishop himself. Will this particular theme be explored in greater detail with characters other than Bishop?

Yes, but I didn't want it to be preachy, so you'll see it in different ways. There are themes of idol worship within the city itself. For instance, the Mayor of Atlanta is a retired quarterback who became something of a hero to the city based solely on his athletic accomplishments and that's how he got elected. The Preacher is a legend in the city. You'll see the trangressions of a few characters have come back to haunt them ten fold. I wouldn't say it's a hugely religious show. It's very spiritual though. There's a message in all the violence and carnage that takes place.

What other shows and/or movies - if any - have influenced Creed?

The Shield is a major influence. I just love themes of corruption being mixed with justice and honor. And the idea of doing the wrong things for the right reasons (or vice versa) that The Shield so masterfully crafts into its stories.

I think the X-Men parallel is obvious. A lot of people who read the original pilot mentioned Batman and that's a fair point, but that wasn't a source, to be honest. There are certainly similarities between Bruce Wayne and Bishop Baines, but Batman always had a line he was hesistant to cross (i.e. killing his foes). He never wanted to lose his soul to the darkness he faced night in and night out. Bishop has no such qualms about that and oddly enough it's really his unwavering faith and connection to God that allows him to cross that line repeatedly and never lose himself. Having said all that, this is Bishop we're talking about, not the other seven regulars.

The pilot pulled no punches with its violence and language. Will this continue to be the case with Creed? If so, are there any limits you've put in place as to how far you might want to take such things in the future?

Definitely not scaling back. I wrote this with the vision of it being something you'd see on a premium cable channel. A lot of VS/fanfic that gets graphic with the language and violence tends to do it gratuitously. I try to make sure it stays believable. As for limits, I'm trying a few questionable bits of imagery in season one to see how they are received and I might scale back if people think I'm pushing too much. I can't see it happening though b/c (I hope) it all works within the context of the series.

Do you plan to use more stand-alone stories or will the show be more arc-based?

It's an arc show and there is a story that unfolds over the entirety of the first season, but there's a bunch of smaller stories that are told in blocks and bringing them together is what tells that season long story. There's a six episode block to start the season that kicks off that arc, but those six episodes have a definitive end to them. There's another story surrounding a hostage situation at a school that unfolds over a few episodes, but again, it plays into the main story. It's not your typical "every character has an arc" type plotting that you see in every VS known to man. Everyone just sort of plays their parts and you come to know them by their actions instead of agonizingly boring flashbacks and patches of dialogue that just serve up information and don't do anything contextually.

Each character seems to have their own specific issue - part of the reason they were each recruited by Bishop to begin with. Is the plan to focus on each of them resolving these issues or simply learning to deal with them?

No, not really. This isn't a show about redemption or atonement for past sins. Everyone but Roxanne has made peace with their past. They're not over it per se, but they're past it. Through Haven, they've learned to live with their atrocities (by committing more atrocities... heh). You'll get into each character's head over the course of the season by observing how they act and react in certain situations. Most of their backgrounds are in their cast bios on show's website and blog, so that information is out there. It becomes more about, say, Salome's reaction to something that deals with small children b/c of the loss of her own child. Things like that. The mantra is learning through actions, not words. Roxanne's probably the only exception b/c she's new and won't be mixing it up too quickly. They all have a lot of anger insight whether it's with themselves, the world at large, or both. So hopefully, within a few episodes, readers will learn to pay attention to these characters when they're out and about and discover their quirks that way.

Is it safe to say Creed is the darkest thing you've written VS-wise so far? If so, how tough has it been adjusting to that style?


Yes, it's easily the darkest material I've dealt with. Adjusting wasn't hard at all. The biggest adjustment was the sheer amount of characters to write. I had to introduce 8 regulars in the pilot and I'm not the type of guy to introduce a character in name only, then just throw them into the mythology. The hardest part has been the aforementioned crafting of the city of Atlanta so it feels almost like an organic being itself.

Will the show be ensemble or will one or two characters get the bulk of the focus with the rest playing supporting roles?


Some characters will obviously get more airtime than others, but this is a team and everyone has their own unique abilities that they bring to the table. So depending on what the plot necessitates, you'll see some characters at points more than others. Not to mention Haven has a full staff of supporting characters (doctors, instructors, mechanics), so there are a lot of faces and names. Ultimately I think the core eight are all serviced over the course of the season.

Ok, last question: I have to ask... will the holographic van stay?

Ha! It's out, unfortunately. I'm not sure if that version of the pilot will air, so I'll explain for those who don't know. The team had a van covered with holographic plates designed to camouflage the vehicle depending on their situation. So it could be an ambulance, cut down an alley, and come out a taxi cab. Ultimately it seemed like too much for the realistic base I'd established earlier in the pilot, so it's gone.

Creed premieres January 5th, 2009 exclusively at GypsyVerse Production. Jay Everington is a virtual series writer who currently runs the popular SpiderMan: Gifts & Curses over at MZP