Greetings, Earthlings. I am close to giving you all full disclosure on my new internet project, but until I do, I am excited to talk about PROJECT YELLOW SPHERE. It is the brainchild of James Farr and my friends at Steelehouse Productions, under their newly launched division Steelehouse Digital.

Project Yellow Sphere started out as an in-house project by a bunch of fans and geeks that love classic games, namely PAC-MAN. What has resulted is an amazing showpiece of visual effects and a high-concept re-launch of the character. After you see this six minute clip, you’ll be ready for the feature.

Steelehouse launched this in a very savvy viral campaign, leaking bits of footage and news reports of a top secret government project. When gaming titan IGN caught wind of it, they did a deal to launch it exclusively on their site. Now, after 150,000 hits in 24 hours and Hollywood knocking on their door, the lesson is told once again: if you really want to do something, find the resources and DO IT. Somebody might just notice.

Set your hadron particle colliders to eleven and visit ProjectYellowSphere. Congrats, Steelehouse!

Hello there. Long time no blog. That doesn’t mean I’m not busy on stuff… Just way too busy to blog. One of the irritating things about the entertainment business is that you can work on something for a long time but not be able to talk about it. Many of the things I am developing involve other people or companies who have asked me to keep my mouth shut. When you like to talk as much as I do (and blog and tweet and share), that’s a challenge. But hang in there. Piping hot new stuff is in the oven and just about ready to serve up!

Most of my days are spent writing, locked in my secret lab of an office. I just finished a Veggie Tales script, debating what vegetables with morals can and cannot do. You’d be surprised. I can definitively tell you that they cannot do slight-of-hand, close-up magic. That requires hands. I kept pitching “hands” to the Veggie Tales people, but they will have none of it. They’re like the Soup Nazi with that. “No hands!!”

The animated web series I mentioned is underway and lots of fun. I am days away from completing all voice recording with some very funny folks. It’s an interesting tone I’m trying to find with the comic timing — also a new way of recording my voice actors. I’m trying to get more of them on the mic at once and allow for those messy, unrehearsed moments that can happen when the actors “bump into each other” a little more. I’m in the middle of storyboarding and animatics and then will be reviewing animation for the next three months. Look for updates with art and sneak peaks here soon… when I can say more.

Simultaneously, I am deep into writing a screenplay for an animation studio. It’s technically a rewrite of another script, but it really feels like writing a brand new script from page one. Imagine taking apart a car, laying all the pieces out on the driveway, then putting it back together… except the car you took apart was a Pacer with no wheels and you have to make a Porche. Or at least a nice Prius. And again, I don’t think I can say what the project is, but it’s a fun world. A little magic, some gadgets, some classic adventure.

And then there’s my part time job of taking meetings. I pitch, I “give my take,” I “take a general,” I sit down with producers and “touch base.” Oh, I’m good at meetings. I wish it paid better, because my meetings are awesome. I ride in on my Vespa, I have great opening small talk, sometimes I bring a prop or some art. And very rarely, there is an actual gig at the end of it all. But the hoops I must jump through are many, and they are almost always on fire.

That’s all I got. No Fraggle stuff. I wish I did, believe me. I think the Fraggles and everyone related to them have gone back down underground for a good long time. I’ll do my best to draw them out again, but it’s not up to me anymore.

If you want more than this non-committal, obscure blog, or a more direct feed to my brain, you can always follow me on Twitter (@RealCoryEdwards).

Shalom, Aloha, Shaloha. (That last one’s mine. Copyright 2012.)

I haven’t had much to blog about lately. But behind the curtain, there really is stuff going on, I assure you! I’ve had the pleasure of partnering with many different creative people to develop material these days, and soon I hope a few of these projects will become things I can share here. One exciting development that I can make official: I will be providing content for one of the new online channels being created by this big YouTube initiative. I’m writing and directing an animated web series that will premiere this spring. It’s based on an original idea, it’s really funny and it has a very similar tone to “Hoodwinked.” I can’t tell you much more than that right now, but I can’t wait to start posting new info on the characters and production in the coming months.

This Christmas season always turns our thoughts to the spiritual, the emotional and the magical. I get those kinds of goosebumps whenever the lights go down in a movie theater. And as corny as it may sound, I sincerely feel like my own mission as a filmmaker is to bring some magic into the world. As I look to the new year and many potential new projects, I hope I get more chances to do that. The world is tough. Reality is harsh. Movies — and art in general — can sometimes be our only means of escape and relief. So I don’t take my work lightly. I feel blessed to get to do what I do. I hope that whatever your harsh reality may be, you can still count the blessings in your life this holiday season. See you in 2012!

I’m sure many of you read this news item last week:

New Regency Lands ‘Fraggle Rock’ Feature Rights Auction – Deadline.com

The short version is that Weinstein Company’s rights to the Fraggle Rock movie have finally expired and Henson has made a deal with New Regency — a deal to start… all… over. Thanks for all the emails and Twitter messages about it, but it has very little to do with me. Everyone wants to know if this is good news for me, or if I will be involved with the rebirth of this project, or what the next step is.

The simple answer is, I don’t know.

All I can tell you is this: For the past year, Weinstein Company sat on the rights to Fraggle Rock until they expired, then quietly let the project die — without telling me, of course. I’ve found that, in this business, no one ever actually FIRES you. You just stop getting information. Projects don’t ever get killed, they just slowly evaporate (like Yoda dissolving away as his little robe just sinks to the floor) — peacefully, calling no attention to their demise. Well, I noticed its demise, believe me. For any Fraggle fans out there, please know that I was pushing and pushing and doing everything I could to get that studio to see the value of the movie and the value of my vision for it. I cut storyboard sequences together, I had a lead actor secured, I had a top music artist ready to produce the soundtrack, and from what I was told, I had a script that everyone liked. But as the studio experienced a regime change, new execs had other plans for Fraggle Rock. If you read my blog, you know that the number one request was to make the Fraggles “edgy.” Yaaaaay. The funniest part of that era was that once “The Smurfs” came out, I saw that they pretty much did everything to that movie that I was being pressured to do with the Fraggles. There was even a Guitar Hero scene. I kid you not. We were headed towards a very, very Smurfy version of Fraggle Rock, kids. So perhaps everything happened for the best. (And “Smurfs” has made a Smurf-pile of money, so what do I know?)

At the end of the day, I wasn’t meant with so much opposition as I was with quiet indifference. I was ready to bring in a new writer, hear the studio’s concerns and even start from page one, all over again. But I was told, “We don’t know what we want to do… we’ll let you know.” After hearing nothing for a year, I was finally able to confirm a rumor that Weinstein Co. had finally let the project die and Henson was going elsewhere. To be clear, while Henson was very supportive of my script, my deal to write and direct was with Weinstein. So as Henson takes the project to New Regency, they are starting over. I have no deal in place. No one owes me anything. But I sure would like to put my three years of energy, research and vision back to good use if they want to talk. I’m doing my best to be available to Henson and I will reach out to the folks at New Regency. But these new players will do what they feel is best for the Fraggles. I’d love to share what I think and I’d still love to be the one to make it happen. Only time will tell.

Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement over the course of this project. I’ll let you know any news if I have it.

Thanks to everyone who came out this weekend for the “Say No To Cancer” event. We raised $10,000 for our friend Ruth and had a lot of laughs doing it. If you couldn’t get there and you still want to give, you can do it HERE: GiveForward.com

Ruth thanks you, and I thank you.

Just a reminder, if you live in the L.A. area and want to see me do some live standup for a good cause, it’s all going down THIS WEEKEND at Flappers in Burbank! Details HERE.

If you like to laugh and hate cancer, then come out to a comedy benefit and see ME perform live with several other very funny people. It’s going to be at FLAPPERS in Burbank on October 9th. Visit the FACEBOOK PAGE for the event and get all the details. If you’re not in the Los Angeles area, you can still donate to this great cause.

This is a special show, because all proceeds are not simply going to a foundation or a national campaign. They are going to ONE PERSON who is fighting cancer and is a friend of mine, Ruth Noe. She and her husband have been through the wringer with chemo treatments and medical costs, so a bunch of artists are rallying to help them out. I’m honored to put my talents to work for this event. Come on out for the cause, and you’ll get to see me do some live comedy too.

For those of you that followed Roger Cosmonkey’s latest adventure on Twitter, hope you had fun. Subtitled “MEGA-PIGEON,” it spoofed a lot of monster and disaster flicks, mostly the low-rent kind seen on Syfy Network. It’s an idea I’d had for a long time… at one point I really just wanted to pitch a live action TV movie to Syfy and go make it (I think it’s time, Syfy). But when Roger needed a new story, I thought this was perfect.

I feel like the artwork got better and we started with a lot more followers onboard. The BIGGEST bonus was the very last post that went up today, when we ended with a top 40 “credit roll” rock ballad. In keeping with every over-blown tentpole movie about the end of the world, I think it’s a perfect addition. And since it’s about a giant pigeon, the lyrics are pretty much a four minute poop joke.

Listen to the radio single “FALL FROM GRACE” here. I’m sure Steven Tyler will be jealous.

The song was composed by Josh Greene, ace songwriter and screenwriter. It was performed by the long-dead, recently resurrected power band “BANDWAGEN.” Josh tells me there will be more from them in the future.

There will most probably be a third installment in this Twitter Series (trilogy!!), but I have to click into the best story for it. Until then, please leave comments here or on Roger’s Facebook page and tell me what you thought. Oh, and  buy a T-Shirt!

Self-promotionally yours,

Cory

I’m excited to go to the crazy Nerd Fest known as the San Diego Comic Con this week, but I’m also excited because my next ROGER COSMONKEY Twitter Series is about to launch. The art is looking great and I couldn’t be happier with the new “Twittersodes” I’m about to share with you. It all goes down on July 25, and all you have to do is look at your phone.

Attached is the NEW PRESS RELEASE. Feel free to share it with any and everybody.

Just a quick heads-up that I will be re-tweeting all 21 episodes of the original “Roger Cosmonkey“ series on my Twitter account @RealCoryEdwards starting this Monday (7/11/11). If you missed it the first time, catch it in a faster, more condensed form: four twittersodes a day for five days. This will get you all primed and ready for Series 2, launching 7/25/11! Retweet, pass the fun along, and give me a shout out in Twitter land.