May 29 2009

sources: (screenaustralia.gov.au, starwars-universe.com)

• Live-Action Series Pre-Production Begins.
• 100 Episodes Of Science Fiction Drama.
• New South Wales - Sydney Australia.

The Star Wars Live-Action Series has been in pre-production as of May 12 2009 - according to Australia's government website: ScreenAustralia.gov.au which has downloadable schedules (upcoming_productions.pdf) featuring future Film & Television development.




STAR WARS

Category: Series, Drama
Subject/Themes: Science Fiction
Production Company: Lucasfilm Limited

Duration: 100x60min
Synopsis:
Status: Pre-Production
Location: NSW
Production Company: Lucasfilm Limited Tel: (41) 5662 1800


Starwars-Universe.com (translated) which broke the story contacted both ScreenAustralia.gov.au and LucasFilm for a response:

• ScreenAustralia: "It is expected that the production of The Star Wars Series will be soon. As you can appreciate things can change daily in the film industry. We recommend that you directly contact Lucasfilm."

• LucasFilm: "The Live-Action Series is still too far off for any immediately impending announcements - but feel free to keep checking in!"

Thanks for the info, Tagne. As one of those who are interested in the Live-Action Series, I look forward to getting any and all information about it. Here's hoping this summer more stuff comes out, especially since we are between seasons for the Clone Wars High Definition.

I don't know if any of you guys have seen this article, where Lucas talks about filming the upcoming LATV series in the Czech Republic.

[align=center]www.screendaily.com[/align]
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[align=left]George Lucas appeals for Czech filming incentives

George Lucas wants to shoot an as-yet untitled Star Wars TV series in the Czech Republic, but only if local politicians will institute financial incentives.


“Your politicians need to react to the current situation,” Lucas told the Czech daily Mlada fronta Dnes during a visit to the set of Red Tails, which he is executive producing in Prague.

Lucas filmed several episodes of his TV series The Adventures Of The Young Indiana Jones in Prague in the 1990s. “We found so much talent here and we were always happy to come back. But the Czech government hasn’t noticed that the world has changed since then.

“The financial crisis is causing more problems for the film industry almost any other business, so logically we are looking for the most best conditions, and nowadays they are offered in many countries in Europe,” Lucas said.


Lucas denied previous reports that he had decided to film the Star Wars TV series in Australia. He said if he brought the production to the Czech Republic, it would last four to seven years, creating up to 700 jobs.[/align]

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Also, Tagne's starwars-universe.com (translated) points out that the Live-Action Series pre-production info is now removed from the ScreenAustralia site and it's upcoming_productions.pdf.


Fortunately, there is a screenshot up top this thread with the info. It comes off to me that Lucas is using the Live-Action Series as bait for support from the Czech Republic for Red Tails production.

Everything points to the Live-Action Series production at Fox Studios Australia, including comments by Lucas and LucasFilm (recently with the Casting News). That's not to say there won't be other shooting in the Czech Republic or in California.

I found an older article also about filming in Czech Republic.
It is mainly about Red Tails' production but the last paragraph is about the live-action series. We learn that the production might begin January 2010 and cost $150m.

Source: Czech Film Commission

An article from TheNational gives us another tiny clue - a return to Tatooine.

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The surprise for us, though, was that we found it bustling with activity. A number of labourers were renovating, repainting and building new buildings. Ironically, the effort to build these alien structures was done in a very human way; one man applied plaster with his bare hands, others sat and smoked in the shade of an alien hall.

One worker who spoke English, Farouk Ben Ibrahim, came forward to explain. Renovations began back in December, he said, after an Italian film producer contracted locals. “He gives us money, and we fix it,” Ibrahim said. “He said there is another part of Star Wars filming here. In the summer, maybe.”

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[video width=440 height=360]http://194.170.242.235/pic610_new.swf?xmlfile=http://194.170.242.235/ssp_director/images.php%3Falbum=614&xmlfiletype=Director[/video]

Well now comes another source saying Australia is back in.
[align=center]www.scifitv.com.au[/align]
[spoil]
[hr]
[align=left]Star Wars Live Action Series Gets Serious

Rumours about the pre-production of Star Wars, the live action series, to be shot in Australia, have been confirmed by several inside sources.

The quality and style of writing that will be used will be of the highest quality, and local, and writers will be sourced from outside traditional Science Fiction shows. Several big names within the Australian industry (including writers from the Award-winning Love My Way and the Award-winning Secret Life of Us) have been approached by Star Wars uber-producer, Rick McCallum.[/align]

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The info is now back on the July 09 Upcoming Production document. I think this confirms the latest rumors about the pre-production of the series.

There has been a lot of bullshit reports recently about "writers" being hired, even though it is been confirmed there are already hired writers who are at least halfway through completing the first season's scripts.




Exhibit A: SciFiTv.com.au recently reported about a writer being approached from the Australian series Love My Way. The only problem is that a year ago TheAustralian.com.au broke the story that writers from the aforementioned series confirmed they were currently working on scripts.


Exhibit B: Attack Of The Clone's Rose Bynre recently commented again on the Live-Action Series - QUOTE: "A friend of mine is actually one of the writers on the show. It’s set in space. I think it’s like a family drama, as well, or something? I think he melted a few idea together for it."

Byrne maybe confusing "family drama" with previous reports suggesting a "crime family" element for the upcoming series.




Four years after Revenge Of The Sith, fan patience is leading to apathy which is leading to online rage

I am starting to question whether the live-action series will ever happen. If The Clone Wars continues to be the success it has been, Lucas might say "fuck it" and never bother shooting the live-action series.

In 2005, when the live-action series was first announced, I think Lucas or McCallum said it would be 2007 or 2008 when it would air. Now here we are in late 2009 and very little solid information has come out about it, except for the hiring of a handful of writers.

The Season 2 preview of TCW looks excellent! Nice to see that the series has been so successful with the kids, and maybe season 2 will bring in an older demographic.

The Live-Actioin Series currently is in pre-production with several of the first season's scripts already completed. If you have to a half hour or so to kill you can read about it from one of the MF update reports.

Below is the infamous ToyFair 2007 Star Wars Timeline poster showing a 2007 release date for The Force Unleashed which was delayed to Fall 2008 with the Live-Action Series for the year 2009. Below is a Steve Sansweet interview (dated July 28 2009) now saying 2012:

QUOTE: And then George is going to do a much darker, more adult live action series – probably in about 2012 – which takes place in between episodes three and four, so I think we'll get some of the older people hooked again. (digitalcity.com)




Steve Sansweet is going to speak at this weekend's Wizard World@Chicago.

Hopefully there is some Live-Action news or something more substantive than a Clone Wars voice actors "live-script read" .


UPDATE: ForceCast @ Chicago's ComicCon 2009:

Sansweet said nothing substantive about the Live-Action Series during the interview nor at the Chicago ComicCon 2009 event.

I doubt the live action series will ever happen, at this point.

The Live Action series was briefly mentioned by Sansweet at DragonCon which took place over the holiday weekend. Nothing we haven't heard a hundred times already. Preproduction starting soon, 2012 air date, writers working, blah, blah. Seems the only thing of note is that he hinted Daniel Logan may be brought back to play Boba Fett. (Examiner.com)

Below are the talking points from the Star Wars Examiner DragonCon 2009 Report.


• 2012 as a reasonably firm date for seeing the project on the air.
• No one knows anything about the story for sure except Lucas, McCallum, and the writers.
• It is a one hour format drama show and will air weekly.

As pointed out by Thundercracker, most of this Sansweet said before.


The real news is this quote:

Sansweet: "A couple of years ago Rick McCallum said that he would consider it, and I would expect news from Daniel's [Logan] camp in the not-too-distant future."

if daniel logan is involved i think they have waited until now so he is the right age, surely a mature boba is better than a tween boba!

Lucas saying "fuck it" would be an interesting soundbyte