Recent Posts

Black Zero Network is proud to announce our fifth & final launch week project will be...



DOCTOR WHO: THE NTH DOCTOR
'The Man Who Ran'
by Paul Robinson

The pilot episode of a brand new series for 2014 featuring an all-new incarnation of the Time Lord... but who?

Airing exclusively on BZN, Saturday SEPTEMBER 7th.

In the fourth of a series of interviews with our launch project writers, BZN sat down with producer A J. Black to discuss his feature-length 007 movie THE UNIVERSE IS OURS - premiering exclusively on BZN on Friday September 6th...

--

The Universe is Ours? Clearly a small-scale movie you have planned here...

Yes it's actually the codename for a deceptively small-scale, indie Bond road movie about him doing a pub crawl in Guernsey. It's a clever cover title, don't you think?

In all seriousness, though, why did you choose this film to air on opening week?

Well it was originally going to be another movie project from an altogether different franchise, a popular series but not one reaching 007 levels of history and status... but I couldn't quite get the plot to click fast enough to meet the deadline, plus I'd been starting to get my head back around the idea of writing a James Bond script again, probably influenced by the fact I've been watching very little else than the Sky Movies 007 channel of late which, basically, I would want playing in Heaven after I die.

So combine those factors, plus Bond automatically has a huge fanbase who may be drawn to launch week for it, and you have yourself a no007brainer.

Now, this is also unusual in that it's the only project airing on BZN that is not beginning anew, but is in fact a conclusion of a trilogy. Would you encourage readers to have read the first two before diving into this one?

I would, I have to admit, because this is as you say the concluding part of a project, and not the beginning of something fresh and new. To help with this, both The Edge of Life & The Devil in the Detail will be re-released in the opening week build up to this script, with some new commentary material - so if people want to explore those first, great.

HAVING SAID THAT... the very nature of almost every Bond movie is that they naturally reinvent themselves each time and (with the exception of Quantum of Solace) you could probably watch any Bond movie independent of the rest and not be lost. I believe the same of The Edge of Life & The Devil in the Detail, parts 1 & 2 of this 'trilogy', and I believe it of The Universe Is Ours. I put trilogy in inverted commas there, simply because these three movies do not boast interconnecting stories at all, they merely carry over a thematic character journey for Joe Colton aka James Bond. If you read the first two, that character journey will have more impact, but if you simply read The Universe Is Ours there will be a narrative with a beginning-middle-end you can fully enjoy independent of those scripts, one full of very Bondian aspects you will be familiar with.

As a massive Bond fan, I'm sure there's going to be plenty of nods and references to Bondian lore - but is this purely a film for the fans, or do you feel it could ensnare new readers too?

I don't know if purist fans would like this script, or this 'trilogy', simply because of the fact I kill James Bond at the start of the three films!

It's one for newcomers, I genuinely believe. The Bond template is all there - the guns, girls, villains, exotic locations, big action pieces, the Aston Martin etc... - so any traditionalist 007 fan will find that here, but it's a perfectly accessible story I feel for those not fully steeped in Bond tradition, given the unique take on the character these films have always delivered.

And what should we expect to see here? Is this a huge dramatic conclusion as befits the title, or more of an epilogue to tie off loose ends?

To me, it's a thematic conclusion to the story of Joe Colton. Not of James Bond, because his story will never end, it'll always reboot to fit the times, but this three movie story of Colton serves as a conclusion, with a sense of epilogue naturally at the end.

If The Edge of Life was about the legend of James Bond, and The Devil in the Detail was about what it means to *live* that legend, then The Universe Is Ours is about whether you want *to* be that legend or not, whether you'd choose to live as Bond once you've become him. These movies--under the 007 action & fun--have always been a psychological breakdown of 007's legend, that was always the idea behind these stories, and why I wanted to finish the tale off after 2 & 1/2 years since the last script.

Don't worry, there's plenty of action, dry wit & psychotic villainy in play too. The Bond film this is most like in spirit? License to Kill. Make of that what you will...

Finally, as the president of BZN, this is an opportunity to showcase yourself - vanity aside, what do you feel that the airing of this will do for the network, and what are your plans going forward?

The release of a James Bond script will always be a big deal I think, because it's the biggest movie franchise on the planet & probably the most iconic character in 20th century fiction, so there's no doubt any 007 script deserves a place on launch week, and it seems fitting I write my fourth Bond movie for BZN's opening.

Going forward, I intend to keep carrying the 007 chalice for BZN. I guess I'm the Michael G. Wilson of BZN (Adam or Pete sharing Barbara Broccoli duties, depending on who looks better in a dress). We three have some great plans on how to reboot Bond again on BZN going into 2014 which we'll be announcing in due course. Aside from that, I'll be contributing here & there as a producer, advisor & the odd BZN script - and of course steering the Black Zero ship into its first year of operation.

I'm tremendously excited and I can say with confidence, as regards my peers involved in BZN... nobody does it better...

--

007: THE UNIVERSE IS OURS - airing exclusively on BZN, Friday September 6th.

Black Zero Network is proud to announce our fourth launch week project will be...



www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_dj25tzmU4

007: THE UNIVERSE IS OURS
by A J. Black

The feature-length sequel to The Edge of Life & The Devil in the Detail, concluding this radical chapter in James Bond history...

Airing exclusively on BZN, Friday SEPTEMBER 6th.

In the third of a series of interviews with our launch project writers, BZN sat down with producer Pete D. Gaskell to discuss STAR TREK: NEW GENERATION, and his feature length pilot 'Encounter at Q'onos' - premiering exclusively on BZN on Tuesday September 3rd...

--

Star Trek... New Generation? That sounds awfully like 'Next Generation'. Is there a connection?

That'd be a logical assumption to make, wouldn't it? And you'd be right - New Generation charts the adventures of the USS Enterprise-D in the 24th century, albeit from a fresh perspective!

So what made you want to start your BZN career writing a Star Trek series? How big a fan are you of the franchise?

If I'm being honest, if you'd asked me a year ago that I'd be showrunning a Star Trek show, I'd have thought you were joking! I've always been a casual fan of the show - I grew up watching both the Original Series and Next Generation - but I never considered myself a full-blown Trekkie. However, something about this just intrigued me, and I thought that I could bring something new to Trek, which is what we're always on the lookout for. New ways to tell well-known stories...

Trek has obviously undergone something of a renaissance under JJ Abrams, for better or worse - how closely will you be aping his vision? Or will you be hemming closer to the original TV series years?

Well, for starters, New Gen is set in the Abramsverse deriving from the recent movies, so there's a pretty obvious influence immediately! Aside from that, though, there's plenty of lessons I've taken from the two latest films for this - the modernisation and simplification of the universe, the heavier emphasis on action/adventure, the development of more detailed character arcs...but the big one is the ability to pull in a new audience. That's why I decided to take on the job - if I'm approaching this from a casual fan's perspective, I might be able to bring people to read New Gen who are newbies to the franchise. That's an important lesson, folks - you don't need to be read-up on Treklore to read New Gen! (Although if you are a fan, expect a fair few nods and winks...)

The characters are what make Star Trek, and the crew of the Enterprise are very well known - how will you reinterpret Picard, Riker, Worf etc... while treading new ground?

Fundamentally, they're the same characters that existed in the original series - their personalities and ideologies remain the same, however their circumstances might be different. History has changed irrevocably after the 2009 movie, so there's bound to be a domino effect down the line - but these are still the characters fans know and love - I haven't reinvented the wheel - merely reshaped it.

What can we expect from the feature-length pilot episode? And will you be running a full series in the future?

Expect a blast of the best I can offer - a great big introduction to the Trek universe told my way - with the characters immediately flung into the mire and forced to show what they're made of right off the bat. There'll be a couple of familiar foes making an appearance as well - considering the title of the pilot is "Encounter at Qo'noS", I'm sure some of you can spot at least one of them right away - and a few nods to future storylines. As yes, I am hoping to produce a full series off the back of this to air next year!

Lastly, how excited are you at the launch of BZN? And do you have any other fanfic projects in the pipeline?

I think BZN is a terrific outlet for all of us - both a place for the established writers to have some fun and dig into some of their favourite universes to have a play, and also for newer writers to sharpen their skills in familiar worlds, telling original stories.

As for other projects I may be working on, all I can say is this - you may be aware of a rather big one already, even though it might be hiding in plain sight...

--

STAR TREK: NEW GENERATION - 'Encounter at Q'onos' airing exclusively on BZN, Tuesday September 3rd.