Tim Minear's "Drive" (Spoilers)

G

goldenboy

Scooby
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This may be all for naught. Who knows if it'll even pan out as a show...but here's a thread to track the progress.

Q & A with Tim Minear

TimMinear.net Staffer: (dials) Hey. Tim. What are you doing RIGHT NOW?

Tim Minear: Um. Nothing?

You're not doing anything?

TM: Not at this VERY MOMENT, no.

Cool. So you can give me like, 15 moments to answer this short Q&A?

TM: Sure!

What was it about DRIVE that you found intriguing?

TM: It's the largest possible canvas to do anything I want. I can tell multiple stories about multiple characters.

You've got about 14 regular characters appearing in the series, double what you had in Firefly. Have you gone mad? How do you go about servicing all these characters?

TM: Well, Firefly had nine. And if you look at an episode like Out of Gas, all nine of the series regulars were in the episode, as well as gang of pirates who shot Mal, the two banditos with Jayne, the mechanic before Kaylee"¦is it really 14 characters on Drive? [Ed. Note: TM.net staff counts, consults Caltech mathematician, confirms it is in fact 14.] Huh. I guess we'll find out, won't we?

The pilot is shooting in June, why so late in the season?

TM: It was picked up pretty late, and we could have shot earlier, but we loved [director] Greg Yaitanes so much that we decided to wait for him to become available after he shoots Southern Comfort.

Some fans are asking why on earth you're working for the Fox network again, questioning your sanity and wondering if you've got a masochistic streak. Please explain how you ended up back on the Fox network.

TM: Because the studio has a vested interest in taking the shows they like best to their sister network. Besides, I was already at the studio, and if they wanted to take it to another studio, I'd have to drive to Burbank. I mean, I was already parked at the studio, and only had to walk across the lot. So you see, it was really just a parking issue.

When will we know if FOX decides to buy it as a series?

TM: July. No, August. Probably August.

You're working with Zoic Studios (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity) on special effects, again. What sort of effects are needed on a show like DRIVE?

TM: A lot of actual car work can happen on the stage. We're designing technology that looks like the camera is moving fluidly from one car to the next, it will look like they're actually zooming down the freeway at 70 miles per hour. We couldn't shoot the show like that on a weekly basis if we had to do all that rigging in such a painstaking way.

Whatcha watching on television right now?

TM: Nothing. I don't have time. I watch DVDs.

Okay. What are you watching on DVD?

TM: Arrested Development.


Okay, you can go now.

TM: Bye!

http://www.timminear.net/archives/qa/000113.html
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R
Randy Giles
GB do you have an issue with avatars? lol. you don't have them at A-D either.
More casting news. I think I know who Alan Ruck is.

DRIVE (FOX) - Alan Ruck (Stuart Bondek on "Spin City") and Melanie Lynskey (Rose on "Two and a Half Men") are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about an illegal cross-country road race. Ruck will play John Ashton, who's described in the casting notice as: "40s. A bespectacled, buttoned down sort. He's an MIT grad and rocket scientist whose wife recently left him for a far wealthier man. John has recently grabbed his daughter, Violet, out of school, ostensibly for an impulsive "road trip." In actuality, John is also participating in the mysterious race. When he inadvertently insults his sensitive daughter, she runs away, leaving John frantic to learn her whereabouts."

Lynskey then is set as Wendy Patrakas, who's detailed as: "Late 20s-early 30s. An appealing young suburban housewife. She would be cheerful and outgoing under normal circumstances, but presently, she's under some enormous strain. On the lam from her husband, Wendy has also joined the mysterious race, apparently with her infant in the back seat of her car. However, when she's pulled over by the highway patrol, it's discovered that her baby is actually a plastic doll. Whether Wendy is actually the mother of an infant, or whether she is merely pretending to have a baby for the purposes of this bizarre, deadly contest, remains to be seen." Emily Stone also stars in the 20th Century Fox Television-based hour, which comes from creators Ben Queen and Tim Minear. Greg Yaitanes is directing.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/newswire.cgi?id=7130
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Did you not immediately think "Aidan and The Inside" as soon as they said the phrase, plastic doll? I did.

Man, this series sounds like it has potential...which scares me. Those two words - "potential", and "Fox" should never appear in the same sentence.

Oh well...if we wait a couple of years maybe we'll be able to get the pilot on a filesharing network. :freak:
 
Here's some new stuff on Drive.

DRIVE (FOX) - Andres Saenz-Hudson (a guest star on "Criminal Minds") and newcomer Shahine Ezell are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about an underground road race across America. They'll play Winston Salazar and Sean Salazar, two brothers participating in the race. The former character is detailed in the casting notice as: "23, Hispanic. He's another racer who is participating in the contest, along with his younger brother, Sean. A couple of characters, they are riding in a stolen, pimped out Caddy. Always bickering, the duo wait for instructions on the red cell phone that links them to the contest's organizers. They are determined to win the 32 million dollar purse but they may learn that there's a big downside to this high-stakes competition."

Sean then is described as: "18, Hispanic. He's Winston's younger brother, a character who is a bit of a germo-phobe. He wants to win the big prize money, but he and his brother waste of lot of time in bickering. Sean and Winston give the disgruntled young Violet a ride in their pimped out (and stolen) Caddy." The pair join the previously cast Alan Ruck, Emily Stone and Melanie Lynskey in the 20th Century Fox Television-based hour, which comes from creators Ben Queen and Tim Minear. Greg Yaitanes is directing.
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http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/newswire.cgi?id=7135
 
I'll bookmark that one. My eye caught this bit.

The pilot should begin shooting within a few days.
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I wonder what that means. Will they shoot the pilot, then decide how many, if any, episodes they want to call for, then begin shooting? Would that give us fall of 2007 as the earliest possible release date for the actual series, or could they put something together for a mid-season release.

It's being optimistic anyway. It assumes there will be a call for eps. We might wind up having to download the pilot in a couple of years when they sneak it onto the internet, like they did with Global Frequency.
 
Yeah, I don't quite understand.

Drive is currently in the development stage and will most likely air on Fox at the beginning of 2007.
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If this person knows what they're talking about...maybe a mid-season replacement for a show that doesn't survive this Fall? Dunno. The character description for that character "Alex" makes this sound like a wilder premise than I'd imagined:

Alex has been specially scouted to take part in a secret road race, that has been organized, perhaps for generations, by a mysterious cabal. Issued instructions along the way via a red cell phone, Alex teams up with the beautiful Corinna Wiles to unravel the mystery behind the race and his wife's fate. However, he's beginning to realize that this just might be a race to the death.
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I'm the webmaster of the Drive blog and just wanted to confirm what I wrote there with a quote from Tim Minear on another site:

We don't even start shooting the pilot until Monday -- a huge highway 2nd unit for five days. Real start is mid June for us, what with actors and all. The soonest an actual series would be on the air would probably be January, which isn't really "mid season" in the usual sense, I don't think. The network's pretty enthusiastic about the project so far, though.
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...Of course there's still a chance that it may premier after baseball's over but so far that's looking remote.

Hope that helps clear that up.
 
G
goldenboy
thanks!
Thanks for the info. I'm really crossing my fingers, and looking forward to this one.
 
Ooh! I like this (spoilage)...

There is a gardener who brings his 1970's work truck, an elderly couple in their 1980-something Olds, a father and his teenage daughter, an aspiring actress....you get the picture. No Porsche Turbo, no Ferrari, no Muscle Cars. No Gumball.

Crew members told me that it is "24" meets "The Cannonball Run", with a little "Lost" thrown in. The "drivers" don't know who else is in the race. There are a myriad of characters, and each has their own secrets. After the pilot, the intention is to shoot it "real time" like "24".
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"”the DRIVE blog
 
Just posted my interview with Tim Minear at the blog. I'd link you, but the boards won't let me.
 
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
Yeah, It's a 15 posts to link rule so people don't register just to sell ipods, or shavers, or whatever.
I like what Tim's describing, that it's so wide open, flexible in its approach. Ugh, hope it works. I hope the pilot is fantastic and people latch onto the characters right away...
 
The more I hear about this the more I want to see it. Gotta see that opening scene.

...and I can't wait for people to see our first shot: it's a combination of road work, green screen and CGI. What you get is a five minute shot with no cuts that moves from car to car in speeding traffic and introduces us to an entire ensemble of characters. The visual grammar of the show continues like this -- long, energetic and elaborately choreographed one-ers!

* Will Drive have fantastical elements a la Angel and Wonderfalls or be more grounded in reality like The Inside "“ or will it be a combination?

TM: It really is, stylistically, its own thing. But there are echoes of all that. I'd say that it's more genre than not. But no vampires, no talking knick-knacks. Though there are characters with secrets, dark pasts and at least one disaffected teenage girl.
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http://drive-tv.blogspot.com/

And Tim says it's OK to find The Inside episodes online, so I don't feel like such a sneaky pirate anymore. :hehe:
 
So FOX is going to air this next summer, aren't they? If they pick it up, I mean, which they most likely will, seeing as how they're developing it outside of pilot season.

It sounds AWESOME. However, if FOX was being serious when they expressed regret at their failing to provide proper support and advertising for "The Inside", I'm hoping that they will give Minear a vote of confidence and advertise the hell out of this thing. They should start advertising it in February if they intend to launch it in late May, and air the pilot episode after the finale of a huge show like "24" or "American Idol". Maybe it could be next summer's "Windfall", premiere wise, or larger.

I'm hoping Tim will save the more offbeat stuff for a few episodes in, and I actually hope the pilot is "mainstream" enough for the mass audience, so they will get hooked and then get used to Minear's style gradually, I really think that would be the best way to go. Just look at "Lost" - it was pretty easy for the average viewer to swallow at first, and introduced weirder and weirder aspects as it went on. And it only lost viewers this season because of American Idol.

I'm really really really looking forward to this show.
 
Yeah, weirdness or not...just reading the little tidbits about the pilot, you get the sense that Tim knows he has to come crashing out of the gates, really hit the ground running with this one....since FOX has no patience whatsoever.
 
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
never thought of that but...Yeah.
There's a couple of new points brought up on the Drive blog.

http://drive-tv.blogspot.com/

1. Tim hasn't fully given up on the Spike movie.

2. 20th Century Fox just signed a new 2 year, 7 figure extension deal with Tim.

This second one puzzles me. I don't get the finance decisions of studios and networks. I mean I'm a Minear fan so I think they got him cheap, but from their perspective why aren't they seeing him as the guy showrunning 3 failed series (I guess 4 if the contract goes back to the days when he showran Angel)? I imagine they picked up some coin from side deals on Firefly, but would they get anything from Wonderfalls, and they won't even bring out a DVD for The Inside. Did they get their money's worth from the last deal? I'm assuming they think they did somehow. Or do they see something in Drive that's making the dollar signs flash in front of their eyes?
 
Yeah, I thought the two year deal was a little mysterious, but not complaining. Very cool.
 
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