I Walked with a Zombie
I'm surprised I haven't done it already, but here, on one of many blog and bloggish sites, is the full and final version of the CBS pilot I co-wrote, co-produced and co-created last year (getting mileage out of those WGA-designated credits), Babylon Fields, starring Amber Tamblyn, Ray Stevenson, Jamey Sheridan, Kathy Baker, David Patrick Kelly and me, in the non-speaking role as the grave-emergent hand. Kudos all around for a job well-done and, as far as I'm concerned, as yet unfinished. Skol!
Great show! I've already seen it several times.
There were so many promising story lines and themes, I can't for the life of me understand why CBS didn't pick it up. Well, most of their fare is too boring ever to watch, so perhaps that's all they're interested in...boring, trite, banal reality television. Meh.
I was especially looking forward to Ray Stevenson's part, having enjoyed him so much as Titus Pullo on Rome. Too bad he didn't have much to do in the pilot.
Perhaps you can shop this with a more adventurous network?
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Maybe: Fox, the producer, owns it, and we may try to redevelop after the strike. Or , at least, I'd like to.
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P.S. I'd love to have a copy of the pilot's script. Is that possible?
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I couldn't disseminate it personally; Fox owns it. But there must be copies floating around online...
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Dark, deeply-upsetting, and leaves one thirsty for more. It's a pity the network couldn't look past the implied sex and gore and find the touching and human center. Looks like more "Family Guy" repeats. Good job, Mr. Atkinson. I hope we get to see the rest of it.
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Nice job, Atkinson. Can we get up a letter writing campaign? I want to see more. And where was the pilot filmed? It looks like Cresskill N.J.
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An online petition was started up -- here -- but sure, please, write a letter to CBS and Fox (prod. co., not TV network), demanding the production of BF! The pilot was shot entirely on Long Island, in Hempstead, Baldwin, Freeport and a few adjoining neighborhoods.
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I signed the petition and would love to see the series get picked up.....enough with the junk that's on. I have been a David Kelly fan since Picket Fences.
Can't go wrong with Ray Stevenson.....of course, I am biased after "Rome".
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Is there any chance with the writers strike happening, that CBS will finally air this? Or even consider shooting any scripts that might be collecting dust?
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Nothing can happen during the strike, and the pilot you've seen will never air as is, but there's a chance once the strike is over that we may try to redevelop Babylon Fields once again -- so far it has seemed to be, fittingly, very reluctant to die.
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That would be a GREAT story- that this show "came back from the dead." Please keep us posted.
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"sometimes we vanish like the whisper of a child's secret."
Back from hell and I'm still standing...ED
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SPROCK lives! A ghost from the past returns! Call me sometime.
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This is one of the most brilliant pilots I have seen. The emotions that it is invoking are far better than anything on television. I will be campaigning this on my podcast shortly. What can my listeners do to help other than sign an online petition?
email me at andy @ destroythebrainonline.com
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Thanks! Well, beyond the petition, you could accost executives at Fox (the TV production arm, not the broadcasting arm), who'd have to be persuaded to redevelop/reshoot it, with letters, emails, teletypes, bothersome phone calls, eggs at office windows, etc. Also, the brass at CBS, who commissioned it and then passed -- if they asked for it again, it might happen.
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