Life On Fletcher | The Official Blog of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye

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2010-04-30T16:39:00.001-04:00

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Evolution of B.J. Fletcher - Better With Age

2010-04-07T11:44:00.003-04:00

There is a comment I have heard about B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye the web series more than once. In fact, I've even said it myself on multiple occasions. The comment is, or is a variation, of the following: "It gets better as it goes along."

Quite frankly, I couldn't agree more. Fletcher was conceived on the basis that myself and Lindy Zucker (the fabulous actress who plays Fletcher) wanted to enter a contest on AfterEllen.com to "find the next great lesbian web series". When we first started plotting Fletcher out, we had only about three or four weeks to get three episodes written, shot, and edited in time for the deadline. It was a scramble to do so, and it really didn't allow time for any kind of a development process. We developed as we went along. Now this is not to say that the story or characters were completely random or not thought out. I myself am a huge fan of the P.I. genre - both in print and on the screen - and the character of Fletcher is a mash-up of my love of detectives, and Lindy's love of physical comedy. That said, for most of Season One we were just finding our feet with these characters - something that is usually done during a lengthy development process. I was getting to know them as we went along just as the viewers were. Winning the contest enabled us to take a moment and really delve into who these characters were, and what we wanted to see from them. The rest of the balance of Season One shared a similar speedy deadline as the first three episodes, however, knowing I had 7 eps to work with allowed me the freedom to plot out overall characters arcs and relationship development. I don't think there'd be any argument that there is a huge difference between episodes 1 and 10 of Season One. Not only in the way the story was being told, but also the meatiness of the characters that gave our talented cast the ability to bring more depth and layers to them - which made for great viewing.

Season Two is when B.J. Fletcher really hit it's stride. The characters found their voices, the episodes had a more solid length (average of 16 mins per), and the series had a mature and definitive direction and style. We also had a huge amount of fun making it. I was blessed with a very talented cast and crew, which I'm sure any film-maker out there would tell you is the ingredient that makes or breaks a show. Especially one that is being funded by one's Visa or Mastercard.

When I look back on the two seasons of Fletcher, the first half of Season One does feel like our development process. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. As a viewer, you grew with us and with the show, as we all got to know and love the characters personalities and quirks together. The real treat for me about doing this series was the freedom I had in writing these stories. Better still, our target audience was one that actually wanted to see strong lesbian lead characters and storylines playing out in these adventures. Even just two years ago in early 2008 when we started this journey, the landscape and selection of lesbian characters both online and in TV/film was thin to say the least. Now there's a wide variety in all kinds of different styles and genres. And that's a wonderful thing!

Thank you, 2009!

2009-12-23T17:00:00.002-05:00

What an incredible year 2009 has been for Fletcher! We saw the exciting finale of a hilarious second season - now that's a cliffhanger - which saw our incredible fans either settling in the Fletcher/George camp or heading to the George/Jenna team.

We also signed the television development deal that will usher B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye into the television genre. Owing to it's top secretitude, I can't reveal too many details about the current status of the development process, but know that things are progressing nicely. I do want to share with you the series trailer found at the beginning of the demo reel we have created for the show. Lindy and Dana never fail to make me laugh. Those two have some serious talent - not to mention our outstanding supporting cast!

In this holiday season of being thankful, I would like to express my appreciation to all the people that made B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye the web series a reality. From our talented cast and crew to our incredible behind-the-scenes champions, Fletcher is a huge team effort that I am so grateful to have been a part of making a reality.

Most importantly, an enormous thank you to our fans and advocates for the continuing support. We hope you will continue with us on this exciting wicked awesome journey through the New Year.

For more Fletcher news, be sure to check out our latest newsletter.

All the best for a happy and safe holiday season, from Regan Latimer and all the Fletcher gang!

Fletcher update - October 2009

2009-10-03T09:46:00.001-04:00

Posted by Executive Producer/Writer/Director, Regan Latimer

Fantastic news! The B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye pilot script is finished. It has been a long process, but we are all very pleased with the result. Now the job of finding a home for Fletcher begins.

A little bit about writing the script. I had the absolute privilege and pleasure of working with the incredibly accomplished and talented George F. Walker throughout this process. He has been a mentoring guide through the crazy world of writing and producing for television. Working with him has been a wonderful experience. He has a wealth of knowledge and background in the television genre including the creation of the CBC series This Is Wonderland and the current TMN series, The Line. Having a mentor like this has been a dream come true, and the Fletcher pilot shines as a result (if I do say so myself).

It’s been a new adventure to be able to write Fletcher without the inherent limitations of an unfunded web series as the ultimate goal. In the past, I have always had to limit Fletcher’s adventures and mischief to what knew I would actually be able to afford to produce – locations, actors, and production. It has been quite freeing to open up Fletcher’s world to all kinds of new possibilities – and the pilot is a wicked awesome adventure as a result.

Working with Matter of Fact Media has also been a positive experience. Going from the full responsibility and workload of producing Fletcher solo to having an experienced and knowledgeable production company and producer behind us has been amazing. Working with Vanessa Dylyn (our intrepid Producer) and MOFM has definitely created a more freeing environment in which to create and develop the series.

Little to say it has been great experience so far and I am looking forward to the continuing process of finding a new home for Fletcher in the world of television. For those who have asked through the website and Twitter, a third season of Fletcher is currently on hold while we are in this development process. The ultimate goal is to create a television series that will incorporate the best of B.J. Fletcher so far and to expand those storylines and characters into a full-fledged long form series. I will certainly keep you all updated as this adventurous process develops.

As always, thank you so much for supporting the show. Exciting times lie ahead. Lock and load!

What I wish I had known before making Fletcher

2009-08-09T11:40:00.002-04:00

Posted by Executive Producer/Writer/Director, Regan Latimer

This week, our Associate Producer, Rochelle Dancel, had an article published on Tubefilter.tv called Confessions of Indie Web Series Creators: Things They Wish They Knew. I contributed to the article, together with producers from five other web series’.

As we recently announced our development deal, it was a great time to reflect on everything that I’d learned making Fletcher in the past year and a half.

As our contributions were quite long and varied, it was impossible for everything we wrote to be included in that article, but you can read our complete contributions on Rochelle's blog.

You can read mine below.

“If you had asked me a year and half ago if I'd ever considered making a web series or producing web content, I probably would have responded with something very close to, "the what?". My knowledge of web series, or producing any kind of content for the web was in it's absolute infancy. That said, I believe that my ignorance on the subject probably worked in my favour. Having no idea just how absolutely all encompassing and life absorbing it would become is probably one of the main reasons Fletcher came into being. Not to say that if I had known then what I know now I wouldn't have done it, more that I certainly would have adjusted my expectations and game plan accordingly.

“The one thing I was not prepared for was the amount of time, and constant flow of energy it takes to make this kind of content happen. To make your work stand out, to get it noticed, to create a product that is going to catch people's attention and keep them coming back. I don't think I'd be too remiss to say every waking moment it is somewhere in the forefront of my mind. Having no budget means you have to beg, borrow, and plead for every single aspect of the production - actors, crew, locations, equipment, understanding from those around you that it's worth all this time and effort even though there's no money coming from it!

"You are (with perhaps a precious one or two other dedicated people) the only driving force behind creating this content, getting it out there, trying to keep interest when you're between episodes or seasons, trying to find your niche in an absolutely flooded medium and market. From trying to juggle the schedules of your 'volunteer' cast and crew, to the hours upon hours upon all nighters of work it takes to get your work planned, shot, edited, and posted, whilst also trying to work around the day jobs that actually pay for you to live and eat, one might wonder - why do we do it?

"Ask any artist (that includes any actor, creator, writer, anyone trying to make a living through their art) what it means just to be able to do your art - to perform, to create, to express. It is worth all of the above and more to be able to do that. There is so much freedom online in being able to produce the content you want to produce (without outside interference), and that is what is so attractive about it...and in turn worth the monumental struggle to get it done and out there. Finding an audience is the next major step. We were especially lucky to have won the contest with AfterEllen.com which provided us with our initial introduction on the web. That said, it has been a learning curve in networking and marketing in getting the show out there beyond that. Don't be afraid to ask for advice, send emails, support other's projects, you'd be surprised how many others out there are in the same boat as you and appreciate any advice or support you can give in return.

"Don't be afraid to ask for help. I spent all of season one trying to do everything the show required (a much bigger task than I'd first anticipated) which resulted in a certain amount of burn out by the end. Getting other people on board who have knowledge or skills you don't, though hard to give up the control, can really take some of the weight off and free up your time to focus on tasks and aspects that you were willing to forgo for lack of the time or energy to do them. Also, if you don't know how to do something, chances are there's a forum or how-to posting somewhere online that does.

"One saying that has become a bit of a catch phrase for the small team working on the Fletcher series has been "I'll figure it out, how hard can it be?". What this saying actually means is if it needs done, we'll find a way to do it, or teach ourselves how to make it happen. I've learned more about production, website building and digital formats in the past year and half creating this series than I ever learned in film school. Producing B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye has been a wicked learning curve, but absolutely invaluable experience in the ever changing online broadcast medium.

"Web series production is still in it's infancy in the overall grand scheme of media, and therefore lacks the infrastructure and support that can be found in traditional television, film and theatre production models. In a sense, every one of us currently out there making this content are (in so doing) designing and creating the standards and practices on which the future of this medium will be based. One of the most important things I wish I had known back when we first started on this journey was that online content producers are essentially an emerging community and for the most part we are all in this low-to no budget, DIY boat together. I truly believe that supporting each other in any way we can will be the most significant aspect to the realization and continuation of our own online achievements and success."

10 tools that power the Fletcher website

2009-07-28T14:21:00.002-04:00

Posted by Associate Producer, Rochelle Dancel

One of the myths that we’ve happily dispelled with Fletcher is that you need to spend a ton of money putting up a web series website that reflects the brand of your show. If you can navigate your way around the interweb, you’ll discover a wealth of tools at low or no cost – many of which you already use – that are invaluable for putting together your web series’ website while you’re waiting for your sponsorship money to come through.

I’ve put together a list of ten tools that we use to power the Fletcher website compiled from the many ‘how do we get a website for our show…?’ themed emails. Bear in mind that there are more complex and more expensive ways of going about achieving what each of these tools does for us. This list is neither exhaustive or original, but if you’re a novice in the world of putting up a website and you have no money, honey, then this is a not-too-shabby way to go.

1. Dreamweaver

Yes, our site was put up in Dreamweaver! Dreamweaver is an example of a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor – super handy if you don’t know your doctypes from your div layers.

Dreamweaver is not free, but there are any number of free WYSIWYG editors out there. Check out this article by thefreecountry.com on free HTML editors, web editors, and WYSIWYG web editors and site builders.

2. Blogger

Life On Fletcher is powered by Blogger and we chose Blogger for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to keep the existing site intact and I didn’t want to do a big integration or move it off Dreamweaver. Blogger allows us to update the blog online and publish it to our site via ftp. Secondly, I wanted the blog published on our URL i.e. www.bjfletcherprivateeye.com/blog as opposed to e.g. bjfletcherprivateeye.wordpress.com so that it would be search engine friendly.

Instead of adding a blog to your site, you can follow some of our favourite shows and put your show straight onto a blog. For example, Seeking Simone is powered by Typepad, while GOLD The Series is powered by Expression Engine (with comments powered by Disqus, natch!).

3. Daily Motion

Our episodes are available on Daily Motion’s player. We chose Daily Motion after signing up to the Motion Maker programme, which allows us to upload videos of a higher file size and of any length compared to their standard offering.

The main advantage to having a third party video player is that we don’t have to utilise our bandwidth or server space to allow you to enjoy our episodes. There are many video hosting services out there with embeddable players. Look for one that gives you a nice encode, might offer you quicker upload times and allows you to upload videos suitable for the file size and episode length of your show. Vimeo, another one of our favourites, is used by We Have To Stop Now, and blip.tv is used by Seeking Simone and Anyone But Me.

4. Picasa

There are many advantages to hosting your pictures in an online slide show. The main one is that, if you have a gazillion behind the scenes pictures like we do, as with video, you don’t take up valuable storage space and bandwidth when people view your high res images. The fact that it’s also embeddable means that people can embed them in their blogs and on their sites – free publicity for you!

We chose Picasa because you can upload and create photo galleries in five different sizes, something we were quite keen on to show off the skills of our photographer, Jonathan Thomas. Other free, popular, embeddable photo gallery sharing aps include Flickr and Photobucket.

5. Photoshop

A must-have ap for anyone doing anything with images online, Photoshop is responsible for our image retouching, resizing, and most of our artwork. Have you noticed the grey and beige backgrounds on our site? The texture actually comes from a close-up of a photo of a pool table in the bar where George works in Season 1. We enhanced the texture and applied an overlay colour in Photoshop.

Photoshop is expensive, but you can also use the open source alternative, GIMP, for all your image work. GIMP is an open source image manipulator (and it’s free!).

6. PayPal

As a no-budget show, we couldn’t have accomplished a lot of what we’ve done without the support of our fans, many of whom donated via PayPal. After linking up your bank account, you can integrate a PayPal button of your choice into your site to start funding gas money, equipment rental or that prop from the Goodwill store.

7. Zoomerang

Have you taken part in one of our audience surveys? If so, you’ve already been introduced to Zoomerang, a free online survey tool. We’ve used it to put together demographic surveys of our viewers to give potential sponsors a better understanding of who watches our show.

We’ve also recently discovered QuestionPro. Their free account allows you to collect unlimited responses and has some basic reporting functions lacking in Zoomerang’s free account, saving you oodles of time manually entering date into a spreadsheet to crunch your numbers.

8. Google Analytics

This one's for your marketing people (although, this being a web series, that's probably you too!). Google Analytics is a free tool that tracks not only the number of visitors to your site and where they came from, but also where they go once they get to your site – very useful when you’re trying to work out where to best place one of your sponsor’s ads so that the most people see it, or to track whether anyone can find your deeply buried FAQ page. How else would we know that, in the month of June 2009, the most popular link on our homepage was the Season 2 link in our tag cloud?

9. Add This

We like to make it as easy as possible for you to share all the cool stuff on our site with your friends on all of your social networks. So you’ll see a handy little ‘Share This’ button courtesy of Add This on most of our pages that will allow you to share our content across 55 (and counting) different social networks.

10. Twitter

And speaking of social networking, we couldn’t let it go without mentioning the latest pretender to the social networking crown – Twitter. We’re big fans, and it has allowed us to connect with some new friends, including the editors at Eurout and Cherrygrrl; some old friends, like the teams at AfterEllen and One More Lesbian, and some other web series talents including Mel Robertson from FEED, Renee Olbert and Rosemary Rowe from Seeking Simone and Tubefilter’s Marc Hustvedt. Reach out, connect, plug your show and keep everyone up to date with your latest developments – it all helps your marketing efforts.

The Twitter widgets on our homepage and blog are from Twitter’s own site and the ‘follow us’ tab that you see on every page comes courtesy of Go2Web.

So that’s 10 tools that keep our website ticking along. There are many more out there that we’re currently playing with and that you might see on our site in future, including Nabble, a free online embeddable forum where all of you can gather to ponder whether George will pick Fletcher or Jenna. There are some incredible sites out there, ranging from sites that were put up on a wish and a prayer and absolutely no coding knowledge, to sites that were built by marketing powerhouses. Take a good look at them all for inspiration for your site – just don’t forget to watch some incredible shows too!

Which tools should we incorporate into the next Fletcher website?

B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye - The T.V. Series?

2009-07-20T11:30:00.004-04:00

WEB SERIES B.J. FLETCHER: PRIVATE EYE GETS DEVELOPMENT DEAL WITH MATTER OF FACT MEDIA

Regan Latimer, creator and producer/writer/director of web series B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye, has signed a development deal with Toronto‐based production company Matter of Fact Media. Under the terms of the agreement, Latimer will work with MoFM Executive Producer Vanessa Dylyn to develop a television broadcast proposal for the web series, including a new pilot script based on the hilarious characters and adventures from B.J.Fletcher: Private Eye.

The online team behind the web series will continue to produce original content for the show’s website and blog during the development period. Regardless of the format in which it continues, unique content from the show will continue to be made available online.

Latimer announced, “It’s an exciting time for everyone involved with B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye. We need to thank our wonderful fans and viewers, whose tremendous support has been a huge part of this development. We’re also very grateful to the blogs and websites that have actively promoted us.

“We want to say a special thank you to Sarah Warn and all of the team at AfterEllen.com for giving us our break and supporting us through the first two seasons. They are very much part of the Fletcher family and we have learned so much from them.

“Our talented cast, including Lindy Zucker, Dana Puddicombe, Vanessa Dunn and Karim Morgan, and all of our production team, including Rochelle Dancel and Rikki Zucker, are committed to supporting the show as it develops and we are confident that our partnership with Matter of Fact Media will take Fletcher in a positive new direction. We look forward to bringing Fletcher back to your screens in the near future, more wicked awesome than ever!”

Life On Fletcher: Toronto, Canada - Pride!

2009-07-01T13:20:00.002-04:00

In this week's episode of our behind the scenes featurettes we bring you Life On Fletcher: Toronto, Canada - Pride! Join the cast and crew of B.J. Fletcher as we give you a little taste of Pride celebrations Toronto style - including exclusive footage of Vanessa Dunn breakin' it down! Are you celebrating Pride where you are? Tell us what you do to get your Pride on in the comments below!

Life On Fletcher: The Men of Fletcher

2009-06-16T00:38:00.000-04:00

In this week's episode of Life On Fletcher, we bring you the handsome Men Of Fletcher. Join Magnum, Doyle and Louis (Karim Morgan, Jonathan Thomas, Sean Tasson) as they discuss Magnum's hypoglycemia, how Dana's stronger than she looks, and attempt to pitch a spin-off for Louis. What do you think of the Men of Fletcher? We look forward to reading your comments!

Life On Fletcher: Producer Podcast Part Two

2009-06-02T09:14:00.000-04:00

Episode Eleven brings you Life On Fletcher: Producer Podcast Part Two, featuring Fletcher creator Regan Latimer dissecting the special effects and intentions behind the Quantum Leap dream sequence in Season Two, Episode Ten. Regan also talks about the plans for a third for the series! What did you like about the dream sequence? Would you like to see a third season of Fletcher? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Life On Fletcher: The George & Jenna Factor

2009-05-26T00:06:00.000-04:00

Episode Ten of Life On Fletcher explores the inner workings of the relationship between Georgia Drew and Jenna Watson. Join Dana Puddicombe and Vanessa Dunn as they reveal their thoughts on what makes the adorable couple of George and Jenna tick! Are you a George/Jenna fan or are you a member of the Fletcher/George camp? Tell us your take in the comments!

Life On Fletcher: These Are A Few Of Our Favourite Scenes

2009-05-12T11:46:00.000-04:00

In Episode Nine of Life On Fletcher we bring you a collection of some of our favourite scenes from the series. Tune in to see Vanessa’s fave moment with Dana, Regan’s favourite cliffhanger, and Lindy and Dana’s favourite almost Fletch & George moment! What were your favourite Fletcher moments? Be sure to tell us in the comments!

Life On Fletcher: Trix Of The Trade

2009-05-05T01:35:00.000-04:00

In the eighth installment of Life On Fletcher, we focus on Fletcher's resident hair and make-up designer, the incredibly talented Rikki Zucker. Join Lindy, Dana and Vanessa as they discuss the integral role Rikki plays in the making of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye! We look forward to reading your thoughts below, and also don't forget to take part in our travel survey for your chance to name a Season Three character on the series!

B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye - Life On Fletcher, Episode Eight
Uploaded by bjfletcherprivateeye

Life On Fletcher: Dana and Vanessa Kiss 'n' Tell

2009-04-27T21:33:00.005-04:00

In this week's episode of Life On Fletcher, we bring you "Dana and Vanessa Kiss 'n' Tell" featuring Fletcher favourites Dana Puddicombe and Vanessa Dunn discussing the particulars of creating the sexy, intimate, relationship moments of the adorable George and Jenna. What do you think about this sexy duo? Leave your comments below!

Life On Fletcher: The Wacky Moms of Fletcher

2009-04-21T00:01:00.001-04:00

Episode Six in our behind-the-scenes series, Life On Fletcher, looks at the hilariously wacky moms of Fletcher. Series stars Lindy Zucker, Dana Puddicombe and Vanessa Dunn discuss working with the very talented Patricia Yeatman (Mrs. Drew) and Maria Heidler (Mrs. Watson) during the first two seasons of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye. We look forward to reading your feeback!

B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye - Life On Fletcher, Episode Six
Uploaded by bjfletcherprivateeye

Life On Fletcher: On Being George & Jenna

2009-04-13T23:42:00.001-04:00

In this week’s fifth episode of Life On Fletcher we bring you “On Being George and Jenna” an interview featuring Dana Puddicombe and Vanessa Dunn discussing their experience playing the adorable couple of George and Jenna in the second season of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye. We look forward to reading your comments and hope you enjoy it!

Life On Fletcher: More Hilarious Outtakes!

2009-04-07T05:20:00.001-04:00

Episode Four in our behind-the-scenes series, Life On Fletcher, brings you a whole new batch of outtakes to enjoy! Sometimes there's just too many laughs and bloopers for one reel, so sit back and enjoy this follow-up to our first round of outtakes from Season Two of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye. Feel free to leave us your comments!

Life On Fletcher: Producer Podcast Part One

2009-04-01T09:50:00.001-04:00

Episode Three of Life on Fletcher: Producer Podcast Part One, features Fletcher writer/director/producer Regan Latimer and associate producer Rochelle Dancel with insights into the production. We look forward to reading your comments. Enjoy!

Life On Fletcher: A Word About Vanessa Dunn

2009-03-24T02:55:00.000-04:00

This week we bring you Life On Fletcher: A Word About Vanessa Dunn featuring Lindy Zucker and Dana Puddicombe discussing the addition of Vanessa Dunn as a series regular in the second season of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye. Enjoy, and feel free to leave us a comment with your thoughts on the lovely Vanessa Dunn!

Life On Fletcher: Being Fletch & George

2009-03-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

Each week we'll be bringing you our all-new video series, Life On Fletcher, a collection of behind the scenes footage, bonus outtakes, interviews and insights with the cast and production team of B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye.

In case you missed it last week, please kick back and enjoy our first installment, Life On Fletcher: Being Fletch & George.