Would you believe that I had never been to Comic Con before this year? It’s true. The reason? It’s a mad house. I mean, it’s fun, wacky, nerdy beyond your wildest dreams. But it’s a LOT to take in, man, its a lot. And I’m the type of guy who gets a little uneasy in large crowds…

… or around dudes in pink dinosaur jumpsuits.

So I decided to wait until the day when I’d have my own project to take there. Perhaps that’s also the superstitious side of me.

Well this year, my opportunity came. Warner arranged a panel discussion for my new series H+. Actually, its official title is *clearing throat* H+: The Digital Series *tight-lipped smile*. No comment.

We showed the trailer twice during the weekend. Once at our own panel and again in Hall H during a discussion on upcoming indie fare (all together about 3000 people saw it!). And even though H+ is a Warner series, this has very much been treated like an indie project from the get go. In studio terms, ours was a micro budget for something of this scope… and so we had to practically pull rabbits out of hats in order to get it made. Very skilled rabbits, actually, that worked art department, operated the cameras, catering etc. This was a lot of magic, aligned stars, and intense, around the clock work from an incredibly talented team of young filmmakers (and rabbits) who just believed so strongly they could pull it off… that they did. So don’t let the Warner name fool you. Warner was certainly generous in the amount of freedom and support they gave our process compared to what you typically hear about in the studio system… but this was and still is a grass roots project that will likely live or die by its word of mouth.

That said, here’s our trailer, if you haven’t already had a chance to see it:

I know. It looks big. It is.

The story of H+ takes place over the span of a decade… sometime in the near future. And I actually wanted to clarify a few things here in this post, the first being the time setting of the series. There are some blogs and news outlets that put the date of the story in 2019. This partly correct… but mostly incorrect. First, there is no one date for the series. It’s not like Lost where everything is either a flashback or flashforward or flashupwards from the present. There is a major event that happens at the beginning of the story that serves as a sort of reference point. But as the story progresses, episodes are more like fragmented puzzle pieces, challenging the audience to actually piece the story together themselves.

2019 was an arbitrary (far, but not too far off) date that Cosimo and I used back in 2007 when we pitched the project to Warner Brothers. And a couple of the press releases that have been circulating or plucked from old sources, unfortunately, have information in them that hasn’t been updated in a while. In some cases, not since we even started writing the script. Is it likely that our timeline passes through 2019? As I said, the story is near future and spans a decade. So it’s safe to say that 2019 is on our timeline somewhere, even though we’ve tried to keep dates out of this chapter of the story.

We like to say that a major character in the story is the world itself. In fact, for large portions, it’s the main unifier between many of the character and storylines. H+ takes place in over 11 different countries and 6 continents, some with multiple scenes in vastly different regions. Which is a huge testament to the skills of our director Stewart Hendler who was able to do all that using various locations in only ONE country (well two if you count the day of pick-ups he did in his living room in LA… the dude is an arch-mage). It also speaks volumes for the country we used, its people, its diverse landscapes, its insanely talented film crews and producers.

We shot in Chile (around Santiago) for 30 days. The series is over 3 hours long.

Second thing I want to clarify are the story’s themes… and this is only because a few loud blogs and commenters I’ve read since the trailers premiere seem worried that the series is some sort of anti-technology propaganda. First of all, that trailer was commissioned by the studio to do exactly what trailers are supposed to: get your blood pumping. To make you want to check it out. Trailers use a spattering of lines and images designed to introduce you to the general themes (technology, sure), obstacles, and characters. But they often do this by cutting together ideas and images out of context.

A YouTube user named Rincewindshat66 has this to say about the trailer:

“SCIENCE IS EVIL! FEAR CHANGE! TECHNOLOGY WILL DOOM US ALL! Man, I’m really getting tired of all this sci-fi doom-saying. Doesn’t anyone remember Star Trek and the idea of a hopeful future based on technological advancement? If everyone thinks we should go back to eating raw meat and living in mud houses, they can do that. I’ll take the future of robots, nanomachines, genetics-based cures for all diseases, and intergalactic travel, thank you very much.”

This comment started a small debate on the video which was eclipsed by an even larger one on Machinima’s version of the trailer… which we all found pretty exciting, actually. I’m glad people are talking about it at all. That discussion put the trailer into the top discussed entertainment videos on YouTube that day.

But Rince, I’m right there with you, bro. And there are plenty of characters in the story who are with you too. The thing is, all of the pro technology knights out there seem to be basing their entire arguement not just on a trailer, but on one line in the trailer spoken by this guy here:

“Science has failed this world.”

If this guy doesn’t totally scream antagonist to you on first watch of the trailer, then man we did something wrong. I mean look at him. Doesn’t he just make you angry? Sick to your stomach? Ugh! I can’t even look at him anymore. Sorry.

Bottom line, this series is anything but a rail against technology. Or a doomsday prophesy. Or an ode to Intelligent Design. It’s sci-fi. And sure, there are big scary events that take place? That’s storytelling. But to any of you out there worried that this is a one sided discussion about the dangers of technology, I promise, the series is much more than that.

Here’s a post panel interview I did at Comic Con where I talk a bit about what I think the series really deals with. Which, if we did our job right may not necessarily be what you think the series deals with.

Anyway, now that the series has been officially announced, I can share more details. I wish we had had an opportunity to take questions from the Comic Con audience, but our panel was tight on time. So if any of you were there (or even if you weren’t) and wanted to ask a question, you can do so here in the comments. I’ll try my best to answer what I can.

Coming up soon: Some insights and tales from our process.

Hey everyone! I’ve returned for a touch of bloggishness. Some of you may already know that I just premiered my first ever series this Thursday. It’s called The Homes and it’s on Lockerz.com. I’ve mentioned it once or twice here… or on other areas of the Cabreraverse.

But not in a while.

The Cabreraverse has been pretty quiet as of late. The past month has been pretty much me and my editor Chris Garcia toiling away in a tiny dark cave of an office, editing, animating, color correcting and getting this sucker in shape for the world. In fact, this past week the number of hours I actually slept was less than the number of hours I spent in the shower… which, as you can imagine, was also pretty low.

But we did it… and I even managed to squeeze in a hair cut, new glasses, and a Premiere dinner hours before the show went live. Here’s my favorite shot from the night.

The only bummer is that Justin wasn’t in the shot. His plane got snowed in coming from NY and he arrived a little later to the event.

And here’s the show itself! If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, please please PLEASE take 9 minutes out of your day to watch this first episode. Put that sucker in full screen mode, sit on your couch, and enjoy it like an episode of Lost.

So there you have it. Longer than a webisode… not quite TV length. Can’t say for sure if those are good or bad things… but I do know that I’m super proud of this project. Not just because of how much of myself I’ve poured into it… but because of how many people came on in support of it… and are the real reason we got it to where it is.

Episodes will air every Thursday morning (9am) at http://Lockerz.com/thehomes. And they all have a song at the end of them like this one did. That song, also like this one, will be available on iTunes the same day. And everyone in the world will be able to see it and hear it… perhaps with the exception of Egypt… (that was too soon wasn’t it?)

So what next?

Well for one, we’ll be continuing to deliver episodes of the series as the weeks progress. Our model is similar to TV in that we’re still technically building the show as the season is airing. It’s actually a very helpful way to create serialized content, I’ve found. Not only does it allow us to premiere earlier, but we can tweak future episodes based on the response to the show. You don’t like the names of the characters? No problem. I’ll just weave in a sub plot revealing they’re all actually Russian spies with completely different names. See? Forums are very convenient for us writers.

Other than that, I’m about to do some major Chillin.

I wish that meant relaxing… but no… in this case it means traveling to the country of Chile and beginning production on my next series. A little project I’ve been working on at Warner Brothers for 4 years.

It’s called “H+”.

And we’re finally….

going into…

production!

I leave on Wednesday, and will be there for a while. The good news (aside from the fact that…. IT’S GETTING FRIGGIN MADE!!!) is that I’ll have my blogging hat on while I’m there. The nature of my work is going to be very different than it was for The Homes, so I should be able to take you all along for some of the ride. How does that sound?

Oh, also, going back to The Homes for a sec… I’ve decided to play a little game in honor of the series. This week, just before the airing of Episode 2, I’m going to publish a post on my tumblr (jeeze, a lot of links in this post). It’s going to be one of those well known “reblog this post” posts (just preparing you). And it’s going to come with a gift to one lucky reblogger/follower. And since this isn’t a retail giveaway by a company, but rather me just giving an awesome gift to one of my online peeps, everyone from anywhere that can get mail from me can play. Well… that is anyone who has a tumblr account.

Oh you don’t have a tumblr account? Well what are you waiting for? Get a tumblr account . It’s free. And it’s awesome.

*deep breath*

*sigh*

I’m feeling good. Happy with the response so far. And more relaxed than I’ve been in a long time. But I’ve missed you guys. I really have.

I hope you’re all doing well. Are you?

Okay, so it’s only been a week since my last post. Not bad, huh?

I realized, while answering comments on that post, that I had something huge happen recently that I didn’t even mention here. Crazy, cause I would have never let it slip in the past. I suppose it’s more proof that my blogging joints are a little rusty.

So about a week and a half ago, we released this:

The Homes (Trailer) from John Cabrera on Vimeo.

It’s the trailer for the series I’ve been working on. The project that’s changed my life routine in so many ways… and no doubt has contributed to my absence from social media.

I know the trailer is a little cryptic, and to be honest, it’s more of a teaser than a trailer. It was actually originally created for in house showings of the project… to Lockerz (the company that will distribute it), agents, the cast, the crew.

But we’re closing in on a premiere in early 2011, so our team decided that the time was right to show you guys what we have in store.

So here are a few new facts about the project that I can reveal:

1. The series is 12 episodes long… each episode hovers around the 8 minute mark… so I think they’re going to feel like a bit more than a “webisode”, while not quite as much as a full television primetime sit down. I do think it’s couch-fare so I hope at least a few of you have living room web setups… or laptop bed setups.
2. Every episode is accompanied by one of 12 songs we produced one month before the shoot. A full album. And that album should be available in conjunction with the series.
3. The series is about a road trip… I’m sure you figured that much out from the trailer. It’s about a girl who’s just… trying to get “Home”… hence the title.
4. And although in general the music has a very Americana feel, I like to think that the album we created is a similar sort of “road trip” across the current state of indie rock/pop/folk… we even put a touch of electro in there for good measure.
5. All of the music was performed and played by the actors. There is not a single instrument that wasn’t played by them. In fact, in a few instances we had the opportunity to use session players for some stuff, and I said no. I knew these guys could do it, and they did.
6. On the other hand, the songs were written by several established musicians and bands. In some cases we were given obscure old songs that we felt fit our themes, in other cases we used brand new stuff they’d just written, and in some cases, songs were written expressly for us. Regardless, I can assure you, this will be the first time these song are heard by a large general public. I’ve listed the songwriters here in the past, but I intend on doing full profiles of each as we get closer to the premiere.
7. Where will you view the series? Well, I can say for certain you’ll be able to view it at Lockerz.com. But my hope is that at least the beginning of the series will be open to anyone for viewing and not just Lockerz members. Currently if you go to their site, you can watch the trailer on their start page without having to sign up. That may be the case with early episodes… but I know at least a portion of the series will be behind that log in. They also just unveiled their social media component which is going to be growing big over the next few months and incorporating fun aspects of the series. If you do register for an account, please add me there… you can find me through my email john@johncabrera.com.
8. If you don’t live in the US, but are hoping to watch this series… well I’m happy to say, you have nothing to worry about. There won’t be any region restrictions. Lockerz is a global community, so we’ll all be watching this series together!
9. What else? I don’t know, ask me something.

Last summer, @cosimo179 and I were deep in contract negotiations for our web series, H+. I guess the waiting was starting to drive us a bit crazy, so we decided to channel some of that nervous energy into a little weekend project. Something that would allow us to sort of shake it out.

Since Cosimo and I both have a strong interest in dance (Cosimo is a contemporary dancer and choreographer himself), we figured it could also serve as an experiment for a future dance project on the web.

So we invited nine dancers to my apartment one Saturday morning. They had no idea what we were planning to do and no preparation. And over the next three hours, Cosimo choreographed and I shot this video. Later that night we edited it. And now, almost a full year later, we’re sharing it for the first time here.

1. No… it’s not a coincidence that So You Think You Can Dance premieres this week.
2. Some of you may recognize SYTYCD star, Will Wingfield, in the video.
3. My sister is the one being swung around in a circle.
4. It was an insanely talented and fast working group of dancers… I was blown away.

And if you’ve seen the Wisely video Through any Window, you’ll probably recognize the location… except it’s from the opposite angle. Yes, this is my apartment. I’ve done a few projects here over the past decade.

The song is a remix of the Bedroom Walls tune Somewhere in Newhall. I love this band. Check out their other music on iTunes if you get a chance.