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The traditional model for developing and creating TV shows gets spun on its head once again with BLANK SLATE, a new micro-series from TNT and executive producer Dean Devlin that debuts in two-minute installments over a two week period during LAW & ORDER starting Sept. 9 with the full five-minute episodes airing on www.tnt.tv after that.

Writer-Director John Harrison (DUNE, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE) is at the helm of the ambitious BLANK SLATE which follows the mysterious Anne Huston (Lisa Brenner) who wakes up with amnesia and on death row. She knows nothing about her past, but is made an offer by the government to be part of a secret program that implants the memories of the recently deceased into her empty brain in order to gain knowledge (and memories) to solve crimes.

Her partner is ragged F.B.I. handler Sean Sullivan (Eric Stolz), who’s skeptical of this process at first, but becomes a true believer in due time.

While BLANK SLATE is being billed as a micro-series (and in essence it’s a back-door pilot if it’s successful), the show will also see life internationally as a movie and eventually land as a movie domestically on DVD.

With all these different formats, it’s enough to drive a writer-director to the insane asylum, but thankfully Harrison took them time to sort things out and explain this ambitious new project as well as give us a taste of his forthcoming adaptation of Clive Barker’s BOOK OF BLOOD with iF Magazine in this exclusive interview.

iF MAGAZINE: What type of cameras did you shoot BLANK SLATE on?

JOHN HARRISON: We shot Blank Slate with three Sony HD CAMs -- the EX-1 XD CAM.

iF: Were you hesitant to shoot Hi-Def at first?

HARRISON: Not at all. We shot the CHILDREN OF DUNE mini-series digitally. And I had recently shot my latest feature, BOOK OF BLOOD, with the VIPER system. Frankly, with our budget and schedule, digital was the only way to go to get the style and look we wanted.

iF: What were the positives and negatives on shooting with the format – the look is so gorgeous, you really can’t tell the difference?

HARRISON: Clearly, the positives were the style of the look we could achieve and the ease with which we could move and shoot. The cameras were fantastic in low-light situations. I wish the cameras had had a more sophisticated lens package. We were somewhat limited in our choices and there were certain “auto” features of these cameras that were sometimes difficult to overcome. Irising between bright and dark spaces was tricky. One has to be very careful about depth of field, and with exposure in daylight situations. And with digital in general, there are in-camera effects like variable speeds and ramping that just aren’t possible yet.

iF: This was certainly shot on a lower budget than something like the DUNE mini-series – what kind of adjustments did you have to make as a director to pull this off with the time and budget constraints?

HARRISON: Well, the style of every film is dictated by its budget, of course. But ironically in this case, the kind of movie I wanted to make was somewhat enhanced by its limitations. There wasn’t a lot of time to torture a scene. We couldn’t over think the staging. The important thing was to have a plan, a style, an approach, and stick to it. Early on Dean and I agreed how we wanted this film to look and feel. I wanted to do this all hand-held, long lens, available light. Yes, that was because of budget and schedule, but it was also right for the story telling and our fabulous cinematographer, Ryan Little, knew exactly how to do it. In a way, the limitations were liberating.

iF: This is almost naturalistic science-fiction, where the hardware, doesn’t over take the actual story. How deep did you go into your research for the main concept?

HARRISON: I love the speculative storytelling of good sci-fi, and I guess you could say BLANK SLATE has sci-fi elements to it. But as a friend of mine once said, we’re living the sci-fi of only a few years ago, and what’s sci-fi now won’t be in a few more years. I have no scientific talent or background at all, but I am fascinated by the ways technology and science are changing. Not only the way we live, but the very essence of who we are. So I read a great deal, understand a very little, but imagine a whole lot.

iF: Is there any kind of development going on in science with “memories” and trying to extract them that inspired you?

HARRISON: BLANK SLATE grew out of my fascination with all the recent technological advances that have helped neuroscientists start understanding how the brain works. For example, there is a great deal of really compelling work going on out there trying to understand what memory is, how it is created, where/how it is “stored,” whether it’s simply a physiological process or something more abstract, even unknowable. It was an easy leap to imagine the kind of techniques that would allow a sophisticated research team, say at the F.B.I., to experiment with memory transfer as a means to solve crimes.

iF: This being a movie about “memory,” did you ever forget something while you shooting that the cast or crew called you out on?

HARRISON: I often forgot what day it was and Paul Bernard, my terrific First AD, had to remind me sometimes what scene we were moving on to next. I’ll just chalk that up to the speed at which we were moving, if you don’t mind. I’d like to keep working in this town.

iF:  You're also in BLANK SLATE? Did you cast yourself out of necessity or was it a part you really wanted to do?

HARRISON: I never intended to take a part in BLANK SLATE. Dean said at one point that he wanted me to play the character of Hale, but I thought he was just kidding. Then, when we were casting, we had difficulty casting the role of Sara Brady’s father, but another terrific actor we had seen for Hale knocked us out when we shifted gears and asked him to audition for the father, so we decided to go with him.  Then we were literally down to the day before production, and Dean and Paul kept teasing me about doing Hale, so I did my duty. I actually had a lot of fun doing it.

iF: How hard were you on yourself as an actor -- on set and in the editing room? Were you cursing yourself in front of, behind the scenes and in the editing room, or did you enjoy the process?

HARRISON: Well, I had Lisa Brenner and Eric Stoltz to keep me in line. Fortunately, they were patient and helpful. Also, Eric and Dean are terrific directors, so I didn’t over think it. I just turned myself over to them.

iF: Since the show was sponsored by a car manufacturer, were there some specific do’s and don’t in terms of how the car is featured in the movie?

HARRISON: I’m not a purist at all when it comes to product placement. It’s hard enough to get any production financed these days, so if someone wants to part with hard cash, so I can do what I want to do, I’ll try to be respectful of that. Clearly, it would be irresponsible to change a story point, or a character beat simply to accommodate a product, but those cases would be extreme anyway. In this case, it might be a bit of a stretch to say that Sean Sullivan’s car was an Acura T-3. On the other hand, we never featured it in a way that drew attention to that and the company never asked us to, by the way. There was an opportunity to use the car’s new navigation system to help Sean figure out a clue that Anne had come up with, but other than that, the Acura was simply a car in the show.

iF: What was the most complicated part of shooting BLANK SLATE?

HARRISON: For me the most complicated part of the shoot was keeping the story line clear in my mind during the intensely short schedule we had. We were shooting completely out of sequence, which isn’t unusual, but we had to move so fast, and shoot out sets and locations with no hope of going back, so that there was no time for reflection. I was constantly worried I’d let something slip through the cracks; a moment in performance, a plot element that needed focus etc. Lucky for me, Dean was at the monitor with me every day and we had such a professional cast and crew who were always attentive.

iF: If this is a success, is this designed to be more “One-off” micro-series/movies or could this be spun off into a regular TV series?

HARRISON: Well, my hope has always been that BLANK SLATE will develop into a TV series. There are so many stories we could tell, so many ways we could develop how other people’s memories affect Anne and how she helps people with her complicated “gift”. At the same time, there’s the long arc of who Anne really is and what really happened to her, which is not fully answered at the end of our film. There are lots of places to go with this, and I’m convinced it could sustain a long running series. That said, I’m fully on board if the best way to proceed is to keep making more movies, as Dean has done with the LIBRARIAN franchise, or to keep the micro/web series going. Just as long as I can continue to tell BLANK SLATE’s story.

iF: Where would the next chapter go of BLANK SLATE if you were going to do a follow-up?

HARRISON: Hard to say at the moment, but I think it’s safe to assume that Anne would have to take on another person’s memory in order to solve a horrific crime. This could be emotionally and physically treacherous, and it might endanger her continuing struggle to find out her true identity -- which would surely be complicated by new information and characters who might or might not know something.

iF: Can you talk about Clive Barker’s BOOK OF BLOOD?

HARRISON: We are finishing BOOK OF BLOOD in London as I write this, and I expect it will be released in early ’09. I’m really proud of it.

iF: How did you get involved with that project?

HARRISON: Clive Barker asked to meet me after he saw the DUNE miniseries. We got on really well and over the past couple of years we’ve collaborated on a couple of things. I adapted his ABARAT books for Disney. I had known his partner in the BOOK OF BLOOD series, Jorge Saralegui, when I developed some stuff for him at Warners. So when I found out they were going to produce a series of movies based on Clive’s short stories, I begged them both to let me do one.

iF: Is it pretty graphic, violence-wise?

HARRISON: It has its moments, but it is not a gore-fest. It is more of a supernatural thriller a la THE OTHERS, or THE ORPHANAGE. Very moody. Very character driven. We screened a preview of the first ten minutes at the Frightfest Festival here in London last week. It’s the big U.K. horror festival, and thousands of fans come from all over the U.K., the U.S. and Europe. It went over really well. Big applause. So fingers crossed.

iF: How faithful is it to Clive’s original source material?

HARRISON: Plenty faithful, I hope. We took the book-end stories from his collection, BOOK OF BLOOD and ON JERUSALEM STREET, and merged them into one story. As with any adaptation, there are details that must be adjusted and often changed somewhat, but I have always tried to honor the essence of the source material. After all, it’s the reason I would get involved in the first place. Clive read the script, and now he’s seen the movie, and he’s very happy with the translation. So I guess I can’t ask for a better endorsement than that.

iF: Has there been talk of you coming back to do another BOOK OF BLOOD movie?

HARRISON: Not at the moment. Jorge and his partners are already in pre-pro for the next one, DREAD. Who knows what happens after that one’s in the can? My focus once BOOK OF BLOOD is out of my hands is to get back to taking BLANK SLATE to the next step.

iF: You’ve worked with two masters of horror – George A. Romero and Clive Barker, can you talk about what makes them different and what’s similar about the two of them?

HARRISON:  Of course, they have very different styles. Interestingly, though, they both come from a visual arts background. George doesn’t draw or paint anymore (except privately), and Clive is, of course, renown for his art, but I find it very interesting that both come at their storytelling from an imagermatic pov. I guess I would say that Clive’s work is somewhat more fantastical than George’s. The world inside Clive’s mind is this Baroque landscape of creatures and environments that only he could create. With George’s films, on the other hand, you always know you’re going to be staring into a mirror a bit. Albeit hyperbolized, his stories always reflect a dark actuality. With Clive, you’re often left breathless with terror. With George you’re often laughing while you’re screaming. In both cases, I think their work easily transcends categorization as just horror.

iF: You're producing a theatrical version of DUNE. How is it being involved with  another adaptation of the same material since we wrote and directed the SCI FI Channel mini-series many years ago?

HARRISON: I’m only tangentially involved. Misher Films at Paramount is producing the picture with my friend and frequent producer, Richard Rubinstein. Richard produced my DUNE miniseries. He and I have continued to develop material from the DUNE universe since then, and he’s been gracious enough to include me in the new production. It will be an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s first book, dune.

iF: David Lynch had a heck of a time condensing it into a feature film, and you had to do it as a mini-series for SCI FI Channel to get the whole story across, how will you approach the film and what will make it different from  any of the previous incarnations?

HARRISON: A terrific young writer, Josh Zetumer will adapt and I wish him all the best. It won’t be easy, I can tell you, but he has great ideas about how to approach this epic material and I’ll bet it comes off as a completely unique version of the DUNE saga.


CLICK HERE FOR THE FIRST TRAILER FROM BLANK SLATE

CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF iF’S EXCLUSIVE JOHN HARRISON INTERVIEW

CLICK HERE FOR EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS FROM BLANK SLATE

BLANK SLATE airs

Tues – September 9 during
LAW & ORDER @ 8p & 9p
2 Blank Slate episodes will run in 8p L&O (breaks 3 & 4); 3 will run in 9p L&O (breaks 2, 3 & 4)

Wednesday – September 10

LAW & ORDER @ 8p & 9p
2 Blank Slate episodes will run in 8p L&O (breaks 3 & 4); 3 will run in 9p L&O (breaks 2, 3 & 4)
Week of 9/15

Tuesday, September 16
LAW & ORDER @ 8p & 9p
2 Blank Slate episodes will run in 8p L&O (breaks 3 & 4); 3 will run in 9p L&O (breaks 2, 3 & 4)

Wednesday, September 17
LAW & ORDER @ 8p & 9p
2 Blank Slate episodes will run in 8p L&O (breaks 3 & 4); 3 will run in 9p L&O (breaks 2, 3 & 4)

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