HERE WE GO

We start shooting season two on Monday. Had our read-thru this week. It was great to see everyone around the table again. Not to gush, but it's such a cool fucking pack of folks. I learned an important lesson from Shawn Ryan and Scott Brazil during my tenure at The Shield. When you are asking everyone to work harder for less money you have to provide two things -- superior material and an environment where people will feel safe, supported and loved. (Everyone from the EP's to the PA's work for way less on this show. Apparently we are the new model for TV -- quality drama on a "creative" bargain basement budget. The creativity being generated by my superman line producer Kevin Cremin.) So we continue to try and generate quality material and the cast and crew continue to bond. It's a great fucking set. Guerrilla film making with everyone firing on all cylinders. I saw it happen with Chiklis, Walton and Kenny and it's happening on SOA as well. The actors have become family and in our case, a club. Charlie, Ron, Boone, Kim, Theo -- they all hang out, drink, play golf together. Girls too. Katey, not unlike Gemma, has become the maternal glue. It's just in her nature to take care of those around her. God knows she gets a lot of practice with me. Had a great meeting with an actor today whom I hope will be be playing Ethan Zobelle. Zobelle is a new proprietor in Charming and the leader of an ultra conservative organization. Can't reveal any names until the deal closes, but this guy is a fascinating actor from a very talented family. That character shoots Friday so I hope it closes early this week. I appreciate everyone continuing to check in with my blog. What started out as a self-absorbed platform for random opinions that no one gave a shit about, has turned into a very useful tool for Sons of Anarchy. I'm convinced the blogosphere had a lot to do with our grassroots ratings growth last season. I'm hoping by keeping you all up to speed on my process, I can get you as excited as I am about season two of SOA. I'm gonna task my writer-on-set producer, Jack LoGiudice, with grabbing candid shots of the episodes. I'll try to post non-spoilers as frequently as possible. I may bitch, slam doors, rip agents new assholes, sigh heavily, but I am well aware that I've got the coolest gig in Hollywood. I'm a grateful cat.

PREP FOR SEASON TWO BEGINS

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Been a crazy coupla months. Was in Paris with the entire family for spring break. Realized that I have three kids. Three? How the fuck did that happen? We had a blast. I almost started a jihad in front of Notre Dame, but was released by French Police with a warning (that's a whole other blog). We did an awesome day of press with Charlie and Katey. I'll blog on this separately when I get some photos of the day. In short, the French fucking LOVED the pilot. I felt like Jerry Lewis. It was one of the most pleasant media experiences I've ever had. We're going back in October to do more. We came back from France and I was buried. Finally caught up with the writing. We're pretty much on schedule. My goal was to have four scripts written and approved by the time we start shooting and we'll do that. Have various drafts of the next four being written and well start breaking stories for 209 next week. The first episode starts shooting on the 27th. Guy Ferland (who directed more episodes of The Shield than any other director) is directing 201, Albification. Guy did an amazing job on episode 107, The Pull, last season. I'm thrilled to have him kicking off season two. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about what the 201 title means. I can tell you it's a theme for the season. My entire, talented cast is back (with the exception of a few, whose agents and managers are twisting my fucking arm for more cash that we don't have and ultimately undermining their clients whom I won't be able to afford) and we've added a few new characters. As you probably have read, Henry Rollins joins us as AJ Weston. He's a prison hard Aryan walking a fine line between ultra conservatism and violent racism (if a line truly exists). His boss and the brains behind the organization is Ethan Zobelle. That role is still being cast. As I've said in interviews, this season is all about internal alliances. For me, the big antagonist this season is just a catalyst to ignite the deep, primal conflicts within the club. Lives will be threatened, sides will be taken and Sam Crow will become the biggest threat to the Sam Crow. More to come...

KATEY'S GIG

click to view