Saarkepedia

For over 30 years now I have been generating material in two very specific intellectual properties—one science-fiction, the other fantasy.

My fantasy canvass is a stupidly vast constellation of worlds, nations, realms, kingdoms, lineages, holy days, religions, pantheons, enthire cultures, maps, artifacts, languages, symbols, technologies, magic configurations, peoples, places, characters, cataclysms—virtually thousands of years of stuff.

Currently, I have tens of thousands of pages of factoids about my main fantasy environment.

Well, I will be putting this all online in a giant, searchable database called The Saarkepedia.

I have no illusions that this will take several years to populate, link, cross-link and manage and update.  But, hey, I have the rest of  my life.

The Saarkepedia will be a rigorously encrypted to which only a handful of my closest friends will be granted access.  It is not for the general public.

Sigh.

This is going to take a lot of work.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

Jake Powning

Of the many swordsmiths I have met while developing Vangelis (and I have met plenty) I have been particularly impressed with the work of Jake Powning.

Based largely on the Nordic style of swordmaking, Jake Powning brings a fresh cultural view to weaponry.  As much as I love Japanese katanas and English broadswords, I am simply tired of visiting the hundreds of websites that sell them and little else.

Jake Powning not only has the technical precision to make a beautiful sword, but (and this is the important part) he has the imagination and vision to make them as much works of art as they are of steel.

Visit his site http://www.powning.com/jake/home/j_homepg.shtml for yourself and see what this innovative swordsmith is working on.

I recently caught up to Jake Powning on Facebook and expressed my admiration. It is my hope to work with him on Vangelis.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

The Land of Enchantment

In early October 2009 I took a trip to New Mexico with a friend.  It was among all that silence and beautiful desolation that I realized just how dissatisfied I have been with city life.  Though by no means a farmer or a rancher, I have deep affinity for nature and silence.

So, most likely, in early in 2010 I will be returning to New Mexico on sabbatical to focus on a short list of scripts, knock out some location scouting for Ares Forge, focus on some new international relationships in Studio 930 Intermedia, reconcile those remaining balances on Shroud and finally bring the film to market.

The journey to write, produce, direct and distribute my first film has proved exhausting for me and my producers. 

It is time for some quality time alone.

Far from the maddening crowd.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

Ares Forge

My most recent submission to the WGA has been Ares Forge (© 2009 David Jetre).

This particular film, set about 350 years in the future, is a action-soaked exegesis on humanity, transhumanism and militant searches for immortality.  Not only is it freakin’ neat creatively, it is wonderfully nuanced examination of warring worldviews that continue to spar even now, today.

A fuller 30-page treatment will be forthcoming soon, and a fuller script in early 2010.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

Voices

I know better than to go into detailed creative briefs on the Internet as there is no shortage of people who will quickly take your idea, change it 10%, call their own, and sell your idea under their name.

That being said I must employ a measure of discretion in this blog. 

I had a very long dream — longer than usual, and I’ve been having them lately — about a sadistic princess who belonged to a criminally depraved race so immedicably violent only ancient magical bonds imposed upon them kept their social order.  A high fantasy hyper-culture, this realm was suddenly destroyed, with the princess the only survivor.

Washing up on a foreign shore, she begins a long odyssey of redemption.

In and of itself, none of this is terribly original, but the complexion of the culture, their bizarre overarching history, the odd use of magic, and the princess’ discovery of a peculiar artifact is very, very unique and interesting to me.  I am currently fleshing this idea out to see if would be better served by a film, a novel or a computer game.

People with whom I have shared the details of this particular dream, find it odd but compelling.

Once I finalize the form, and if it is a film, I will register it with the Writers Guild of America, the Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., as well as my legal counsel.  Thereafter, I can go into greater detail about what sets this story aside from most.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

303 Intellectual Properties

As of this writing, I now have 303 total intellectual properties.

225 of these are film and television properties. The remaining 78 are divided among books, PC/Playstation/Xbox360 games, plays, non-fiction works and martial art manuals.

Unlike most people, I’ve never had a shortage of bizarre ideas — they flow through me nightly like an endless river. It is a live tap. Consequently, I very strategically choose which script to write as I physically cannot live the number of decades necessary to write everything down.   With regard to film, this caution is compounded by an industry that is slowly losing its grip on its own profession.

I once heard a person say, with faux wisdom, that ”Life isn’t short; it is long.” I have learned that, with rare exception, most people who think “life is long” are those people who operate externally, that is to say, people who only react to external stimuli.

However, artists are driven by internal impulses, and we realize (with a few other folks) life is tragically short. There simply isn’t enough time in a single life to tell all the stories, read all the books, listen to all the music, walk all the deserts, see all the shores, climb all the mountains, find all the cures, open all the minds, and save all the lives a fiery soul wishes to.

Life is short.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

2010 Jetrefilm Entertainment Website

A new Jetrefilm Entertainment website is currently being designed and will be online in early 2010.   This site will be more focused on current and pending Jetrefilm projects and less with my personal work which will be reflected on my personal website (www.ghostsofsaarke.com).

The new website will continue to offer news and announcements at Jetrefilm, as well as audition and casting notices, film phases, schedules, and all relevant film developments.

Studio 930 Intermedia will be handling the design and development of the site next year.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

Ghosts of Saarke

As I alluded earlier this year, a new website www.ghostsofsaarke.com will be online in early 2010 to handle my extensive catalog of intellectual properties. 

Those properties sold to Jetrefilm Entertainment will be more appropriately addressed on www.jetrefilm.com which will follow the properties from development through distribution.

The Ghosts of Saarke (© 2009 David Jetre) website will incorporate film, but will also properties across a wide number of media.  The Ghosts of Saarke website will also host this blog, open forums, and other interactive modules. Further, it will showcase artists I like as well as new technologies like the Red One camera system, the newest film software and hardware and referrals and resumes of cast and crew with whom I have had a pleasurable experience.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

Vangelis

With the eminent success of J. R. R. Tolkien’s

• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – The Two Towers
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – The Return of the King

And both installments of C. S. Lewis’ great works

• The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch & THe Wardrobe
• The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian

As well as the upcoming

• Prince of Persia
• The Last Airbender
• Clash of the Titans

2010 may be the year to push my bloody, adult, visually demanding fantasy film Vangelis.

Recently submitted for registration to the WGA West, the Copyright Office and some lawyers, Vangelis tells of the collapse of the mighty and medieval Nimyrians, and their descent into violence and anarchy.

This film adaptation actually begins back in 1982 when I first introduced the story to a group of friends of mine.  It is really hard to believe that Vangelis, like half of all my work, is almost 27 years old. 

Not since John Boorman’s epic Excalibur have I seen a full-bore, hardcore take on the sword and sorcery genre.  Producers invariably try to keep sword and sorcery films to PG-13 to get the kids in, but thankfully, Zack Snyder’s 300 proved there is more than enough market pull for the sanguine fierceness of nuanced medievalism.

Let me do this.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com

The Dream About Dr. Mesh

Every once in a while, I experience a dream event of such originality, soulish impact and intensity, that even against the vast night catalog of my imagination a work finds preeminence.

About two-and-a-half months ago, I experienced such an event.  As a dream, like anyone’s, it was of particular consequence to me—it emotionally devastated me for almost two weeks.  It is the only dream I have ever had in my life, where even after the fifth retelling of it to friends and family, I was still reduced to tears.

For two weeks I was utterly inconsolable.  I was in such a malaise, that I quickly realized I had to share this dream, not to impress my friends, but to exorcise the overwhelming emotional burden of it.

As a story, I can tell you that it crashed at a hard right angle to everything else before it.  It is not a story I would regularly write by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s origins are entirely outside of myself.

Even now, months later, I cannot chart the trajectory of this dream from any event in my life, the lives of my friends or family, or anything I have ever seen, heard or read.

Like many of my stories, I dreamt it like I was watching a film.  Every angle, cut, dolly, pan, crane, push-in, swell of score, edit — all of it was there.

As soon as I finish it I will publish it on www.ghostsofsaarke.com.  This is one story I am positive no one will steal.

David Jetre
Writer | Producer | Director | Designer
www.ghostsofsaarke.com | www.studio930.com | www.jetrefilm.com