Post by greenguy on Sept 13, 2005 9:20:10 GMT -5
On Saturday Sept. 10 I met Stephen J. Cannell while he was on his book signing tour. This took place at The Midwest Literary Festival in Aurora, IL. First up was the screening of the 21 Jump Street pilot. Cannell spoke for a moment before the pilot started, giving the audience a bit of background on the show. Afterwards was his presentation of "A Lifetime of Storytelling" where he spoke about his early years, getting finally into television, then onto writing novels. Before going into that, the festival presented him with a Master Storyteller award. Complete with a short 5 minute bio film prepared by his company which he had no idea about. The short featured clips from many of his series, and also comments by Mike Post, Tom Selleck, Lorenzo Lamas, and Jo Swerling. After the "Lifetime" presentation everyone settled into either watching the pilot for Wiseguy or meeting Mr. Cannell. So I wasted no time in getting in line, trying to think of the most important things I wanted to ask. Many people were in line, so I obviously did not want to hog the man's time which was limited. Finally I narrowed it down to 3 quick questions, and I was next. I introduced myself, and told him about the website, and in a split second I decided I could not do any questions justice nor could he give much of an answer in the moment we had to talk. So instead of what I prepared, I asked him if he would grant me an interview. He agreed, and gave me the info I needed to contact his office to set something up. So.....while I know many, many of the questions everyone wants the answers to, some may slip my mind. If you have anything specific you want me to ask, PM me to let me know and I'll add it to the list if it's not already there. I have no idea what sort of time limit I will be on, or it will be by e mail, phone, or the luckiest method, in person. However I will do the best to get as many questions answered as I can in as much detail possible. It was great seeing the guy in person that has created and produced many, many of my favorite series for over the past 25 years.
