When Glenn called a brief meeting to go over the upcoming chalkboard show he's launching later this month, nobody expected anything unusual to happen. After all, plans had been set and the purpose of this meeting was simply to get everyone on the same page, right?
Wrong.
As staff members filed into Stage 33, where the new show will be filmed, Glenn's executive producer Stu Burgiere could be heard going over the features of the new chalkboard.
Everything seemed normal at first. Glenn was listening to Stu and quietly nodding. Stu explained how Glenn would be able to interact with the new three-paneled expandable chalkboard, being careful not to touch the panels --- still drying from a fresh coat of chalkboard paint.
If there's anything predictable about Glenn, it's his that he's unpredictable.
Glenn paused. Then innocently asked if someone could hand him a piece of chalk.
Stu immediately suggested nobody get him a piece of chalk, perhaps realizing what was going to happen before Glenn even did anything. Someone handed Glenn a piece of chalk and the rest is history.
Glenn began scribbling rapidly.
"What if we put a timeline here, from the Tower of Babel until now, so we could show people exactly at what point in history we're talking about," Glenn said. "And if I draw a picture of someone here, can we make it talk?"
He was talking about bringing the chalkboard to life using movie magic.
"We may run into issues with the animation," Stu said. "There's a zillion things we can do here, we just really need to be methodical about what we're doing."
Glenn said he wants the new show to have a classic style that's familiar to people who enjoyed his past chalkboard episodes, while also appealing to families and young people.
"Let's think of this as a magic chalkboard time-machine," Glenn said to one of the designers in the room. "Give me some pens and I can start working on these right now."
The creative juices flowing freely, Glenn grabbed a couple of colored Sharpie markers, stretched out on the rug and got to work constructing the script for the first show.
See photos below.
More to come.
