Changing Earth - Behind the Scenes Q & A

Hello, and welcome to the live stream. I promised y'all I would do some more behind the scenes things with the Changing Earth, and I look back and it's been a year since I did any behind the scenes information and right now is a great time to be doing it. Oh, I've got my glasses on here, just you know. I'm winging it tonight. And I really felt that I needed to come on and answer some questions I've been getting from the fans, from the listeners of the audio drama. Super excited. So if I am doing it live on YouTube, and I've never done that before, and so we'll see if I get anybody to actually come in here ask me some more stuff, and we'll see how. I like it. If I don't really like it, then I'm going to go ahead and just make a video. It will be part of the podcast as well, a little bit of behind the scenes info for you. Didn't really clean up my background too well, I guess you gotta look at my trash and you know how it goes. So, without any further ado, let's get into it. I'm so excited to be bringing you season five of The Change in Earth Audio Drama. It's amazing that we have come so far with this audio drama. It's insane how much to watch everybody grow in their abilities. All the performers, people that have been with me for years seriously deserve a major shout out. Nobody gets paid for the change in Earth audio drama. You know, we're trying, We're we're bootstrapping it over here and keeping our eyes on the future as far as like maybe eventually turning it into a real anima, which technology is kind of. Catching up with me. That's one of the things that I was going to talk to you about tonight. But you know, if I had one of the major companies that was interested in looking at it, and so if we could get a vocal team together, keep our same performers and move forward that. Way, wouldn't that be exciting. But there's lots of things, lots of options on the table now to be considered, and so it's a whole bunch to go through. That's an interesting question for y'all out there. Would you rather see it brought live in an animation or in a live action form? So that's question I have for you guys tonight would be which form do you prefer? Would you like to see it in. I've thought of some serious bonuses to either format. The live action, of course, would be cool to just watch it come to life in real time, but the animation you could do some really cool things, like with TJ's whip and stuff with that. So well, we've gone back and forth about what which way we'd prefer seeing it, and that's just a question that doesn't have an answer yet. All right, So I wanted to talk to you a little bit. I've got a bunch of questions from listeners that I want to answer, but wanted to talk a little bit about production schedule. So I usually do the show and blocks of four four shows, and then I take a break till I'm ready to. Release the next four in that season audio. So it's a whole new. Game now that I'm basically producing the videos for it as well, because I have to do all the audio work and all the video work the videos. If you've been watching it, you have seen the evolution of AI because I was like a kid in a candy store. I dove right in and start playing with that technology so I could bring my story to life there. It's been my biggest dream to bring my story to life other than you know, watch my family grow up healthy and happy, and so with the technology really catching up, it's interesting, it's awesome, and it's also challenging. So episode five when it comes out, I hope y'all are just blown away amazed by. The steps the advances there. But if you go back and watch the videos, you're definitely gonna see the evolution of AI and what was capable of doing as far as character creation and stuff like that. I decided to do it a lot in stills because I wanted the audio drama to still be about the audio drama and not about watching the element. But now that it's coming to life, so well, we'll just have to see how long I stick to my guns on that one. So the Changing Earth series, man, it's been a project of my life which is just excellent. Been podcasting over at the Changing Earth podcast for about ten years now. So if you're new to the Changing Earth series and you haven't seen a lot about it or heard a lot about it, I have a whole set of podcasts over there that helped teach you the facts behind the fiction. There's never a better time than right now to get prepared. For the future. So that you you know, no matter what comes, if it's a natural disaster or a man made disaster, whatever is going on, a personal disaster. You know you're set for it. And I sell insurance during the day, and I'm obviously a person who believes in making sure that you have some type of a security net set up for yourself, because I don't think that you know help is coming. So it's up to us to help ourselves, and it's really important that we do that, all right. So yeah, the production schedule. Sorry, I'm scrolling all over the place. Like I said, I had a lot of things on my mind that I wanted to talk to you guys about. So this week you will not be seeing episode five of I know we're right at the cusp of a lot of fun I cannot let spoilers go either. If you all have read the books, you're gonna also get some new elements because I've been doing that with the audio drama, presenting some new elements. So it makes each method of absorbing the story kind of worth hearing. So but you're not gett it this week. I do want to slow down a little bit on my release schedule because I have a life. I work a forty hour week. I train martial arts at least four days a week. My garden looks beautiful. We went all in against Texas this year. I'm going to do a show on it over on the Changing Earth podcast. I've been learning how to urbanize all of my homesteadying now that we're at you know, a smaller property and it's really neat. Actually, we've been doing some really fun stuff. So I just did a show on the Chicken Coop and we've been building and just really really busy. Plus I still have a sudden in going in high school this year, and you know, family and life. So I never wanted The Changing Earth to be a burden to me. I always wanted it to be a passion of mine, and in order to keep myself and my sanity, that's what the steps I need to take that make that happen. So thanks you guys so much for your patients. I know, I went back and redid some stuff and we're just catching back up. But I guarantee it's gonna be worth the wait to see those shows come out, and you know, I can just put that much more into it if I'm not putting myself under that crunch, So I think it's appropriate and. It's a lot of fun. It's gonna be a it's good. This season is. Popping and everybody, like I said, is doing spectacular. So let's go into some of the reader questions. This one actually came off of Facebook. There was a very nice lady over there, Maryanne, and she was curious which voice actors and the audio drama are professionals who've done other work and how did I find how do I find the cast? So pretty much everybody in the audio drama is new to voice acting, so to speak, but many many of them are podcasters and anybody who wants their show advertised and whatnot. As a you know, as a thank you for them putting the hours in on the voices that they do, I give them a commercial slot. So, yes, they're new to voice acting, but they have podcasts and things. So the main question also was at TJ and his character and if he's done other work before, and know this was his first project. He is an author as well. TJ is. Performed by a gentleman l Douglas Hogan, good friend of mine and very much into the survival community as well, and he has his own series of novels and whatnot, and so when we finished Changing Earth, we were pondering, you know, going into some of his novels, same genre, right in the same vein. So we'll see how that works out. But no, this is his first time doing any kind of work like that, and happy to have him on board. Though his evolution is amazing as well, if you look at where he started to where he is now. So many other characters I do have some professional audio drama performers in there, and some that probably should have been professional audio DRAMs performers. For example, Ryan Buford, he does Yuri's voice and so many other voices that he can literally be talking to himself and people wouldn't know that it's the same character. I have, some that have have been in other projects and whatnot. I just met him because of podcasting, all in the same vein and asked, Hey, would you like to come on. Some of my most special mentors have done lines, including my current martial arts instructor, and it's an honor for me. When I listen to the audio drama, it's like I get to have all my friends around every day. So I listen to it often and I get to have them around all the time. So that's really cool when you get that experience, and I'm blessed. To have it. And my friends that are here, my friends that you know, their season sat and I get to still hear them and be with them. So biggest change that I made when adapting the books, especially The Endless Night, into the audio drama scripts and why did I make that change? So The Endless Night specifically starts with Dexter's story and the reason why in the books, at the end of Dark Days in Denver, I didn't want the audience to know what happened to Dexter. I wanted that to remain a mystery. And then I tell his story at the beginning of The Endless Night. But in the audio drama, I needed to stay more true to the timeline so that I can't just be like, oh, well, weeks ago, back then this happened, where you get a lot of flashback and. You know, I don't know. I just wanted to stay more true to the timeline. For the audio drama, I've I thought it was thumping pretty hard. And actually. Different from the books to the audio drama is TJ and Vergis's storylines all together. In the books, TJ doesn't appear till book five Dark Days in Denver, but in the audio drama, I started his story and Vergis's story from the very beginning. I had the origins book for TJ already. I had already written that story. Everybody loved to hate him, so I gave him his own origin story, like where did this guy come from? But Vergis didn't have his own storyline at all. And the reason why I did that is because I can't tell you as much in narration when we're in the audio format as I can when we're in the visual format. So or when you know, when you're reading it in a book, I can tell you a lot more of what's happening behind the scenes without having to have it in a scene. But in the audio drama, I had to think about that, So that's. Why I made a lot of those choices as far as what's there. Also, characters were created for the audio drama, so there's some characters that aren't even in the book. Margaret Parker is not in the books at all, so that's interesting. Some characters I changed a little bit so that the performers could still be with us specifically Tim and Row his character. I had a character hall at the end, so I created that story to make sure that his characters stayed with the whole story. There's a few, quite a few that were created. Just Oh, Susan is another one. So a lot of TJ's side. I had developed that story more. And then Chappie is a creation, you know, because I had to develop Vergis's storyline. So those characters like that definitely different than than from the books. Erica's burned scars and the TJ whipping on her back, how much that comes straight from the books versus what you expanded for the audio drama And what's the hardest scene for the actress to record? So I'm the actress, I play Erica, and the story Erica's storyline is exactly pretty much the same from the books. That's one thing. Even when we take it to TV series, there's so much that can be done with the changing the Earth world. I can't wait to get it into a writing room, but I want the core to remain the same. Erica, her play, her family, her love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and her play with how she interplays with Swinson and whatnot. I really want that backbone to remain the same. The hardest scene for me to do well. It's always a challenge because the family and the story literally is my real family. So we re record it together a lot of the times, and that's how we do the audio for the Change in Earth audio drama is every performer records it on their own and then I weave them all together and make it sound like it's in the same room and they're having a conversation. But when we record as a family, I don't have to do that, which is pretty neat. However, we get to laugh in sometimes. I have the funniest recordings, and we've done like blooper episodes before. I put that over on. The Changing Earth podcast on those lines, so if you go to my website you can check it out. I've done Blooper episodes, but it takes a lot of time to do the blueper episodes. So I'm like, uh, I just won't do it right now. You know, I've working on so much it's just insane. So yeah, that's all true to the story. You know, Erica has all the burn scars from her first incident and that kind of gives her like a turtle shallness, so it's actually a. Strength for her as well. My son and I talk a lot about certain quarks of the series, and that's one that we definitely agree, you know, would be a benefit to her. So her superpower, so to speak. Let's see what's one behind the scenes moment or sound effect that was especially tough or funny to create, Like the prison echoes, the whipcracks, the vehicle sounds on the road. So as far as the sounds, I've found some pretty cool databases that have a lot of good sounds or like something that I can use that similar enough that would sound like that specific sound. I would say the hardest one was actually when they fired the grappling hook and it fired and then it went and then latched. That was a tough sound to make. The sound is actually the blinds. It's the sound of blinds, and I just sped it up and made it faster and then looped it and there you go. Now it sounds like that grappling hook being thrown out. So all in all, I would say that one's probably the toughest one. I found some really great whip stuff. I found all kinds of sounds that you probably you know, shouldn't year. So uh yeah, I've done pretty good with the databases are pretty extensive out there, or like I say, you can get something that sounds pretty darn close. The specific boat engine that I wanted. I would say it was pretty tough because like there's a lot of outboard motors, but not a lot of like yachts pulling up, so that was kind of. Difficult as well. Okay, in the books Dexter's Out on the Road with Johnny. Okay, so I already talked about that that I shifted the timeline. What does it let you explore with Erica and Dexter's mother son relationship, That's always been an interesting one because you know, dex really went through everything with them. Daniel was born later, so he was in like the refugee camp and everything when he was a kid, and that's kind of but he knew his life, but Dexter was five, and so he knew life before the Great Quake, and it really gives them that unique relationship that they can feel that and kind of experience that. And then you know, with Dexter being infertilized in and things like that that were done to his body against his will. It gives him that different edge of stubbornness, and Erica tries to really, you know that support him as you can. I mean, what a tough time period to be going through anyway, emotionally when you're like, you know, sixteen and then you're dealing with total collapse and what. He was put through. So yeah, I think that that definitely plays in, and it's definitely one of these, you know, psychological things that I'm kind of exploring with my story. There's definitely always a reason behind each psychological item that you're dealing with. It's something that I went like, huh, I wonder if what would I do in that situation? How would I handle this? Well, you know, how would I how would I deal with that? So a lot of the stories are all that that way, especially like with Star that was at the very beginning of my pondering this world that we know that we just take for granted and it's really all a lie. I mean, most everything that we've been told is just for marketing. So it was one of the things that I was definitely pondering at the beginning was what would you do, what would you do if what would you do if and there's a collapse and I'm down here in Sacramento when my family's up there, and what would I do? And so Star's story really really played into that one. Okay, we did the sound effect. So without spoiling too much, what should listeners be paying close attention to and episodes five and six? And how does the prison storyline with TJ, Erica and Dexter connect to the resistance planning happening at the Dallas boarding house? WHOA, Okay, episodes five and six, without spoiling too much, definitely have to pay attention to what's happening in Vince's storyline because it's I guess I would say it's subtle compared to what's going on in Erica's. Storyline, but it is a big character. Uh. The arc is going big on Vince's story right now, So that's something I would definitely pay attention to. That's maybe more a little bit more subtle than what's going down in episodes five and six. I have to tell you that episode five is one of my absolute favorite episodes. There are some really really great scenes in this episode. There's new music that I made. Oh that's been one of the other things that has just been fantastic that you should check out. I've been creating so many. Songs for the audio drama. Before I used to have to go out and try and find the music that I needed to fit the perfect moment, even background music and every bit of it. And I've heard, you know, well, what about you know, the human performers, You're putting them out of business or whatever. I'm not putting anyone out of business because I couldn't afford to pay them to begin with. And it's not that I didn't ask people to, like, hey, do you want to be a part of the music for this really cool thing that I'm doing. But you know, when people aren't seeing the immediate benefits of it, then you know, it makes it really hard to get people on board with what you're doing. We're just in a disposable society. So no, I'm not putting any performers out of business because I couldn't afford I mean, they didn't want to do work for me before. So now that I can design my own music, there was so many songs for TJ and whatnot that I just couldn't find obvious for obvious reasons, And now I can create it all So if you want to check it out, head on over to Change in Earth series dot com and go to the soundtrack for the audio drama. Everything's super easy to find over there. I try to make it really easy to navigate for you guys, so and you can always outreach out to me if you can't find something. I'm here. I love to help. I just love bringing my stuff forward so you guys can see the story. How does the prison storyline with TJ Ericon Dexter connect to the resistance planning happening at the Dallas boarding House. I can't really elaborate on that too much without you're you're you're tapping into, like what's going on next, So I can't tell you really how that all plays out in the long run. We know that TJ has plans. He's got got plans, so we'll see what happens there. TJ comes across as a straight up monster in the scripts. Yeah, yeah, the four strike scenes, uh, talking about selling Dexter to the nuclear facility, all of it? Is he based on any real person or type of person you've observed? And how would you keep him from feeling or how do you keep him from feeling cartoonish. Yeah, TJ's a monster, but he's a monster to us and I can so he's not based on any specific person, although I've had acquaintance of mine go like, hey, you knew this guy at this place. He was just like that, And I was like, no, I didn't know that guy at that place. Like he TJA, I just made him up. But I know what's out there. I know the monsters that hide in the closets right now and what they would do if we didn't have the laws and the sheep dogs here to you know, protect all of us who go, oh yeah, it's a great, wonderful world and we're all safe out there. So I did create TJ for that specific reason of trying to present that monster that's out there, trying to be a little bit of a wake up call so that people would think a little bit more about like their self defense and what are you your situational awareness and being prepared to defend yourself. Also, you know, with the rise of more socialist communist views, I really wanted to go to a place where that was the recovery, that was the recovery answer, And so when I created TJ, it was really to take Erica into the central region so we could get a feel of what that looks like. So yeah, he is absolutely created to be that monster. Even my mom's like, oh, I can't stand the whipping part, and it's like, yeah, well that's that's the part that makes you go, oh, I can't. I can't this guy. And to know that there's people out there like that is just spooky and you need to be ready and if a collapse happens, you need to think about what's out there and know that there are and there's a lot worse stuff happening in our society. So that's another reason why I created him, was to really shine the light on human human trafficking, slavery that exists in our world today. These are horrible things that they told us like was gone and it wasn't anymore. And when I started researching and getting more and more and more and more into. Self defense and then hearing these stories about the level of human trafficking, sexual assault, slavery that exists in our world right. Now, I was blown away. And I knew that I had to bring the message through my stories and through my podcasts that we'd all need to be aware that this is there. We all were lied to about that too, and it's there. We need to be aware, We need to know what signs to look for. I do a class every year at prepper Camp. It's coming up in August. It's in North Carolina. You can go to preppercamp dot com. Come on out and see me. I'll be selling books out there, sign books, and I can sign your. Kindle if you want me to. I always tell you that I can't sign your kindle, but I'll be out there and you'll be able to see me there. So love to see you out there. And then how do I keep them from feeling cartoonish? Well, my thought isn't really like cartoonish, but overwhelming right, overwhelmingly evil, which I definitely wanted to dance with. And so I ask God, you know what the devil looks like? I love that quote. I did not say that quote. It's a quote from Jim Caviezel, but I love that quote. And that's really. What I did as well as I was, you know, asking God what the devil looks like? And here's TJ. Swinson. So I didn't want him to be. Such a turn off that people couldn't absorb the beauty of my story anymore so with him. I've known people in my life that just had different beliefs and. It's just what it is. That's why I did the origin stories. He was just raised differently. It was horrific how he was raised, and it's a horrible thing and people shouldn't be treated like that. But he was raised that way and that's his view of success, and that's the life that he understands. And he got. Put into this chaos and out of control moment and went, this is how I deploy myself to make this an organized structure and to keep the wheels turning and keep as many people safe as possible. So I would say that I work harder to keep him grounded and real and authentic than I do just him being his evil guy. And stay tuned for the rest of the season five. I don't want to give away any spoilers, all right, bigger world details. So how much of the bigger world details, the Ogolalla Lake, the property of the Froa Risk tattoos, the constantly hazy skies, the wed Inspectable spectacle come from real world inspirations versus things. You created for the series. So the great quake is a lot of prophecy. I've done a lot of shows on that, so if you want to check that out, to head on over to my website. I've done a ton of shows on the prophecy behind the great quake. The oga Laala Lake specifically, I. Knew the reservoir was there, and it's extremely possible if there was a gigantic earthquake that it could disrupt that. Earth that's above it and fall down. And so I actually did the research for the Oglala Lake after. I believe I did this in. My other video, the World video as well, but I did the research for the Oglala Lake later and it turned out to be true, which was crazy. It's all limestone and whatnot, so yeah, it could easily collapse, especially with the amount of water we're taken out of it. The wrist tattoos and whatnot is an expansion of the original tracker. So originally they had a shot that they received, which. Okay, so they. Got a shot and they didn't think anything of it, But inside of the shot was a tracking device. So every refugee had a tracking. Device, and Daniels had the default kill switch in it, and so in my stories, they start figuring out how to remove these tracking devices and whatnot. And so I had to step it up a little bit right for the next one because I wanted it to remain a part of the story because I'm a little bit, you know, concerned about that type of technology. They can easily do any bit of that technology right now. The property of the FROA. Okay, you know that's a little extreme. That's just a nail at home, but like having a barcode so that you're just now a numbered. There was a great movie. It was about time running out and it was like justin Timberlake and he had a time device on his wrist. That was a really cool movie that kind of inspired me to go that direction. The orange hazy Skies, so yeah, that's Yellowstone and just in general, the amount of volcanic activity that was set off by the Great Quake would cause the skies to go hazy. And I've been watching volcanic activity now for you know, well over three years for the Change in Earth podcast, and it used to be odd to see like twenty nine volcanoes erupting on our planet at once, and we've been over forty for too long. It was amazing we got up that high and it just hasn't come back down. So one of my. Thoughts is that, you know, as we're seeing the magnetic poles shifting, that it would allow for more spatial radiation to come in on the Earth, which would hurt the mammal life that's on the Earth. So one of the natural defenses of our planet is that the volcanoes start erupting more to put up more clouds in the sky to protect the life that's there underneath it. That is just you know, I've just been studying for a long time, so I mean, take it for what it's worth. But that's you know why. I create fiction stories because I can imagine things like that. So yeah, and then the wedding spectacle, I mean, you know, that's your classic. We're going to unite the country with the wedding and all, you know, everybody will come together and whatnot, like you're you know, marrying for to heal families or something like that. So I thought that was pretty cool. We'll see how that goes. For someone who's brand new to. The Changing Earth series, what order do you recommend they experience it? Start with the. Books, jump into the audio drama or mix them. Oh, and what it's one thing you wish more readers and listeners asked about the world. Interesting I never thought about. I always figured books first, because the books came first, and then I created the audio drama second. You know, I don't know. I guess it's what you prefer. Do you prefer listening or do you prefer reading, because some folks like reading and some folks like listening. Big differences. Of course. In the books, I can do more of than narration, which gives you, like the inside thoughts behind their heads, you know, behind the eyes, what's going on back there. With the audio drama, I can't really do that, and so I try to do it through script. The music. Music is really key for setting that tone and bringing that narration forward, especially now that I can create so much music on my own, so I can really tell you the story there. I guess maybe mixing them would actually be kind of cool. You're gonna get a glimpse if you started with the audio drama, you're definitely gonna get a glimpse of TJ and the bigger world faster. The books are much more Erica and her family focus, so you're seeing the world from their experience in it, which is really neat that I think each each element brings that different view for you to see the world through. So maybe starting with the books and staying in that microcosm and then expanding into the audio drama is best, but it's really your preference and however you want to tackle that. And what's one more thing that I wish readers and listening listeners asked about the world. I wish that readers and listeners would just reach out more and let me know what they think of the world and what they experienced. Because as a producer that you know, a content producer, that I put it all out there and then you guys get to absorb it on your own. And I'm like, I wish I. Was there to see your face when you were like, oh my gosh, he did this or that. And actually Chen Gibson, who's the co host on the Changing Earth podcast, how I met him was because he was reading my books. He was actually listening to the audio dramas or to the audio books, the actual audiobooks, and he used to listen to the audio books while he was on the treadmill. So then he'd reach out and be. Like, oh, man, I can't believe you did this in the story. I can't believe you did that in the story. And when you know, Vince, when he got shot and everything, Chim was like, you can't do that, and it was amazing to have that type of relationship with him, and now we're really good friends. So I kind of wish that more readers and listeners would just reach out and let me know, like, oh man, I just got to this part of the story and I can't believe. You did this or that that would be really cool. And specifically about the world would be you know, how do I prepare my community to be more resilient if this thing happened to me? Because what I tried to show in the books and in the audio drama is that the government's not coming to save you. They're coming to either control chaos or get infrastructure back online so that you can help yourself. And in reality, they're not like coming to save you. They don't really care about you, but your community does. Your neighbor does, and your neighbor might if we got to know each other there a little bit more, and if we showed a little bit more kindness when we were out with each other, and so I would really like to be asked, you know, how do I personally kind of get ready for this thing? How do I prepare for for this thing? And that's why I created the Change in Earth Audio drama after the stories, was just so I could share that that kind of information, And that's been priceless. I've had so many met so many incredible people, had so many incredible experiences because of that. So and it's like a decade of my life right there for you. So yeah, all right, Well that's all the questions I have, unless anybody has got more questions that they want to put in the chat links. But I wanted to do a quick show tonight just so that you would understand that. You know, I'm deep in production. It is a big project to do basically on my own, you know, Buddy Records, but the videos I create and the audio I all put together and create all the music and all the trailers and all the things. So we've been going strong every week for a while, but we're gonna take a little break until I can definitely put those next four episodes forward without a gap in them, because I don't want to gap you out too often. So definitely won't happen this week, probably not next week. I'd like to give myself one more week cushion just because of all the work with the gardens and finishing up a lot of our yard projects and whatnot. But if you have any along the way you want to reach out, love to hear from you, and I hope you guys are enjoying the story and I'd love to hear your favorite part, so please let me know. We'll see you guys next time. It will not be a year before I come with another behind the scenes show. I had been getting all those questions and whatnot, so I was like, oh gosh, it's time to get on and do a behind the scenes show. So I hope you enjoyed it. Took the night off MMA to read there and answer the questions, and I love that you're bringing the questions, so please keep it up and until then, take care