The little web series we’re shooting now isn’t actually called Ruby Skye P.I. It’s called The Spam Scam. It is but a pin prick in the universe of Ruby Skye P.I. that I imagine.

Not only do I imagine Ruby Skye P.I. mysteries and stories playing out on multiple platforms, but I also imagine them playing out at different points in time and space.

This stuff isn’t sharply detailed in my mind yet, but there are vague shapes… outlines in the dark, shadows.

I can tell you the first platforms I’d like to play with. I want to do another web mystery pretty quickly and beginning to think about financing and story. I’m also thinking about my first Ruby Skye P.I. novel; I hope to get a couple of chapters and an outline on paper. I’m dying to do an iPad mystery that would be a little movie with interactive parts. That’s going to take a bit of a budget, but it’s definitely on my radar (any sugar daddies out there?). People keep asking me if this could be television and the answer is, of course, there’s definitely potential for Ruby Skye P.I., the TV series. Today, I had a good idea for an augmented reality app — kind of a no-brainer for a detective series.

As a story terrain, it’s amazingly cool to think about. Not every story or element in the universe has to be strictly Ruby-centric. Hailey Hacks is her sister’s web series. In fact, each other her friends might have a web series, why not? When we meet up with Ruby, she won’t always be the same age. That augmented reality app idea I mentioned in the last paragraph is a game that’s actually for preschoolers. Ruby would be 5 or 6 in it… and already curious and unstoppable. And what age will she be in the book? Maybe a little older, with some grittier problems.

I actually think my next big creative move might be to arc Ruby’s entire life.

We’ve had a great week and it’s only Wednesday.

The big news and really the most fun and most exciting event of the week was casting.  We sent out our casting notice last Thursday.  We posted on Casting workbook, Craig’s list, Mandy and the rubyskyepi.com.  We also spread the word through our personal Twitter and Facebook feeds.

The response has been amazing.  In fact the submissions are still pouring in.  It took Kelly, Kerry and I ten or more hours to sort through them and then Kelly and Kerry had to call all the actors or their agents and set up times.

We got to Fraser Studios on the Danforth this morning at 9:00 to set up.  Illia Srivsky joined us and ran the camera and Sarah Higgins, a lovely young actress for whom we don’t have a part, read with the auditioners.  All of us were apprehensive.

We’d book a ton of people and very few breaks.  We didn’t know what would happen.

You don’t know about a script till you hear it on its feet and casting is an extremely painful way to learn about your mistakes.  You see an audition and you realize how horrifyingly bad a scene is” and then you have to sit and listen to it another 11 times.  Ouch.

Then you worry that there won’t be any actors who match your vision or get what you’re trying to.  Or that you and the rest of the team won’t agree on who would work in each role.

And certainly, you’re not looking forward to spending nine consecutive hours in a windowless room.

As it turned out, we had a great time and left at close to 6 pm in high spirits.  The script sounded good if I do say so myself (all the funny stuff written by Julie).  Kelly and I were absolutely agreed on every actor.  But best of all, we saw amazing talent.  People came in prepared and worked hard for us.  It was so much fun” from our side of the table at least.  Probably it was a lot more nerve wracking on the other side.

What a profession is acting.  In order to get the gig, you must go and ply your trade in front of people like us; give us a sample or a preview.  And we sit there, as if we’re at a buffet, looking at all the delightful choices, deciding which delicacies we’ll choose.

We have some great choices.  But more importantly, our vision of what we are making became that more clear and we like it and are more and more confident that kids will too.