MAKING ITS MARK: Honoring MOTW's First MVP

The Mark of the Wolf Universe has officially been around for over 15 years now, when we released the first episode, "Conundrum", on June 8, 2008. But, unofficially, MOTW really got started a few months before that: September 7, 2007. That date, and the person behind the milestone (along with a few other highlights)

is what we'll talk about on this post.

As I was starting things out, not only with MOTW, but as a filmmaker in general, I met up with several other people who shared the same interests that I did. Most of them I met online through websites, fan boards and instant messages. One of those people I got to know was Eric Smigiel.

I've known Eric since 2005, give or take. We first crossed paths through a fan film website that we both frequented back in the day. Didn't take long for the two of us to become friends. Eric was a fledgling filmmaker on his own right, doing several films with family and friends, even a few dedicated to one of his favorite heroes, Batman. Now, while he had access to things like a camera, film equipment and the like. I did not. So, as I was starting to put my initial plan into motion about filming a little teaser trailer to get the ball rolling about my little werewolf project, I learned that my actor would be unavailable to shoot his scenes. I asked Eric if he'd be up for it. And even though he had a full plate of his own projects that he was working on, he agreed and filmed things in New Mexico, his home state. After sending back his footage, and then taking a few months to get the visual FX down, I released the first ever MOTW teaser trailer on Sept. 7, 2007, where it got many positive reviews. At the time, the teaser was gonna be the spark plug that would lead to what was gonna be a full length MOTW movie. But, things happened, a few ideas fell through while others came together and the movie idea would soon morph into what is now the MOTW WebSeries. A few months later, with the WebSeries idea now an official go, I asked a few of my filmmaking friends to put together some scenes that would be used as a trailer to promote the series' upcoming debut online. While that was going on, I was looking for someone to talk about what's to come, I asked Eric if he'd be up for narrating the promo. He agreed, and when the trailer debuted, it was his voice that would deliver what is now known as the "Official Creed" for MOTW.

Once the WebSeries got up and running, it wouldn't be long before I'd finally take on the task of directing my own episode. That moment happened in August 2012. Once I came up with the story idea, Eric was the only person that I saw playing the lead role.

So, after talking it over and planning things out, it all came together in the course of one weekend just outside Chicago. I came over from my home state in Michigan, Eric came from his place in New Mexico and together, along with a couple mutual friends, we not only attended a comic book convention that was taking place in the area, but we also began production on the episode, "The Test Case".

I recall it was a jam packed four days. We shot various scenes in between our time checking out the con, sometimes just shooting things on the fly as we walked between the hotel and the convention center. The bulk of filming happened on the third day of the shoot, where we spent several night time hours in our hotel room shooting all the dialogue and the scenes where Eric was in his werewolf outfit, one that I brought over from home. When we got enough of that done, we called it a night. The next morning, after getting cleaned up and grabbing breakfast, we filmed a few more scenes. Once that was done, and thanks to another mutual friend who filmed his scenes separately, "The Test Case" came out about a year later. Since that time, both of us have gone on to bigger and better things. While I've continued work on the series, including writing and directing several more projects, Eric has continued to not only write and direct several critically acclaimed short films, he's also appeared as an extra in a few big projects both in TV and in the movies, including "Oppenheimer", which won several Oscars earlier this year. The MOTW Universe has evolved a lot over the past 15-plus years, but it wouldn't have gotten this far if not for the efforts of several people who believed in my concept and what I wanted this little werewolf series to do and what it could become. And without question, Eric Smigiel was one of those people who played a huge role in helping that evolution. I went back over one of my initial blog posts from way back in 2007 after the first teaser trailer came out and I posted this statement:

"I want to thank Eric for acting and especially being able to squeeze it in with his crowded plate of a schedule. You could've turned me down a million times over, especially with what I was looking for, but you didn't and I can't thank you enough for that."

And Eric didn't turn me down a year later for the voiceover and five years after that playing the lead role in front of the camera. It's moments like that, among many others that shows why me and him are still good friends to this day, even though we have fewer moments to catch up nowadays. But on this moment, as the MOTW Universe looks ahead, I want to take this moment to again thank Eric for all he has done in the past. He was truly the MVP back in our early days. I wish you nothing but the best with all you're doing now and beyond, and look forward to the day when you and I can work together again.