I, Robot is next
Posted by David on May 2nd, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
Our next movie has been decided for real this time: I, Robot! The loving tribute to Isaac Asimov’s classic science fiction anthology about intelligent robots that dares to suggest they won’t be killing machines! …Just kidding, it’s a quickly forgotten man vs. machine action fest with brand name saturation that would make NASCAR blush.
Write your joke script and turn it in by June 27th! Hopefully your writing will be given more justice than Asimov’s.
You can use this srt file to help time your jokes.
Armageddon has been averted… for now.
Posted by David on May 1st, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
Sorry, due to boring rights issues, we cannot perform a live riff of Armageddon. That means we won’t be doing an internet release yet either, since we have to focus our energy on the ones we are doing live. SO… we apologize for getting your hopes up. You can put any writing you’ve done for Armageddon on the shelf until it’s in the cards for us to riff it. We will announce a replacement film very soon.
But League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is STILL on, June 27th at the Englert, and it’s going to be great. More hype on that as the date approaches.
How to Riff
Posted by Chris Hanel on April 28th, 2008 filed in PodcastsComment now »
Victor has put together a really good video detailing the writing process. Watch it!
Happy riffing!
Our second live show: TRON!
Posted by David on April 15th, 2008 filed in Live Shows1 Comment »
Our good friends at the Englert Theatre liked us so much they’ve invited us back! If you aren’t doing anything on the night of Friday, April 25 (at 8:00pm) and can make it to Iowa City, be there! If you are doing something, blow it off and come here anyways! Watch your hard writing work pay off in laughs, cheers, and recognition!
Thanks to Brian Gunning for the poster design!
Tickets are on sale at the Englert Website.
Recording for Speed
Posted by David on April 15th, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
David here. Writer (like many of you), producer, and now blogger for Riff Raff Theater. You may have noticed a little bit of a news drought here, but I’m here to end that. I’ve got a number of desperately-needed updates to bring you today. First on the agenda: the online version of our first live show, Speed. We just got done recording. Here, I’ll prove it:
Left to right: Todd Gutknecht, Chris Hanel, Danuuc. Photo Credit: Yours truly.
With some fine-tuning it’ll be ready for online distribution. The avenues of that distribution are also being worked on (cough New RRT website cough). We’re working our butts off to get this thing off the ground. Stay tuned!
Writing for LXG
Posted by Chaos on February 12th, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
Ok guys. Chris made the announcement about the new script project for Riff Raff Theater, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Fun stuff! I’d like to point out a few things about the script writing process.
First, be sure to pick up a copy of our new script template, that you should use for writing the script:
http://www.riffrafftheater.com/rrt-template-lxg.xls
PLEASE NOTE: we can no longer accept scripts sent in via PM, or email. You MUST use the script submission form, which will ONLY accept scripts in .xls format (do not use winzip, and do not use the open office file format - if you use open office to write as I do, be sure you save in the .xls excel format).
Next… TIMECODES!
To help in the writing process, and to make it easier for us to keep our writing, your writing, and our performance all synched up, we’ve created an .srt subtitle file which contains the timecodes for the entire movie. This is NOT mandatory, but it would really help us out, so if you usually reauthor your own DVDs for watching RiffTrax and Riff Raff Theater products, you should really consider trying this out and helping us make the scripts even better. You can download the .srt file here:
http://www.riffrafftheater.com/lxg.srt
How do you use this, I hear you say? Well, rather than explain it twice, I’ll just link you to the instructions I posted over at the RiffTrax forum:
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,7500.msg210975.html#msg210975
Also, if you are using a program that uses .sub instead of .srt files for subtitles, here is another very excellent post by forum member Ortega on how to convert our file into the necessary format, and load it up in the programs that use .sub files:
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,7500.msg211106.html#msg211106
Now, a quick word about script content. It would make the script compiling process a lot easier for us, and make the timecodes and number of lines submitted by you in the final script more accurate, if you would no longer put multiple lines of dialogue on a single line of the template (i.e. Riffer 1: blah blah blah, Riffer 2: blah BLAH blah, Riffer 3: BLAH blah blah all together in one line), but instead put each of the lines of dialogue on a separate line of the template. Since we need to have each line of dialogue on its own line in the master script so we can assign it to one of our performers, it just makes it that much easier and faster for us to compile if you guys have already split them out and put in the estimated timecodes for when each line should be spoken. Again, this is not mandatory, but it really helps us out and makes the editing process smoother and faster. Take that for what it’s worth.
And finally, just a quick note on jokes. I’ve mentioned this before on the forums, but I feel it bears repeating. Don’t feel the need to fill up every single second of the script with material, especially if you don’t have something funny to put there. We would rather that you concentrate on providing the funniest material you can, than just whatever you can think of to fill in a dead spot. It will be easier for us to read through and edit the scripts if we are not having to read through a lot of unfunny material that was put in just to fill space, and leaving that detritus out will actually INCREASE the likelihood that we use more of your material… if someone sends me a 600 line script, and I haven’t even cracked a smile in 2 or 3 pages, chances are I’m going to start skimming through your script, and I might miss the funny stuff you had in there. Leaving out the junk lines and just giving us your good material makes it more likely that those lines will end up in the final draft. Just something to think about…
As a reminder, the submission due date is Sunday, March 1st. Good luck, and have fun!
We Have a Winner! Sort of.
Posted by Chris Hanel on February 10th, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
Man, you people make this difficult.
After a week of voting, we came to a tie. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen held the lead for most of the week, and Armageddon came inching back at the last minute to deadlock the voting. Chaos and I got together to discuss things and a few valid points were made our way about the logistics of both.
So, we’ve made our tiebreaking vote.
The winner is….
LXG writing starts now! Scripts due March 1st! Stay tuned for more details!!!
-Chris
Riff #3: Tally so far, and a few opinions
Posted by Chris Hanel on February 5th, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
After 24 hours and change, here’s how we stand:
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 18 Votes
Armageddon: 18 Votes
Alien Vs. Predator: 9 Votes
Die Hard: 6 Votes
The Rock: 5 Votes
National Treasure: 5 Votes
My personal vote is for Die Hard. But I understand the allure of LXG being riffed. It wouldn’t be on the list if we didn’t want to do it. Some of the other guys around here have offered their 2 cents on the subject.
James — THE ROCK: “If I could only choose one of these movies to riff, I think it would have to be that. There just isn’t enough time in the world to give Nicholas Cage the verbal bashing he truly deserves, so any chance to squeeze in a few more zingers is time well spent, in my opinion. Also, I think it’s well past time that we gave the riff treatment to Mr. Connery, and hish lovely axshent (damnit, we’ve got a certified impressionist in our camp, so let’s put him to good use). Plus, the movie features chemical weaponry, which is always ideal material to make the bodily function jokes that the kids seem to love so much these days.”
Brian T. — NATIONAL TREASURE: “Like James, I liked the idea of skewering Nic Cage, but I was thinking more of National Treasure. I think it has just as much opportunity for riffs and it’s a lighter movie. Diane Kruger is easy on the eyes too. That’s not exactly a source for riffs, but I like to point that out.”
Duly noted, Brian.
David — LXG: “Because it is winning in the Round Table poll and I would like to please the RT/RRT fanbase, because it will allow Todd to do his Connery impersonation, and because I own the DVD, I would have to say League of Public Domain Gentlemen is my choice for the next victim of Riff Raff Theater.”
You wanna do LXG just to please the fanbase? You sell-out! 
If you want to have a say in what ends up being the eventual winner, head to the Rifftrax forums and cast your ballot. Voting ends on Sunday.
What’s Next?
Posted by Chaos on February 3rd, 2008 filed in NewsComment now »
Well, it’s certainly been a busy week for us here at Riff Raff Theater, with the release of the Batman & Robin RiffTrax as well as our first live show for Speed. So, now that the mad rush is over, what’s next?
You tell us!
Riff Raff Theater is currently holding votes over on the RiffTrax forum in this thread:
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,7352.0.html
Head on over and cast your vote. In one week (Sunday, Feb. 1oth), we’ll close the voting and start accepting script submissions on the next project. We plan to release the mp3 files for TRON, Speed, and the 3rd movie all at once. So be sure to get your vote in for the next movie, and get ready to start writing another great script!
Performing for Other People
Posted by Chris Hanel on February 2nd, 2008 filed in Live Shows, News4 Comments »
The Englert Theatre in Iowa City played host to our premiere of Speed. We had more people than we expected, and less than we hoped (my first comment on stage: “Oh god, we better be funny now!”), but the people that were there certainly came to have a good time, and I’m happy to report we didn’t seem to disappoint. All of our nervousness wiped away after the first big laugh — which came before we even got out on stage. The man responsible was our emcee, Dennis Lambing, who has 100% earned his position as our own disembodied voice until the end of time with his superb performance.
Midway through the film we had a fun trivia contest, giving away many fabulous prizes including a cheap gold watch, a 10 day bus pass, a copy of the Replacements on DVD — and then we had two trivia buffs go at it with their knowledge of Jeff Daniels’ career. The winner took home a one year gift certificate to all of our future riff downloads; the runner up got an autographed Riff Raff Theater poster “Which may someday be worth TENS of dollars” according to Dennis.
At the end of the night, all of the writers present took a bow with us and we asked the most important question: “You guys wanna see this again?” The answer was given in a resounding cheer, and we only hope the Englert heard. Thanks to everyone who attended, our writers for making us look good, and our respective wives and families for understanding the hard work and energy we put into doing this.
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