The filming cast and crew are taking their annual “shooting hiatus” from June 25 through July 15, according to James “BamBam” Bamford, the Stunt Coordinator for Stargate Atlantis. One of the reasons why it is called the “shooting hiatus” is because the writers don’t usually end up taking a break from writing, as Joseph Mallozzi demonstrates in his recent blog entry, “Hiatus is upon me. And it couldn’t have come soon enough. Finally, a much-needed break from being cooped up in my Bridge Studio office, stuck behind a desk, agonizing over dialogue and plot developments while the world outside passed me by. And so today, I took advantage of my newfound freedom by remaining cooped up in my home office, stuck behind a desk, agonizing over dialogue and plot developments while the world outside passed me by.”
What do the actors and crew do on the hiatus? For the most part, they spend their time off like anyone would — with family and friends. But, some of them might find work, such as Bamford. “I will be working, to start off with, a mini-series entitled “Tin Man” as a stunt performer myself. I may do a day or [two] on Battlestar Galactica or whatever else comes my way…” These jobs usually are small since Bamford added, “Sticking to Atlantis except for the hiatus […] I remain loyal to the show I am currently working on until it wraps for the season, or has a break…..otherwise I tend not to moonlight.”
Before the start of the hiatus, the cast and crew worked on twelve episodes of Season Four. As often is the case, these episodes were shot out of order to accommodate the availability of actors, directors, and locations. An example of when actor availability affected shooting order was when SG-1 Season Seven’s “Lost City” was filmed before “Resurrection”, which was the last episode to be filmed for that season because it didn’t include Richard Dean Anderson. Sometimes, however, if an actor is not available, his or her scenes will be deleted or changed to accommodate someone else, as script coordinator Alex Levine reported in his blog concerning Amanda Tapping’s scenes in Season Four’s “Be All My Sins Remember’d”. Also for Season Four of Atlantis, director Robert C. Cooper’s “Doppelganger” was the first episode to go before cameras, but is slated to be the fourth episode to air, because Cooper then went straight to the production of Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Director Andy Mikita stepped in to film scenes for Season Four’s “Adrift” and “Lifeline” when the episodes’ director Martin Wood was filming scenes for Stargate: Continuum in late March. And finally, it’s not unusual for one location to be used for two different episodes that are meant to be aired a few episodes apart, such as is the case with Season Four episodes “The Seer” (episode eight) and “This Mortal Coil” (episode ten).
Mallozzi also said that some of the Atlantis crew will be going on a “long weekend” to the Comic Con in San Diego, scheduled for July 25-29. If they resume filming between the hiatus and the convention, they’ll have just enough time to film one episode, which takes about seven days to shoot. As Mallozzi indicated, the writers will be working on scripts over the hiatus, and then he said that they “still have three scripts to break when we get back to the offices in mid-July.” In his Production Diary, Mallozzi explained the breaking process: “In order to write an outline, you must first “break” the story. Breaking a story is pretty much what it sounds like. You break the story down into a tease and five acts, breaking those six sections down into individual scenes (an average of 4-5 per act) covering all of the major dramatic beats.”
Season Four is scheduled to premiere in September on the Sci Fi Channel just as filming will be wrapping up (they’re scheduled to be done on September 28). Mallozzi was pleased that Atlantis will have a few more episodes aired to possibly play into the ratings portion of the decision as to whether or not there will be a Season Five, but indicated that they’ll have already written Season Four’s episodes “as planned” before they’ll receive the renewal notice.