I am proud to announce that SOLO has garnered FOUR NOMINATIONS for the Inaugural International Academy of Web Television Awards (IAWTV):

Best Directing (Comedy): Frederick Snyder
Best Male Performance (Comedy): Jonathan Nail
Best Original Music: Rob Gokee
Best Design: Jonathan Nail & Michael Levinson

This is truly an honor. And congratulations to all the IAWTV Award Nominees! Your work inspires me continually.

The hardest thing to do is to say Good-Bye. So I’ll say Thank You, instead.

First and foremost, thank you to our Solonauts — those of you who donated your hard earned money to help us create SOLO. Thank you to our top donors all the way to our donors of spare change. We made every penny count. We could not have accomplished all of this without your support.

Thank you to our fans who let us know how much they were enjoying the show. Thank you to the fans who helped us spread the word by telling their friends, family and frienemies. And thank you to the silent fans who were laughing and lurking in the dark recesses of the world.

Thank you to my producer, Allison Vanore. You brought in a team of talented, hard working, creative crew members who brought this show from the page to the screen. You were my rock. Beyond paperwork and scheduling you kept the cameras rolling and the set lit — but most important you kept me focused and sane. Without you I would still be tweeting “Hey, I have this idea for a show…” You made wonderful things happen.

Thank you to my directors. Jorge Urbina — your enthusiasm in the beginning bolstered my resolve to see this through to the end. The conversations we had, late at night on my driveway, still stick with me. You’re a good man to have helming a show. Allison — your easy going attitude and “invisible hand” approach made for a relaxing third episode shoot — and it went so wonderfully smooth! Thank you for taking command for the third episode. Frederick Snyder — your input into character and story was so invaluable, I will never be able to thank you enough. You are a blast to work with and I look forward to working with you again. You took my vision and made it your own. The show grew in so many ways because of you.

Thank you to my editor, Frank Mohler. You “got” the story right from the start. Your cuts were quick and to the point and you truly helped tell the story once the filming was done. Thank you for speaking up when something wasn’t working. Thank you for throwing in suggestions that worked and for those suggestions that didn’t work. You were an integral part to the show and we couldn’t have told the story without you. You went above and beyond the call.

Thank you to my composer, Rob Gokee. You were the first to approach me about working on my show and you have been my avid supporter from the start. You filled the silence and heightened the mood. And thankfully you kept your pants on for most of it. Thank you also for crewing, running crafty,  being a swing grip, and being a good friend when I stressed out over all the little things.

Thank you to my Director of Photography, Raphe Wolfgang. You were always there, catching us at our best moments and in the best light. Your humor, despite the long hours, kept our spirits light. You’re a damn good photographer, filmmaker and friend.

Thank you to my casting director, Laurie Records. You’ve been a friend for so many years and I begged a HUGE favor from you in casting SOLO. You found such wonderful actors to audition and the show benefited greatly!

Thank you to MY CREW! It was on your backs and with your creative sweat that we produced a fantastic show. You showed up, ready to put your all into the show, and it was a great pleasure working with all of you. Hopefully most of you had the opportunity to try my wife’s doughnut bread pudding with warm whiskey sauce.

Thank you to my post-production crew. As a graphic artist myself, I know the hours and tedious work you bore through to create stunning effects, glorious sound and all the wonderful music that rounded out the show. You put the polish on and made the whole show shine.

Thank you to my actors. Some of you came on as old friends, others were brought on through auditions and became friends. Your creativity really shines on camera. Thank you for sharing the screen with me and for bringing my characters to life. Watching you speak words that were once floating in my head was an amazing and humbling experience.

Thank you to my friends and family who have shown me such great support — emotionally and financially.  You were my cheerleaders! Your enthusiasm and encouragement buoyed me to the finish line. I’m glad I haven’t lost a single one of you to all my tweets, emails, tirades and enthusiasm.

Thank you to Jason Burns and Josh Tate — both of whom were the voices on my shoulder telling me this was a good idea and I should jump right in and “build the ship”. I’m really glad I did. And thank you both for helping me build the set, too.

Thank you to EVERYONE who was involved with SOLO. I coerced favors from you. I borrowed equipment from you. I begged unpaid time from you. I forced you to retweet and repost links. And each of you gave everything you had so freely without too much gripe.

And lastly, but most importantly, thank you to my wife. I’m relieved that you haven’t made me sleep in the spaceship, yet. Your support means everything to me. Your encouragement is manna to me. Your love comforts me when I am down and lifts me up when I feel trodden on… And your cooking kept my crew happy and ready to work. You went above and beyond what anyone should endure for a production. You’re my biggest fan and I am yours. You’re also one of my biggest financiers. I’ll pay off the debt someday, somehow…

WE, the creative team, that is everyone I mentioned above and then some, created SOLO from nothing — something fantastic and wonderful! We completed 9 episodes for our first season and put it out there for the world to enjoy. And we should be proud of this accomplishment. We received FANTASTIC reviews! SOLO was the Official Selection to FOUR festivals in 2010 (ITVFest, NYTVFest, LAWebFest and Flagstaff Film Fest)! It was also nominated for 5 Indie Intertube Awards in 2010 including Best Comedy, Best Actor in a Comedy, Best Editing and Audience Choice as well as a Best Editing nomination in the Indie Soap Awards of 2010. We even gave away 5 AppleTVs and an iPad 2 thanks to our sweepstakes sponsor, DataDirect Networks. We did pretty darn good.

And with these thoughts in mind I sadly announce the curtain for SOLO. I won’t go into details as to why and I won’t tease you with story lines of what could have been. It wouldn’t be prudent and would only lessen what we have accomplished. As for what we could have done better? I’ll leave that to all the amateur pundits to debate. Let it be known that we achieved many of our goals and for that I am extremely proud.

To all our fans, now and future, please leave a comment on what you thought of the show. Tell me your favorite scenes. Heck, get inspired and make a video response like this guy did. But most of all, please continue sharing SOLO with everyone!

To my team, I am humbled by your talent and your enthusiastic desire to create. Thank you for being a part of the show.

Cheers!

Introducing Bob Severns of Ohio! With his fantastic “Send Bob To Mars” video response, he won the iPad 2 – a generous gift from DataDirect Networks and Rocket Munkee Productions. Congratulations, Bob! Don’t get in trouble for using the iPad at work…

And now his winning video…

DataDirect Networks and Rocket Munkee Productions are happy to announce our Mars Madness “Comment & Win” Sweepstakes Winners!

Episode 4 Winner: Matt Wiatt of Florida – “I would learn how to farm hamsters and then open a dairy hamster milk farm when I returned home.”

Episode 5 Winner: Cathy Diaz of California – “Message: ‘Hey, how are you? And, oh, you’re going to die. See ya!’”

Episode 6 Winner: Gary Wischstadt of California – “My Space Ninja’s super power would be the ability to turn a man to putty with just the right look a get him to do whatever she wanted…. a lot like what yours can do I’m sure.”

Episode 7 Winner: Jared Hoy of California – “I’d play raffi’s banana phone over and over on a repeating loop a la Noriega to torture and get my information!”

Episode 8 Winner: Jason Smith of Alabama – “I’m quite fond of poking… death pokes.”

The winners were chosen at random from all valid entries per episode. The 5 winners each received an Apple TV! Congratulations and enjoy! You better be watching SOLO on iTunes with your new Apple TV.

Now to give away an iPad 2 in the Mars Madness “Mars or Bust” Contest!

We are so busy in post that we almost forgot to make an announcement on our website…

SOLO – Season 1.5 launches April 12th, 2011! This is also the 30th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program. How’s that for timing?

We will release the first three episodes on YouTube with annotations and updated graphics beginning April 4th. Episode 4 will begin on Tuesday, April 12 and we will release a new episode each week. 6 new episodes are coming your way!

And we couldn’t have accomplished any of this without the help of our SOLONAUTS! Every dollar was put to good use. Thank you for your donations!