Dec 2005 BG Newsletter
Hi everyone,
Been a while since I last spoke to you directly, but this has been an extremely busy and challenging year for me and I haven’t had much time until recently to reflect upon where I’ve come to in my life, and give thought to my experiences on the new Battlestar series. As this powerful year of change and turmoil comes to an end I thought it was time to share my journey this year as I have asked others to do on battlestargalactica.com. As you may have noticed we are inviting writers, reviewers and fans of both the classic and new BG series to share their insights and feedback on this website as we want to express as many diverse and constructive opinions as possible to our viewers. I have always believed that battlestargalactica.com should be the home for fans of all ages, beliefs and backgrounds to debate their unique points of view - share their vision and honest feedback on what they like or don’t like, and explore where they would like to see the new series go in the future. I encourage all of you out there to get involved in whatever way suits your talents and abilities in making this website the place to go for exploring and participating in THE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA UNIVERSE. By the way I just filmed an interview with Bear Mcleary, the very talented 26 year old composer and arranger of the new BG series, and this will be posted on our website in January. My plan is to film a number of interviews of actors from both the original and new series this year. Look for them soon.
That said let me say that playing the role of Tom Zarek on the new BG series this year has truly been a refreshing challenge and a real pleasure. I love playing this multi-layered complex character that struggles to come to terms with his demons and dances pacariously with his dark side. For me he is a rare man like a few other political revolutionaries in our history, who see the injustice in life and have the balls to fight for an ideal that the world never seems quite ready for. And he has paid dearly for challenging the powers that be. After losing everything of meaning in his life he is driven by his pain, anger and need for revenge at a system that he now believes is corrupt and beyond redemption. Every actor dies to play such a juicy character and it’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed the art of acting so much.
I feel very fortunate to have been part of both the classic and now re-imagined Battlestar series and to have had the chance to get to know and work with a whole new generation of actors, writers and directors. Several years ago I had almost given up on show business having been burned out by years of playing too many roles in series and movies I didn’t really care about or believe in. Many artists are idealists in the beginning of their career and have trouble reconciling their art with the more practical business of acting. I was one of those, but after a successful career and than turning down too many roles because I wanted something meaningful to play, I found myself on the outside looking in at this crazy business and had to accept many roles just to pay the bills. This eventually burned me out and I found that my passion for acting and even life itself had faded. That led me to years of pain, frustration and self- reflection on who I was and what was important to me in this world. And what a powerful realization I came to: to finally give up on trying to perfect and fix myself and just accept who I am, right here and right now with all my good and shadow sides. I had exhausted myself and gotten really sick trying to battle and destroy my physiological demons, but eventually found that the process of healing and building self worth only begins when we can love ourselves unconditionally with all our flaws and imperfections. It was at this point in my life that I began moving more into teaching, lecturing and business, forming a production company and teaching what I had learned the hard way. I spent the next several years learning how to develop my ideas and follow through on my creative vision, eventually developing a trailer called the Battlestar Second Coming trailer to help inspire a revival of Battlestar, in addition to a new story concept “The Great War of Magellan”. I had long forgotten what acting really meant to me until being cast as Tom Zarek in the new Battlestar series. This role and series rekindled my love and respect for acting and the power of and magic of working with wonderful writers, producers and performers. You see the process of acting may be different for everyone, but for me it had always been a profound art and craft that not only explores and celebrates the human condition, but helps heal our wounded heart and expand our capacity for loving and understanding our fellow human beings in the world we live in. For me it has never been about the fame, money or power although I was fortunate enough to have tasted all of these much sought after comodies. I would dare say that many of my contemporaries might say the same thing; in their own words of course, but many artists share this theme, and I’m proud to have worked with many of them. Many people don’t really understand the acting process and think it just play- acting or faking emotions, or about big egos, fame and the ability to be consummate liars. I’m sure we’ve all met some of those so called actor types that give acting a bad name, but I want you to know that many of the actors I’ve worked with from Lorne Green to Edward Almos and Mary McDonnell, along with many of the young actors on the new BG series have all been truly caring and humble individuals who care deeply about there craft and strive to better this world.
Acting takes tremendous courage and following an acting career takes even more guts and perseverance. And believe me when I say that I have learned more about life, people and the world we live in from pursuing and exploring the art of acting than from anything else I’ve ever done. My acting classes and pursuing a career in show business forced me to face my fears and insecurities and to take an honest look at the deepest and darkest parts of myself. It also helped me develop compassion and forgiveness for my fellow human beings by looking through other people’s eyes and understanding their unique perspectives. In addition, committing to an acting career expanded my vision of what I thought I was capable of achieving. I had no idea I could ever be one of those magical performers up on the screen or speak and lecture in front of thousands at conventions or seminars around the country. You have to remember that I was one of the shyest and insecure kids in world at the beginning of my life. I would recommend taking an acting class to anyone regardless of whether you want to make a career out of it or not.
Well enough of my rambling about my personal journey, on to current news and events. Congratulations are in order as Battlestar has been picked up for another season and will begin filming again in March or April of 06. The next ten episodes of the new Galactica series begin airing January 20th, as most of you already know by know. Another bit of news: they’re putting out another edition of the classic Battlestar series figurines with Starbuck and I in the white coats. Very cool! This is a limited edition so get them early if you’re a fan and a collector. We’ll have a notice on this site when they’re available. And my latest and maybe last BG novel of the classic series entitled “Redemption” has just come out in bookstores everywhere. My publisher unfortunately just passed away and we’re not sure what the status of the company will be at this point. We send condolences to his family and thank Bryon Preiss for supporting and publishing these novels for the past several years. For those of you who want to order the Gold signed edition of this novel please link to……… And flash, the first Battlestar Galactica convention in Australia is in the works for March of 2006. Stay tuned for more information on this. Actors from both the classic and re-imagined BG series will be attending. For those of you in England thanks for turning out to see the first Battlestar classic reunion convention in Birmingham this past Sept. It was so much fun to see the entire cast again and even Aaron Douglas from the new series showed up to support us. He was a big fan in his youth and has always been supported of the original BG series. Thanks Aaron, your heart and comedic talents lifted all of us attending in England. Aaron is a natural comedian by the way. One of the funniest actors I’ve ever met and is a hoot at conventions. Don’t miss seeing him when he appears at a convention near you.
Well, believe it or not I just hosted my first cruise to the Mayan ruins this December. I don’t know about the Dirk Benedicts cruises, but I must have gained 10 pounds in just a week from eating way too much food. Climbing 11 flights of stairs each day didn’t help either. Exercises helps, but believe me the only real and lasting way to lose weight is to stop eating so much take it from me. I have to tell you that my first experience with cruising ended up being a very positive experience. Our BG group from all over the world became family by the end of the cruise and we really enjoyed hanging out with each other and playing like little kids again. Running round the decks late at night and snapping beach towels at each other’s bum was a blast! The Mayan ruins in Belize sent chills up my spine. Felt like I had been there before. God knows where that comes from. Costa Maya and Key West were a lot of fun too. And since I’m a dancing fool I had a great time shaking my tail with all my guests and singing karaoke until late in the evening each night. That was one of the most popular places and activities on the ship besides the late night buffets and chocolate nights. A lot of sake and chocolate helps ease the pain of making a big fool out yourself trying to sing like you know what you’re doing. My “acting for everyone classes” must have helped our group get over stage fright as just about everyone got up and sang there heart out to standing ovations. Oh, just forgot, I won three hundred and twenty dollars at the slot machine. I asked five of my guests to help me pull the handle and boom, I won can you believe it!! My friends Michael and Drew brought their girlfriends on the cruise and Michael ended up treating our BG group and just about everyone else he met with constant free drinks and endless bottles of champagne. I certainly wouldn’t want to get his credit card bill for the month. But special thanks to Michael for making everyone on the cruise feel so welcomed and valued. And believe it or not I’m hosting another cruise next year at the same time on Carnival. That’s December third to be exact. Stay tuned for pictures of the recent cruise and information about next years cruise schedule.
Last but not least Blam comics and I are looking for three talented artists to draw the Magellan comic book based upon my “Great War of Magellan” story. This is a paid gig and we are looking for artists that not only have the visual style and talent to convey the deeper meaning of the story in a powerful and visually impacting way, but those who are committed, have a great work ethic and are collaborative. I’m also looking for the right artist to do the cover for my first “Great War of Magellan” novel, which is now in the works. If you’re interested please submit your art to both Blam comics at clb@blamcomics.com and myself at merlinquest@hotmail.com for consideration. Also go to greatwarofmagellan.com to learn more about the story. In addition I’m looking for a graphic artists to help finish my new Magellan website and a talented and committed web designer who may be interested in building and running a new richardhatch.com site. This is a working site for my career and all the things I teach and lecture on. It’s an internship position that could evolve into a paid gig in the future. I’m looking for someone who is fluid in all aspects of web designing including flash and who would also like to run and update my site. Must be a good communicator and collaborator who is responsible, experienced and has an easygoing friendly nature. I’m willing to trade free classes in my acting workshops in exchange for services rendered if you happen to live close to the Studio City area of California.
By the way I’m also teaching a new acting class every Tuesday night beginning in January in Burbank California. I will include a link to my class for those of you who may be interested in just exploring the acting process or an acting career. I have been teaching acting and many other life changing seminars and workshops for the past 30 years in between acting gigs all over the country. It’s always been my passion to help others achieve more success and fulfillment in their lives, and sharing what I have had to learn the hard way and seeing people avoid making some of the major mistakes I’ve made is always a joy for me. Well, until next time let me say from all of us here at Battlestar.com to all of you a very merry holiday season and Happy New Year. As always we appreciate your support and for staying the course through the years. Without you we wouldn’t be here and neither would the classic or new BG series. Keep the faith!
Richard Hatch
Past Newsletters Archive
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Richard Hatch's Feb 2005 Newsletter |
"As many of you know the new BG series has been airing in England and now the United States to some of the highest ratings ever on the Sci-fi channel. As a result NBC and the Sci-fi channel has picked up the series for another season. Filming will most likely commence in May of this year....."
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