With Act IV published last week, we have finally finished the script for the first episode of “Up Late, Late at Night.” Now we begin production on puppets, props, and sets. We will also need to slide in plotting and scripting for the second episode somewhere in there.

ULLAN all started from an argument Ophidia and I had regarding which was the better year for film, 1985 or 1999. Ophia championed 1985, while I rallied in defense of 1999. We had such a good time discussing, debating, and detouring, we decided to turn it into a project.

The original idea was that we would take a movie from each year and discuss them. We tried a prototype of this, but my hand could not handle operating a puppet. That was discouraging. Around that same time, Trump got elected. With the sour mood in the air, and my own sour mood, we decided to take a break from the project.

We tried other puppets and other approaches but none worked. Then one day, on a whim, I said to Ophidia, “I feel like trash.” Something about admitting that out loud, dislodged the blocks I was having. The new format followed shortly there after.