At least three things to start your weekend

More about Revival on Syfy and other Central Wisconsin TV/film projects; survey results from our Wausau incentive piece, a story about the county and TIF that didn't make the cut and more.

This scene from the comic book Revival is based on The Speakeasy in Schofield.

I have a bigger story I am working on that I still need to get some pieces together for (and it is not an easy one, frankly). And i was scheduled to interview the owners of the new Game Emporium. But for now, here at least three things to start your weekend.

The story behind the new SyFy series Revival set in Wausau

I’ve seen a lot of write-ups about the new SyFy series Revival set in Wausau. It took me by surprise, not because I knew nothing about it; but because I assumed by this point it just wasn’t going to happen.

Because the series is based on a comic book series by Tim Seeley, a D.C. Everest graduate from 1995. Seeley already had a pretty substantial comic career when he launched Revival, which he wrote but did not draw.

When he started Revival, he brought his illustrator Mike Norton to Wausau and took him around on a tour for some time, while Norton sketched several locations. Some of those are a touch obscure, including The Speakeasy in Schofield, shown in the scene above.

I reported on the potential for a TV Series back in 2017 when I wrote a story about Central Wisconsin Film connections. At the time a film company from Chicago came up to Wausau and filmed a spec trailer. I remember seeing them at The Paisley Mug checking through their footage.

Don’t expect to see any familiar locations in the TV version of Revival, since it was shot in Canada. And in a behind-the-scenes interview, the showrunners talk about Wausau being a sleepy town where nothing happens. I’ll be talking with Seeley on Monday to learn more about how this series made it’s way to television sets.

But that’s not the only central Wisconsin property to get a screen treatment. Others haven’t fared so well…