'Aidan 5' Clones The IndieNet and Beyond... Again

I chat with Aidan 5 stars Bryan Michael Block and Maya Sayre. Plus, Mighty Woman, The Guild, The LXD, Brothers Barbarian, Passenger, Rigamortis: A Zombie Love Story, Vampire Mob, and more.

Welcome to another clone-filled episode of… The IndieNet and Beyond! It’s news and web series episodes. Plus, this time I chat with the stars of the ‘sci-noir’ series Aidan 5, Bryan Michael Block and Maya Sayre.

The last time we spoke to someone working on Aidan 5, it was with some of the talent behind the camera, writer/director John Jackson and executive producer Ben Bays. This time, we talk to the talent in front of the camera, actors Bryan Michael Block and Maya Sayre. Aidan 5 is what the creators call a sci-noir series, but what does that mean? ...MORE

 

 

 

IndieNet and Beyond Turns Into A ‘Vampire Zombie Werewolf’

This was a fun interview with the three stars and producers of the series Vampire Zombie Werewolf. Plus, Mortal Kombat, Mind's Eye and Death Battle!.

We are a few weeks into 2011 and we are catching the flu at The IndieNet and Beyond… or… are we just becoming a Vampire Zombie Werewolf? Are my fangs showing? How embarrassing? More news and web series episodes, plus an interview with the stars and producers of the web series Vampire Zombie Werewolf, which just had episode 5 premiere. This show was a Top Ten pick for 2010 by ScifiPulse and has been nominated for awards by Indie Intertube for 2010.

Last week, I interviewed the stars and creative minds behind Vampire Zombie Werewolf: Steven Lekowicz (“Tad,” Executive Producer/Writer), Tanya Ihnen (“Bunny,” Executive Producer) and Robb Padgett (“The Producer,” Writer/Director/Executive Producer/Composer/Editor). They wear many hats in the creation of this cleverly funny web series, and I could tell quickly during the conversation that they are all close friends.

Vampire Zombie Werewolf is an interesting title and and interesting concept. A web series producer visits a rich couple who will give him some big bucks to invest in a web series, but they have some of their own ideas about what it should be about. However, the Producer quickly learns that this isn’t a normal yuppie couple, but rather two people who are Vampire, Zombie and Werewolf all rolled up into one. He finds it difficult to escape as he learns how they became such beings, which turns into a hilarious story poking fun at some iconic monsters. But where did this odd idea even come from?... MORE

The IndieNet and Beyond Looks Into The Future

This week on my column at ScifiPulse I introduce my new big writing & directing project, the scifi web series Reality On Demand. Plus, new episodes of some of my favorite web series.

We are a couple of weeks into 2011, so it is time for a look to the future with The IndieNet and Beyond! More news and web series episodes, plus a look at a new web series close to me. We have some very fun interviews coming up the next few weeks, but I would like to take a little time this week to talk about a new project that hopefully you’ll want to hear about: Reality On Demand.

Web series and other types of new media storytelling have come a long way over the last few years. While the concept of the web series is still relatively young, the leaps that have happened since the first advertiser-supported web series that premiered (The Spot,1995), or the first companion web series—or as the WGA calls it, Derivative New Media—(Homicide: Second Shift, a tie-in to Homicide: Life on the Street), have been amazing. ... MORE

The IndieNet and Beyond – Top Ten Web Series of 2010

It was hard narrowing it down to the top ten (plus one) web series, but it's a solid list of web series worth checking out.

The New Year is almost here, so what better time is there to take a look back at some of the best scifi-related web series 2010 gave us. Plus, new web series episodes to take us into 2011. It is even more fitting that we take a look at the top ten now, because this is actually the 10^th installment of “The IndieNet and Beyond.”

I want to start this with a disclaimer: the year of 2010 has given us such a wide range of web series as the concept of the web original grows, that it was tough nailing down just 10. In fact, I could have easily made this list 20, just with scifi/fantasy/horror themes. They are only roughly in any particular order, and there are plenty of shows that almost made this list. But I stuck with ten, since people tend to like top ten lists better than top twenty lists. (Who knew?)... MORE

The IndieNet and Beyond Versus Star Trek, Batman, and Quantum Leap

I recently had a chance to speak with Indiana filmmaker Christopher Allen. It was a lot of fun chatting with him about indie filmmaking and fan films.

Christmas approaches, but you get your present early with a visit to The IndieNet and Beyond! More news and web series episodes, plus an interview with Christopher Allen, the director/writer of the fan films Star Trek Versus Batman and Quantum Leap: A Leap To Di For. They are not traditional web series (can you use the word traditional with web series?), but they are independently created and on the Internet for all to see.

Christopher Allen is an Indiana independent filmmaker who has been making films for years. He has made the more traditional format of feature films with A Certain Justice (2003) and A Time for the Heart (2009), but what got him noticed in LA was when he started making fan films that were put on the Internet. He started playing the fan film world in 2006 with Star Trek Versus Batman. The concept would seem unusual by itself, but even more so when you realize it is the 1960′s Star Trek versus the 1960′s Batman. Where did that idea come from?

“The spark that started it all was a life time of watching Star Trek reruns and Batman reruns on TV in the mid-late seventies and early eighties,” explained Allen. “I was a kid then and the only thing we really had to watch in those days [was Batman and Star Trek]. Before the blizzard of all the cable channels we have now…we only had three or four channels to choose from.” ... MORE

The IndieNet and Beyond Visits The ‘Asylum’

This week I speak with Dan Williams, the creator/writer/producer of the new web series, Asylum. Which has quickly become one of my favorite new web series. Enjoy the interview!

It’s time for another fun visit to “The IndieNet and Beyond.” We have more news and the newest web series episodes, plus an interview with Dan Williams, the creator/writer/producer of the new web series Asylum. A procedural, with elements of scifi and mystery. The series premiered December 10th, 2010.

“Asylum is an all new dramatic series that takes place at a hospital for the criminally insane. This is a place where really the most difficult cases in the state go to and because of that the doctors are really left on their own to do what they want and have sort of unorthodox methods of treating the patients,” explained Williams. “When we start off the series, there has been an outbreak of violence at the hospital. So that has caused an officer from the Department of Mental Health to be sent there to check things out and see what is going on. We follow him as he does some digging to find out what is going on in this hospital.”

The series looks very professional and you could probably stick it up on a TV and easily convince someone they are watching a show on ABC or FOX (but then you would fear for its inevitable cancellation by FOX). This creepy series has a sort of X-Files feel and Williams admits he was influenced by that particular cult favorite when it came to the structure of the series.

“I’m a huge X-Files fan. It was one of my favorite shows growing up. We definitely tried to embody that model that the episodes stand alone in that we meet a patient, we figure out what is wrong with them and we see them try to treat that patient. But there is also this overarching mythology throughout this whole series: about the hospital, about the doctors, and about some secrets they’re keeping,” said Williams. ... MORE

The IndieNet and Beyond: The ‘Cursed’ Interview

This week I speak to Yuri Brown, creator/writer/star of the new supernatural web series Cursed.

Hello world wide web! It’s time for another installment of “The IndieNet and Beyond.” More of the news and newest web series episodes you are used to, including an interview with Yuri Brown. She is the creator/writer/star of the new supernatural web series Cursed. The series is scheduled to premiere this Wednesday evening, December 8^th.

The series is about an angel incarnate, Crystal Jones, who struggles between a life of being a single mom and a killer of killers. It’s a balancing act between her loved ones and her desire to ascend. Yuri Brown (Deliver Us from Eva) stars in and writes this new web series, which is directed by Jeff Kanew (Revenge of the Nerds).

“[It's] about a fallen angel. She’s an Earth angel that… is cursed. She desperately wants to break the curse and be close to God again,” explained Brown. “So she is sort of on this path and the way that she feels she will be able to redeem herself is by killing bad guys. She feels that if she shows God that she doesn’t stand with them and that she willing to be a destroyer of evil that he’ll reclaim her.”

But things aren’t as simple as just hunting down the bad guys for redemption. She has earthly ties that complicate things: a son, a father, and a lover. ... MORE