Anthony Blaine directing 4Hire
I met Anthony Blaine from Parallel Worlds Productions on Twitter, when tweets about his upcoming web series 4Hire caught my eye. The series is about 4 childhood friends who grew up together and became vigilante hit men who “right the wrongs where justice falls short.”
Anthony and two friends, Jake Smith and Adam Apperson, came up with the idea over some tequila and appetizers at a local restaurant. They liked the concept of a bad good guy. Adam came up with the hit men idea. The show Dexter had a big influence on the project.
Since initial concept, it’s taken the team over a year and a half to get where they are today. The project started with a small group of 10 people and has grown to over 140 volunteers. Their original Kickstarter campaign raised $1166. That money got the project off the ground. Other than that, the project is 100% funded through volunteer work. The team recently launched a new Kickstarter campaign to help push the project through to the final stages of production.
Parallel Worlds Productions has taken what I like to call “Community Sourcing” to a whole new level. 4Hire has the overwhelming support of the entire city of Boise, ID. In addition to the volunteer crew, many businesses provided real-life sets for the series: a pawn shop, the Idaho capitol building and downtown Boise. The local police department allowed the crew to use their brand new Charger cop car in a crime scene. This community support takes crowd sourcing out of the virtual world and into the real world!
“In this day and age, you have to be on everything.” Anthony uses Facebook, to keep fans updated and to post behind the scenes footage. He also posts to such well-known sites as Google +, Twitter and Instagram.
Anthony posts to a site targeted to filmmakers called FilmBreak for short stories, films and documentaries. The site uses a rating system to decide what to films to promote. If you score above a certain number, FilmBreak will help promote your film to larger networks like Netflix or Hulu and studios like Universal and Paramount.
The original plan was to release the web series as 4 short 10-minute films on YouTube. The last episode ends in a cliff hanger, leaving the viewer wanting more. The team is in talks with outside sources and may decide to release 4Hire as a short film. They plan to premiere a 45 minute short film locally, in Boise. “There are a lot of options for independent filmmakers to get our films out.”
Parallel Worlds Productions wants to make money too, so they’re trying to decide what distribution options work best. 4Hire premieres in October, so Anthony should have Amused Now as a money-making option.
Anthony’s advice to new filmmakers putting together their own projects is “Never say ‘No.’ If you think it’s too big, ask anyway. If you keep asking the right questions to the right people, you’ll find the answer you’re looking for.” Nobody can do this by themselves. This is not an industry for one man bands. “Keep at it. Don’t look back and say, ‘I should have done it.’ Go out and do it!”
To make a living, Anthony does sub-contracting. A lot of the guys work day jobs and work on the film weekends and late nights. Scheduling has been one of the biggest hurdles.
Everyone involved believes in this project. Anthony emphasizes that if you can instill belief with your crew and as they begin to see the final product, then anything is possible. All you need to do is work hard and ask for help. I believe him.
To watch the complete video interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUvK977qm6g
Amused Now Featured Artist Series
Cynthia Kahn
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