I just wanted to thank all of our contest entries for their submissions and their hard work. The quality of the episodes just keeps getting better all the time. We had 21 submissions - almost twice the number of episodes as the first contest.
Once again, the screening was held in Los Angeles on Saturday evening, April 17th. In attendance on the night of the screening were comic book legend Len Wein and his wife Chris, Swordmaster Anthony DeLongis and Mary, KSR Action Aces agent Michelle Braveman and her husband Jeff, and film critic Abbie Bernstein. Also stopping by were Kerry Glover (Associate Producer on Leverage), and past Hunted contest winner Jason Wong ("The Ultimate Weapon").
Together, armed with a professional screening room (thanks to New Deal Studios), an armful of popcorn and concession-type junk food (Goobers were the favorite), and a modicum of alcohol, we waded valiantly through the episodes and had a great time laughing at all the right places (and a few of the wrong ones).
We did learn an important lesson though. Just because you have a full-size projection screen theater doesn't mean you have to use the entire screen. Reality-type footage can get a bit crazy for the folks sitting in the front row (remember Cloverfield). At some point Anthony made the joke that the first place winner should get a tripod. We learned our lesson though, and resized the episodes to a more potable format.
We're hoping to announce our winners tonight, although we're still waiting for a few online votes. And even though Richard Ryan (Fight Master on Dark Knight) is working on a feature film on the other side of the world, and Gillian Horvath is currently working on her show Sanctuary somewhere in the great white north, they have both taken time out of their busy schedules to watch the episodes and send us their votes.
So what's next for the Hunted? The contests have certainly been successful in generating interest, building a fanbase, and gaining the interest of sponsors. It should be noted that any episodes produced at this point will be eligible for future contests, and the sooner the better when it comes to amassing Youtube hits.
In addition to the contests however, the show now has several affiliates who are producing their own content and the hopes are that we can get them funding to keep doing what they are doing. In lieu of sponsors, I'm planning on implementing the same microfinancing techniques used on sites like Kickstarter to raise funding for these shows.
As far as our own LA based chapter of The Hunted, the hopes are to resurrect and shoot our long-lost hour long pilot episode with funding from private investors, microfinancing, or cable networks like Spike, FX or Syfy.
Bob
