The guys behind SciFinal (a great site devoted to sci-fi web shows) are fresh off the release of an online series of their own.
Zerks Log is a sci-fi comedy web series told through the found video logs of an alien space commander who clearly has issues. Happily for those of who love the old BBC series Red Dwarf and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, sci-fi funny business seems particularly suited to the web series format, promising a possible renaissance for lo-fi sci-fi comedy. You should check it out.
Read on for an exclusive interview with Producer/Director Steve Lettieri.
What's it about?
Zerks Log is sci-fi comedy web series about the ups and downs of hapless starship commander Captain Zerks Ganymedewski.
How long did it take to shoot?
We shot the series over three days in December 2008. It was shot on greenscreen, so post production took several months after that to create the digital sets you see Zerks in during the show.
What's the running time?
The 18 episodes total up to just under an hour.
What was the budget?
Hard costs for the show ran about $5,000. That doesn’t include the time of our StoryForge Labs team of me, Rob King, and Chris Conway.
What's your day job?
Well, StoryForge is our day job actually! Along with our sister company Killer Minnow, which focuses on visual effects, animation, and design.
Anyone famous in it -- and what else were they in? How did you get them?
No one famous in it. Yet! Our lead actor Ben Alpi is onscreen for 98% of the show with a few cameos here and there.
How did you find your cast and crew? Did you pay them? How?
We did a casting call using Craigslist, Mandy, etc. And we did pay them. Zerks Log was self-funded by me and my partners at StoryForge.
Any crazy stories from production?
Nothing too crazy! We did have a lot of fun working with our makeup vfx guy Ben Chester and our actor Ben Alpi in making Zerks come to life. His eyes are made out of whiffle balls moved by radio-controlled motors inside his head. So when Ben A was acting, Ben C was making Zerks blink and look around.
How are you distributing the project? Where did/will it show?
We distributed the series initially via blip.tv then did a relaunch on Koldcast.tv. We also have the show on Youtube now as well. We’ve begun working on the 2nd season, which we hope to start shooting this fall.
What's the project's official website?
www.zerkslog.comWhat other projects have you completed? Which, if any, are sci-fi too?
All our stuff usually falls into the sci-fi space. We’ve produced a number of short sci-fi films for web series The Singularium. Basically it’s the home for one-off type projects. We also run the indie sci-fi focused website SciFinal. We welcome all fans of indie sci-fi to check the site out and if you’re a producer of a show, please feel free to submit a showpage.
What are you working on next?
We’re currently in production on a sci-fi action film called Soldier Zero One, which we expect to release in October. You can see behind the scenes for it in The Singularium. We originally conceived it as a short film, but it sort of kept growing as we went along thanks to some amazing locations and great work by our lead actor Nick Zak.
And anything else you want people to know?
We certainly appreciate Homemade Sci-Fi taking an interest in what we do and encourage anyone interested in indie sci-fi to stop by our SciFinal site! Thanks.
Comments