Exclusive: Interview with End of the Line

Recent years has seen the landscape of programming forever changed thanks to the breakaway success of webseries such as “The Guild”, “The Legend of Neil” and “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

The Internet has liberated not only the viewer from their living rooms, but also aspiring writers, producers, directors, actors, who find themselves turning to this medium where creativity can flourish unconstrained. Networks only have to look at page hits and the amount of views to see that webseries are a now viable form of viewing entertainment, one that has, or should, have them very worried.

With the growth of social media and networking, popularity of these short episodes and series as whole boomed, reaching near enough cult-status overnight and soon becoming viral; tapping into an audience not restricted by region or scheduling, bringing creators visions directly to a very literal worldwide audience.

I had the privilege of catching up with David MacDowell Blue, co-creator along with Annie LaFleur, of a new webseries venture currently being developed called “End of the Line”; touted as “Dexter meets Twilight.”

GL: Hey David, thanks for agreeing to the interview. Firstly, tell us a little bit about yourself.

David: Well, I could simply quote what my Facebook profile says, about being a Sagittarius born in the Year of the Boar, etc. But a more pertinent bit might be I’ve a degree in Theatre Arts, been writing since childhood, and equally have been fascinated by vampires for at least as long. It all probably started with Dark Shadows! The moralists were right! It did indeed corrupt me! I moved to LA a decade ago to try and sell scripts, but found I lacked any “in” to the industry which after all is very wary about where they spend tens of millions of dollars. Eventually, though, the advent of web series allowed me a new venue with which to explore my notions of what would be a cool story.

GL: For those not in the know, give us a quick wrap-up of the premise of “End of the Line”.

David: Noelle is a vampire, relatively young. Two centuries. She meets and befriends and ultimately falls in love with Roy, a college student in the fictional city of Alexander Bay, California. As the series begins, a murder mystery unfolds which reveals many a secret and mystery of nearly everyone around–including Noelle herself.

GL: The role reversal of having the boy a Human and the girl a Vampire is certainly refreshing. What was the thought behind that?

David: Again, it goes back to Dark Shadows. I was fascinated when the show finally got a vampiress in the cast, Angelique. She and her grooms of darkness! Since then I’ve always been drawn to female vampires and what they might be like. On Forever Knight my favorite character was Urs. On True Blood I adore Jessica. Of all the Buffy vampires the ones who grabbed my interest most were Harmony and Drusilla! Besides, I’m always intrigued by the mirror versions of situations. Maybe that’s why I like all those parallel timeline episodes on t.v. shows, or alternate histories like Fatherland in which the Nazis won WWII. So the more vampire romances became popular, the more I wanted to see the genders reversed. When that has been done, such as in the Swedish movie Let The Right One In the result can be really interesting. More, it acts like a litmus test to see how people react to the whole idea. Many see it as a threat on some level to presumed gender roles. But then, I tend to believe artists should to some extent be gadflies.

GL: What can you tell us about Roy and Noelle?

David: Noelle started off as the equivalent of a Regency heroine. Imagine if you will a cross between Anne Elliott in Persuasion and Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice–that is what she was like. Due to circumstances we hopefully will get around to revealing, she became a vampire and spent decades adjusting to her new state. Along the way she had a tragic love affair from which she’s never really recovered, formed one of those intense horrible/wonderful friendships with another vampire, and due to a terrible series of events not long after the first World War has been an emotional hermit and nomad for far too long. In recent years she’s been dipping her toe into the world of human interaction again. This was when she met Roy.

Roy is the youngest of three children. He’s a Leo/Virgo cusp, so make of that what you will. He’s got a very old soul, and at twenty two has a little too much self control than is completely healthy. Partially this is because of his temper, which he needs to keep under control. But another factor is his family dynamic, which is as complex as such things usually are. For example, the father vanished twenty years ago and is generally assumed to have abandoned his family. Yet Roy not only resembles the missing father the most physically, but is closest in temperament. His brother Arthur insists on being the boss, and feels insulted when his siblings don’t obey. The middle child Phillipa acted as peacekeeper, while being at loggerheads with the mother. Eventually Phillipa got married just to get out, and not long after Roy moved out. He’s been estranged from brother and mother for two years as the story begins–an intense, dreamy, very ethical and intelligent young man who’s also extremely lonely.

GL: Vampires have seen a resurgence in recent years, what do you think their appeal is?

David: Honestly I think that is two questions. One appeal of the vampire goes back to the start of the Industrial Revolution, when many people were suddenly cut off from some of the most basic processes of their own lives. You no longer butchered your own meat, grew your own crops, built and repaired your own home. Increasingly people were removed from all that, which left a void of understanding, a hunger for some visceral awareness of (especially) how connected life and death were. The fictional vision of the vampire, starting with John Polidori’s novel and explored more-or-less continually ever since, is that very knowledge incarnated–an avatar of life in death, of dark knowledge not only achieved but lived, of terrifying but thrilling secrets. How one reacts to such knowledge runs the gamut, as demonstrated by the wide variety of vampire literature.

More recently, though, methinks vampires have become a way of expressing another “missing piece” in our view of ourselves. Quite simply (or not) we’re in the midst of re-defining gender roles for ourselves. Much has been said for example of how Twilight’s undead embody (at least in the character of Edward) an ideal boyfriend–powerful, dangerous, hungry for you yet held in check by a love expressed as gallantry and fierce protectiveness, yet respectful of his lady love’s own identity, her choices and her happiness. Heady stuff! Symptomatic to me of how boys are failing to meet the challenge of how to woo girls, in no small part because the rules remain in flux. Other vampire tales pursue this idea in somewhat more complex terms, such as the frankly troubling relationship between Bill and Sookie. Yet another would be the semi-triangle in The Vampire Diaries. Then you get the whole non-romantic notion of vampires as rapists, as ruthless animal hunger which you see in 30 Days of Night.

GL: What were your inspirations for End of the Line?

David: Well, a lot of notions floating around in my head for ages. One was Alexander Bay, our fictional city. It is our Gotham City, our Twin Peaks or Sunnydale, or even Innsmouth. Many pieces of Alexander Bay are borrowed from real cities. The Russian Quarter is rather like the French Quarter in New Orleans. It has some personality traits of Atlanta, especially in the 1970s and 80s. The name of the neighborhood where Roy and Noelle meet is taken from a part of London. And so on.

In another way we want to turn some assumptions about vampire stories on their ear. Here’s one example. Folklore reports no harm that sunlight causes vampires, not even a little bit. In the novel Dracula even walks around in daytime. Another of course is the gender switch of the leads. Yet it isn’t as if we don’t love the whole notion of a love affair between a vampire and a mortal. Quite the opposite! But we did want to see some things rarely if ever explored before now.

We also tried to borrow details from the real world here and there. One is how the Russian Government is (so far successfully) claiming various churches built by the Czars abroad, like in France. It belonged to the Czars who were the Russian government then, and we are the Russian Government now–so the argument goes. That is part of our story’s background that will become more important as the story progresses.

GL: How did this all come about?

David: A dear friend of mine called me, noting that HD cameras have achieved such amazing quality that it is now within reach to create excellent footage on a miniscule budge. She sometimes works with catering on film shoots, knows lots of techies. Annie initially wanted to make a movie, but I suggested a web series might be the way to go. She agreed and we hammered out ideas from there.

GL: Being detached from a network I can imagine has both its pros and cons.

David: Yeah. Less money is the big con. A whole lot less money. A whole lot. Really. More control is the great big pro, and that means a huge amount to us–not least that we don’t have to ask for approval to get started!

GL: Going it alone must be daunting though, have there been any hurdles?

David: I’m fortunate to say I’m not going it alone. The impetus of the project wasn’t even mine, although creatively I’ve set a lot of the direction. Annie and I are often amazingly in sync. A few weeks back, for example, I mentioned that since we’re going to be using ‘green screen’ for a bunch of things, we have to keep green out of anyone’s costumes. This brought up the idea of what the official colors for Alexander Bay’s sports team would be. Quite independently, we both thought of “black and gold.” Likewise we usually look at a script and see the exact same weak spots. More, we’ve gained others “on staff” as we started to put all the ducks in row. A friend who’s been working as a PA and script supervisors became our defacto producer, for example.

Honestly the biggest single hurdle is money, finding a way to do this on a dime. Green screen technology coupled with free stock footage allows us to get around outdoor shooting but we’re still trying to find the right locations for season one. A few technical folks (with their own equipment!) are willing to take part for the credit. Thank god. And of course we still are in the process of casting!

GL: Have you had to call in any favors?

David: Have been and still are! The past decade living in LA has actually created a network of friends able/willing to help that has proven startling, at least to me.

GL: What can you tell us about the creative and development process?

David: Well, Annie and I basically shoot ideas back and forth. I’ve done the bulk of the writing, with her offering all kinds of (generally excellent, even vital) feedback to make it better. It might surprise you just how much background we’ve developed for our little world. We know a lot about these characters’ lives as well as the history of vampires, of Alexander Bay, etc.

GL: Living in L.A., have you been dropping your scripts on coffee shop tables, strategically placing them at cons and the like?

David: Scripts, no. We did put some flyers and a poster out at this year’s Dark Shadows Festival in Burbank. We like to think it a good sign that somebody stole both posters. Right now we’re building an initial awareness of the project on the web with our website, our Facebook page, our YouTube Channel, Twitter account, etc.

GL: And what’s this I hear about a certain Amber Benson reading your proposal?

David: I didn’t meet her alas. A pair of friends offered to give her a proposal at a certain con where they expected to meet her. They did. She took it. I’m sure she gets plenty of those. Later another friend met her at a different event and mentioned this story, asking if she’d read it yet. She had not, but expressed interest, promising to look it up among the other such proposals she’d gotten at one time or another. For the record, she’d be wonderful as either female lead.

GL: I hear you recently had your first script reading? How did that go?

David: Quite well. I designed the website for an author friend of mine (francescmiller.com) and she put me in contact with Scott Crawford of the Dylan Street Players. They often have readings of original works in Hollywood. They did a reading of the first three episodes and asked audience members to fill in forms about what they thought. What I find tricky about that process is to filter out what someone says versus what they actually mean. For example, the two young people playing Roy and Noelle hadn’t rehearsed together and it showed–they lacked the natural rhythm that two good friends soon achieve. Not their fault, it was just the nature of the process involved in that specific event. But some comments about their characters have to be taken with a grain of salt because they may be picking up on a lack in the performances. Yet dismissing those comments would be fatal. You have to look at them long and hard, to decide what precisely in the issue.

GL: How have you handled the search for actors?

David: A little haphazardly so far. We’ve got a circle of contacts, and had a few private auditions. The reading showed some very promising actors! But pretty soon we’ll be putting something on Craig’s List, at least to begin.

GL: I suppose the biggest thing is filming? Do you know what kind of equipment you’ll be using, and whether it’ll be guerilla style shooting or have you secured any locations?

David: Guerilla style is dangerous, at least outdoors. The fines involved are very hefty, with equipment seized until fines are paid. Keep in mind LA needs cash, so we don’t want to chance it. So we need to film in locations that are indoors, and without showing any kind of filming is going on. Our hope is to raise enough money to rent a house for a couple of weeks, but if that fails we’ll need to get some folks to allow us to use different apartments or rooms. Again, green screen and stock footage will be hugely useful. And we have a film student who just graduated and has his own HD camera who’s agreed to do this for the credit! Woo hoo!

GL: You’ve even got a graphic novel in the works?

David: Yes! You see, we have to find a way to generate profit with this. Initially, the ones we have under our control are merchandising (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) and tie-ins. Samantha Davis (our producer) introduced me to an artist friend of hers at a party. Katie (the artists) expressed interest and after we saw some samples of her work we asked her to do the graphic novel — hopefully the first of several!

GL: How big a part has social networking played in getting EoTL up and running?

David: They’re vital. As I said, right now we have a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel as well as others. At present we’re just in the first stage of developing awareness and peripheral interest in the story. In September we’ll be filming a series of teasers — character bits as well as faux news reports from Alexander Bay. These will begin going online over the next several months. The idea is to build up excitement from those who don’t really know anyone involved. We want Buzz. Hopefully, this will become an ever-growing snowball as it rolls down the digital hill. Another, more traditional method is to trade banners with appropriate websites.

GL: Have you got any advice for others wanting to start out?

David: Remember that passion is contagious. Good storytelling is vital. Patterns and structure are tools, not ends in and of themselves. Plan things carefully enough that you can improvise when the unexpected–inevitably–happens!

GL: Lastly, got any teasers for us?

David: Hmmmm…one of our vampires is a lesbian. That qualifies, methinks.

GL: Again, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck with “End of the Line”! Before I let you go, is there anything else you’d like to say to the Geek Life readers?

David: I’m perfectly willing to get on my knees and beg them to check out the website. And to thank them for reading this. Plus, being a geek myself — We are the dreamers unafraid of the dream. There is a glory in that. Enjoy it.

You can keep up-to-date with “End of the Line” through their official website, on Twitter as @EOTLSeries and on their Facebook.