by Marc Hustvedt on February 4th, 2010
Streamy-winning director Blake Calhoun (Pink) has announced his latest web series project today, a sci-fi drama set in space called Continuum. The series will star Harper’s Globe and loneylgirl15 star Melanie Merkosky (left) as Reagen, a young woman who awakes on a space ship without any memory of what she is doing there. Her only companion on board is the ship’s computer, a female spin on 2001’s “Hal,” voiced by Taryn O’Neill (Compulsions, After Judgment). Also announced for the cast is Brad Hawkins (Pink) as Tipton.
Calhoun and co. are calling the project “a futuristic thriller in the noir-ish tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien.” Loud Pictures, Calhoun’s production company is producing along with Alternative Fuel, a multiplatform company he co-founded with Pink producer Mike Maden. Also producing is CJP Digital Media, with Wilson Cleveland involved on distribution and marketing of the series, as it does for The Fall of Kaden, IKEA-backed Easy to Assemble and Spherion-sponsored The Temp Life.
Similar to Pink’s start, which began as a purely indie production before being picked up by Generate after its successful first season, Contiuum is starting out independently backed. Production will begin on the first ten episodes of the sci-fi project in Dallas and Los Angeles beginning February 22. Calhoun also has Exposed still in development over at Warner Bros. for its online channel TheWB.com, a project on which he is teaming up with director McG and his Wonderland Sound and Vision outfit.
by Jenni Powell on September 9th, 2009
This is the second part of our interview with Streamy-winning creator-director Blake Calhoun (Pink, 88 Hits, Exposed). Be sure to read Part 1 of the interview first, it’s that good.
Tubefilter: What can you tell us about your next web series project, Exposed? What has it been like working with McG?
Calhoun: Pink really opened a lot of doors for Mike and I. We sold the show to Generate and subsequently got to produce 25 more episodes (Seasons 2 and 3) and right now we’re in talks to do a new Season 4. We’ll hopefully have news about this soon. We also got to go around town and pitch several other ideas and sold one to Warner Bros. and TheWB.com. We’ve had the great opportunity to work with the studio along with McG’s company Wonderland Sound and Vision on this new project (McG is the Exec Producer). We’re currently finishing it up right now and will be able to speak more about it in the near future. But I think fans of Pink and our “dark-thriller” brand will enjoy the show.
Tubefilter: Anything else coming up for you?
Calhoun: I just wrapped (in June) directing my fourth feature film called Spilt Milk. It’s a wry comedy about a disgruntled grocery store manager whose life gets forever changed one fateful evening when his store gets robbed. It stars Jake Johnson from the Drunk History YouTube videos and this summer’s indie hit Paper Heart (with Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera) and also Chase Jeffery who is the lead in Exposed. The film already has distribution and will be released sometime in 2010.
by Jenni Powell on September 8th, 2009
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the premiere of Streamy Award-winning series Pink and what better way to celebrate than to hear from series creator-director Blake Calhoun? I had the pleasure of interviewing Blake via e-mail to get the lowdown on his past and future projects, his directing process, and insight for those hoping to break into the New Media industry.
Tubefilter: You were one of the early creator-directors on the web series scene with Pink in ‘07. What inspired you to go into the field?
Blake Calhoun: I had recently finished directing my third indie feature (an action/thriller called Killing Down) and was developing a new feature – a project in the vein of Boogie Nights about the early 1980s professional wrestling scene – and had hired Mike Maden to write it. We finished that script in spring 2007 and were playing the “finding money” game to make that film (btw, we’re still trying to get that project made). So in essence we were in between projects and I wanted to work on something new. I had made several short films over the years and really wasn’t interested in doing that again. Then one day I heard about this new online show called Prom Queen… and inspiration struck.
I had worked with Natalie Raitano and Sheree Wilson on my previous feature film and they both had nice TV followings from their work on V.I.P. and Walker, Texas Ranger respectively. So I thought we’d create this new “Web TV” show around them and hope to lure some of their fan base to it.
by Marc Hustvedt on August 27th, 2008
After months of development, Warner Brothers’ web television portal TheWB.com officially launches today at 11:00 AM PDT–marking the first major push from a studio to create and distribute shows exclusively on the web. We had the chance to catch up with TheWB.com head Brent Poer and poke around the private beta of the site, chock-full [...]
