I've been obsessed for a long time with the idea of "indie TV" or "indie serials".
I keep thinking one day it'll be a thing, if only a minor thing.
In the early '90s, as shows like Twin Peaks and The X-Files were working in the world of commercial TV in the US and having continuity. I could go into the longer history, but what was important at that moment was that it felt fresh and exciting to many viewers, including me.
And, at that time, I was young and my dreams went to creating series in the system.
I had an original cyberpunk idea that wavered in what I wanted it to be, but was most often supposed to be a series. I still cannibalize the many ideas that I had for that.
One of them I carried around for a while was a guy who was in a padded room that he had decorated ceiling to in crayon drawings. At that time, I'd seen nothing like that. Now, it would be hilariously cliché. Such is life.
I also thought a series telling the complete Robots/Empire/Foundation saga would be good. It's one of the reasons I'm excited for the upcoming Foundation series on Apple TV, and I'm only slightly disappointed that they didn't go with that more expansive idea.
But as time went on, I felt less like that felt like my path.
In the late-'90s/early-'00s, I thought of an idea for a public access show. A workplace sitcom in a restaurant/bar type setting that would revolve around a location. Characters could come and go around the place, which would work well with amateur or semi-professional actors needing to do other things. Of course, well before crowdfunding, there wasn't an obvious way to raise the money. Indeed, for a public access show, the Internet would be a limited help, because the show would only be valuable to people in that specific region.
As time went on, it starts to look possible, formats like QuickTime, RealPlayer and eventually YouTube and Vimeo made the idea more plausible.
And yet, we've seen very little progress in this. I've paid less attention recently than I used to, but I can't think of anything aside from a couple of short run series, most of which have ten minute episodes or so or ongoing fan fiction for things like Star Trek. All of which show that, with the right interest, it could be done, but, as far as I can tell, it never has.
I was Twitter ranting the other day on this subject and thought of a larger than necessary, but woefully incomplete, group of indie movies -
The Hitch-Hiker, A Bucket of Blood, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, El Topo, Pink Flamingos, The Harder They Come, Phantasm, Battle Beyond the Stars, Knightriders, Born in Flames, The Toxic Avenger, Stranger Than Paradise, Re-Animator, Border Radio, Hollywood Shuffle, Deadbeat at Dawn, Slacker, Reservoir Dogs, El Mariachi, Clerks, Cube, The Blair Witch Project and Ichi the Killer
- that could be expanded, adapted or just provide inspiration for a low budget series. In the cases in which it's not obvious how, I sort of roughed some ideas out in my head to see if I thought it could be done. Try it yourself.
She's Gotta Have It and From Dusk Till Dawn are obvious other examples where they have made expanded shows, although with substantially increased budgets as well.
I also wish there were more examples of indie space opera. Perhaps I should have used Space Truckers as my Stuart Gordon selection. Indeed, I have a specifically indie, specifically space opera idea that I'd like to work out with a group of people one day.
But why aren't there indie series of note yet?
YouTube is filled with indie versions of "reality TV" and the advantages of that are obvious.
But now, when you could raise an initial budget for a pilot and then have a Patreon account or any of a variety of similar ideas, to continue it, I'm not sure I understand why there seems to be no indie drama serials at all, even only modestly successful or wild attempts that got attention and crashed. Or am I missing them?
Some of those ideas would be bigger challenges than other, but look at Clerks up there, which was at least some of the inspiration for that public access idea I touched on above. All someone would need is regular access to a location. That could be hard for some, but some other aspiring moviemakers parents own a store or a restaurant or an office. If you're able to play nice, you could make that work on regular overnight shifts. Or, if you did a Space Opera, as I said, you could build a couple of sets and use them creatively, like they do for those Star Trek fan shows or do CGI, if that's your skill set.
As should be clear, I'm wondering for my own creative purposes.
I watched the famously disappointing Veronica Mars movie and then the excellent fourth season that followed it and wondered if the issue was whether a longer serial format was what the characters and situation needed to play out properly, which led me to wondering if the project I'm working on plotting, outlining, planning and whatever else might have that exact problem, and I'm not sure what that means quite yet.
But more importantly, I think about what a positive creative force independent movies have been and can be and, as a viewer, I'd like to see serials added to their toolbox.
So, the most important question is, are these out there and I'm missing them?
If they aren't, as it appears to me, is it for lack of trying or is there something wrong with the entire concept that I'm simply not seeing?
Or are all of the streaming services out there leaving everyone "saving themselves" for the next one that they can pitch to?
I wish I had any kind of answers here.
