THROWING STONES is a new web series that just wrapped up its first season after debuting in early January. WE LOVE SOAPS TV recently spoke with co-writers and co-director Bart Van Bemmell and Jason Wheeler about the show. Read on to find out more about this teen horror series.WE LOVE SOAPS TV: How many episodes will there be of the series?
Bart Van Bemmell: THROWING STONES is an 8-part web series that can currently be seen on Mingle Media TV and KoldCast TV. The series was designed for two seasons. Our season one finale aired this past week with a huge cliffhanger episode.
When a group of high-schoolers have to attend Saturday School they must work together to overcome their differences in over to survive when students end up missing.
Think Breakfast Club the horror in many ways. Season one is all about the characters coming together and overcoming their differences in order to survive. Season two is all about the isolation of these characters and who will walk out of Saturday School alive.
Jason Wheeler: Even though the series is designed for two seasons, we’re not sure if we will see a second season. The response so far has been fantastic with the fans, but it of course always comes down to dollars, scheduling, and that sort of thing. We were lucky enough to have some sponsors come aboard on our first season and we’re currently looking for brands who would like to not only reach the teen demographic, but horror fans as well.
But since our series just came out – we love that new fans are discovering it every day. What’s so cool about Mingle Media TV – one of the networks that Stones is on, is that part of their format is for their web series to have live web shows once a week so that they fans can interact with the cast and crew directly. This has not only really help us spread the word, but we now know so many of our fans by name. Our fans have started adding our episodes to their own You Tube Channels, spreading the word grass roots style, and even creating fan art! We love our fans so much! But even though we finished our final live web show this past week, the fans can still interact with cast via their Stones character Facebook pages where they respond as their characters would where they give insights, thoughts, scoop on the series, as well as give updated on the series.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: What was the inspiration behind Throwing Stones? Always love horror flicks? Trying something new?Bart Van Bemmell: THROWING STONES the web series is actually loosely based on a horror feature screenplay of the same name that we optioned a few years back. We were really excited about it.
But then disaster struck! The writer’s strike hit! We quickly fell through the cracks. We felt we were like on an episode of VH1’s BEHIND THE MUSIC or something. Ha ha ha. Basically, we had this concept that came from the sociologist theory on “Broken Windows.” A broken window is left unfixed in a neighborhood; it signals to that community it's acceptable for that type of behavior to take place. These ideas compound until the neighborhood becomes decayed and unable to achieve its past grandeur. Now apply the theory to schools and replace broken windows with broken students, as the antagonist eliminates the unacceptable elements that walk the halls of Blair High School.
Jason Wheeler: So we set out to adapt this sad story about these kids from our feature – much like the Breakfast Club, but with a horror twist. Most of the Breakfast Club takes place in the library. In STONES – we, of course, had the library setting, but our main setting in the web series version was a storage classroom where the kids would of course start out hating each other and then come together. Since we of course didn’t have the big Hollywood budget or the time frame a feature allows you to do, we really had to see what we could steal from the feature – from characters, to plot points, dialogue, pacing, etc. Horror is always fun, but as writers we are storytellers regardless of genre.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Has the THROWING STONES team produced any other web series, movies, TV shows?
Bart Van Bemmell: What’s so cool about Team Stones is that we have had the chance to work with many of the hard working and talented crew on some of our other projects. Our first short film, a dark comedy called Butterscotch, had a successful festival run and is now in full development as a feature film that will star Lindy Booth (Cry_Wolf, Dawn of the Dead, Wrong Turn, October Road), Debra Jo Rupp (THAT 70s SHOW, She’s All That, FRIENDS), Corbin Bernsen (PSYCH, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS), and Jason Priestley (the new HBO hit CALL ME FRITZ, 90210). Our second short film, Virgin Mary Christmas, a dark comedy/horror that is about to make its festival run, is where we met Stones’ stars Rebekah Kennedy (Season of the Witch, upcoming horrors House Hunting and Blood is Blood) and Cherami Leigh (The Mist, HBO’s Temple Grandin). And when we decide to venture out with another project we hope they will also be on board as well. We love our crew.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: For someone who hasn't watched, what makes Throwing Stones stand out among the many web series out there?
Bart Van Bemmell: When we set out to make THROWING STONES the web series we noticed that there wasn’t really any teen horror web series out there. There were some web series about vampires and zombies, so we felt we were a bit different in this aspect. Season one of STONES is not a slasher. We have always been up front about that. It is more character-driven and about these kids and their relationships and focuses more on the psychological elements of a horror/thriller. As for Season Two (if there is one), well, that’s a different story [laughs]. Not saying there isn’t any blood or deaths in the first season, so we guess you’ll just have to watch.
WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Are you looking to produce more shows beyond this first season? Or is this a self-contained story playing out then it will end?
Bart Van Bemmell: A second season sure would be nice so the fans can see what happens to some of these characters, as well as connect even more of the dots. But if it doesn’t end up happening, we hope it will leave you guessing and talking about some of the twists and turns that happen in each of the episodes and especially the end.
Jason Wheeler: Thank you so much for nominating our series for Best Indie Soap of the Week this past week! It made us feel special knowing that others out there are liking what we do.
Here's some links on where to watch STONES:
Official Site:
http://www.throwingstoneswebseries.com
Mingle Media TV:
http://www.minglemediatv.com/ThrowingStonesWebSeries.html
KoldCast TV:
http://www.koldcast.tv/#/show:throwing_stones
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ThrowingStoneswebseries
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/stoneswebseries
Production Blog:
http://www.throwingstoneswebseries.blogspot.com
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