After getting a spot on FunnyOrDie.com, a group of students is looking to take its web series further with a Kickstarter campaign.
“Hearing Voices” is a web series performed and led by Ball State students, released in June 2014 with five episodes total for the first season.
Sarah Jackett, a senior telecommunications major, is the new executive producer.
“For Kickstarter, depending on the amount that is spent, it will list the directors and producers, so we gain attention that way,” Jackett said.
Jackett undertook the original creator Anton Blender’s responsibility of casting and assigning tasks to the crew.
Blender began writing for the show in Fall 2013, and production and filming began in January 2014.
To form a successful show, Jackett said they go through a certain process.
“First thing is scripting writing, then they send the draft in, then there’s revision," she said. "It’s probably a two month process.”
She said while the writing is going on, on the producer’s side, the “business end,” she gathers a crew together. To give more Ball State students the opportunity to obtain experience, she is forming two separate crews: Crew A and Crew B.
After developing a plan for the locations and storylines with the directors and writers, Jackett said the team begins casting roles for the series. For this upcoming season, auditions for new roles will begin early December.
“We usually do Friday evenings and Saturdays. I would say we do on average about 13 hours of filming in a weekend,” Jackett said.
Jackett said the crew plans on uploading all the episodes at once on funnyordie.com at the beginning of next summer, to suit binge-watching fans.
“The project has been decently successful thus far,” Jackett said. “We always have room to grow. It’s been my goal to expand our viewers and get more people involved.”
She said a big goal for the people involved in the project is to be listed on IMDb.com.
“It’s like your resume for the film world,” Jackett said. “If you have an IMDb, and you go in for an audition or an interview, and you said that you have an IMDb profile, especially in Hollywood, that’s really big.”