Blood Equals Life: The Bleeder Webseries

By Sonia Aurora

My best friend Val isn’t into horror, but she is into promoting friends and their causes, or their arts, and she turned me onto a web series called Bleeder that an old school chum is a part of. I also love to support the arts, the underground, the fledgling, especially if I feel I’m on the cusp of something that will be so great I get to say ,“I knew them when…”

So let me begin by saying, I can’t wait til I get to say, “I knew Bleeder when…”

It’s a storyline up my alley, what with my fascination for horror, even though I’m feeling a bit burnt out by the entire vampire genre. Actually, that’s not true. I’m burnt out by the maudlin, overly romanticized, puppy-dog eyes, swooning vampire-in-love-with-an-innocent-human. I do say no to Twilight and Vampire Diaries, but I do embrace True Blood because there is that mature, sexualized aspect that is what I find intriguing about the lore. Give me romance, but give me its complications like an adult. I don’t want a fairytale, I want the grit, the grime, the growth. And there is definitely that in Bleeder.

In a nutshell, Bleeder is the story about a guy named Alex. He’s down on his luck. He’s been beat down by the economy, society, what have you. And, most interestingly of all, he’s a hemophiliac. And he stumbles across a foursome of vampires, whose need is the same as his – sustenance through blood.

To reveal more of what happens in the story would do it a disservice, so I encourage you to travel to www.bleederseries.com and watch Episode 1 for yourselves. It’s incredibly acted, with the clout of having an ex-cast member of HBO’s “The Wire” playing a police detective just getting wind of the strange killings going on. That just shows the caliber that is going into this series, where the rest of the cast may only temporarily be unknowns.

Bleeder is an idea hatched by Wade Balance and Mark Kochanowicz of Liberty Bell Films. I had the amazing fortune of being able to interview Mark, who also plays the lead Alex, and well as Brea Bee, who is vampire Charlotte (and gives a doozy of a closing line in Episode 1). I’ll allow them to give you even more background into this new installment into the vampire genre:

Mark Kochanowicz

Sonia Aurora: When did you first start to hatch the idea of Bleeder, and where did you/do you draw inspiration for the story?

Mark Kochanowicz: Wade Ballance (co-creator) and I came up with the idea of the Web series in February 2009. We wanted to create a small project while waiting for funding to come through on another suspense/horror project we developed called “The Root People” which is a feature-length script. Rather than make a short film, we decided to shoot a webisode pilot. We thought to ourselves, what would a Web series audience want to see? What is hot right now? We came to the conclusion that doing something involving vampires would make the most sense. Rather than go for strictly horror and lots of blood, we wanted to make a smart and suspenseful product but we needed our own angle. It made the most sense to us to combine a hemophiliac with a vampire and to explore the possibilities of this symbiotic relationship. We also combined the “innocent on the run” suspense genre to give the series more depth.

Bleeder comes in so timely with the Twilight and True Blood phenomena. What are your thoughts about those and other vampire stories/films (recent and not so) and how do you feel Bleeder measures up?

As I said earlier, Bleeder is a strategic move rather than a love for vampire genre films. Honestly, I saw about five minutes of True Blood which I heard is good. I’ve never seen Twilight all the other newer motion picture productions. I purposely avoid them so they don’t contaminate my creativity for the series. I will admit to watching and enjoying some older flicks such as The Hunger, Nosferatu and those Christopher Lee [Dracula] movies. We have no idea how Bleeder measures up to what’s out there now but we do believe that we have a quality show that is better than most other Web series in general. We put great thought into the story, hire the best actors available (mostly union), scout for visually stimulating locations, cherry-pick the best young crew, and shoot with a camera that will give us a shallow depth of field (DOF). We try to combine all these elements and shoot as cheaply as possible since Bleeder funding comes totally out of our pockets.

One of the aspects of the story that I’ve noticed is that the switch from recent stories where the vampire is female and the human is male. I might be overreaching in that there will be a romantic element explored between Alex and Charlotte – am I wrong? If I’m right, will Bleeder continue the vampire lore in that vampires are very sensual (and sexual) creatures?

You are on to something here. Sex and romance is a universal theme and the Web is world-wide. Wade and I would be dummies not to explore that avenue. The female vampires in Bleeder use their sex-appeal to capture their prey (Johns looking for sex) in most cases. As for Alex and Charlotte, you’ll have to watch episode 2 where the relationship is taken a little further.

Since you are still in the writing and creative process, do you have the story arc/ending already thought out or are you “winging it” as you go ahead?

We have a skeleton story arch or blueprint and each lead character has a back-story. As the episodes continue, we will build around our framework and hope to develop an intricate show comprised flawed characters and their many subplots. We know how this season will end but the process along the way is open in many ways and filling in the blueprints is very exciting for us.

I know that you’re still looking for sponsors and funding to continue the series. As an independent filmmaker, does the process of looking for funding deter your creative process or inspire it?

I despise asking for money but the money has to come from somewhere or else Bleeder would end up being just another great idea. So yes, it inspires us to make a quality product. There are millions of ideas around the world but it takes a strong vision, perseverance and business sensibility to develop a good idea to the point of making it attractive to investors. We firmly believe that we are at a point with Bleeder now where it is a marketable product and it is just a matter of time for someone to “discover” it. In fact we are starting to gain the attention of a few cable stations both here and abroad.

Tell me more about Liberty Bell Films and how you were able to be an innovator by being the first Philadelphia web series filmed under AFTRA’s electronic media agreement.

It is very tough going auditions for studio projects that come through Philadelphia knowing that all of the lead and supporting roles have been cast out of LA or NY already. What we are left with as local talent are bit parts and day player roles that really aren’t putting our training and creativity to its fullest use. Most of the energy is spent competing with other talent just trying to land the role. To counter that scenario, Liberty Bell Films was established as an independent motion picture production company to create projects that I and other local actors as could use as a vehicle to get more work and hopefully noticed by the larger studios. Since I am a SAG and AFTRA member, to produce a film or Web series that I am in as an actor meant that I would have to sign a contract with one of the actors guilds. So I approached the Philadelphia AFTRA office and hammered out an agreement based on their Electronic Media Agreement (ELA). As I write this, the local representative and I are working on the ELA for episode 2. I’ll tell you though, it is not easy. Already we are feeling the pressure from AFTRA to increase the actors wages. We are micro-budget filmmakers without deep pockets and already they are asking for more money. We see their point of view but come on, we just started this series. Without Bleeder as the only Web series filming in Philadelphia under the ELA, there would be more actors without jobs.

Is horror your preference as a writer? As an actor?

As filmmakers, Wade Ballance and I both prefer working in the suspense genre the most. I also love sci-fi but that can get expensive real fast and is cost prohibitive for micro-budget filmmakers. As an actor, I love working on projects that are all across the board. It makes things fresh and exciting to not be restricted to one or two genres.

Brea Bee

Sonia Aurora: Val tells me you’re a working actress, which is awesome. Regarding your body of work, are you typically drawn to the horror genre?

Brea Bee: Bleeder is technically my third project in the horror genre, but my first time playing a mythical creature. I was always interested in horror, but never had much opportunity to work in the genre. I think it is terribly exciting to play such a potentially dangerous character like Charlotte and experience the world through her eyes.

How did you come to be a part of the project? Have you worked with Liberty Films before?

I actually worked with Mark [ ] a few years ago on a short project called The Last Stand of the Soul in which I played an alien! Mark and I worked on various films over the years and I was intrigued when he asked me to audition for the role of Charlotte in Bleeder.

What drew you to the story of Bleeder, and the character of Charlotte?

I was actually a little hesitant at first about a vampire web series. I initially envisioned a lot of sexy women lounging around in a kind of vampire den and not doing much more than making the set look good. So I was pleasantly surprised when I read the script and saw how well the vampire roles were written in the story and that all of them were women. It was refreshing to see a female vampire in a position of power in a genre that has always been male-dominated. Charlotte is a very intriguing character in that she is in major conflict with the vampire way of life. She is trying to survive and find a way to change things at the same time.

Will [there]be a romantic element explored between Alex and Charlotte…? Or do the creators keep the storylines from you until they’re ready to be filmed?

Alex and Charlotte have a real chemistry together, but our next episode will reveal a far more complicated (and interesting) bond between them. So far I have only been given the first and second episodes. I have a general idea of where the story is going, but nothing too specific.

Are you at all involved in the creative process for your character or the overall story?

I have my own interpretation of who Charlotte is, and Mark and Wade have given me a lot of freedom in how I portray her. At this point, I am mainly going along for the ride and discovering more about her as we shoot. I find it more exciting to not know some things, and then enjoying the surprise of reading the next script.

What is your personal opinion of vampires and of the latest vampire phenomena, such as with Twilight and True Blood?

I have been enthralled with vampire lore since as long as I can remember. My favorite vampire film of all time is Coppola’s Dracula. It’s both terrifying and romantic at the same time, which is really at the core of what vampirism symbolizes. There is something extremely provocative in the idea of giving yourself over to something that is dangerous and powerful. It speaks to our animal nature and the darker side that each of us has. I think it comes up in popular culture in waves over time, with each generation’s take on it. In Twilight and True Blood, the vampires are eternally young and beautiful, and what is more important in this country than youth and beauty? A lot of the characters are in conflict with their need for blood and having to kill for it, which I think mirrors our struggle with our own inner demons, and how far we are willing to go to get what we want in our lives. Also, it’s a great escape from the limitations of everyday life to lose yourself in beautiful fantasy, and not lose any blood in the process!

Bleeder-700

To see Bleeder, visit Bleederseries.com. For more about Liberty Bell Films, visit their website.

About Sonia Aurora: Aspiring screenwriter and seamstress, Sonia’s dream is to write life-changing films while product-placing her own line of handbags. In 1999, she wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the short film Dr. Lovestrange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bug, a satirical homage to Stanley Kubrick set amidst the panic of Y2K (Featured on ifilm.com & Coming Soon to YouTube!). While Sonia waits patiently for the Studios to call, she continues her selfless, humanitarian efforts (think Mother Teresa) through her scripts, short stories and sewing (a true triple-threat!), knowing all the while that someday her efforts will indeed save (or at least mildly tweak) the world. She still struggles with which picture to kiss before bedtime: her boyfriend’s or Bruce Campbell’s. And, in the interest of time, she’d like to start thanking the Academy now.