“Ian Hollister’s Haunted Hospital,” the premiere episode of the new “Stranger Adventures” anthology series, arrived this week on the Web. This weeklong episode and the series is an interactive game; players are asked to participate in an adventure in which they follow clues toward cracking a 10-digit pass code to win reward money.
The series–which is advertiser sponsored–is a hybrid of high-end scripted drama, alternative reality gaming, mock reality TV and personal TV. It relies on first-person storytelling that uses character and location-driven narratives.
“Stranger Adventures” is the brainchild of Internet entrepreneur Chris Tyler; his partner in the venture, Red Car CEO Larry Bridges, serves as creative director and executive producer. Propaganda Films and Palomar alum Anne-Marie Mackay serves as co-executive producer with Bridges. The Santa Monica office of multi-city Red Car is handling production and post on the series.
In the game that launched this week, the first player to crack the code will win a grand prize of $25,000; the runner-ups divide the second prize of $10,000.
Supporting this episode is Prudential California Realty, which is incorporated into the storyline. This premiere episode revolves around an effort to lift a curse from a haunted hospital so that it can be sold. Within “Ian Hollister’s Haunted Hospital,” players not only see Prudential’s signage and products, they are directed to spend time on Prudential’s Web site to retrieve clues to the code.
Each of the season’s 10 episodes will arrive every other week and revolve around its own central character (the “Stranger”) and an adventure marked by clues and hints about the 10-digit code. Also, to help players along, the “Stranger” emails them graphic-enhanced text daily.
“It’s product involvement, not product placement,” Bridges said of this unique branded content model, noting that future episodes will each have one to two corporate sponsors. “The writing is with the clients’ brands and objectives in mind.”
Bridges also explained that the venture is tapping talented writers, including Writers Guild of America (WGA) members, to create the scripts. The first episode was written by Eric Heisserer, whose The Dionaea House is now in preproduction as a feature at Warner Bros. Bridges directed this episode, and he expects to direct additional ones. He also plans to tap commercial directors and directors of photography to work on the series.
“Stranger Adventures” is lensed with handheld DV camcorders and posted at Red Car.
Before launching, the team initiated five online trails and a pilot episode that ran in February. They were happy with the results. Bridges reported that trial players spent 41 minutes a day online, for six days, participating in the adventure, and 72 percent of the players finished the competition. “If a game is extraordinary fun to play, it will get around on the Internet quickly,” added Tyler.
Vendari Media is promoting the series, and invitations to play were sent to Prudential’s customer base. A trailer was also created for DVD via Hollywood Previews.
The series site is www.strangeradventures.com.
House Calls Via TV and Streamers: A Rundown of The Season’s Doctor Dramas
No matter your ailment, there are plenty of TV doctors waiting to treat you right now on a selection of channels and streamers.
Whether it's Noah Wyle putting on his stethoscope for the first time since "ER," Morris Chestnut graduating to head doctor, Molly Parker making her debut in scrubs or Joshua Jackson trading death for life on a luxury cruise, new American hospital dramas have something for everyone.
There's also an outsider trying to make a difference in "Berlin ER," as Haley Louise Jones plays the new boss of a struggling German hospital's emergency department. The show's doors slide open to patients Wednesday on Apple TV+.
These shows all contain the DNA of classic hospital dramas โ and this guide will help you get the TV treatment you need.
"Berlin ER"
Dr. Suzanna "Zanna" Parker has been sent to run the Krank, which is only just being held together by hardened โ and authority-resistant โ medical staff and supplies from a sex shop. The result is an unflinching drama set in an underfunded, underappreciated and understaffed emergency department, where the staff is as traumatized as the patients, but hide it much better.
From former real-life ER doc Samuel Jefferson and also starring Slavko Popadiฤ, ลafak ลengรผl, Aram Tafreshian and Samirah Breuer, the German-language show is not for the faint of heart.
Jones says she eventually got used to the blood and gore on the set.
"It's gruesome in the beginning, highly unnerving. And then at some point, it's just the most normal thing in the world," she explains. "That's flesh. That's the rest of someone's leg, you know, let's just move on and have coffee or whatever."
As it's set in the German clubbing capital, the whole city... Read More