Remember that silly little skit that started as a vlog recorded by one guy during a descent into madness? Well, I got a little carried away, wrote 16 episodes with a holographic AI, cloned german girls with a jealous father, aliens, and eventually an eldritch abomination. I built sets, did all the VFX, all the editing. By September of 2012 I was constructing the first set, the JF Sebastian bridge. We started shooting in January of 2013, and by September 2015 I was putting the final touches on the VFX for the first 8 episodes. I released individual 5 minute episodes once a week starting October 6, 2015. After the initial 8 episodes were released, I took some time to finish up the remaining 8 episodes, which launched in April of 2016.
Dead Drift was a tremendous accomplishment. I poured everything I had into this project for the better part of four years. I booked dozens of podcast interviews. Sent out press releases, contacted geek-blogs, and saw more reviews written about Dead Drift than any other project I’d ever done. Dead Drift received acclaim and popularity unparalleled by anything I’ve done since, but the biggest takeaway for me was that I would never again spend 4 years on a project.
WHY did Dead Drift take so long? Because I did 90% or more of all the work, minus the acting. After Dead Drift I vowed to never again toil alone on a project. It this hobby were to be sustainable in my life, I needed help. I needed a team. My last team project, Mutually Assured Productions, hadn’t ended well. But working solo was exhausting and untenable. So on my next project, Penny Palabras, I collaborated in a big way with an awesome team of folks that I’m still working with in 2020.
Dead Drift showed at the Gen Con Film Festival in 2016 and 2017. It was during the promotional phase of Dead Drift that I discovered marketing and promoting a film is a full time job by itself. I managed to build a respectable fan base around Dead Drift, but it took digging in and engaging with sci-fi fans in every corner of the internet. It took TIME. What to do when marketing content is more time consuming than making it? Still trying to figure that one out. Hiring a promotional person seems the right call, but it’s a full time job – so even at a low wage you’re looking at a pretty high dollar investment. But, yeah. I digress. The marketing/promotional aspect of indie filmmaking is still the biggest area that I struggle with figure out. Still haven’t quite gotten the hang of it.
Dead Drift is divisive. People love it or they hate it. It’s campy, it’s cheesy, it’s super low-budget and there’s a lot of vulgar humor. I think Dead Drift is best described as “Star Trek meets Benny Hill.” Those that appreciate cheesy low-budget sci-fi fare tend to enjoy the show. Those that expect something that will live up to the quality of a million dollar budget will be disappointed. Dead Drift is campy, but it’s self aware. So have some adult beverages, smoke some drugs, and laugh at the idiocy of Captain Banks, Maurice Morris III, and HANNAH on their wacky adventures through space.
KenzoFKC 