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FinalRune Productions is pleased to announce the beginning on a new, epic audio sci-fi adventure entitled The Cleansed. The Cleansed is a post-apocalyptic tale of our time, exploring a world where a shortage of fossil fuels has caused the unraveling of civil society. From this horror comes hope, as a new generation tries to reclaim their world and understand what happened before them.
This ambitious project echoes the NPR programming of the 1980s (Star Wars, Bradbury 13, Beyond 2000, A Canticle for Leibowitz). The serial will consist of three seasons, the first featuring ten self-contained 30 minute episodes. A total of 30 episodes will be produced. Further, a large portion of each episode will be recorded on location in different areas of Maine using the techniques developed by dramatists such as BARD's Erik Bauersfeld, ZBS' Tom Lopez, BBC's John Dryden and Crazy Dog Audio Theatre's Roger Gregg.
Like all great science-fiction, the story uses the lens of an alternative reality to create a world that comes dangerously close to our own: The Cleansed is a geo-politically rooted story that takes place twenty years after the depletion of the world’s oil reserves, focusing on a group of three teenagers who have grown up together in a self-sustaining stronghold in rural Canada. Their peaceful life is interrupted when a message from a legendary rebel leader leads them on a journey into “The Republic,” a region of America where the remains of the US Military enforces strict martial law.
Simultaneously, two men appear shepherding a real apocalypse – one claims he is the antichrist, and the other, Christ reborn. As the two factions build armies and prepare for their ultimate battle, the youths unite with the rebels to wage a war for freedom that will leave no one unscarred.
FinalRune has enlisted help to produce this epic sci-fi tale - AudioComics, LLC will be associate producing the project and WMPG, Greater Portland Maine's Community Radio, is acting as fiscal agent and has jointly submitted a grant with FinalRune to the National Endowment for the Arts.
AudioComics co-founders William Dufris and Lance Roger Axt will be working with FinalRune writer and director Fred Greenhalgh on mixing and mastering the episodes and promoting the work in arenas outside that of audio. “Both FinalRune and AudioComics share the same belief: that audio dramas can and should serve as the basis for, or even pilots for, projects in the greater media just as comic books have become prime source material for television shows and movies," says Axt. "In fact The Cleansed could become a comic book series. Or a television mini-series. Or a big-budget feature film. And why not?”
The Cleansed will be released first as 5 minute installments (ala the BBC serials of producer/director Dirk Maggs), and later in its entirety as pay-per-MP3 downloads and compact discs through both the FinalRune and AudioComics websites. In the tradition of The Blair Witch Project and Lost, the series will have an encompassing digital presence, including a website with backstory, streaming downloads, and distribution information for radio stations.
The pilot episode of The Cleansed is currently in the works, and will debut on both WMPG FM and Bangor’s WKIT FM (Stephen King’s rock and roll station) on Halloween night, as part of a new collaboration among audio drama producers in different countries called Transcontinental Terror. Moreover, WKIT program director Bobby Russell will play himself in the series.
In the pilot, we're introduced to a Bangor, Maine of some thirty or so years in the future. Ongoing problems with the electrical grid and a state of martial law opens the door for extremists to siege civil society. Soldiers returning from a new war in Saudi Arabia are forced to start fighting on their home soil, while college students, radio DJs, and other civilians are caught in the crossfire.
About FinalRune
FinalRune Productions (finalrune.com) is dedicated to producing compelling original audio drama. Since their creation in 2006, FinalRune has released over a dozen original works, including the Ogle-Award winning “Waiting for a Window,” the pilot episode of “Open Season” by Archer Mayor (featured in the Wall Street Journal) and the cautionary tale “The Troll of Stony Brook.” FinalRune’s work is recorded on-location, using techniques similar to independent filmmaking for an immersive and realistic aural experience.
About AudioComics
The AudioComics Company (audiocomicscompany.com) provides superior audio entertainment with its professional full-cast audio theatre adaptations of licensed and original properties from the world of comic books, graphic novels, and more. AudioComics productions of classic, contemporary and world premiere properties will reach new audiences far beyond readers and comic book fans through the universally popular entertainment medium of multi-track recorded sound and music on CD and in downloadable form, accessible in today’s market with today’s sound. The AudioComics team is working to establish relationships with comic book companies, sci-fi and comic writers, sponsors, and the entertainment industry in Hollywood and New York, and to give these audio theatre pieces worldwide exposure.
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