{"id":134119,"date":"2013-09-24T06:53:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T13:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/?p=134119"},"modified":"2013-09-28T19:18:03","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T02:18:03","slug":"interview-mortal-kombat-legacy-ii-producer-lance-sloane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/2013\/09\/24\/interview-mortal-kombat-legacy-ii-producer-lance-sloane\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Mortal Kombat: Legacy II Producer Lance Sloane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mortal<\/p>\n

The very first episode of \u201cMortal Kombat: Legacy\u201d racked up 5.5 million views in a single week and has 70 million to date. Clearly Machinima and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment broke barriers in the web series realm with the groundbreaking property and now they\u2019re looking to continue that trend with the show\u2019s second season, \u201cMortal Kombat Legacy II<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first round functioned as a nine-episode prequel to the original game, consisting of origin stories for characters including Jax (Michael Jai White), Shao Kahn (Aleks Paunovic), Cyrax (Shane Warren Jones), and more. \u201cMortal Kombat: Legacy II,\u201d on the other hand, runs with a linear format and aims to expose the history and rivalries of particular \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d characters through a narrative that focuses on the tournament as well as interweaving storylines.<\/p>\n

With \u201cMortal Kombat: Legacy II\u201d arriving on Machinima in its entirety on September 26th, series producer Lance Sloane took the time to talk to ShockYa.com about the rise of the web series format, the challenges and decisions that went into making the move from season one to two, the potential for \u201cLegacy III,\u201d the outlook for the impending \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d feature, and loads more.<\/p>\n

Can you tell me about the choice to make a web series to begin with? What are the pros and cons of going with the format nowadays?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nLance Sloane:<\/B> That\u2019s kind of the area I focus on and that\u2019s our mission to do digital content, so it\u2019s a blessing for us to be able to do a second season of \u201cMortal Kombat.\u201d And our mandate is to really push the envelope with how we release the digital content, the original content that we\u2019re creating, and then also how we\u2019re capturing it and the talent we\u2019re working with, and that kind of thing. <\/p>\n

As a producer, what would you say is the biggest difference between producing something for TV or film compared to making something web-based?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> For me it\u2019s the speed. Season one, it was literally four months from concept all the way through to delivery to Machinima of the first episode. Where I come from, traditional features, that doesn\u2019t ever happen, ever. And I think it\u2019s kind of been working that way for us on all of the other digital content we\u2019ve created. It\u2019s been extremely fast, the concept phase through to delivery. <\/p>\n

Backing up a bit, how about in terms of pitching? This isn\u2019t a particularly common medium just yet, so are you pitching the web series format in addition to your concept?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> That is a big part of the experiment for us. I think we\u2019re really fortunate where we\u2019ve had content that we\u2019ve had in our pipeline and made the commitment to develop it and make it. And I don\u2019t know, maybe I\u2019m misunderstanding your question because it might be pitching internally to get a green light or producers and other creative talent coming to us and pitching. On that side of things we really haven\u2019t had to take a lot of pitches. We\u2019ve been very lucky on the content that we\u2019ve chosen to move forward with and develop, and the talent that we\u2019re working with to make it. <\/p>\n

\"Mortal<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re going out to financers, talent, or anyone else you\u2019re trying to get on board, do you ever find apprehension in regards to the fact that this is a web series and not a movie or TV show?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> Actually, no. It\u2019s been pretty crazy, the level of talent that wants to work with us and wants to work in the space. I mean, look, we had huge success with the first season of \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d and that was really one of our first digital original projects in the live-action, action adventure area. For sure, with the success of that and the amount of views that that generated, it got a lot of people interested and wanting to work with us. But to answer your question, it\u2019s not a huge process. Certainly there\u2019s talent that wants to make a feature film or a TV series and they\u2019re not interested in digital, but those are not folks that we\u2019re working with currently. And then the folks that are really kind of looking at features and traditional television, I think they see a way to experiment and try things and incubate things on the digital front. <\/p>\n

Can you give me a little more perspective on what makes a web series successful? I\u2019m very familiar with balancing budgets and box office intakes, but what makes \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d a winner? Ad revenue, views?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> We\u2019re definitely at a much different price point than a feature or television, and, knock on wood, we\u2019ve been successful in making these and distributing them and the mandate is to continue to do this. We\u2019re trying on all levels to make it work. But it\u2019s different, too. I think when you have a success with the amount of people that see it and see it organically, if that makes sense, to where you\u2019re not taking out billboards or full page print ads or television commercials to make it work, but you\u2019re relying on organic word-of-mouth and I think that\u2019s one of the most fascinating parts about it.<\/p>\n

So is there any marketing effort involved?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> That\u2019s something you should talk to Machinima and YouTube about. Both are masters of marketing to the core audience and doing collaborations with other channels, maximizing the talent they have under their umbrella and the teams that they\u2019re working with. They\u2019re incredibly great at that and that\u2019s one of the things that\u2019s most exciting about partnering with somebody like Machinima. <\/p>\n

\"Mortal<\/p>\n

From your end, as the producer, where do you tend to put your resources? Is there a certain area of production that tends to get more than others?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> Not really. Our mission with all of our digital original content is to put every cent we have on the screen, so to really empower the director to do what they do best. That\u2019s one of the beauties about being in this space is that we\u2019re not held hostage to different criteria other than to make the best possible content we can make. As much action as we did on the screen, I think the biggest challenge in the digital space is on the special effects side of things. That\u2019s the one area that the costs are the costs. We\u2019ve been able to work with companies that have, I don\u2019t want to say waived<\/I> the cost, but give us drastic discounts because they want to experiment with us.<\/p>\n

How about your shooting format? You\u2019re airing these on YouTube and not necessarily showing them on a big screen, so does that give you more flexibility when choosing a camera?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> We\u2019re using RED cameras. We experimented a lot with the Canon 5D early on, but we\u2019re using the highest quality, latest technology equipment. And that\u2019s a big part of our mandate too is just the way we\u2019re capturing these shows. You can put it on 1080p or you can put it on a giant screen in a theater, but the primary window is the digital window and online. I think it\u2019s pretty much our goal to just capture it on the highest level we possibly can.<\/p>\n

How was it making the move from season one to two? Is there anything you did on the first that you stuck with or wanted to avoid this time around?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> There\u2019s so much, but I think the main thing was for season two we have a linear story that has a beginning, middle, and end. Each episode in season one, we bounced around. It ended up tying together pretty well, but they were definitely ten standalone episodes. Two of them might have merged together, but this season it definitely is one linear piece that you can string together, you could watch all ten straight up, but that was the biggest difference from season one to season two. <\/p>\n

\"Mortal<\/p>\n

Is there any concern about the format change? I really took to the standalone, origin format. Are you confident fans of season one will respond positively?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> That\u2019s a really good point. Definitely you can watch these as standalone pieces and you can actually reshuffle them and watch them not in order, too. That\u2019s the other thing that\u2019s really kind of fascinating, so it\u2019s not like you have to watch them linearly, one through ten. It definitely tells a story and you get a cliffhanger at each episode, but definitely at the end, it leaves you wanting more. But you can watch it separately as well. It works really well that way, too. <\/p>\n

I know the show went over really well, but is there any feedback you got from fans that made it into the second season?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> Yeah, definitely. I didn\u2019t really key in on that. I know Kevin Tancharoen definitely listened to the fans pretty manically, I guess you could say. I\u2019m not afraid to say it. He definitely took note of what things they didn\u2019t like, what things they liked and tried to accommodate that. That was one of the things that I loved, that a studio can see instantly what people are thinking, what they\u2019re saying. It\u2019s almost addicting for traditional media people to just be able to instantly see comments and read about what people liked, and also read about what people didn\u2019t like. I think that was one of the things that was so cool on season one was that our percentage of likes was higher than any other series, let alone the views that we had, which is a pretty good milestone. And it wasn\u2019t just domestically. It was on a global level.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your shooting schedule like? Do you shoot every single episode before the season starts airing?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> This time around we did. Season one, we were rolling episodes. We shot everything in one piece, but we were editing and putting on the special effects and piecing each episode together as we rolled out the episodes. So this season was pretty different in that we actually had everything in the can, finished, ready for delivery. But I think that\u2019s a case-by-case basis \u2013 who\u2019s distributing, when they need it, that kind of thing. <\/p>\n

Do you think there\u2019s any potential in using the immediate response as a tool of sorts, doing rolling episodes and taking viewer comments in account while you\u2019re still making the show?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> [Laughs] I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s a great question. I figure it\u2019d be interesting to try and do something like that where you could actually adjust while you\u2019re in production. I surely liked this last go-around where we were able to capture everything, go into the editing room, and work on it and be able to deliver. The first time around, I don\u2019t think we had the time to adjust for comments and that kind of thing, but we felt like we were on the right track while we were there. There were certain things that we would show people associated with the project and tweak it that way, and then also worked very closely with the game\u2019s group and had their input as well. <\/p>\n

\"Mortal<\/p>\n

Is there anything you\u2019re particularly proud of \u2013 perhaps a location you locked, prop you found, etc. \u2013 that we should keep an eye out for in the new season?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> Yeah, for sure. There are so many things. It was amazing to be able to shoot here in Los Angeles. The first one, we went up to Canada, and just being able to work here was great, to be able to work with the team we want to work with here in Los Angeles. We have a lot of cameos and a lot of talent involved. To have to travel to a location, it changes it up a little bit. And also I liked the ability to tell one story instead of bouncing around.<\/p>\n

Why the wait between season one and two? Is there any specific reason for the two-year gap?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> No, not really. We were synching up with the videogame for season one and we didn\u2019t have any idea of the success it was gonna have and the views it was gonna generate. We were in pre-production on two other digital projects when \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d season one came to be, so we finished season one of \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d and jumped right into our other series, \u201cH+\u201d and \u201cAim High.\u201d It wasn\u2019t like we specifically waited. I think we just realized, wow, the fans want more of this. Let\u2019s see if there\u2019s a way to put it together and if there\u2019s a way to work with Machinima again to do that.<\/p>\n

I know you probably don\u2019t want to get ahead of yourself, but considering season one did so well, are you making any arrangements now so you\u2019re ready if you get the opportunity to continue the show?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> I think in the back of our minds we\u2019re always thinking, it would be great to do a season three or jump platforms. There\u2019s been a movie that\u2019s been in development with Kevin Tancharoen as the director, so I think we\u2019re really wanting to see what comes next. We\u2019ve had some discussions with Machinima about the next version of \u201cMortal Kombat,\u201d but no, there\u2019s no plans right now to do a third season. [Josh] Baizer and [Marshall] Johnson, who wrote season two, had written so much that we have enough for probably a third season, so I guess the good news is, if there is a demand for it, we\u2019ve got the storyline that continues on. So we have those scripts. Those guys did an amazing job. <\/p>\n

Are you involved in that \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d feature, too?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> Yeah, we\u2019ve been working on that. It\u2019s been in development. No news there other than we\u2019re still working on it. <\/p>\n

Have you come up with a timetable at all? Or maybe even just a start date goal?<\/FONT><\/B>
\nSloane:<\/B> Not really. I think we\u2019re just waiting until we have the best materials, the best script, we\u2019ve been working on artwork, and the look and the feel of it. But no, there\u2019s no timeline that we have to hit right now. <\/p>\n

\u201cMortal Kombat: Legacy II\u201d debuts on Machinima on September 26, 2013.<\/I><\/p>\n