The New Path

Okay, what now?

Path: The Series has ended what was essentially a season zero. This was my proof of concept/test flight/see what sticks to the wall season. I gave you guys the keys to the car and said 'you drive'. It was a great run and fun was had by all.

So again, now what?

Well, I've sort of drained any momentum out of the effort whilst I diverted my attentions to other things. But in the back of my head I've been plotting and scheming on what would I do differently this time around. Eight episodes was a real challenge, especially considering the exponentially increasing casts, crew, special effects and irritation of my loving wife with yet another round of free TV. In light of that, I've come to a couple of conclusions...

* Smaller cast: Path started with a small cast of three. By the time the show ended, there were seven significant characters and about 7 minor ones. That a lot of people to wrangle.

* Less action, more suspense: Path became "The Bourne Identity" on a budget. That was partly out of design, but the end result was a lot of chase scenes and action components. I'm all for those moments, but this season needs to feature more character moments as well. We'll look inward as much as outward this time for plot.

* Fewer locations: this goes hand in hand with the smaller cast. Locations mean people sitting around in the hot sun waiting to shoot their scenes. If they're being paid, they don't care, if they're not, then it's a real imposition.

* Longer interval between episodes: I ambitiously tried tried to shoot an episode a week. I almost pulled it off but in the end it was too much to work with. Two weeks feels about right.

* Shorter season or shorter episodes: I'll either do six 6-8 minute shows or eight 5 minute shows. Producing eight 8-10 minute hows was too much.

* I need more help: Because this was a pet project, I tried to pull this off by myself with limited help from friends. This time around I'll be soliciting more help from folks to lighten the load and use their amazing skills.

* find a way to monetize it a little bit. Ugh, I hate idea but even if we had a small budget we could make the shows so much. I have no clear plan right now how to do that, but I'mopen to any suggestions.

* and the biggest one is that after a lot of deliberation, I'm going to give the current Path storyline a rest for at least a season. I love the way the story turned out and the rich world that we all helped create is truly something I'm proud of (Special shout out to Tony Caselli who is the man behind the Friendship League's hilarious Twitter posts). But I need to see where else we can go and if I can tame this beast. The good new is that while the characters are 'resting', most of the actors will return except...

* I take more a behind the scenes role. being on both sides of the camera is fun...for a while. I'm perfectly comfortable hand off the acting duties to other right now to concentrate on making the show that much better. Too many times I was infront of the camera worrying about stuff behind it. Too many times I was also RUNNING the camera when I was shooting a scene. Meh, too old for those shenanigans.

So those are the things I know. What I also know is that I appreciate YOUR continued support of this show. It is your show, after all. My plan is to create an even stronger template for the series and then unleash your creative minds into that sandbox.

So for now, that's it. look for updates and announcements here. I'm getting the itch for Path again and I need someone to scratch it.

That was weird.

Path #7 - "Siren Songs"

The Other Path

Friends of the Path,

I just wanted to shoot you a quick email on the status of Path #7.

We completed principal photography on the episode last Saturday, with pick-up shots on Wednesday.

As this episode is extremely heavy with green screen shots (95% of the episode is green screen), I decided to turn the editing over to my good friend and professional editor, Jason Makiaris. He's about 100 times more knowledgeable than I with editing issues and far more patient when it comes to making sure that the product looks good. As a result, when the episode is finally finished, it will look amazing.

The trade off is expediency. I tend to shoot fast, edit recklessly and upload a little to soon. While I made my self-imposed deadline of weekly episodes, they tended to have major quality issues. The first six episodes have been a proof of concept in regard to viability of shooting a show weekly with 9 possible plot lines. The final two episodes of this season I'm going the other direction and trying to make them as competent and professional as possible. The story merits this decisions as does your loyalty.

If this seems like a flowery way of telling you "Path #7 is a little late", you might be right. I think Tuesday or Wednesday is the target date as of now, but greatness cannot be rushed.

But evidently it can be apologized for.

Thanks for your patience,

Mike McCafferty

Path Episode 6 - "To Change the World"

Path #5 - "The Friendship League"

Path #4: "Hot Coffee"