The following is an interview with Griffin Cork regarding the upcoming release of the webseries, Abracadavers. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Cork about the inspiration behind the series, the creative process in bringing the story to life with the cast and crew, how viewers can access the show, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the upcoming release of your webseries, Abracadavers, with the Alberta-based film production company, Numera Films. For our readers who may be unfamiliar, what can you tell us about the premise of the show?
Griffin Cork: Without the context of seeing the show, the plot sounds really out there. Abracadavers follows my character, Chris, whose mother died two years ago in a freak hair salon chair accident. Throughout the series, Chris is shown to possibly possess symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), so he ends up stealing the chair, because it’s one of the last memories he has of his mother. His friends see all of this unfold and decide to kidnap Chris to take him on a road trip to help him get over the loss. And when I say kidnap, I mean with chloroform and the sack over his head and everything; however, Chris won’t leave without the chair, so they strap an old-timey hair salon chair to the roof of the van, and off they go. As the trip progresses, the group of five friends start to develop supernatural abilities and that garners the attention from some unsavory people and organizations. I’ll leave it there to not spoil anything! Abracadavers is a coming-of-age story about establishing identity, how to deal with grief, how to support somebody dealing with grief, and, of course, flame powers.
BD: What was the inspiration behind the series, and what (or who) were some of the creative influences of the team?
GC: Josef, Morgan, and I (the three members of Numera Films) are recent post-secondary graduates and a team of emerging filmmakers. Therefore, the coming-of-age story comes really natural to us as we are working to establish a career and make a name for ourselves in the Canadian Film Scene. But if we are getting into specifics, there was an afternoon where Josef and Morgan were walking down an alleyway heading to Morgan’s house, and just happened upon this intact, decently maintained hair salon chair. And they had the moment of, “Well, we HAVE to put this in something!” So, that’s where that was born from!
BD: How would you describe your creative process in working with the cast and crew to bring Abracadavers to life?
GC: I mean, first off: If you are making a road trip series, you should probably go on a real road trip. So, the cast and crew traveled to over 15 cities and small towns around Alberta and British Columbia to showcase all we could of Western Canada in the series which really let the cast and crew become more of a family than work colleagues. And if you have the option to get that close with the people you work with (or better yet, START working with your close friends), I cannot recommend that enough.
BD: The series has had great success in the festival circuit, taking home 35 wins and nominations. What can you tell us about you experience in taking the show to festivals and having the opportunity to witness audiences experience it for the first time?
GC: Watching an audience take in our series for the first time is breath-taking. I think Abracadavers isn’t like the kind of thing that you normally see out of Alberta’s film scene. It’s a very stylized type of show, and we also wanted to prove that you COULD make something genre-based in Alberta for anybody who was wondering, so we did! There are superheroes running around the provinces’ prairies! And while the acceptances into RainDance and FilmQuest was far and above anything we could of expected, I am most proud of walking up on stage at the AMPIA Rosie Awards in my home province and accepting an award. There is nothing as sweet as that.
BD: How many total seasons and/or episodes are currently planned for the series?
GC: I believe we have the first three or four seasons plotted out in a season bible; however, we already have a draft for the second season, which we did a table read a few weeks ago. The first season has 8 episodes, and we are trying to stay in that 8-10 episode range just for web content is usually consumed. So, all that to say, Season 2 is in HEAVY development!
BD: Are there any other projects on which you are currently working that you would like to share with our readers?
GC: Personally, I just finished filming a feature film with Opine Entertainment out in L.A. entitled Broken that should be coming out in the New Year! As for Numera Films, we have a few series and features we are talking to a couple of other companies about. As I’m sure anybody in this business knows, you need to have about 8 or 9 irons in the fire so you’re ready to strike when one gets hot!
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell fans who want to learn more about Abracadavers?
GC: We are on Facebook and Instagram at Abracadavers! You can find us on Twitter at @AbracadaversWeb, or you can go to www.abracadavers.tv, as well. Coming January 1st, the series will be available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, and The Fantasy Network in the U.K., the U.S., Germany, and Japan! We will also be available on Optik TV, iTunes, and The Fantasy Network in Canada!
