Voting Reaction (Butchers Chopped) - Tuesday Apr 20, 2010

The Round 3 results came hurtling through the ether this morning to land on our desks. Butchers, who won Round 1, the close fought opening vote have been knocked out of the competition. I'm a little shocked. Disappointed too, I guess you don't know what you've got till it's gone. I was going to try and create an homage to Brendan and Jason, where I wasn't going to mince my words, how I was offal'ly upset. When I went to write about how they couldn't steak a place in the final I couldn't take it anymore and broke down. I cursed cruel fate as I wiped away the tears with my little sausage fingers. When the All Mighty tenderizes your heart with a rolling pin he does a good job.

Tears aside, Zombie Bashers and We Own the Streets have made the final. The Bashers have topped the last two rounds with their amazing project. Conor, Stephen, Ruth and Julianne well done again! Pascal and Mick's fight with ZTU and
Lance Armbar continues unabated. It's going to be intriguing to see who wins now. We Own the Streets have put up a tenacious campaign and been everywhere doing everything. W.O.T.S. have been consistently near the top of the results for every round and have developed a large following. How support is going to polarise between them is going to be interesting to watch.

Can they both pull out all the stops again ignore the pressure to deliver? I think they will, we all deserve a tough choice on when Episode 5 airs on Friday May 14th. Voting is open till the 20th with the results announced Friday May 21st.

In the meantime, check out our idents on the Facebook page (I dare you to come up with better!) and drop us a thought about what you think of the results. You're the one deciding after all.

by Feargal Gallagher  | 

Episode 4's - Monday Apr 12, 2010

So we're down to 3 remaining shows fighting it out to make it into the final two. Voting opened this morning and the new episodes are online. So much is at stake for the program makers, they know now that the hard bit isn't making the episodes (though it is hard and I should know... I've seen the pics and read the production blogs). The hard work is drumming up interest in their work and getting people to watch it, like it and vote for it.

Picture the end scene of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly... No scratch that. Imagine an anti-sequel to Dumb and Dumber 2 called Really Good, Better and Bestest. No that won't do... It's 10 minutes to midnight in Albert Square, Barry from Extras and Phil and Grant Mitchel are facing off waiting for those electronic drums (It's raining of course because it's Eastenders). Hmmm.... Simply put, Butchers, We Own the Streets and Zombie Bashers are vying for your votes.

I have my favourite but the problem is it keeps changing because the shows are so different. I love Butchers for it's classical setup which is cleverly executed and the on screen chemistry between Gerry and Enda. Zombie Bashers scope, ambition and inventiveness means I expect them to find new ways to squeeze blood out of a stone (literally!). And it goes without saying how great Cathal is. The subtlety of xL and We Own the Streets has me second guessing my own judgement at times. I guess it's just his infectious likeability. Frankly I hope you're able to pick a favourite. At this stage it's not as easy as it looks.

Call over to our Facebook page and tell me what you make of the new eps and what swayed you to vote for your chosen show.

by Feargal Gallagher  | 

Round Two Begins - Thursday Feb 25, 2010

Hi all, so we've had the results for the first round of voting. Butchers topped the poll and we had to say goodbye to Daily Strife. The shows producers had a day or two to celebrate before jumping straight back into the whole process again. Scripts and budgets needed to be rubberstamped with final approval and the shows had to set about organising their productions for the new round of filming. Lots of different factors had to be juggled for them to sort out their shooting dates. They had to arrange for all their cast to be available on the same dates as their desired locations. All in the space of a week! The workload is fairly relentless so fair play to everyone involved.

This week has seen the shows begin to shoot the new episodes. We Own The Streets were on location at the 40 Foot in Sandycove at the start of the week. If you’re in Dublin this weekend their could be a StoryLand shoot near you – look out for Mariana, Zombie Bashers and Butchers who will be filming this weekend. Mariana has to jump between Waterford and Dublin while the Bashers will be hunting for zombies in and around the city. Butchers have a jaunt out to my old college DCU.

Here on the website we have a new competition that's open to the public which I'm really excited about. I’ll be launching it here next week and if you have an interest in making tv or film we have a prize that's going to interest you. So check in on Wednesday for all the details.

Remember to tell us what you think of the episodes on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to join in the discussion, you know you want too.

by Feargal Gallagher  | 

Episodes One - Monday Feb 01, 2010

Hi folks, I think I can safely say it's been an eventful week here at StoryLand. With the airing of the first episodes of the new series, the withdrawal of Star Feck! from the competition and a small number of viewers experiencing technical problems when trying to watch episodes.

Firstly the problems viewing the episodes. That was an oversight on our behalf wanting the episodes shown in the highest possible quality. The quality and size of the video is too high for some internet connections to stream smoothly. We're changing things slightly for episode 2 onwards as we will have more than one video quality option to choose from. Thanks to those who pointed out the problems on the Facebook fan page. Hope you're happy with the changes.

Star Feck! was withdrawn from the competition due to a breach of their contract. I can't go into more detail because it's above my pay grade as they say. To all its fans, I can understand your disappointment with the way things worked out. I recognise that the cast and crew put in vast amounts of time and energy into the production and are clearly disappointed but I'm afraid things aren't going to change now. Sorry.

Lastly but not least! The new episodes. I'm very happy with what was submitted. We have some really high quality episodes in various genres. They set things up nicely for future episodes. What did you think? I for one am loving it.

by Feargal Gallagher  | 

Site Launch - Friday Jan 22, 2010

Hi folks! We're back again for a new year with a new site & new series, Twitter, a Facebook page and few more hidden treats. Stay tuned for competitions and prizes.

Episode 1 of each show is released on the 29th of January. Voting starts as soon as they are up and closes on February 8th.

In the meantime go watch the promos and check out the pics and blogs.

There isn't any location restrictions for the shows so everyone around the world will be able to watch the episodes here on the Storyland site. That brother you have in New York? Tell him. Your cousin in Australia? She can watch too! Go on, let them know.

We've been working away behind the scenes to get everything ready. From the project co-ordinators to the backend technical staff everyone has put in a long shift and I think all the effort has paid off handsomely. Thanks guys!

And let us know what you think of the new setup. You've loads of ways of getting in touch via Facebook and Twitter. So do!

I'm Feargal and I look after updating the site and replying on Facebook and Twitter. So when you're talking to us, you're talking to me :)

by Feargal Gallagher  |