After receiving an overwhelming response to their web series, “Lenox Avenue,” show creators Al Thompson and Brian Rolling have launched an Indiegogo campaign through their production company, ValDean Entertainment, in an effort to produce an extended season finale to meet the show’s demands.
The digital drama series, which stars Thompson, Dorian Missick, Ryan Vigilant, Michael K. Williams, Jamie Hector, and Vanessa Bell Calloway, revolves around three friends as they navigate through the fast paced dating scene in Manhattan’s uptown neighborhood.
Giving fans the opportunity to be involved with the show’s creative process was one of the leading factors in the creators' decision to launch their 60-day campaign.
“We really wanted to open up our process to the fans, and let the fans have a voice. And let Harlem become the sponsor of the show,” Rolling said during a recent interview with the Huffington Post. “And so, we were excited by the opportunity to see that reaction and being able to communicate with our fans and allow them to have ownership of the show that was something that really excited us to the Indiegogo route versus some of the other routes that were available.”
Since launching the independent series digitally last Fall, the filmmaker’s noticed a startling shift in their viewership amongst men and women. “When we first launched we were probably skewing around 50% male, 50% female close in that proximity. But we actually skew 72% female, which is pretty interesting being that the main characters are male,” Thompson revealed.
“During the feedback, a lot of the females would tell us that they don’t have too many shows where they get to look at themselves through male eyes. We were like, ‘wow,’ that was kind of like a mind blowing comment that we received. So basically the females are being a little bit nosey [Laughs]…because they never get to see us men having an honest conversation, and they never get to see us deal with our emotions and situations that we go through.”
Although production has yet to begin, the dynamic duo is busy crafting what will become the tenth episode in the series. As Rolling admitted, the task has been a challenge in finding the middle ground between viewer feedback and integrating their original script.
“I think it’s definitely a tricky thing for digital content filmmakers when they have such immediate reaction to their work,” he asserted. “We’re definitely listening to our audience and our fans and we’re definitely taking into consideration storylines that seem to get a big reaction.”
“With that being said, we obviously have to think about what makes the best show. And to some extent you have to distance yourself away from the feedback. So we’re trying to find that balance.”
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