Albertan filmmakers Griffin Cork, Morgan Ermter and Josef Wright will be travelling across Alberta to film their latest series Abracadavers — also making a few stops in Red Deer.
The production, made up of entirely emerging artists, revolves around the lead character Chris, played by Cork.
His mom died in a freak hair salon chair accident, and ever since Chris has been attached to the chair.
“His friends try and make him feel better about it by taking him on this summer road trip, but he won’t leave without the chair so they take the chair along with them,” said Cork.
While on the road trip everyone discovers, as Chris had previously begun to expect, that the chair gives those close to it superpowers. Through stumbles and trips, the group works and grows together to try and understand their new-found abilities.
“It’s still a comedy but there’s definitely some dark humour with it,” said Cork, describing the overall series.
The three filmmakers, all originally from Calgary, decided to showcase Alberta, and will be making a stop in Red Deer to film at a residence. They will also be making stops at various farm houses, highways, countrysides and more.
“We believe that Alberta has a whole bunch of beautiful locations and a lot of supportive communities that we really want to show to the rest of the world.”
The reoccurring cast includes five actors. The first season shows a couple of flashbacks with Chris’s mom, while the second season will start fleshing out more of their relationship.
The filmmakers, under their corporation Numera Films, began production this month for the first season. Both SAIT graduates, Ermter and Wright have worked for years on both independent and professional film sets in Alberta like El Chicano, Heartland, Fargo and Chokeslam.
For Cork, his acting experience dates back to his younger days. With his mother and father both in the acting world themselves, Cork decided he wanted to give it a try.
“When I was a kid my mother took me to A Christmas Carol at Theatre Calgary and I just saw people my age up there doing something they love and I know how happy it made my mom,” he said, adding that once he gave acting a try he fell in love with it.
Production of Abracadavers runs from early May to late June, with episodes available on TELUS Optik TV On Demand and online towards the end of this summer.
Abracadavers can be found on the web at https://www.abracadavers.tv/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/abracadaversseries/?ref=br_rs – For more information on Telus and Storyhive, you can head to https://www.storyhive.com/ or find them on various social medias @STORYHIVE.
