This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.

Sorry it’s a been a while since my last update. The period immediately after filming is the part of the production cycle when I’m least engaged as showrunner. The directors are busy working on their episodes with the editor, and apart from chasing them up occasionally, I don’t have a lot to do. I tend to use the time to focus on promoting the series, and in this case planning and preparing the Indiegogo campaign has consumed a lot of my attention over the last month or two.

The campaign will run from Saturday, 2nd November to Sunday, 1st December (ending to coincide with our panel at MCM Birmingham Comic Con). It will be a keep-what-you-earn campaign with a goal of £18,000. This will be just enough, in combination with the funds you loyal Marked Ones will provide over the coming months, to finance the second block of Season Three.

I’m pleased to say that 20% of that goal has already been committed by several fans and team members to be contributed within the first 24 hours. I’m delighted to add that Indiegogo themselves have taken an interest in the series; their creative projects director enjoyed our Story So Far video and reached out to me personally. As a result, our campaign has been featured twice now in Indiegogo’s newsletter, with a third shout-out scheduled for early November.

I’ve been meeting regularly with Ash F and Ross to fine-tune the campaign page and figure out producing the perks. Much of our focus has gone on the £100 perk which is a package of physical items called the Alathian Traveller’s Kit, including a map of South Felaxia, a hardcopy of Ash’s traveller’s guide and a handmade Dohl’Leg set – that’s the board game seen more than once in the show. Ash has done a lot of legwork costing it all up, Ross has experimented with 3D printing some parts, and I spent a pleasant morning in Liverpool Central Library designing the guide’s cover, inspired by the books in the beautiful Picton Reading Room. We’ll even be holding a mini Making Weekend next month to construct the games! Paid Patreon members will receive a secret link when the campaign goes live offering you 25% off the Traveller’s Kit.

To mark the campaign launch, The Mouth of Truth will return on 2nd November with guests including Ash F and Ash M discussing their roles designing, directing and writing Season Three Block One. We’re also lining up some local press appearances with the help of our 2nd AD, Amelia Jabry.

Before that, don’t forget that our stunt coordinator Ronin Traynor is running a Ren-themed combat workshop at MCM London Comic Con this Saturday, 26th October. You can find him in the Platinum Suite, room 2 at 4:45pm.

Other events coming up include a cast and crew reunion to mark the tenth anniversary of wrapping Season One, and of course Bilbao Seriesland. I’m heading out to Spain with Oriana Charles (Ren) and Helen Fullerton (Sol) – and possibly a couple of others, if they get around to booking! – to enjoy the festival for a few days. I’m sorry to report that Season Two didn’t win anything at Melbourne WebFest last weekend, so all fingers will be firmly crossed for better results in Bilbao.

I said at the start that there isn’t currently much for me to do on the actual production of the series, but there isn’t nothing either. I’m very slowly building a CGI model of Helgoth to supplement the set we built in the field this summer. I’m also making enquiries with potential locations for the next block.

You probably saw that the three directors for Block Two were recently announced on our socials: Alan Hay (a.k.a. Torberry from Season One), Jo Lewis (an exciting newcomer to the series with some exceptional work under her belt), and Chris Bouchard (director of the hit LOTR fan film The Hunt for Gollum). We have just begun to discuss how these three can best collaborate to tell the serialised story of Block Two across their individual episodes.

Ash F has provided us with a first-draft design for the block’s main set, the Archive, and that is what I will leave you with today. Until next time…