While Jason Mewes will always be most recognizable for his recurring role as Jay in many of Kevin Smith’s films, he tends to pop up in other projects from time to time. The latest of these is new web series Vigilante Diaries, produced by social video site Chill. The series is at the center of an experimental new crowdfunding campaign – if enough people purchase the first two installments by July 25th and the series reaches its goal of $50,000, the producers will continue to create new episodes.
The first episode is available to view for free, and we’re including an embed below, courtesy of Machinima. If you like what you see, spend the $4.99 to download the second episode and keep this series alive. More details, including the official press release and a poster for the show, are available below the embed.
MACHINIMA PICKS UP FIRST EPISODE OF CHRISTIAN SESMA WEB SERIES: VIGILANTE DIARIES
Mega-Gaming Site YouTube Channel Features Premiere Episode of
Chill’s Groundbreaking Series
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o63Tv1RbJEw
http://www.chill.com/vd
LOS ANGELES, CA July 3, 2013 – Machinima, the premier network for gamers across the globe, has begun to showcase the first installment of Vigilante Diaries—feature film director Christian Sesma’s explosive new web series starring Jason Mewes—on its YouTube Channel. Machinima’s showcase of the episode will significantly expand the program’s reach, aiding the director’s crowd-funding campaign on social video website Chill (http://www.chill.com/vd) to earn $50,000 by July 25th. Whether or not Sesma creates new episodes of the series depends on fan support.
Featuring an in-your face performance by Jason Mewes (CLERKS, DOGMA, JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK), Vigilante Diaries combines high-octane action-comedy, violence, gore and gratuitous sex with a snappy, graphic novel sensibility. Mewes plays documentary filmmaker Michael Hanover, who turns his camera to the dark underworld of vigilante justice. As he records the exploits of “The Vigilante” and his right-hand man “The Kid,” he is thrust headfirst into the middle of the story he is documenting. Taking down drug lords, mafia kingpins and getting some action from “the twins,” Hanover must learn to adapt to this depraved world. With no shortage of blood, gore, sex, and first-person shooter action sequences, Vigilante Diaries promises to be the series that hardcore gamers, graphic novel and thriller fans have been hungering for.
“Paul Sloan (the creator), Mewes and I are totally pleased with our partners, who not only have given us a broadcast platform on Chill but allowed us to tap into Machinima’s huge viewership,” says Sesma, who also produced the series under his production company Seskri Produktionz. “I’m a big fan of the site and I couldn’t think of a better way to build on our core audience at Chill than to be able to showcase our kick-ass series on YouTube…and show episode One for free no less.”
Machinima, “the world’s most powerful gaming network,” provides comprehensive gaming-focused programming to the coveted 18-34-year-old male demographic. With the number-one entertainment channel on YouTube, their global reach extends to over 191 million unique gamers. Machinima videos garnered an incredible combined 2.2 billion views in March 2013.
Sesma has shot two episodes of the show and has four more written and ready to go. Fans of Vigilante Diaries can help ensure the show’s livelihood by purchasing the first two episodes for $4.99 on Chill (http://www.chill.com/vd). The website allows indie filmmakers to showcase and crowd- fund their projects. Chill is also offering fans the opportunity to purchase Vigilante Diaries “extras” including the opportunity to direct a scene from an upcoming episode, have a walk-on role in the show, or play Call of Duty with Jason Mewes.
“We teamed up with Chill because we didn’t want any third parties messing with our vision for Vigilante Diaries,” Sesma explains. “We wanted to give our audience what they want…a digital graphic novel love letter with everything we (Sesma, Sloan and Mewes) think is cool. No rating, no rules, just over-the-top genre content that you wouldn’t normally be able to see on the web.”
Palm Springs native Christian Sesma is at the vanguard of a new generation of Latino filmmakers. Sesma debuted his first short film CYCLES at the Palm Springs Short Film Festival in 2004. Since then he’s directed five other features: teen thriller 6:30 (SIX-THIRTY), sophomore horror effort ON BLOODY SUNDAY (Warner Bros.) His third breakout feature SHOOT THE HERO (with Mewes, Samantha Lockwood, Danny Trejo and Nic Nac) world premiered at Palm Springs Film Fest. I’M NOT LIKE THAT NO MORE (with Paul Rodriguez) premiered at HBO’S New York Latino Film. He recently wrapped production on the Sci-fi/horror mash-up LOST TIME, which stars Luke Goss, Robert Davi, Lin Shaye and Rochelle Vallese. He has two more features slated for production in 2013: THE NIGHTCREW with Premiere Entertainment and AWOL starring Goss, Bokeem Woodbine and The Rza.
Vigilante Dairies is directed/produced by Christian Sesma, written/created by Paul Sloan and executive produced by Brian Norgard, Marc Hustvedt, and Jason Mewes. The series stars Mewes, Sloan, Kevin L. Walker and Jacqueline Lord; Anthony J. Ricket Epstein is editor; original music is composed by Michael John Mollo.