“March 19.
2007
Jeskid Productions
“Drawn By Pain”
http://www.drawnbypain.com
Young
Emily once watched the world
through blinders so the only
thing she saw was the page on
which she drew. Isolated, she
tried to look away as her father
gave her mother lessons in
brutality from which she could
only hide in her mind. But
that rage, that fear growing
deep within her would surface
and once unleashed – could never
be re-contained.
Drawn by Pain,
The story of a little girl
turned fierce woman with the
power to manifest strong anime
characters onto herself has
finally been brought to the web,
and beyond! Fusing animation
with live action, Emily Waters
slices an animated sword through
all that stands before her as
she struggles to deal with her
real life, inner (and outer)
demons and the person she fears
the most: herself!
“I figured
why tell a pre-existing
anti-hero story that’s been told
through comics and books when I
can just make my own. Isn’t the
very point of storytelling to
try and be original?” Tired of
seeing the same unoriginal
remakes, sequels and adaptations
made by Hollywood,
Writer/Director Jesse Cowell,
who already has a huge fan base
under the pseudo-name “Jeskid”,
embraces the idea of people
finding the new wave in
entertainment themselves via the
internet and choosing what they
want to see.
Currently,
the level of content online is
mostly relegated to funny web
cam moments and police chases,
but Cowell thinks it’s time for
a change from someone outside
the studio system. “I feel like
it’s filling a void,” says
Cowell who has poured every
resource he has–many credit
cards–into making something, not
typical of web quality, but a
piece that reflects cinematic
style, creativity and heart.
“For the most part, Hollywood
only repurposes its content and
puts snippets online for us to
see what we have already seen
everywhere else. What I wanted
to do was give my online friends
(Cowell hates the word Fans) a
chance to have content that was
made just for them.”
And Cowell
has done it in dramatic style.
A 12-part series shot on the
streets of New York with a state
of the art High Definition
camera, and teamed up with
cutting edge animator Erica
Langworthy and blossoming
actress Marissa Parness, Cowell
has made a film of psychological
intensity, action and
storytelling in a way that lets
the audience choose what pieces
they want to see next.
With the
first two installments free and the
subsequent episodes costing only
$1.99 each, Cowell lets the user
decide if the film is for them
and asks them to stop at any
time it isn’t. “I felt ripped
off for years and wanted to give
people a way to say, ‘Hey this
movie isn’t working for me. I’m
not going to buy the next
installment.’ If I could have
stopped paying for 90 percent of
the movies I’ve seen in the last
ten years in the theater, I’d be
a rich man with a lot more time
on my hands.” Cowell believes
that his “proof is in the
pudding” attitude allows the
audience to be the judge of what
they like (before and during)
and therefore what they support
with their limited entertainment
budgets. “I’d rather have word
of mouth get the film seen than
have a marketing blitz convince
everyone of what the new hot
thing is. It should be up to
people, not a quote on a movie
poster by some guy they've never
met recommending it.”
Drawn by Pain
is also easy to consume as each
episode is fewer than ten
minutes (released bi-weekly) for
those who like to keep their
stories short but entertaining.
“I think people will be pleased
with where the story takes them
and it’s a real pleasure to not
have to work in a traditional
hour and a half filmmaking
structure in showing a
character’s journey. That mold
is broken and those days are
gone in my opinion. It’s time
for something new.”
Is that
new thing
Drawn By Pain?
Cowell says, “Please decide for
yourself. Thankfully, the power
now lies with the audience
itself”
Drawn By Pain
– Now playing at
www.drawnbypain.com!
info@drawnbypain.com”
