You don't make four series of web TV by mistake, or for the hell of it, but until recently I've avoided defining what makes Twisted Showcase tick. It began as a mix of the domestic and the uncanny but has grown to be layered with more meaning each series. There's a cult following of fans that have their own reasons for their Twisted fandom, but this is what Twisted showcase has come to mean to me, and why it keeps drawing me back to make more.
Firstly, it's a freeing concept the anthology, giving you lots of areas to play in - you can hop across genres, invent new characters each time, and hone down a satisfying story in a limited space of time. Ok, we may be limited by cast size and locations, but they actually work in its favour keeping the setting domestic and balancing it with the uncanny, keeping things intimate and keeping our characters trapped with their fears.
Also, there are great moments where you get to work with really talented people whilst making the films, and the upcoming excitement of releasing the films and getting feedback.
But recently I had a revelation which made me realise how far Twisted Showcase has come and what it has come to mean for me. This week I was interviewed by Andrew Pollard from Starburst magazine. It was a great interview, he makes me think about lots of things I probably take for granted regarding the series and he drew something most unexpected out of me. I realised that Twisted Showcase is the perfect filter of fear for our times. We live in times heightened by the internet - politics through the prism of social media, symptoms through Web MD (so many times a minor ailment I've had has been diagnosed as cancer - STOP LOOKING UP SYMPTOMS ONLINE!!!) and I realised that Twisted Showcase functions in a similar way - as rational fears put through the filter of our modern times, put through the distortion of the internet. Look at series 3 opener Payback, the fear of falling into debt taken to it's extreme. Or Toilet Soup's heightened take on kneejerk reactions and internet trolls.
In series 4 we look at grief, responsibility, secrets, the way we treat our hopes and dreams and aging, but with all of these we take them to the Twisted Showcase extremes. I hope you like where we take you in Series 4 - to the extremes of your fears.
