Success beyond the horizon
THE co-creator of The Horizon has said the birth of his web series in 2009 was an accident. Well, almost.
Hard to believe when you consider how the series has eclipsed 24 million views a few weeks after wrapping up its fourth season in August.
In addition, the series won four awards — including Outstanding Series — at this year’s LA Webfest, online entertainment’s equivalent to the Emmys.
“[It] came about when my friend Adam Jones called me with the idea of producing a short-form gay drama for the web,” writer/director Boaz Stark said.
“I looked at his premise for the series and felt it was too unwieldy for short-form, too many characters and locations, too complicated plot-wise. So I simplified the idea and wrote the scripts in a couple of days. Eight episodes, all 3–4 minutes long.
“Then I went overseas and put it out of my head. When I got back six weeks later, Adam had managed to bring ACON on board as a sponsor, find actors and a group of film students to make it.”
Stark said the unexpected viral success of the web series’ first season, of which he was only co-creator and spent minimal time on set, was what inspired him to film the second season.
“A couple of years later, that first series was still attracting about 10,000 views a day, so I decided to do another season and get more serious about it,” he recalled.
“I spent more time writing the scripts and took on officially directing it, too.”
From there, there was no turning back.
“This second season proved even more popular and we’ve since gone from strength to strength,” said Stark, whose previous writing credits include TV shows such as Packed to the Rafters and Home and Away.
“We get between 30,000–50,000 views daily. The thought of all those individual people watching our story and getting emotionally involved is absolutely thrilling.
“It has officially become the world’s most watched online gay series. We have ‘Horizontals’ in virtually every country in the world, from Norway to Uganda, although we are also very popular in Australia too, which is gratifying.”
Stark believed the audiences’ ability to connect with the characters and plotline, despite the series’ low budget, is what made The Horizon successful.
“It’s a challenge to choose the right characters to explore gay life today — they need to be interesting, and dynamic enough to carry story in a short space of time,” he said.
“The Horizon characters started off as quite iconic in season one: the innocent country boy; rampant slut; caustic drag queen; etc. In subsequent seasons, I’ve been able to explore these characters and others in greater depth, find their humanity.
“I’d say generally gay people are starved for images of ourselves on screen. The Horizon gives us characters we can love, hate, relate to in some way, or react against — and thereby validate or define ourselves.”
Another aspect of the series that he believes resonated well with audiences was its subtle themes of safe sex, especially in regards to HIV among modern gay men, interwoven in the storyline without being “preachy”.
“Now that HIV has been around for 30 years and there are drugs that can manage it, I think there’s a sense of complacency about it which has lead to an increase in infection rates,” Stark said.
“The Horizon deals with HIV today, modern treatments, prevention… The series certainly inspires conversations about it in our social media and I know from reading audience posts that we are making a difference.”
With the current success of The Horizon in mind, Stark and the crew are now working on an American offshoot for Frontiers Media in LA.
“We just shot seasons five and six and are in post production for airing later in the year,” he said.
“These seasons will also feature American actor Jai Rodriguez, who is well known for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Jai plays a visiting pop star called Ritchie Valentine, who gets heavily involved with one of our existing characters and turns out to be not all he seems.
“His character will then spearhead an LA version of the series.”
From a director’s point of view, Stark explained that the series’ low budget presented a lot of challenges, especially in terms of underpaid staff and reliance on the generosity of people donating locations, wardrobe, props, and time.
However, he was also quick to highlight how these were outweighed by positives.
“The biggest reward is witnessing its popularity and knowing our safe sex messages are getting out there,” Stark said.
“From a personal point of view, the biggest reward has been that it’s given me a platform to tell stories the way I want to tell them, and the steep learning curve associated with that.
“I’d never officially directed before and am learning from my mistakes… I’m very grateful to everyone involved for their patience.”
**This article first appeared in the October issue of the Star Observer and was the front page story. The November issue will hit the streets on Thursday, October 16. Click here to find out where you can grab your free copy in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and select regional areas.
