GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s been almost exactly a year since filming for The Watchers concluded in Grand Rapids. Now, the streaming series is set to premiere this Wednesday, June 1 on Redeem TV. Written and directed by Compass College alum Aaron Greer, the series provides a fresh take on good vs. evil.
“The Watchers is a spiritual thriller series that follows the Archangel Michael as he is sent by God back to earth to protect humanity from his brother, the devil, who is secretly hunting for an ancient weapon that could potentially destroy supernatural beings,” Greer said. “I wrote this actually during the pandemic. I took the short film I'd done back in 2018 with my two leads who then appear in the full season, and I wrote with them in mind.”
He said his goal was to create a compelling and entertaining story without pushing a specific message.
“I wanted it to be a binge worthy show,” Greer said. “So that's why we made sure we had compelling characters and a compelling narrative. You know, we have some scenes of action just to kind of pump up the adrenaline a little bit, but it's very much about these very unifying themes of hope, redemption, love and second chances.”
He said there are two ways to watch the new series, but both ways require the use of Redeem TV, a free app that’s available on most devices.
“You just put in your email address for the free account, and you can watch the first episode for free, and then you can watch every episode for free, every Wednesday after that,” he said. “Or, if you want to binge watch it, since a lot of us are accustomed to binge watching our shows, there's an additional section on the Redeem TV platform called Additional Donor Content. And for a one-time minimal fee that you can give to Redeem TV, that will unlock the entire season for you to watch.”
That additional content includes a 30-minute “Making of…” featurette, Greer said, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the show was made. He said he’s excited about the series, which was filmed in multiple locations around West Michigan, but he admitted it was stressful at times.
“We shot eight episodes in about 17 days, which can be very intense and very challenging, because you have a lot of moving parts. You have a lot of people that you're moving from place to place,” Greer said. “We did about on average 10 to 11 pages a day. The industry standard usually recommends five to six. So we were doing about double that. And I chalk that up to my crew just being on point, being prepared and going all out every day. My cast always came to set with their lines down, so we didn't have to do a lot of takes.”
“I came home every day exhausted. I probably averaged about four hours of sleep every night during those two weeks, but it was really rewarding to just see these characters, these lines, these situations that I'd had in my head for three years, kind of fully coming to life on screen, and the actors took it to a level that I hadn't even imagined,” he said. “There were some scenes that we all just kind of sat back and were like ‘Yeah, this is why we're here. This is why we're shooting this series, because we're having these kinds of moments.’ And hopefully, the audience, when they see this show and see these moments, are going to feel the same way we did, when we were shooting it.”
Like most series, the goal is to continue the storyline. Greer said season two is already written and ready to be filmed, but everything hinges on the success of season one.
“It really depends on how many people watch the show,” he said. “So we definitely encourage people to watch it. The numbers matter.”
He said season one focuses on local problems, season two expands nationwide and season three takes the issues to a global level.
“The main storyline that happens in season one is that a new spiritual revival begins in an inner city, and it has this ripple effect, almost like how the Billy Graham crusades movement kind of just spread out. It started in the states and then expanded outwards,” Greer said. “We’re kind of having our story follow something similar, but with a different focus on what the ministry is talking about. And the idea is to try to get it out to an international scale, by the time we get to season three. And then who knows from beyond there?”
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