The creator and showrunner of Syfys upcoming, groundbreaking grindhouse series Blood Drive take a pit stop.
While many shows that would tout themselves as groundbreaking might take that role seriously,Blood Drivetakes itself ridiculously.
This is part of what makes it so different.
Den of Geekspoke with the driving forces behindBlood Drivebefore the checkered flag drops.
But they all did it with the enthusiastic giggles of artists given a chance to go full throttle.
Between gales of laughter, heres what they told us.
James Roland:It was actually who we had to kill.
John had me kill somebody.
Did Syfy give you any shit about language?
The first episode is called The Fucking Cop and theres one episode called The Fucking Dead.
Was there a problem with that?
Because when we turn on cable and hit the info button, we see these things.
Wouldnt you say, James?
It was like real far out.
So they were pretty great about it.
Thats what I heard, I dont have that confirmed.
So, yeah, it was kind of a free-for-all with the language.
I can bleep out the unconfirmed bit later.
So there werent intense production note sessions like the ones between Slink and Heart Enterprises?
James: Theres a lot of fun stuff with that.
Almost everything Slink says, I think youre referring specifically to episode three?
James: Almost everything thats on those note calls is our twisted variation on actual notes calls.
All the stuff with the executives throughout the show, its all based in truth.
But also totally focused through our crazy lens.
I love the way you play with censorship.
You use visual puns.
My favorite is the cops erections.
How much leeway are you really giving him?
The thing is, it made the show feel more salacious than it was.
We were very lucky, in this regard, at Syfy and UCP.
They were really gracious about it.
James: Later on Slink starts really interacting more with the executives at Heart.
Then we just said, what are we hiding the salami for?
Lets just call them the names of our executives.
We were afraid how they would take it.
Like, oh my god, are we crossing a line, killing off our executives?
And they loved it and then it became a request.
They started asking can so and so get in the show?
Can you kill this person?
Okay, I want to work at Heart Enterprises.
What should I put on my resume?
James: The fact that you want to work there alone is almost enough to get you in.
John: Yeah, you probably better talk to your bosses about that.
James: Well, we talked a lot about that.
We actually had an ethos for Heart Enterprises, to put a method behind the madness.
If their iPhones blow up and kill ninety people, they say great.
Thats what were talking about with Heart.
Its about the amount of chaos.
Its the collateral damage that makes the company what it is.
They talk about their hiring practices.
Some of that will be in the show in later episodes.
Will they be working on their dental plan?
Theyll have to have a good one to keep up.
You mention that Slink is a Machiavellian character, or is he the ultimate company man?
James: Youll have to find out.
In the first couple episode one of the things that was fun was putting such a powerful character.
Hes a god to the racers.
But whos the god to the god?
Whos the step above that?
We had a lot of fun with that.
It actually makes him more of a dimensional character, too, than just the standard villain.
He did a truly amazing job bringing that guy to life.
So, many kudos to Colin for that.
Have you ever grossed yourself out with an effect you thought up yourself?
But even what we ended up with was pretty horrible, a man getting his head chewed up.
What the show did to Christopher in that chamber, I think in episode 4.
John: Episode 4 was our point of no return.
Everybody really embraced their roles and James Roday did a great job in bringing them out and capturing them.
I dont think they expected it to be as good as we thought could be.
And then it was actually better than we all expected.
How did you come up with those dynamics?
James: That was almost an accident.
I had the premise before that but never thought of it in that way.
It seemed very natural.
Grindhouse isnt a cinematic movement or genre.
It was specifically a place that played exploitation films.
Its endless the amount of styles and artistry that was going into that, good or bad.
It was a really fertile ground to pick from.
So how do we control that?
Each week they just drive into a different movie.
That seemed to click with everybody.
It helped them wrap their heads around the world that we created.
The next challenge was how to fuck people up, especially on a lower budget.
Kudos to the crew down there, and our directors, David Straiton really helped form the whole world.
David directed four of the 13 episodes.
For us, it was totally the case.
I saw a lot of wide-eyed directors down there filled with excitement and fear.
They were given the reins artistically.
In episode 5 there was a whole set that was built that defies gravity.
It switches gravitational pull into different directions.
None of that was scripted.
The director in that episode worked with the production designer to create this whole concept.
It just let people off the hook.
They love those kinds of movies so they just pulled it off fast.
Blood Driveon the June 2017 episode of Sci Fi Fidelity at 36:25.iTunes|Stitcher|Soundcloud
I love the sets.
I seem to be seeing nods toVideodrome, nods toMax Headroom, all those TVs, am I correct?
James: Yes, we talked aboutVideodromein the writers room.
We talked a lot about Cronenberg.
We really described the world as if Roger Corman and David Cronenberg helped god create the world.
Because Roger Corman is a visionary in a lot of ways.
I just sawThe Man With the X-Ray Eyesat a little festival and its the damnedest film.
Even though some of its pretty dated and the low budget.
John: Truthfully, not really as much as you think.
The fracking thing, at the time of the writing, it was kind of on the decline.
It may increase again under the new administration.
But we heard all the horror stories of what could happen with fracking.
James: The scar also is something that evolved for us.
John: So we put those together.
The stuff coming out of the Scar went beyond oil.
Its just pure evil.
Its selfishness and greed and all those things.
Theres nothing altruistic about it.
It takes you to your worst place.
I understand why we need oil for stuff like that.
Im not crazy, but from the other perspective, its like, what the fuck are we doing?
So when we struck upon that idea, even calling it the Scar was intentional.
We have to face the fact that weve permanently hurt ourselves.
All of that stuff was intentional, but Johns right.
Ultimately, theres not much we can do about this, so lets have fun with it.
I also saw commentary in small details, like how the cops make their quotas in teeth.
Did that come from living in LA?
All the interactions between policemen and civilians go smoother because everyones being watched and everyones on their best behavior.
We tried to pull all of those things.
Christina Orchoas great uncle is a Nobel prize-winning biochemist.
Were you tempted to go to him for the science behind running a car on human blood?
James: We dont need to go to him.
We can go to her, man.
Shes one of the smartest people Ive ever met.
She had some fun with that.
She runs in very elite scientific circles.
At least elite by my standards.
We always knew that.
But its impossible for a person to turn into a wolf and run around during the full moon too.
But she totally went down that road too and had a lot of fun with it.
Which character best represents you on the show?
James: John you go first.
John: Oh my god.
But honestly, all these things came out of Rolands insane head.
Even in the face of impossible odds.
Our show is a David and Goliath story and theres no fucking way Goliath would have lost.
Its a myth for a reason.
venture to make it their own.
Every artists feels that way when theyre creating something.
So Slink was a way to live out those dark desires.
It sounds creepy to say, but its wish fulfillment.
Im friends with all our executives, we have a great working relationship.
Its not to say that that obviously is all hyperbole and ridiculousness.
Theres no way that doesnt suck.
It makes sense that writers and creators really connect with Slink.
Is there really much difference between making a show like this and working onShieldorMadmen?
John: Well theres a huge budgetary difference.
For my part, Im not sure now, theBlood Driveexperience was very different.
That was always the idea onBlood Drivewe would end up using.
We always tried to keep it connected to our world.
And I cant even remember a time when it was.
If you freeze screen the first episode youll see that theres a guy driving early on.
It was fairly obviously a male driver with a wig and a goatee, not Christina.
You just have to defend your buddy.
James: Well, on those other shows, I was grabbing coffee.
But all of that rings true.
John: Roland, go ahead.
It was the best green screen driving on TV, but it was still green screen driving.
We went the other way.
We actually used rear projection for the driving and used a videogame engine to generate the exteriors.
We could alter the angles of the sun.
That saved our ass.
In the seventies, theyd be shooting this thing for real.
So, yeah, I think that definitely saved our ass and modern technology saved our ass.
We always said that it would.
We couldnt have made this show if we didnt have modern technology.
I have a sense that the 10 million is a bait and switch.
Im afraid to ask, but is theBlood Drivea larger audition that theyre on?
After this whole thing has made its run, lets get on the phone again and talk about it.
Do you remember your first cars?
John: Mine was a 1988 honda Civic.
It was basically a golf cart.
James: Yeah, I pulled out to the end of the driveway.
I take it that neither of you were big drag racers.
John: Theres not much drag racing in Clevland, Ohio.
The Camero is a gorgeous piece of art.
Weve gotten away from that, to a certain degree.
But also somebody asked me, one of the writers, you must be really into cars and stuff.
Car culture is a two headed beast.
I love vehicles as much as any other red-blooded American but theres a price for that.
Blood Drivepremieres on Syfy on June 14th.
