Genre Action/martial arts Country of origin United States No. of seasons 1 | Written by James E. West II Original language(s) English | |
Developed by Shin Koyamada
Jeff McDonald
James E. West II | ||
Heart of the Dragon is an American original web series directed by Jeff McDonald, written by James E. West II from The Proud Family and Moesha, and starring Shin Koyamada from The Last Samurai and Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. It debuted on YouTube channel on July 27, 2014.
Contents
Plot
John Watanabe (Shin Koyamada) is hired by a very wealthy and mysterious beauty, Marta Williams, to serve as her personal bodyguard. John soon discovers that Marta has a secret. She is pregnant with a supernatural child giving her extraordinary abilities and that he and his client are connected to ancient prophecies. Now he must come to terms with the possibility of his own mortality and his role as protector to the savior of the world.
Development
In 2010, Shin Koyamada initially called the meeting with his old martial arts classmates and old friends Jeff McDonald who have directed and produced an action short film Dream of the Lizard as well as James E. West II who wrote Disney Channel's The Proud Family and Paramount Television's Moesha to create and executive produce a new web series together. They used to meet up in a Starbucks in Burbank almost every week to brainstorm the new story ideas for the Heart of the Dragon. James E. West II wrote three episodes.
Production
In 2013, the first episode directed by Jeff McDonald, written by James E. West II and starred by Shin Koyamada was all filmed in Los Angeles area in one day. As for the fight choreography of the scene, they brought in a Krav Maga instructor to add a new idea to the action choreography on top of the martial arts brought by the creators Shin Koyamada with Shaolin Kung Fu, Karate and Tae Kwon Do, Jeff McDonald with Shaolin Kung Fu and Krav Maga and James E. West with American Kenpo.