Pioneer One

Background

Pioneer One was a serialized drama produced and distributed online through VODO and the DISCO network. Downloaded more than 3,730,000 times since May 2012 and winner for Best Drama Pilot at the 2010 New York Television Festival, the show was independently produced and financed by viewer donations. The pilot episode was filmed on a budget of $6,000, raised in advance using Kickstarter. The series itself was released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license and is distributed for free in collaboration with VODO, as with Bernhard's previous independent film The Lionshare, over the Internet including peer-to-peer networks. Six episodes were produced. Production of the rest of the season was funded through direct donations from the fanbase.

Pilot plot

A mysterious spaceship enters Earth's atmosphere, triggering a massive response from the American government. Since the ship has spread radiation over hundreds of miles of rural Montana, officials are quick to bring up the possibility of a terrorist attack, specifically the detonation of a dirty bomb, however, that idea is discarded subtly by the leading investigator, asking the rhetorical question "Who would launch an attack on Montana?". Debris is found in Canada, where an investigation of the crash discovers a live human being in a Soviet space suit. Federal agents working for the American Department of Homeland Security get involved, receiving permission from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to operate in Canada. The man is in an unstable condition and his initial blood work shows signs of severe cancer, with his doctors proclaiming him too badly injured to transport. A note handwritten in Russian found at the crash site says that the man is the child of cosmonauts living at a base on Mars. Not believing the note and wanting to announce a Department of Homeland Security success to the press, the American DHS orders Agent Taylor to bring the man back to the United States as a suspected terrorist, despite his severe condition. Believing the note could be true, Taylor ignores his orders and destroys the permission from the RCMP, forcing his team to stay on site. He also brings in Dr. Walzer, an expert who has written several books about the possibility of human survival on Mars, to discuss the incident. At the end of the episode, a radio signal is heard and the screen display of a computer at Baikonur Cosmodrome is shown.

Cast

Reception

Within the first week of its initial release, the pilot episode had been downloaded 420,000 times, 170,000 more downloads than predicted. As of December 13, 2011, the Pioneer One series had collectively been downloaded over 3.5 million times through VODO and raised almost $100,000 in fan donations. It is hard to estimate how many other downloads may have taken place through other means, such as the torrent being automatically added to the latest version of μTorrent. Initial reviews were positive, with many reviewers praising the show for being surprisingly good for an independent project. For example, Download Squad described the first episode as "surpris[ing] ... I found myself wishing there were more episodes available when it finished."

The New York Television Festival selected Pioneer One as the "Best Drama Pilot" for their 2010 Independent Pilot Competition and the International Academy of Web Television nominated Pioneer One for "Best Drama" at the Inaugural IAWTV Awards.

Funding

The pilot episode of the show was shot on a budget of $6,000 donated by people through the Kickstarter website. Because the project lacks funding by traditional means such as a TV station or DVD sales, money had to come directly from the fanbase. On June 29, 2010, a minimum of $20,000 necessary for production on the next block of three episodes was raised. On February 11, 2011, the project announced that it would accept donations in Bitcoins.

Production history

On October 6, 2010, local press reported that filming of the second episode was underway in Binghamton, New York.

On November 5, 2010, Rachel McLaughlin reported she has been working as Production Coordinator/Assistant director in Pioneer One and that three episodes were shot.

Episode three was released on March 28, 2011, and episode four was released on April 28. Production on the last two episodes of Season One was scheduled for May 5 - June, in Binghamton, New York, New York City, and Long Island.