We're Alive, A Story of Survival

Podcast

We're Alive premiered May 4, 2009 on iTunes, and concluded its fourth and last season on July 29, 2014. When in production, the We're Alive series aired 3 episodes a month and 36 episodes a season.

Background

We're Alive started early in 2009 when creator, Kc Wayland, originally outlined the story for a pitch for television. At the time he saw there was a gap in programming that could be filled by a horror survival series. He designed a show that would take advantage of the repeated set, the tower, and then branch out from there as the show would get more popular. After the initial story and character outlines were created, he then proceeded to talk with other film producers seeing if there would be a way to get the show on broadcast television.

After not being able to successfully pitch the idea, Wayland then decided to produce the show as an audio drama. The concept for self-production was a "if you build it, they will come"; in regards to both listeners and producers. In late April 2009, Wayland met with Shane Salk and pitched the idea, setting in motion the two producers who would then create the serialized audio format

Wayland and Salk went on to produce the first two seasons, and then Grayson Stone (an intern in season 1 and 2) and Wayland continued to produce the final two seasons.

In 2015, Wayland announced a followup podcast mini-series titled "We're Alive: Lockdown". The project was crowdfunded through Kickstarter, raising $54,774 of its $50,000 goal.

Format

There were several factors that led Wayland to the audio-only format. In limiting the visuals, the story would be able to explore limitless possibilities in settings and situations not fully explored by this genre. Being a "horror", the power of sound and "what you can't see" could be utilized in a powerful way. Using no visuals also limited the vastness of production. Actors could come in once every two months for a full day of recording that would cover six full episodes (2 chapters). It was one of the only ways a story this long was able to be told.

Production process

A typical chapter is about sixty pages long, and is recorded by the actors in a recording stage in Orange County, CA. A typical day runs about six to eight hours of raw recording. From there, a voice cutter then goes through the session and separates just the usable lines, and then passes it onto another editor who then lays in the initial sound effects and pacing. The last stage then goes back to Wayland, who acts as the supervising sound editor and covers the last stage of production, often doing a large amount of foley and music selections.

Release dates and episode length

In a typical month, We're Alive produced three episodes, or one chapter, taking one week off between chapters. Twelve chapters make up one season, and there are four seasons with a total of forty eight chapters. Each episode is approximately twenty minutes meaning each chapter is about an hour long.

Published version

Blackstone audio has published all three season currently available: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3.

Awards

We're Alive was nominated in 2012 for the Best Audio Drama in the Audio Publishing Awards. In the same year, it was named "Best of 2012" in the iTunes Arts category. Other awards won by the series include:

Notable guest voices

In addition the regular cast — which includes Jim Gleason who currently is on the 2013-2014 season of American Horror Story — there have been a number of notable guest voices on We're Alive. These names include Bob Bergen (current voice of Porky Pig), Seth Peterson from Burn Notice, and Greg Miller.