Only a handful of people can say that in the first two years out of college they wrote, directed and orchestrated a successful web series, complete with a star-studded cast and crew. Trinity alumna Kendra Doshier “˜12 is one of those people. The series, titled “CTRL.ALT.DEL,” advertises itself as being “like a clever cross between “˜Girls’ and “˜Sex and the City'”¦ but darker.”
“The show is about this late bloomer who lacks direction in her life, who doesn’t have a job and who lives with her boyfriend, but there’s this tug-of-war going on between them,” Doshier said. “She gets a job lead from her friend and begins work for this bitchy casting assistant in L.A., and this show follows her throughout that journey. I really like catching people off guard, and I think this season is going to do that.”
Carson Clarke is played by Gabrielle Christian, who appears in shows including “South of Nowhere,” “Drake and Josh” and “House.” Doshier, who has been a fan of Christian ever since “South of Nowhere,” succeeded in catching Christian’s interest after tweeting her about the web series.
“Honestly, I had only written the pilot script, so I sent it to Christian and she liked it and said she wanted to see more, so my co-editor and I cranked out a whole season in a week,” Doshier said. “She fell in love with it and said, “˜I have some people I want you to get in touch with that I think would be good for this character or that character.’ “
The series also stars actors such as Ash Lendzion, who recently played in “Spring Breakers,” and Maria Russell, who has appeared on “The Mentalist,” “Criminal Minds” and “Southland.”
Despite holding an already-demanding job, Doshier poured everything she had into this web series, and others have noticed her dedication.
“This is Kendra’s baby””she wrote the whole first season, which is about six episodes long, in a couple weeks,” said Natalie Toto 13, editor and Trinity alumna. “Then she went on Craigslist for a month, looking at people’s reels for jobs like a cinematographer and a sound person. She worked really hard and did it incredibly professionally.”
After two months of pre-production, the pilot was shot in a weekend with a cast and crew of around 25 people.
“When it came time for editing, which Natalie did, we sat in the living room for two weekends straight,” Doshier said. “We got to watch it from inception to the final cut, which I’ve never done before. We had a huge view count of about 5,000 views in the first week. It got a much bigger response than I expected.”
However, in order to produce the rest of the first season, the web series needs funding Doshier set up a Kickstarter campaign in order to accomplish that goal, which is $16,447 by October 10. The catch is that a Kickstarter campaign is an all-or-nothing campaign, so if “CTRL.ALT.DEL” does not receive $16,447 by that date, it will not receive any funding at all.
“The campaign can easily fail because there are so many going around, and it’s a huge double-edged sword; it can either skyrocket or get lost in a huge shuffle,” said Trinity alumnus Kauveh Khozein “˜13, an extra in the series.
To support “CTRL.ALT.DEL,” visit the website at http://kck.st/13qxL08, where the first episode is also posted. As incentive, Doshier promises generous rewards for various pledge amounts, including prizes such as Executive Producer Credit or a walk-on role in an episode.
“We have pretty much slaved over this thing, and we really want to make it happen,” Doshier said. “Every single dollar counts””even five dollars is awesome, and it helps more than you think. We are extremely grateful for any support at all, including getting the word out to people and sending out links of the pilot or the Kickstarter campaign. Exposure is very crucial to our success at this point.”