Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Cops and Monsters is set to return – and once again needs your help.

The on-going supernatural police thriller set in a near future Scotland was reated by 33-year old screenwriter and indie film producer Fraser Coull, and follows the Paranormal Investigation Team Scotland (PITS) as they police and protect the supernatural community in a near future Scotland.

In 2017 the team successfully crowdfunded the budget for the 8th and final episode of series 1, raising over £15000 to shoot the episodes over two years, starting in 2015. The episodes were released via their YouTube channel along with behind the scenes videos, cast and crew interviews and more.

From February 1-28 the team are hoping to raise at least £1,500 via Kickstarter in order to pay the writing team, for new opening titles and concept art to help promote series 2. After which they will be seeking sponsorship from businesses and people in order to raise at least £30,000 to allow them to shoot over 18 days to produce series 2.

Series 1 featured guest stars such as Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who), Rachel Teate (Wolfblood), James Mackenzie (Raven), Leona Kate Vaughan (Wolfblood), James Payton (Harry Potter), Caitlin Blackwood (Doctor Who) and Katrina Bryan (Nina and the Neurons), working alongside upcoming actors including Simon Weir (Trainspotting 2) and Chris Bain (Shooting Clerks).

The channel racked up over 15,000 views and gained in subscribers when the team approached My Production, a distribution company looking for indie projects for streaming on Amazon Instant Video and Amazon Prime. Since its Amazon launch on October 31 2017 the series has received over 13,000 views.

Moving ahead with series 2 the team have secured Debbie Moon (BAFTA winning Wolfblood creator), Philip Lawrence (Big Finish) and Simon Underwood (Wolfblood) to join James T Harding (Broadway Baby), Laura Anne Anderson (BAFTA winning team member of CBeebie’s OOglies) and series creator Fraser Coull to pen 6 x 20 minute episodes, which will stream directly on Amazon Prime UK, US and Amazon Instant Video.

Debbie’s work includes writing episodes of BBC Wales’ “Hinterland” and horror anthology webseries “Twisted Showcase” as well as over 18 episodes of her own show, “Wolfblood” for CBBC.

Debbie had this to say when we asked her how she felt about joining Cops and Monsters series 2: “British sci-fi and fantasy is among the most imaginative and exciting in the world – yet we make very little original fantasy for the small screen. That’s why shows like Cops and Monsters are so important, and why I’m so excited to be writing an episode for season two. It’s a show with so much potential, combining genre stories and familiar monsters with exciting characters and moral dilemmas. And the urban Scottish setting sets it apart from London-centric dramas, and even rural fantasy like Wolfblood or In The Flesh. I’m so happy to have the opportunity to work with this passionate, talented team, bringing the world of PITS to life!”

James T. Harding was the script editor for series one and wrote the episode ‘Revolution in a Teacup’. His previous writing credits include two episodes of Cupid of the Clyde (Subcity Radio, 2014), The Secret (short film, 2012) and six episodes of Staircase 22 (Cherwell, 2011). He has an MA in Television Writing from Glasgow Caledonian University and is the Features Editor of Broadway Baby. “When we put out the call for writers we were snowed under with scripts. It’s deeply flattering that so many talented people want to work with us, and it was brilliant to connect with people with enthusiasm for genre television from all over the world. I am so looking forward to working with the great writers who are joining the team today, and confidently expect them to produce the best episodes of Cops and Monsters yet.”

Philip Lawrence has contributed several stories to Big Finish’s Doctor Who audios range and had several plays performed on the London Fringe. Recently he won the C21 Drama Script competition and has had TV series in development but this marks his first proper screenwriting credit. He’s a big genre fan with Doctor Who, Star Trek, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The X-Files among his favourites. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be delving into the rich tapestry of Cops And Monsters. Series one gave us a glimpse of a unique world of supernatural creatures all struggling to get on. For series two I’m looking forward to digging deeper, exploring the humanity in the monsters and vice versa!”

Laura Anne Anderson is a Scottish writer for the page and screen. She has a Masters in Screenwriting from Screen Academy Scotland. Her screenwriting includes co-writing feature ‘I Am Anna’, episode ‘Fight the Bite’ of Cops and Monsters, the short films ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ and ‘We All Fall Down’, sketches for BAFTA award winning series 3 of CBBC show OOglies, and a feature film currently in development. She won a place on Talent Lab at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 with her feature screenplay ‘The Hen Do’.

Laura is also an actor for the stage and screen, a journalist, and a writer of games and stories. She won a coveted place at Story Shop 2016 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, was selected for Echoes of the City 2017, and is working on her first novel.

After several years of writing spec scripts focusing mainly on genre such as thrillers and sci-fi, Simon Underwood found himself lucky enough to be hired to write an episode for series five of CBBC’s acclaimed series Wolfblood, and still can’t quite believe it. He’s now working on more spec pilots, and new feature work, including the only script you’ll ever see that combines pantomimes with an action movie. Simon is delighted to have been asked to join the Cops And Monsters writing team: “I love contemporary takes on classic horror ideas, and the first series of C&M had a lovely evolving mythology about the new Scotland we find ourselves in, and a down-to-earth, humorous-but-serious style which grew more irresistible as the episodes went on. It was also full of rich characters I’m itching to write for, and brilliantly also had some great LGBTQ rep I’m hoping we’ll be able to add too as well. C&M: Uprising is full of potential for drama and fun, and I can’t wait to get writing.“

Fraser Coull is the show’s creator, who wrote several episodes of series 1 while acting as director and one of the producers alongside Lindsay Dowell. Fraser came up with the idea of Cops and Monsters back in 2014 while attending a Comic Con event in Glasgow. Disheartened to once again see that there were no sci-fi or supernatural shows from Scotland being represented, and with a little encouragement from a supporter of Fraser’s previous work, Fraser got to thinking what his next project could be, and so Cops and Monsters came to be.

“Scotland is so full of talent, energy and passion that I’m still, to this day, surprised that the likes of BBC Scotland or STV haven’t listened to a large portion of their audience and given us a sci-fi show to be proud of. Wales have given us Doctor Who and Torchwood, BBC 3 have given us In the Flesh, The Fades and Being Human (but to name a few) and in America you’ve got Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Daredevil, The Gifted… etc. We are creating Cops and Monsters from the ground up. Fuelled by our loyal fans on Twitter and Facebook, we managed to raise £15,000 to make our 8 episodes from 2015 to 2017. Now I have set us this near-impossible task of first of all raising £1500 to pay these incredible writers to come up with new incredible stories set in the Cops and Monsters universe, and then the even more impossible task of raising £30,000 so we can afford cast and crew (and locations, makeup, costumes, props, music, visual effects and more!) for 18 days. Let’s see if we can do it!”

The Kickstarter campaign can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nightisdaymovie/cops-and-monsters-uprising-webseries-pre-productio while all episodes of series 1 can be streamed on Amazon Prime UK and US as well as Amazon Instant Video.