An essential idea the group established when we first brainstormed was to create a series that was entirely independent from the element of time. I realise I haven’t spoken about this concept on the blog, so here we go.
The thought was that if someone was to begin watching the series at any point, there would be no confusion as to what was happening. But the challenge was, how were we going to create coherent material that allowed people to jump around the episode order? So, we took this by the horns and adapted a non-linear sequence which completely eliminated a time concept. The pilot episode, which was established to be important in introducing the characters within a single space, was decided to be Hitch’s funeral. This would then be followed by an organic order of our character episodes, some with Hitch still alive and some (like mine) occurring after his death (in fact, my character flies to Melbourne because of his death).
2. Flame (by Julian)
3. Revive (by Vania)
4. Glass (by Paul)
5. Inhuman (by Darren)
6. Searching (by Tristan)
7. Cross (by Arthur)
We planned to implement consistent motifs and subtle character connections that would only be picked up by audience members who does see the series from start to end. An example of this is Hitch’s relationship with Britney and Max. Even though they all attend the same high school, their lives are quite independent from each other. However, a diligent viewer would discover that Hitch and Britney attend the same therapist, Ingrid, whose role in Max’s tale remains unestablished.
Another challenge we had to face is writing the series finale. Easily enough, we decided to maintain the non-linearity of the series and collaborate on the episode by writing our characters’ last or favourite moments with the Hitch character. Not only does this effectively resolve each of our characters’ plights, we also provide them with an element of closure, by reminiscing on what has been lost.