The first British-produced vlog literary series based on the classic novel, Dracula, is released in September, written and directed by genre favourite James Moran (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Spooks, Severance, Cockneys Vs Zombies, Tower Block).
YouTuber Liam Dryden (over 8 million views), Eddsworld star Matt Hargreaves, stand-up comedian Rosie Holt and actress Kate Soulsby star in the series.
Moranic Productions release first teaser trailer for their new web series based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
London, UK, 28 July 2016 – Writer/Director James Moran and Producer Elisar Cabrera have announced today the completion of principal photography on season one of new web series, Mina Murray’s Journal, an adaptation of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s classic novel which defined the vampire genre. The spine-tingling tale is ready to scare a whole new generation, but this time, it’s told through vlogs, with multiplatform strands and in-character, interactive social media accounts filling out the story as it unfolds. While it has some scary moments, there’ll be plenty of self-referential laughs along the way. These characters live in today’s connected world, and are fully aware of fictional vampires, but now they’re going to come face to face with a real one.
In a departure from the novel, the story is driven by Mina, a young woman just discovering that real life, work, and bills are a lot scarier than she expected. But all that pales in comparison when she comes across an ancient evil, which will put her and everyone she loves in danger. Mina is 23, funny, warm, ambitious, but stuck in a boring job that doesn’t challenge her, and not particularly enjoying her current relationship either. Openly and proudly bisexual, she’s happy in her own skin, but has no idea that her housemate Lucy is secretly in love with her. Fiercely loyal, Mina would go through hell to help her friends and family and she’s about to. Because she’s on a collision course with an ancient vampire: Count Dracula…
Moranic Productions today released the first teaser trailer for the series exclusively on the Mina Murray’s Journal YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ10oDkIZU4 Moranic Productions is the new joint venture from James Moran and fellow filmmaker/producer, Cat Davies, who have a slate of short films, web series, and features in development.
James Moran, creator, writer and director of Mina Murray’s Journal will already be familiar to many fans of the horror and fantasy genre through his writing on movies Severance, Cockneys vs Zombies and Tower Block, and his writing on internationally acclaimed TV shows such as Doctor Who, Torchwood, Eve and Spooks. His 2009 web series Girl Number 9 was the first British series to make it into the Streamy Awards with 5 nominations in 2010, the third highest nominated series that year.
Moran confirmed today “Season one will be online in September, with fifteen episodes including a live stream and a finale. And because this is a modernised, vlog adaptation, you may *think* you know the story, but we’ve got plenty of surprises along the way. This is the first British produced V-Lit (Vlog Literary) series, so I am immensely proud to be adapting such an iconic British novel.”
Joining the creative team is Emmy and Streamy winning Transmedia Producer, Alexandra Edwards, who previously worked on the transmedia of the multi award-winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries as well as Welcome to Sanditon and Emma Approved.
Cabrera said: “I am extremely excited to be working with the super-talented Alexandra Edwards whose work I’ve admired so much on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved. To be able to tell a story across multi-platforms and draw in a new audience to a classic story like Dracula through both YouTube and social media is a wonderful challenge.”
The series stars up and coming stand-up comedian Rosie Holt as Mina Murray, Kate Soulsby as Lucy West, Scottish YouTuber Liam Dryden as John Harker and Eddsworld series regular Matt Hargreaves as Jack Seward.
Rosie Holt burst onto the comedy scene when she won So You Think You Write Funny: The Sitcom Trials with her hapless alter ego, Hayley. She went on to write and star in Fall Girl at the prestigious comedy venue The Gilded Balloon, has since moved into standup and written for The Huffington Post and Alain De Botton’s School of Life. She is currently performing her new standup show Drop It Like It’s Holt as part of London’s Camden Fringe Festival 2016.
Kate Soulsby trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and has since enjoyed success as an actor, writer and stand up comedian. Most recently she starred as Emily in a production of The Rally at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Prior to this she has taken leading roles in various feature films, including playing Dizzy in Paranoid Android’s horror anthology Three’s a Shroud.
Liam Dryden is a Scottish internet personality, writer, actor, and musician. He is best known as a part of the band Chameleon Circuit, whose music is entirely inspired by BBC television series Doctor Who; as Kairan “Kai” Fisher in sci-fi webseries Chronicles of Syntax; and as a founding organiser of Summer in the City, the UK’s largest YouTube community event. Collectively, his YouTube videos have surpassed 8 million views. He currently writes for YouTube news site We The Unicorns.
Matt Hargreaves is an actor who is best known as the voice of Matt in the popular animated series, Eddsworld which to date has over 1 million subscribers and over 182 million views on YouTube. Also a writer and director, Matt has written for Eddsworld and creates his own videos for his personal YouTube channel, MattLobster.
Producer Elisar Cabrera of London-based Capital City Entertainment has produced feature films, television and digital series. His web series, 3some, won two Indie Series Awards in 2014 and his latest feature film, Ibiza Undead, is set to have its world premiere at FrightFest 2016. One of the best known faces in the UK independent web series community, Elisar also founded the Raindance Web Fest, the UK’s first web series film festival; the Dailymotion Web Series Pilot Contest and produces the VidfestUK event as part of the MCM London Comic Con.
Teaser Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ10oDkIZU4
Photo Download:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9Mo7SyVp-E_RExKbEpxd1pTS1k&usp=sharing
Official Links:
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/MinaMurraysJournal
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/c/MinasJournalSeries
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/MinasJournal
Website:
www.minasjournal.com
Contact and Interview Requests:
Mina Murray's Journal 
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