The Woodlands, TX - Years of feature film and web series experience in developing new and inventive projects, has brought the studios newest science fiction effort to the forefront of this years line of planned production.
Operation ISCANDAR [Is'-kander] is fallout from a plethora of scripts, that stretched out over thirteen years but under a different title. The initial series fell under few tweaks and re-writes to ensure that if it would launch again, it would have to be rooted under a original project, distancing itself from other well known and established television shows and series.
What surfaced during an intense re-write of the original scripts and screenplay was an interesting dark tale of intrigue that embroiled a story of the aftermath of a galactic war, fought many light years away, but one that still endangers the lives of countless worlds on the outer edge of the known universe. This idealism became the basis for ISCANDAR's message; captured, presented, and aimed at a broader new fan base filled with a need for a solid, darkly cerebral SciFi series.
This reinvention required a new title and also a new way to market and advertise the series in this age of multimedia where just about anyone can produce good entertainment in videos just thirty seconds long and successfully present them on several well-known platforms. With Houston's amateur independent film community now floundering in the scraps of "what was," the studio spent two years studying on how to develop shorter scripted video content by building plots and storylines to target viewers with viral content, building a solid trend to better harness the attention of potential new fans. This new format is planned to deliver the shows message with "direct impact" story telling, but without lengthy or drawn out dialog that can slow episodes down.
How the studio developed the new shows title. Ten years ago, the studio considered many titles during the initial development of the series, the first being MINOTAUR, that was presented as a fan based Star Trek spinoff. Over time with changes in the scripts, countless changes in cast and locations occurred, it was evident that the title for the project also needed to be changed. The studios CEO [D. R. Quintana] happened to be studying the Arabic language when he stumbled upon several words which he used since his youth, that caught his attention.
One word, "Iscandar" [originally pronounced as Is'-kan-'Dahr] was one of the familiar words, used to identify the name a distant world in an old SciFi animated series called "Star Blazers" that ran on American television in 1979; but in Japan it ran under the name Space Battleship Yamato five years earlier in 1974. The CEO found in his studies that in Arabic, and under pronunciation of "Is-kander," the word fell under the new meaning of "the protector of men." Using the newly understood pronunciation of the word, the studio re-wrote the title of the SciFi project and a different vision of the series began to form. Operation Iscandar would be produced to define the series as a mission to guide mankind towards a peaceful and productive future, to be protected at all cost. There would be no need for space ships, no Federation, no empires.
Vast changes in the news series scripting also demanded that new talent to be cast.
Due to the name change and now the shows direction, the studio began
developing new characters to fill the show. After an intense casting
call of which over 75 local Houston actors responded to, the studio
found its lead actor. Leading this series would fall to the talented and capable hands of Victoria Yap
of Waller, Texas.
Yap quickly proved to be an established actress in
the local indie film community with extensive training and skills,
working with some of the most talented Houston based independent actors and film teams.
She
has a strong history in acting, but also as some impressive experience as a producer
which can help the series develop further in future episodes planned for production.
The studio team was truly impressed with Yap's video submissions for her audition which separated her from a short list of finalists. Yap insisted that she was captivated by the series script and felt that she was up to the challenge of bringing the character of Aria Vista to life. A first time meeting with the show's director, proved to present a strong chemistry between the actor and the show's creator. Shortly after the first meet and greet, the two began working on taking larger steps to get the series into production in a shorter time span than originally planned.
The new SciFi project demanded a talented "sidekick" for the lead character in the series, so the studio cast Tiffany Anders to fill that position. Anders originally submitted an audition for the role of the fictitious Aria Vista, but was given a secondary role which she took with excited glee. The project director [Quintana] was completely mystified by the amount of audition videos that Anders had on file. He felt that she has a unique ability to change her personae in a dazzling and almost chameleon-like approach; something that casting directors often look for in high quality productions. According to studio scripting and episode plotlines, she will be playing the part of a FBI agent who is searching for her missing partner. Anders is currently also partaking roles in other films and commercials, even landing a few roles as an extra on current television projects being filmed in the Houston area.
To build up the dramatic side of the series subplot and add a little comedy to the series, the studio cast Valjean Eskridge as a missing FBI agent who holds the key to some interesting plot twists within the first season of the series. He will be required to play the roles of at least five to six different characters during the shows run, each one having a different intellect and colorful background in an attempt to develop the character who lives in a deranged state that keeps the character interesting. Eskridge has worked with the studio on several past projects, including an extensive rewrite of this SciFi series itself, adding changes to the scripting of the screenplay and taking big part in filling the shoes as an Assistant Director.
Eskridge currently has a role in the horror short film entitled Quantum Eclipse, which is currently in production, pairing up with some new talent which will give him more opportunities to expand his acting prowess.
Every good SciFi series needs a deadly bad guy or evil woman to ruin the progress of the heroes plan to save the universe, so the studio cast Stacie Rowe to take the role as the antagonist, whose only purpose is to literally disrupt the progress of good intentions towards the end of the first season. She is a new comer to SciFi projects, mainly accepting castings for western genre short films, features, and the like. She submitted a casting video for Iscandar, and even though her submission was received a week after the submission deadline, the casting director saw something dark in her video submission that could be used in the show, but for another darker and sinister role. After submitting her video audition, Rowe was concerned that the studio didn't reach back to her right away.
"I get this audition request from this man who I didn't even attempt to pronounce his last name," recalls Rowe. "Time passed and I emailed him asking if the role had been cast. A little later I received a reply and got a 'Oh, good to hear back from you, I will call you tomorrow morning' and I thought to myself, 'Awe damn, I’m pushing it!' But when I got the call the next day as he promised, the director said that my audition reminded him of a ten year nightmare he'd been having and I thought to myself, 'Stacie, you really blew it!' But he explained his reasoning, adding that my audition was BADASS in more ways than one. So yes, he had me at BADASS!"
Rowe has also accepted the lead role and has been cast as a Sheriff in the studio horror film, QUANTUM ECLIPSE, which is currently in production.
The studios "go-to-girl" has always been Saira Ramos, now a charter member of the studio. She has been working with Quantum Storm Pictures since 2009, taking part in almost every studio project working either as an actor, a camera operator, having assistant producer duties, or also step in as a studio model. She has partook in every genre of independent film projects from SciFi to horror to comedy to dramatic works, played key roles in The Secret of Angelika5, Pair of Aces, and Zero Zero One. Working along side the studio with director [Quintana] in studio projects for over 15 years, becoming a veteran actress that can fill any role at any time.
In Iscandar, Ramos will play an "Agent" that has been missing for several months, forcing an alien presence to send another agent, Aria Vista, to investigate her disappearance. In the original first run of scripts for this SciFi project, she was planned to play the role of a First Officer onboard a starship, which was eventually re-written. A secondary project, Grey Panic, was also rewritten and added into Iscandar to extend a subplot within the show.
"The challenging part of Saira's role will be that her fate will change the direction of the series to a more darker sub plot by the end of the first season," says Quintana. "If we play our cards right with the quick paced [but planned] screenplay, the show will deliver a powerful and dark message that will carry the series into a second season."
Yap will have a talented core of actors to assist her in the series. The actors, Anders, Eskridge, Rowe, and Ramos have all signed on board to launch the first season of ten to twelve episodes for a strong start this fall. The series has not been rated, but it will be produced in 6K format with 7.2 Surround Sound quality.
A teaser trailer has been released on both Rumble.com and on the studios Facebook page, with a planned trailer release before the end of August 2024. The Quantum Storm .357 E-Magazine will promote a feature issue with more details and behind the scenes production photos in June.
