If you’ve been following my stuff for awhile, you’ll know that my last big project before Everly Heights was The Fakist, an “audio dramedy” that was anthology series and part ongoing narrative of the fakest news team in the business.
I finished The Fakist: One Last Day shortly before moving to Los Angeles back in 2021, and since then I’ve been itching to do another one. This summer, I’m scratching that itch.
Everly Heights Tales is a new audio anthology series I’ve been writing the last couple months set in the world of Everly Heights. The characters and genres vary by episode, but every story is set in the world of Everly Heights as I’ve defined it through the various books, comics, and other bits of writing I’ve done over the last few years.
The stories I already have written include:
- Roxy Rock Wrecks Everything: The 3-part finale set in the 1990s about a kid from Everly Heights who gets an early dose of viral fame that ends up setting off a war halfway around the world.
- The Quackening: A revenge story that involves the witchy Sparkles from Very Special.
- The Play’s the Thing (That Traps You): A Twilight Zone-esque story about regret and picking the right seat, set in Cornerstone Theater.
- The Museum of What Was: A former Everly Heights resident comes back to town to sell customized merch to local business. Unfortunatly, the internet exists…
- The Half-Life of Hand-Me-Downs: Nate Postal returns to town after a stint in prison to discover the punk rock legacy he left behind.
I’m looking to write three more stories to round it out to an even ten for season one.
Much like the four years I spent working on The Fakist, I have pretty much no budget for actors, but I need them to make the project for two reasons:
- I don’t want to do every voice myself, or use AI to convert my voice into other characters.
- I miss playing with people. That’s a big motivator for the whole project, frankly.
SIGN UP TO PLAY A PART HERE
Use the Google Form link above to sign up. If you played a part in Very Special, I’ve included a field on the form where you can let me know if you’d be interesting in reprising your character. I still have episodes left to plan/write, and I’d like at least one of them to focus on a character from that project. I am considering taking my final cut of the episode and releasing it in audio if I can’t find those finishing funds for the animated pilot, but that would be in Season 2.
I wish I had a budget to pay the cast, but things are pretty tight right now for Everly Heights Productions (and the guy who runs it). Luckily, these are all short stories, so I’m confident we can record each one in about an hour.
My hope is that this podcast is as successful as The Fakist was, which should give me a healthy budget to pay people (including writers) for new stories set in Everly Heights. My motto for this series? Small casts, big ideas.
So, if you’re into it, sign up using the form. I’ll be in touch in the next week or two with more info.
All the best,
Bill Meeks
Creative Lead, EverlyHeights.tv
PS. I finally posted an interview I did with Barry William (Greg Brady from the Brady Bunch) over on my YouTube channel. Check it out!
