Loner Campfire (TV series)

Loner Campfire is an American science fiction/horror television anthology series created by Jamie Shertick, Ross Evans, Sam Blumenthal, Jeffy Cain, Michael Dinner, Callie Khouri, Max Xavier, Dan Wicker, Josh Keaton (otherwise known as Jo Keaton) and Brad Chandler. Episodes are standalone works, usually set in an alternative "near present".

After the third season reveals, the earlier two seasons have been compared to the Netflix original series Stranger Things and Black Mirror, the Syfy series Channel Zero, and two Canadian-American children's television series Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps.

It spawned spin-off series Element and Ultra, all of which were based on Loner Campfire episodes.

History
Shertick met the co-creators before the production began: Ross Evans during their childhoods when Neon was then-recently released; Brad Chandler when they were college roommates, who then went on to write the comic book series The Agents of WHOMPER; Jeffy Cain while making Lost in Dreams; Max Xavier and Josh Keaton while co-writing for 9B's second and third season; Dan Wicker while doing See You In The Next Life, and finally Sam Blumenthal when he was approached to compose music for one of Shertick's projects.

Shertick managed to get the Battlestar Galactica reboot co-creator Ronald Moore, Michael Dinner, Callie Khouri and Insidious producer Jason Blum in on the project before they started the production of the first season. They had to bring in their own equipment and do more than one role in the production.

They went on to produce the first season all by themselves, releasing the episodes on Vimeo On Demand. The episodes were massively praised, which got Showtime Networks and Channel 4 Television to pitch in for broadcasting rights. Showtime received the streaming rights for the series, and Channel 4 was allowed to participate if they helped fund the project as it went on. The series was then broadcast in the UK through E4.

Joshua Keaton's Twisted Home Movie Factory, Cainimætik Productions, Blue Witch LP (Wicker, Blumenthal and Chandler) and maXihub decided to merge to form the production company for the second season onwards, Driest Bar Productions, after most of the co-creators become best friends with each other. It was also named after a bar they would go for writing sessions with Moore and Dinner (also co-founders, though they continue to produce other projects through their own banners) and Khouri. Wicker and Chandler commented on one of the bar's drinks being "really dry", giving inspiration for the name.

The second season brought in another co-financier, Alcon Television Group, in promise for film adaptation rights. Before the third season was announced, it was mentioned that Showtime Networks gave their streaming rights to HBO and that Khouri has left the production for undisclosed reasons. She was replaced by Scott Gimple, Mark Burg, Bryan Cranston and David S. Goyer, the latter two of whom joined Driest Bar during the production of Season 3.

When Season 3 was released in the HBO streaming service, Jason Blum of Blumhouse announced to join Driest Bar as an "alternate series producer", only producing spin-offs and "blood relative" series in the Loner Campfire universe.