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". The fourth season premiered on May 7, 2018.

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.

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.

The second season brought in two more co-financiers, Alcon Television Group and Lakeshore Entertainment, 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.

In 2017, Evans Limited merged into the Driest Bar team, now DB/Clearwater Productions. Jo Keaton's wife Norah became a new executive producer during the production of Season 4.

In January 2018, it was announced that the YouTube comedy duo Rhett & Link are set to write and direct an episode in Loner Campfire Season 4. In May 2018, AMC and Channel 4, along with HBO's streaming division, announced to drop Loner Campfire after season 4. A new broadcaster for the show is yet to pick up the series.

Alcon Entertainment are considering reincarnating the rest of the stories in a comic book form, while Jamie Shertick and Team Loner collective are preparing to finish the series, writing and planning the production of the fifth and final season.

On May 7, 2018, Jamie Shertick announced to leave Loner Campfire before season 5, mostly due to stress and other health issues. Alcon Entertainment also announced to drop out, after having the comic books set to be published by June 2018.

Due to the other projects within the Loner Campfire universe, the fifth and final season wouldn't premiere before 2019 or 2020.

In September 2018, it was announced that Syfy picked up the domestic television rights and international syndication rights to the series. Later, Netflix picked up the international distribution rights and became a co-producer of the series, starting season 5. The television rights were held by NBCUniversal International Networks in areas served, through the Universal, Studio and Syfy channels.

For the fifth season's aesthetic, Wicker, Cain, Xavier and Blumenthal wanted to collaborate with DONDA on working out how to "interpret anxiety, fear and pressure itself". They mentioned about two of 12 episodes being done in collaboration with Lars Von Trier and Charlie Brooker respectively, in an interview and mentioned how "the fifth season is the bleakest they've done so far".

Loner Campfire universe
The series spawned spin-off series Element and Ultra; which were based on Loner Campfire episodes. It also used to include the now-cancelled series Loner Campfire Presents: Kings of Maine, which was an anthology featuring adaptations of Stephen King's work by the LC writers and others, including the Duffer brothers and the KatzSmith duo.