A good web series is hard to find. Which is exactly why the parallel universe of Sanctuary — where Bigfoot moonlights as a butler, tiny children harbor monstrous secrets and Jack the Ripper is a genetically mutated time traveler — created such a stir online.
It’s also the reason why, just a few short months after the series debuted on the web in 2007, geek mainstay Sci Fi Channel snapped up the rights to add Sanctuary to its slate of fall television programming.
"We created a show that credited the audience with great intelligence, and a rich mythology," said Sanctuary star and executive producer Amanda Tapping. "Regular television doesn’t always do that."
These days, a popular web show is seemingly within the grasp of almost anyone with a video camera and a novel concept. But in this era of low-budget hits, Tapping and her crew gambled millions on their online production. It was a risky move, but it paid off, and when Sanctuary debuts Friday night debut on Sci Fi, the show will join the growing ranks of web-to-TV success stories like Fat Guy Stuck in Internet, Venus Rises and Stranger Things.
In Sanctuary, Tapping (pictured), known on the nerd circuit as Stargate SG-1‘s Samantha Carter, stars as Dr. Helen Magnus, a 157-year-old doctor born in Victorian England.
Dr. Magnus runs an underground laboratory that doubles as a safe haven for supernatural creatures. She is aided by her creature hunter and weapons expert daughter, Ashley (played by Emilie Ullerup), and young forensic psychologist Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne).
The show’s heavy reliance on green-screen camera work gives it a unique look, and its cryptozoologist protagonist opens the door to a wild mix of bizarre creatures, from mermaids to lizard people and other supernatural freaks.
Sanctuary came to life in 2006, when Damian Kindler, a creative consultant working on Stargate Atlantis, recruited fellow crew members Tapping and Martin Wood to work on a script he’d written several years earlier.
Tapping said the trio decided to distribute Sanctuary on the web as a way to push science fiction shows a step further — and immediately began working on an online community with outtakes, forums and alternate-reality games to supplement the series and nourish the fan base.
"The social networking aspect for sci-fi fans is huge and we were encouraged by numbers on the web," said Tapping. "It made total sense."
Although the team recruited private investors to fund the venture, they swiftly realized they didn’t have the same budget allotted to their big-screen cohorts.
To cut costs, they settled on shooting entirely on virtual sets — Tapping estimated more than 75 percent of each episode is green-screened — allowing the crew to effortlessly transport characters from late-1800s England to gruesome murder scenes in present-day London.
"With a green screen, we could go anywhere — from the Himalayas to Bermuda," said Tapping. "And we could do anything," she said, citing the fantastical beasts, mermaids and various critters that populate Sanctuary’s world.
Despite the creative penny pinching, the eight-episode run on the web cost nearly $4 million dollars. Tapping and her team charged viewers to watch episodes in an attempt to make some of that money back, but the show was quickly pirated.
"It was a great idea, but difficult to make a reality in terms of business and finance," said Tapping. "There was no way to monetize the show and we found ourselves not making any money."
Luckily, the illicitly spread copies helped generate a worldwide fan base that loved Sanctuary‘s story line and unique visual effects.
Mark Stern, vice president of original programming at Sci Fi, said the show’s cult following and visual aesthetic — which he likened to Sin City and 300 — is what snagged the network’s attention.
"Stylistically and editorially, they were pushing the envelope," said Stern. "They also did a great job imagining worlds with intriguing, intricate mythology."
The crew’s humble budget also caught the network’s eye.
"They defined a whole new visual style and managed to do it for a modest price," said Stern.
According to an exec, an episode of Sanctuary costs roughly half as much to produce as a show like Eureka, a Sci Fi series that follows the exploits of a town of exceptionally talented scientists.
Christopher Heyerdahl, also of the Stargate Atlantis universe, plays bloodthirsty time-jumper John Druitt in Sanctuary.
For Tapping, the web served as a springboard to sidestep traditional broadcast avenues and see if Sanctuary show could grab an audience. "The webisodes became our greatest selling tool ever," said Tapping, who attributed the network deal entirely to Sanctuary‘s legions of web fans.
Sanctuary’s eight webisodes pulled in roughly 4 million viewers to the online hub alone — not counting the copies on YouTube and distributed through other channels. For a cable network like Sci Fi Channel, which banked 2.4 million views for the premiere of Stargate Atlantis‘ fifth season, the numbers look promising.
The biggest problem with web-to-TV crossovers, says Bobby Tulsiani, a media and online video analyst at Jupiter Research, is assuming that the web and television are interchangeable mediums. One key to making a successful jump from webisodes to weekly TV is capitalizing on and catering to niche audiences that started online — just like in the early days of cable television.
"The internet is like cable on steroids," said Tulsiani. "Sci Fi is like Golf [TV] or Court TV. It has its own, specialized audience."
Tapping likens the televised version of Sanctuary to a second season rather than a retelling of the first. "We’re not taking the webisodes and putting them on the air," she said. "We’re creating all new content to flesh out the mythology and story line."
Although Stern wouldn’t disclose budget details for the show, he said the network sprung for visual effects company Anthem (Tin Man, Journey to the Center of the Earth) to add to the show’s upgrade.
"It’s a dangerous and common mistake to think throwing a web show on TV will be fine," said Mark Stern. "We’re taking inspiration from the web series and re-creating it, for television."
Steve Bryant, online video reviewer for NewTeeVee, said the former scenario led to the highly publicized flop of NBC’s web-to-TV venture quarterlife. He said he thinks Sanctuary — with its solid sci-fi roots and its new home on an increasingly successful cable channel — stands a much better chance of making a smooth transition from the intertubes to the boob tube.
"Sanctuary‘s place on the Sci Fi Channel helps its chances with geeks," said Bryant. "That goes double since Amanda Tapping and other Stargate alums are starring."
It also helps that sci-fi itself has become less of a niche.
"The genre of sci-fi has blown wide open," said Tapping. "It’s not just 18-year-olds in their basement. The number of women and range of ages that love sci-fi astounds me."
Sanctuary premieres Friday night at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central.
Photos and videos courtesy Sci Fi Channel
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