Alright, family - we had the chance to chat with the very talented Tony Valenzuela as he drops an exciting new project!
Ever heard of BlackBoxTV? Yup, that’s Tony right there and he just did an exciting partnership with Serial Box to bring fans “Silverwood” based on the web series Tony directed himself. For those who don’t know Tony is is an award winning writer/director and creator of BlackBoxTV, the #1 most-subscribed & watched sci-fi/horror channel on YouTube
How did you come up with the idea for BlackBoxTV?
Funny, there are really two answers to this question. The first is that in 2010 (when I started BlackBoxTV) I was spending a ton of time with Phil and Shane and they were both really pushing me to create a YouTube channel of my own. Which really intimidated me because both of those guys are super talented and great on camera.
So I thought, I’ll make a channel for short films and aspiring filmmakers like myself and keep myself safely behind the camera. I had already done three web series at that point (all on different YouTube channels) so for BlackBoxTV, I decided to do an anthology series and keep all the episodes on one channel and possibly learn how to be a better director and storyteller in the process. Those first years of BlackBoxTV basically amounted to me putting myself through film school… in public. The second answer is that the floating “black box” was something I saw during a very strange, very interesting night in Amsterdam in 1997. The “TV” at the end my channel’s name are the initials of my first and last name.
Through the creation of BlackBoxTV - how did that lead you to Serial Box? Can you tell us a little bit more about what Serial Box is?
The Serial Box audiobook series Silverwood: The Door is based on the BlackBoxTV series Silverwood that was produced as part of our YouTube originals slate in 2012.
Adding Lydia to answer your questions about Serial Box - she is the series producer and will do it justice. 🙂 Plus she is awesome.
Lydia (series producer) - Serial Box is an app and site where you can find serialized fiction written by teams of bestselling and award winning writers. Our series are available in text and audio (and you can toggle back and forth between formats without losing your place). The Serial Box experience will be familiar to TV fans as our series are all created in TV-style writers rooms by teams of writers, and released in weekly episodes. A series is usually around ten episodes, and each episode takes 30-40mins to read or about an hour to listen to. We’ve got Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Romance, Historical, and of course—Horror… There’s something for everyone! You can find out more about Serial Box here or download our IOS app, which Apple named one of the best of 2017 and Buzzfeed called a “must-have app for 2018”! (Android coming soon).
What’s been the biggest goal with Blackbox & Serial Box?
I always loved the characters and the world of Silverwood and even though it’s a fictional town, it’s based on real places very near to where I grew up. Lytle Creek, Crestline, and most importantly Idyllwild. So when I met the inspired, electrical-storm that is Molly Barton (co-founder of Serial Box), I jumped at the chance to return to Silverwood. This time with some very talented authors and the plan to continue the story of Silverwood five years after the events of the original series. Molly’s vision of how Silverwood could come back to life (via Serial Box) as an audiobook series was an easy thing to say yes to.
Have you always been into Sci-fi/horror? What interests you most about this genre?
I love good characters, so wherever they’re journey takes me I go (despite the genre.)
Who is someone in this space that you haven’t worked with / collabed with that you are dying to?
@SSSniper Lia Wolf. Her comedic timing is amazing and I definitely hope to collaborate someday.
What else are you working on right now that you are excited about?
My next film, “The F**K Happened” is making it’s way through post right now and I’m very excited to share it with people. Everybody working on the film really gave it everything they had to give so it’s been humbling and wonderful to guide it through post and see it all come together so nicely.
Serial Box in partnership w/ BlackboxTV proudly presents “Silverwood” -
Huge shout out to Tony for talking to us, I know we can’t wait to check out Silverwood! If you are interested in hearing more about BlackBoxTV, Serial Box and Silverwood, click here!
