Last Spring, filmmakers Josh Bernhard and Bracey Smith set themselves up with quite a challenge. They finished a script for the TV-series ‘Pioneer One‘, but instead of plugging it to traditional TV-companies the duo decided to fund and distribute it via the Internet.
And so it happened. For the distribution and promotion the pair teamed up with the VODO BitTorrent distribution platform, and the first $6,000 that was needed to shoot the pilot was collected from supporters through the Kickstarter website.
Mid-June 2010 the first episode of Pioneer One was eventually released to the public through VODO. With support from all the big players in the P2P-scene, the BitTorrent-only TV-series quickly gained a huge audience.
In the months that followed the episodes were downloaded more than 3 million times in total. Quite an audience for a web-only show with a very limited budget and a rather unpredictable release schedule.
Today the 5th episode of Pioneer One came out, which means that there’s only one episode left before the first season ends.
As always there are free .torrent downloads available. However, those who want to support the project are encouraged to donate (and receive some nifty goodies).
