WEB (a murder mystery or...?)

I’m very proud to announce that I’ve completed ‘Web’ (working title).

But it isn’t the sort of thing that’s ever been done before as far as I can tell (if I’m wrong, please let me know). You COULD call it a Murder Mystery (and if I’m hoping to host it on my Murder Mastery pages, a Murder Mystery is not a bad thing.

But I prefer to call it a comedy drama. You could call it a game, but you don’t get to dress up or question a detective.

My problem now is…how do I make it? Who will buy it? Allow me to explain…

What is this?

Exactly!

There is some active participation in Web, but most of it is PASSIVE. Like watching a film.

In fact, the passive bit consists of four short cinematic films. The active part consists of five websites players visit to seek out clues.

There is also the option of personalising the experience. You can include a film of your own for players to visit (host it on YouTube, for example, or your own website). This could be a surprise message from friends of someone on their birthday, for example. It won’t add to the plot but it adds a ‘bespoke’ feel to the product.

The YouTube Murders

I came up with the concept of The Youtube Murders years ago. The idea was to take people to various videos, seemingly unconnected, and each added to the investigation.

I gave up on that idea specifically – there’s nothing worse, I feel, that watching a Youtube video and looking at that counter underneath to see that the video is four years old and has been watched by 17 people (is that defeatist?) – Nothing like the rap video I made 7 years ago, with well over 50million views (I find it hard to watch this now, we shot it in Kiev and most of the Ukrainian cast will have been fighting the war).

So, instead, I began writing my murder mystery drama, taking viewers all over the web to seemingly unconnected sites. It has thrills and twists and drama.

You can read it, if nothing else

It is fully scripted now. I’ve even bought and half built the various websites. But I NEED HELP.

I need financial backing and I need a promoter. How much will it cost?

That’s a good question (piece of string). There are quite a few locations (it starts in a prison cell, then a police interview room), there’s a cafe and a house (which could be mine at a push), along with an exterior shot of a BIG house and an office.

There’s a principle character cast of about 12, plus another 8 or so smaller parts, plus about 14 extras (or Supporting Artists). To shoot it properly could involve a crew of around about 14.

So, the production costs would be around the £30-35,000 mark and the promo budget would need to be a minimum of £25,000. So…£60,000 should do it. Anyone want to invest? Depending on the price, break-even would be around 5,000 units sold (digital units of course, so profits could be, potentially, in the millions.

Or we could lose £60k. That’s where the promoter comes in. They’ve got to be worth their weight in gold (literally).

If you want to read the script, let me know.

2o Murder Mystery Games...

Murder Mystery Games are all about deceit. Honest deceit, of course (is there such a thing?).

The audience buy into the fact that the writer will deceive them. That’s the fun of murder mystery games, after all. While you are looking over here, the clue was over there. Not my fault you failed to see it. However, if you are reading this, you may well feel rather cheated because I have deceived you, not once…but twice.

...coming soon.

This site is in development (THE FIRST DECEIT – see above). I hope to have it up and running soon. This page exists because I want to hit the ground running. The Search Engines will be looking at this (and your visit will have helped me there, so thank you) so, by the time it is populated with murder mystery games, I hope Google will recognise that fact. But there will be LOADS (promise) of fun murder mystery things (videos, like the two below, party games to download and mystery scripts for performance), including my next video; Sherlock Holmes.

IN THE MEANTIME...

You can play two of my games right now (they are both ridiculously cheap). My first online murder mystery game was called the Lockdown Murder Mystery (it was shot during the first London lockdown). You can play this for FREE (it is £3.99 to buy the clue pack). My second murder mystery game is, I’ll admit, a seasonal game (although you can solve it throughout the year) and you can find The Nighty before Christmas over at Christmas Murder.

The second deceit.

The second deceit really is deceptive and I apologise. It is the fact that I don’t have twenty murder mysteries!

I know. Sorry.

But the search engines really do like a page that includes a number in the title. You know, The 7 things you need to know to get RICH, The 3 steps to SUCCESS, etc.

That’s not to say I won’t have twenty such mysteries in the future. I will (at least, I hope I will). They will be made up of:

Online Video Murder Mysteries
Downloadable Murder Mystery Games
Murder Mystery Scripts
Affiliate Murder Mystery Games (unlikely, but you never know)

Online Murder Mysteries.

These are the sort of games I already offer. The Lockdown Murder Mystery and the Christmas Murder.

I have plans for more to come – I hope to shoot two this very year. A Sherlock Holmes Murder Mystery and a top secret mystery that will use a fair few actors (i.e. expensive – I HOPE this gamble pays off).

Downloadable Murder Mystery Games.

These are the sort of games that many companies offer (check out Masters of mystery). The sort where you download info packs for all attendees, your guests turn up in fancy dress and you do all the acting yourself. Now, I’m not too sure how this works yet. Check out my post on the subject.

Murder Mystery Scripts

I’ve been in the murder mystery game for well over 30 years now (I agree, I must be old). It all began in 1990 when I met a couple of New Yorkers who were in London to introduce murder mystery in the UK. I’d just finished understudying Ken Branagh in Look Back in Anger in the West End, directed by Judi Dench (where did it all go wrong?) so murder mystery was not the career path I expected to take.

But I started my own company, Accidental Productions, and we did incredibly well. So well that my ‘proper’ acting career was put on hold (it’s still there). I wrote a number of murder mysteries during that time. Many of those scripts still work today so I may (with a few alterations) offer them online in order for amateur dramatic companies, and others, to produce. A great way to raise funds.

Affiliate Murder Mystery Games

Aside from the aforementioned, there are lots of murder mystery companies out there doing similar things. Murder57 for example or Host-Party who claim to have over 125 murder mystery games. 125!! Then there is Night of Mystery. I have no idea how good or bad any of these games are and I am in no way associated with them. However, if they ARE good, perhaps we can work out some sort of affiliation. I don’t yet know.