Season II Begins.

Whew! It has been quite a ride between now and the last day of shooting "Hell For The Company." It feels good to finally have the first episode up for everyone to see on the Animus Cross website. It seems like only yesterday Animus Cross was but a concept.

We had just finished working on a music video for rapper JRemy, directed and shot by AC's first season DP, Jason Satterlund. My husband, Jerry Buxbaum was playing the evil sheriff and something about his look tickled my imagination. Soon, Sheriff Alban Sarcous was born (sans eye patch). The rest of Animus Cross evolved around this rough edged character. Sarcous' deep anger seemed to fuel the story, creating the darkness.

After several painful re-writes, the first season was locked. Animus Cross will always hold a special place in my writer's soul because it was the turning point for me as a writer. It made me realize just how much I had to learn about writing, even after years of doing it. To be a great writer (which I hope to be some day) you must never stop learning and always, always keep writing.

Having a baby has made the writing part a bit harder to get to these days, but Animus is never far from my thoughts. There are just too many stories to tell within this harsh world.

With all that said, I hope you all enjoy what we've put together for you for our second season of Animus Cross. We had a great time creating it! We'd love to hear your feedback at our Facebook page and on the Forum.

Take care,
A.L. Steen
writer\director

Animus Cross Series II Launches April 28!

The wait is finally over! Mark your calendars, everyone - Series II of Animus Cross, "Hell For The Company," launches next Wednesday April 28. New episodes will be released at http://www.animuscross.com/ on the last Wednesday of every month.

What can you expect from Series II? Here's a little taste!

Join us at www.animuscross.com next Wednesday for the launch of Episode 1 - and be sure to sign up for our Facebook Fan Page so you're always "in the loop" with all the latest news on the series.

See you next Wednesday...

ACTION!

We're busily putting the finishing touches on Series II, Hell For The Company. As I go through the amazing footage that our DP Andy Batt captured, I can't help but marvel at how good the action sequences look.

Most of you know that our star (and my husband) Jerry is a seasoned stunt coordinator. One of the reasons he wanted to help me produce Animus Cross was to raise the level of action available to viewers on the web. We’ve got the experience, the equipment and the personnel (including local stunt players who appeared in the TNT Television show Leverage ) to help put together some really kick ass action sequences.

We were really lucky to get the help of our friend and noted martial artist Guro John Bruce Daniels. "JD" is a 7th dan Black Belt in Arnis Demano and a certified instructor in Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee's number one instructor. He's also worked on a number of film, television and video projects as a trainer, stunt performer and fight choreographer. We were in very very good hands. Working closely with Jerry, he helped make everyone look great during the big fight sequence with the creatures!

We also got to work with other seasoned stunt performers like Keith Cox (also a black belt and member of the Inosanto Academy), Derek A. Sasaki (a third-degree black belt in Kajukenbo) and Scott K. Hills (a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Wun Hop Kuen Do kungfu).

JD's expertise in the Filipino art Arnis is also a perfect match to one of the signature weapons we use in the series - the Igorot headhunting axe wielded by Sheriff Sarcous and provided by Ron Kosakowski at Traditional Filipino Weapons. I chose the headhunting axe because of it's organic and deadly look. In JD's hands, it became very deadly and he was able to pass that aspect along to Jerry.

I'm really excited for you all to see the fight scenes we've cooked up for Series II... I've seen the footage many many times and it's STILL fun. :)

-A.L. Steen

Series II Is On The Way!

Hey everyone! I know it's been a long time since I posted anything here, and I thought it might be a good idea to touch base with you all to let you know where things stand.

First off, thanks to all of you who wished Jerry and I well when our son Trone was born on February 11.

As great as it is to receive your congratulations, we've also been getting messages from fans worried that, with Trone's arrival, Series II of Animus Cross would be delayed.

Not going to happen. Our target release date was in place while Trone was still en utero. We planned the new episodes’ release with the little guy's needs in mind. In fact, that’s why we released the trailer for Series II on http://www.animuscross.com back in November – we wanted you guys to know that we’re committed to continuing the story when the second series launches later this month.

Over the past few months we've been splitting our time between post-production, work on other projects shooting around the Pacific Northwest, and adjusting our home life to fit the needs of our new family member. And we've even been working on finding time to sleep - but that's an ongoing project. We're lucky that Animus Cross is a family affair – most of you know David Steen as ‘Pastor Carver,’ but he’s also our editor - and Trone’s grandfather! Post-production on the show has been a great excuse for him to come visit, and we’re grateful to he my mom Cindy for giving us a break from time-to-time.

So don't worry - the team is hitched and we're getting close to sending Series II of Animus Cross out of the barn! As we get closer to launch, we'll be sure to post the official date here on the blog, on our new Facebook Fan Page, and on my Twitter Feed. Be watching for it! Until then... be careful getting home. There's blood in the air tonight!