media arts

March 4, 2013, Provo, Utah — BYUtv today announced that its first scripted series, Granite Flats, would fill the decade-long family friendly programming void when the original weekly show premieres on April 7, 2013. Set in 1962 Mountain West America at the height of the Cold War, the hour-long series introduces a new genre to the groundbreaking network’s diverse roster of original “see the good in the world” programming. The show — a suspenseful period drama with a twist of science fiction — reflects the network’s bold efforts to provide an underserved national audience with intelligent, inspiring content that stands out for its thoughtful examination of life’s complexities. Granite Flats is available in High Definition and is carried to more than 51 million homes on Dish Network, DirecTV and over 800 cable systems in every state of the country via cable and satellite. All content is additionally available via Internet streaming at byutv.org. “Ever since CBS aired the final episode of Touched by an Angel in 2003, there has been a large empty space where primetime family-oriented television used to be,” said Derek Marquis, executive producer of Granite Flats and Managing Director of BYUtv. “Our extensive market research, done all over the country, indicates that there’s a significant audience hungry for a dramatic series that families can watch together without concern about inappropriate subject matter. Granite Flats is targeted at that neglected demographic, although viewers outside the family market will enjoy it, too.” Granite Flats was produced, written and created by a team of top Hollywood and New York talent who have made some of the television and film industry’s most successful and long-running family-oriented entertainment offerings. With the crew’s vast collective knowledge of historical recreation and a specific familiarity with the look and feel of the period, the highly stylized show lets viewers travel back in time to Granite Flats, Colorado, 1962. “We’ve focused on every tiny detail of the set and performance to keep it all true to the era, from wardrobe and accessories to colloquial language and ambient sounds,” said executive producer and director Scott Swofford. Filmed entirely in Utah, in a variety of 1960s-era locations and at a Salt Lake City soundstage (the very same one used for Touched by an Angel), Granite Flats is an evocative portrayal of characters in small town U.S.A. during a time that was simultaneously unsettled and innocent. Based on actual little-known covert U.S. military operations, which delve firmly into the realm of science fiction, the story echoes the tensions and fears that were uniquely a part of that moment in our nation’s history. Granite Flats tells the story of a recently widowed single mom, Beth Milligan, and her 10 year old son Arthur, who move from California to the rural town of Granite Flats, Colorado to start a new life after the untimely and mysterious death of their Air Force pilot husband and father. From the moment of their arrival at the military base where Beth will be employed as a hospital nurse and Arthur will get a post-tragedy restart on life, the wholesome community is quickly revealed to be much more complex than at first glance. Standing alone outside on his first night in Granite Flats, Arthur is the sole witness to a fiery object hurdling across the sky, landing in the nearby hills. Is it a comet, like the budding young scientist believes, or something far more complicated? The spiraling consequences of what Arthur sees and the subsequent explosion that sets the stage for the plot to unfold propels Granite Flats into motion. Under the town’s wholesome surface, a sinister element is brewing that will challenge the faith and humanity of the show’s quirky characters, threaten to shatter any residual innocence left from the past decade and reveal the ubiquitous fear of nuclear attack which defined that era. “The show will appeal to an audience that wants to be absorbed into a well-crafted television series with exquisite period art direction, tight plot twists, scene intrigue, mystery and romance,” said Swofford. “As the show progresses, it tells a rich and complex story based on little-known documented events from an ethically disputable chapter in United States military history. Because Granite Flats is serialized and not just episodic, the plot grabs a hold of viewers’ imaginations and carries them through the season.” Source: graniteflats.com/press

The Book of Jer3miah is a groundbreaking web series and Alternate Reality Game created by 2 professors and 30 college students at Brigham Young University, with a budget of only $6,000. Dubbed “a spiritual thriller” by its creators, it is the first university-sponsored web series, as well as the first Latter-day Saint themed web series. Merging short films, video blogs, social media and an interactive mystery, “The Book of Jer3miah” provides viewers a fully immersive transmedia experience. All of this revolves around Mormon college student Jeremiah Whitney, who reluctantly accepts a charge to protect a mysterious Meso-American box, making him the target of a terrifying conspiracy. Source: CFAC Website