In a world where spells and potions are commonplace, a young
woman named Tracy Buckles is struck by a despicable curse that prevents other people from hearing her voice.
She joins forces with a nameless drifter and a bumbling wizard in order to break free from the evil sorcery. With a dynamic female lead, plenty of irreverent humor and a sprinkle of magic, TRACY BUCKLES tells an epic story across six fast-paced episodes.
Robin Nystrom, the multitalented writer/director/producer of one of our favorite web series, NicoLife, has a new show for us all to see – and it’s even better than what came before.
Taking advantage of Robin’s varied skills, we asked him to tell us all about Tracy Buckles. Specifically, we were interested in what he, as the creator, wants the show to accomplish, artistically, personally, and professionally. Here’s what he had to say:
by Robin Nystrom
When I wrote and directed Tracy Buckles, I set out to accomplish three things.
First, I wanted to craft a comedy web series with fantastical storytelling elements.
At the age of seven, I discovered a paperback copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring in my elementary school library. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked on the fantasy genre. I was dying to create a world of my own where spells, potions and curses can be as commonplace as toasters and televisions are in our own reality.
Second, I wanted to devise a story with a dynamic, kick-ass female lead.
The qualities I hope our audience will recognize in Tracy is that she is brave and headstrong and impulsive. Those are some of the characteristics that I’ve often found in the women I look up to in my life.
Third, I wanted to tell a complete narrative with strong thematic resonance over six fast-paced episodes.
In Chapter 2, our protagonist Tracy meets a nameless drifter called No One who is plagued by a curse of invisibility. Tracy and No One form an immediate friendship, because they both understand the pain of not being seen or heard.
I think we’ve all felt that struggle in one way or another — the pain of not being listened to or of being misunderstood. I know I have. I hope that people find that theme to be strong enough to carry our web series through to the end.
I intend to use this web series as a springboard for my future endeavors as a filmmaker. I hope we can spread the show far and wide and that we can connect with viewers who like the kind of stories that I love to tell.
In late 2018, we brought Tracy Buckles to ten film festivals all over the world, and I’ve already had the chance to meet other filmmakers and hear their feedback on the project. I hope that dialogue will continue as our audience grows.
Looking ahead, beyond this particular project, I am also hard at work with a feature length screenplay. My dream future would be that I could go full-time with writing and directing my own screenplays.
Watch Tracy Buckles:
On Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/album/
On the official Tracy Buckles website: https://www.tracybuckles.com
See the 30-second trailer: http://vimeo.com/tracybuckles/
Awards:
TRACY BUCKLES has been screened in 10 film festivals, including LA Film Festival, iTVFest, NYC WebFest and Dances with Films.
During its festival run, the show won three awards:
Best Produced Series,
Best Young Adult Series, and
Best Actress in a Web Series.
The show was nominated for ten awards, including:
Best Series Director,
Best Sci-Fi Fantasy,
Best Representation of Women,
Best Comedic Performance, and
Best Overall Web Series.
Oh, and you can read about Robin’s earlier series, NicoLife, here: https://tvwriter.com/?p=31326
And here: https://tvwriter.com/inside-nicolife-the-web-series-lb-luvs/
Not bad, yeah?