Andre Michelle (Galen), Ron Burrage (Devon)
Episode: Who Will Get Her?
Photo by Connor Lynch

"Fallen" shatters preconceptions.  The Cincinnati-based TV show that is headed to Hollywood is being compared to "Buffy" and "Joan of Arcadia."  But I say it is more like "Heroes."

This show is so powerful that I at first confused it for a vampire show.  After all, when I read that the TV show resembled "Buffy" and saw a picture of Andre Michelle (Galen) holding Devon (Ron Burrage) up into the air with her hand around his neck, that was an easy assumption to make.  TV is much more likely to air shows about hell and damnation than it is to talk about heaven and angels.

But I was wrong.  Rebekah Voss, Producer and Unit Production Manager says sorry, no vampires in sight.  It is a show about redemption, and an apparently much-needed one if it was so easy for me to make that incorrect assumption.

Jamie Watson, the show's central focus, is the reincarnation of Aracheli, a great heavenly warrioress.  Aracheli has had many lives, 25 to be exact; each time, she was born into the life of a great mortal warrior of history (Queen Elizabeth I and Joan of Arc were two).  This is her last chance to get things right - Jamie must either save humanity or die along with us.  Gabriel, her brother, is trying to protect her by hiding the truth while the Seekers are persistently trying to reveal it.  Meanwhile, Jamie is trying to deal with her own demons and feels overwhelmed by her own private darkness.  How is she going to handle finding out her truth - that this is her last chance to redeem her own soul and save humanity?

Even better is the fact that this movie brings much-needed attention to Cincinnati's film scene.  Most of the actors are from the Greater Cincinnati Area.  Michele Fink, a local high school and CCM student plays Jamie; Tyler Middendorf, a Kentucky native and previously seen in "Hannah Montana: The Movie," plays Gabriel; Ron Burrage, a Playhouse regular, is Devon;  Andrew Jenkins, or Dante Jordan in the show, was born and raised in Cincinnati and now attends The Ohio State University; Matthew Gallagher (Fly Park) is a local movie maker; Sydney Clark (Sage) is from Cincinnati and is managed by local talent agency P.C. Goenner; and Natalia Sezer (Quinn) is a middle school student at Cincinnati's Summit CDS. 

The writer, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, who now resides in Cincinnati, won the the Delacorte Dell Yearling and Parents' Choice Silver Honor Awards for her first novel Prizefighter En Mi Casa.  The book was also named a National Council for the Social Studies Notable Book.  Both this book and her second book, Feels Like Home, made it to the NYC Public Library Teenage List.

Both Shawn Michael Maus, the show's Executive Producer, and S.E. Miller (Assistant Director) are teachers at Finneytown High School; Abigail Wells, the Costumer and Set Designer, is a local high school student; J.J. Painter (Assistant Camera and After Effects Artist) is a student at NKU; Connor Lynch, the Script Supervisor and Still Photographer, recently graduated from Xavier University; and Ann Burrell (Still Photographer) has her photography studio in Cincinnati.

Even local sites were used.  Over a period of eight days, working 12 to 14 hours at a time in the sweltering heat, six mini-episodes were filmed at places such as the Taft House, Finneytown High School, and Northside.  They are hoping to build enough support from fans watching the mini-episodes so that they can go to L.A. and get the pilot on the air in January, 2010.  You can see the films at the show's website, www.fallentheseries.com.  A new clip will be released every two weeks.  In addition, you can vote and discuss your favorite parts on the Lounge page of the website - the crew wants your opinion so that they can help to make the show the best it can be. 

With a fresh take on powerful suspense, a shattering of preconceptions, a look at a high school student who is much like others her age but in a strange situation, this show is an unstoppable success already.  Fans are flocking to the website because we cannot get enough.  It is a "no-divas-allowed kind of production," says Charlton-Trujillo.  “I think our audience wants to watch stories about people just like them. They want to fall in to this world where magical, fantastic things can happen to everyday kids like
themselves.” 

The cast and crew want to help us break out of the ordinary mold and become redeemed.  A show like this, with real people, in a real setting, in our hometown, with a focus on heaven over hell, is long overdue.