LOS ANGELES _ Neko Sparks is proving it's possible to create a production about people with unusual powers that doesn't take a super budget to produce. His "Chosen Kin Origins" series for Amazon Prime got off the ground because of a Kickstarter program and has grown to where a second season was ordered, and there are talks to make a feature film. The budget is still small, but that has not slowed the series creator.
"This is a real dream come true," Sparks says during a break from filming the new season. "I get to get up every day. I get to play. I get to go see my friends on set and create. It doesn't get any better than that."
Sparks and a film crew that's smaller than the catering staff for a major comic book movie are working a few blocks from Chinatown in a building that from the outside looks abandoned. With a little imagination, the distressed interior has been changed and used to film numerous scenes. It's part of how Sparks can make the series on a minimal budget.
"Chosen Kin" is the tale of a trio with enhanced physical abilities who must learn how to work together to stop a threat to the entire human race. Sparks describes the series as "Game of Thrones" meets "The Avengers" with a dash of "Empire."
Levy Tran, Trae Ireland, Gichi Gamba, Andrea Thompson and Johnny Markham star, along with Sparks who plays Enzo. Because he writes, produces and directs, Sparks thought about writing himself out of the series to eliminate that pressure. Instead of ending his acting role, Sparks has been able to delegate some of the other work.
He will never give up the writing part because to Sparks, it all starts with the written word. Production started on the new season as soon as Sparks finished writing all seven episodes. In the first episode of the new season, Enzo tells the story of the early rise and fall of the chosen as they plot their return to Earth.
The key for Sparks is his show features a breed of superheroes that look, act and talk like real people. He's gone so far as to having one of the super characters deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sparks created the special powers for the characters based on the concept of what the one power that person would not want. The character of Mace, played by Markham, has anger issues as a result of his PTSD, and his power is the ability to see things in his dreams. That's the one thing he doesn't want in his life, so he doesn't sleep, which makes matters worse.
Gamba, who plays Axel, finds the fact Sparks has written the characters to show both sides of their nature has been a big help to him in playing the part.
"When it comes to playing someone bad, when you break down the character and think who he is, you turn this character into a human," Gamba says between scenes. "You can recall experiences that can take you down a dark road and let you relate to the character you are playing. Then it is like connecting the dots when you are trying to make a character on paper be human."
Andrea Thompson, who plays Willow, agrees with Gamba. In her case, while the character is basically good, she has no problems playing both sides. That her character goes back and forth between good and bad comes across as being more realistic to her.
Long before he started acting, Sparks was working on the background he would need to make "Chosen Kin Origins."
"I have been a big fan of comic books for as long as I can remember," Sparks says. "We wanted to do a comic book series that was more realistic. We wanted to show the good and the bad of our superheroes. That could be at home where things aren't going good and how they deal with personal issues.
"I think people can identify with that kind of person more than someone who is perfect. We wanted to show that when some people get special powers, they don't handle it really well."
Before heading back to work on the next scene, Sparks explains the real motivation of working so many long hours on the "Chosen Kin" offerings. He feels a deep responsibility to the fans both because it was their support that let him get the project off the ground and because he understands their passions for the comic book world.
The first episode of the "Chosen Kin Origins: New Breed" will be available on Amazon Prime Sunday. The entire first season is also available on the streaming service.
