Roma Downey, The Bible miniseries executive producer and star of CBS's Touched by an Angel, endorsed award-winning writer/producer Phil Lollar and his crowdfunding campaign for the new independent audio drama Iliad House on Kickstarter.com.
"Phil ... tells exciting adventure stories, filled with wonder and awe, that are fun and funny, and that present biblical values in a way that our older kids can enjoy. Please help Phil continue to bring great stories to young people and families everywhere, and support Iliad House today," Downey said.
Downey's series, "The Bible," brought in almost 13 million viewers the first night and consistently garnered 10 million viewers each episode. The series was so successful that NBC has ordered a sequel series, A.D.: Beyond the Bible.
Downey first met Lollar, who co-created the long-running family audio drama Adventures in Odyssey, while producing her animated series Little Angels.
"I wanted stories that were fun and funny, filled with awe and wonder, that were educational, and that presented biblical values in a way the little ones could understand," Downey explained. "A tall order, but that's exactly what Phil gave me! Now with his new series, Iliad House, he gets to do it all again but this time for older kids."
The audio drama will be an ongoing series, about 14-year-old Jesse Davidson who goes to live with his genius uncle in a strange mansion on an island on the east coast of the United States. Jesse discovers that the train he and his friends have used as a clubhouse actually moves --through time. He and his friends get caught up in a series of adventures fraught with temporal distortions, political intrigue, secret societies, and supernatural battles, all as they try to cope with the daily pressures of adolescence. Along the way they face hard truths and secrets about themselves and learn that there is forgiveness and redemption available to all who desire it.
The "Iliad House" Kickstarter campaign will continue until August 31. It seeks to raise $100,000 to create a pilot mini-series followed by a first season of 12 half-hour episodes. Kickstarter.com has been used successfully since 2009 as a way for authors, artists, game developers, product designers, and filmmakers to fund their projects independently. Campaigns on the website are all-or-nothing and will only charge donors (or "backers") if a project's funding goal is reached.
