Unknown Sender
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| Unknown Sender | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama Fantasy Science fiction |
| Created by | Steven E. de Souza |
| Directed by | Steven E. de Souza |
| Starring | Timothy Dalton Joanne Whalley Mindy Sterling Jay Davis Stan Freberg |
| Composer | Adam Cohen |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Steven E. de Souza |
| Producers | Amy De Souza Daniel De Souza Kevin Rubio Gregg Vance Marilyn Vance |
| Production location | Los Angeles |
| Running time | 5–10 minutes |
| Production company | Valdoro Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | Strike.TV, Metacafe |
| Release | August 2008 |
Unknown Sender is an internet television series created in the United States, which debuted in August 2008 on Strike.TV, a website created by Hollywood writers during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike; the series was later uploaded to YouTube.[1] Like the other Strike.TV offerings which were sanctioned by the writers' sister union, the Screen Actors Guild, Unknown Sender was able to attract major talent to its cast, all of whom agreed to donate profits to the Hollywood charity, Actors' Fund. Among the actors in the series are Timothy Dalton, Joanne Whalley, Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers' "Frau Farbissina"), comedian Jay Davis (Dane Cook's Tourgasm), and Stan Freberg.
Behind the camera, noteworthy figures include Academy Award nominee Marilyn Vance and pioneer web filmmaker Kevin Rubio (Troops) among the producers; as well as Lost Director of Photography Edward J. Pei, film composer Adam Cohen (The Incredibles); and Special Effects Supervisor Shant Jordan (Hellboy II).
The five- to ten-minute-long episodes consist of suspense or sci-fi stories which share the conceit of being actual events captured by closed-circuit television, surveillance monitors, amateur videographers, and the like, all collected and posted on the web by a mysterious, unseen "unknown sender".
Influences
The creator of the show, Die Hard screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, described the series as "a cross between the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents".[2] De Souza, a writer and director on HBO's similarly themed Tales From the Crypt, said another influence was the legendary 1947–1949 Mutual (and later, ABC) network radio horror series, Quiet, Please.[3] Considered by many[who?] to be the best example of Golden Age radio, and a direct precursor of the Twilight Zone, Quiet, Please often dramatized its episodes as if the members of the listening audience were themselves participants or inadvertent observers, eavesdropping on the story’s action.
The first episode includes an acknowledgement the Quiet, Please connection via its opening music, Symphony in D minor by César Franck, the same piece used as the theme for every episode of Quiet, Please.
Critical reception
Unknown Sender has been well received by the public and the press alike, having garnered positive reviews from such outlets as TV Guide, The McClatchy Company, and tilzy.tv. USA Today in particular hailed the series's "clever premise".[4]