The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • E2

E2 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR Sign up at FocusInsider.com for exclusive access to early screenings, film premieres and more. 2019 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. FOCUS FEATURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATIONWITH PERFECTWORLD PICTURES ASTAY GOLD DEBRAMARTIN CHASE PRODUCTION A FILM BY KASI LEMMONS CYNTHIA ERIVO LESLIE ODOM, JR. JOE ALWYN JOHN TOLL, ASC DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHYWARREN ALAN YOUNG PRODUCTION DESIGNERAND JANELLE MONAE TERENCE BLANCHARD MUSIC BYJEFFREY LAMPERT CO- PRODUCERS REBECCA CAMMARATA WYATT SMITH, ACE EDITED BYPAUL TAZEWELL COSTUME DESIGNER KRISTINA KENDALL ELIZABETH KOCH CHARLES D. KINGBILL BENENSON PEN DENSHAM JOHNWATSONNNAMDI ASOMUGHASHEA KAMMERJOSHMcLAUGHLIN EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS DEBRAMARTIN CHASE PRODUCED BY DANIELA TAPLIN LUNDBERG GREGORY ALLEN HOWARD GREGORY ALLEN HOWARD STORY BY AND KASI LEMMONSGREGORY ALLEN HOWARD SCREENPLAY BY KASI LEMMONS DIRECTED BY THEMATIC CONTENT THROUGHOUT, VIOLENT MATERIAL AND LANGUAGE INCLUDING RACIAL EPITHETS HER TIME IS NOW A I I Peter Bradshaw HHHH UNEXPECTED SUPERHERO ROTTEN AUDIENCE RATING HHHH SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE ERIVO IS AN UNSTOPPABLE Kenneth Turan AND K.

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it started moving like a gas That campaign, for the adult-oriented of VoxMachinaAnimatedSpe- is now highest-earning entertain- ment project ever, with nearly 90,000 backers pledg- ing upward of $11 million besting bigger-name prop- erties like Science Theater revived by Netflix in 2017, and which became a fea- ture film and, this year, a Huluoriginal series. Nowthatgroupof friends under the banner of the company they formed, Criti- cal Role joins those big- ger-name properties in an- othermilestone: a pickup by a major streaming service. AmazonPrimeVideohasor- dered two 12-episode sea- sons of Legend of Vox in addition to se- curing a first-look devel- opment deal with Critical Role. is the name of the first Dungeons Dragons role-playing ad- venture that the group undertakes and centers on a teamof supernaturalmerce- elves, dwarves and magic makers forced to unite to protect their realm from dark forces that assail it, including undead giants, anecromancerandpowerful curses. Building an empire another level-up for an outfit that began in 2012 as en- thusiasts gathering in one homes.

Since then, Critical Role has evolved into a mini media empire, attracting more than half a million viewers every week to YouTube, Twitch and their own site, Critrole.com. The friends have transformed their homegrown characters into a top 10 comic book on Comixology; sell out their live shows; and draw lines around the block at comic book stores and convention signings. The Amazon deal follows a partnership with animation studio Titmouse, the group behind and Venture Butwhoare veteran game master Matthew Mercer, the group consists of Willingham and Bailey, Sam Riegel, Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Tal- iesin Jaffe voice actors, with cred- its including Wars Avengers Assem- and the and of gaming franchises. The role-playing game enjoyed its heyday in the 1980s, has had a resurgence of mainstream interest the past decade or so, including its prominent role in Net- The sword-and-sorcery game, in whichplayers create charac- ters rolling dice to gauge their physical and magical properties and follow a story line set by a has always been a low-techformof fun.Butadd online streaming sites as storytelling vehicles and a home game can suddenly reachmillions of viewers. Felicia Day, actress and head of the Geek Sundry media company, which pro- duces shows on YouTube and beyond, saw the poten- tial of putting Critical interaction online after be- ing invited to the group for a game.

Reached by email, Day recounted helping launch the group online while she was trying to es- tablish her own company on Twitch. Day live- streaming and and it would work in the theplayerswer- so sure. was with some reticence that we agreedto it, the classic internet adage that everyone has a short atten- tion said. it three- to five-minute videos, no onewill care.Why wouldanyonewatchthree to four hours of someone rolling dice and playing were very wrong, and since then beenperpetual know how to gauge what their reaction would be. pretty evident that we underestimated the response.

Sure enough, they defied all expectations, pretty much on the first saidWillingham. The videos on YouTube and Twitch are nothing just friendswho, fol- lowingdungeonmasterMer- narration and story- telling, merrily roll dice for hours of choose-your-own- adventure fun for them- selves and their subscribers. But storytelling is immersive (he does voices and sound effects) and has been honed as the shows have attracted more and moreattention. Even after the story line concluded in November 2017 with 115 episodes and 373 and company were flabber- gastedbythefanresponseto the Kickstarter campaign they launched this year. The responsibility to fans and the story itself has only grown with the success, particularly for Mercer, who was invited to lead quest with talk show host and onetime player Stephen Colbert.

one thing when running a game for five, six, seven the occasional plot hole or some things that you think too thoroughly about, not a big But when you have an audi- ence of hundreds of thou- sandsofpeople thatarehav- ing forum boards and pod- casts discussing and debat- ing elements of the world that you just made up, it addsanother The tipping point For Marisha Ray, there was a noticeable tipping point in fan engagement: about sixmonths into the show we decided we would try to market T- shirts. And at this point in time, we really under- stand the reach and the scope of the show in termsof public consumption. So we made 100 shirts that we printed ourselves that we were just going to have a packing party and send out. They ended up selling out in about The Kick- starter campaign was con- ceived as a love letter to fans as for their initial sup- port as the group built its brand, later joined by higher-profile figures like Colbert andVinDiesel. Now, Critical Role will begin the next phase of its evolution in a spare office in Burbank with framed comic book art stacked on the wall and the multisided dice used in role- playing games collected in containers on a table.

After everything, the process of creating a show is still rela- tively new to everyone: The membersof thegroupsome- times remind each other of the minutiae, having to re- member what character de- velopments or plot twists happened, andwhen. Animation directors and additional writers have yet to intrude on their refer- ences to Eleven from Sil- ver Surfer, T-1000, Wars: A New and though di- rector Sung Jin Ahn is al- theywill come in due time. what happens when you lev- el up, even if you started out in your living room. CRITICAL ROLE members SamRiegel, left, Liam Marisha Ray, Laura Bailey, MatthewMercer, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson and TravisWillingham. Critical Role has evolved into a mini media empire.

Anna.Azarov Dungeons Dragons set levels up Friends mount a successful Kickstarter campaign, landing an Amazon Prime series. By Jevon Phillips.