Finally, finally, it is nearly September 21 and time for the Season 3 premiere of the particularly excellent Syfy series Haven. If you haven’t seen the first two seasons, you have not spent your life wisely. Hopefully you have time between now and the 21st to watch the 26 episodes you’ve missed so far.
If, however, you can’t get to it by then, Haven has taken pity upon you and is gathering you into its creepily embracing arms by releasing some great viral videos and by “hacking” the Twitter account of one of the Havenites who works on the local paper, along with starting up the Twitter hashtag #EscapeToHaven. If you’re already a Haven fan (well done, you) then you’ll have fun checking out the program, too. This will purportedly be a bigger campaign than last year’s Vince and Dave Join Twitter online program.
Just last Thursday, on the final day of shooting for Season 3, stars Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, and Eric Balfour plus Executive Producer Lloyd Segan spoke with the press about what we might be seeing in Season 3. We’ll have more of that interview in a separate post. SciFiMafia.com had the second question, and after being introduced and congratulating them on the fantastic first two episodes previewed, we got this lovely thanks from Eric Balfour:
Eric Balfour: And thank you for all of your tweets, twitters, tweeters, tweets. You tweet about the show a lot and we really appreciate it.
He’s a very active tweeter himself. SciFiMafia.com then asked a question, stemming from the #EscapeToHaven viral online campaign, that caused some consternation:
SciFiMafia.com: I’ve been seeing the #EscapeToHaven hash tag promotion and the video and it makes me wonder if …
But we’re excluding the rest of the question because it elicited this reply:
Eric Balfour: Wow, I can’t answer that without…
Lucas Bryant: That’s probably a Lloyd question.
Lloyd Segan: Yes. Well, we have to be delicate about how to answer this question. I don’t know if [showrunner] Sam Ernst has joined us in this call, but I think Sam is a – is actually on set but, the truth is if we answer that, we might have to kill everybody because there are some secrets in there that if we told you they would be spoiler alerts. I think the…
Okay okay. Apparently the question was too close to an actual plot point. But then Eric Balfour came to the rescue by talking about the #EscapeToHaven campaign:
Eric Balfour: I think the coolest thing about what we’re trying to do with the Twitter stories and the online sort of interactions and storylines is really to enhance the experience of the show for everybody. It’s not necessarily, you know, something that nobody else is doing at this point. But we’re really trying to, I think, do it in the unique way that makes it exciting for the viewers and makes it exciting for the fans to feel like they get a little bit extra and a little bit more than just from watching the episodes on television. And then hopefully, also enhance the experience of watching the episodes.
Lloyd Segan: Yes well, I couldn’t have said it more eloquently than Eric did. I think what’s neat what this initiative is and it is unique in that we were the first people to really take social media and take it to another level last year with Vince and Dave’s experience and interaction with our audience.
This year we’re going way beyond that and integrating these opportunities for our audience to interact and sharing with them gems that are going to be happening over the season. And also helping people who have never seen the show before and getting them excited about possibly joining our community. So, it’s bringing people up to date with what has been happening in the past and getting our committed audience, like yourself, excited about the season to come. And hopefully it’s doing that.
So what is this online campaign? Here’s an introduction:
Featurette: Haven – Are You Troubled?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXsiW69brdk&hd=1[/youtube]
Featurette: Haven – Escape to Haven
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jypUZ-nwPVg&hd=1[/youtube]
And that compass design, sometimes seen as a tattoo, is the emblem adapted by #EscapeToHaven and by that “hacked” Twitter account, @TheGuardHaven:
That is our symbol. Look for it. It means you’ve found a friend or a safe place for The Troubled. #EscapeToHaven twitter.com/TheGuardHaven/…
— The Guard (@TheGuardHaven) September 10, 2012
To get more of the story, check out the Syfy page for HavenNews. And for you Twitter users, here are some Haven-related Twitter accounts for you to follow:
@TheGuardHaven Formerly @DaveHaven, hacked and tweeting about #EscapeToHaven
@VinceHaven Dave’s brother and co-owner/editor of the Haven News
@HavenSam Series co-creator Sam Ernst
@HavenJim Series co-creator Jim Dunn
@Nora Zuckerman Writer Nora Zuckerman
@LillaZuck Writer Lilla Zuckerman
@EmilyRoseLA Actor Emily Rose
@ERICBALFOUR Actor Eric Balfour
@Syfy
@SciFiMafia
Now, off you trot to watch Haven Seasons 1 and 2 in preparation for the excellent Season 3 premiere to come.
Haven, starring Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, and Eric Balfour, premieres Season 3 on Friday, September 21 at 10/9c on Syfy.
