Cop Thriller 'Fissure' Web Series Sets Up DVD Release

Meet Detective Paul Grunning, a screwed-up cop on a temporary-leave-of-absence thanks to a tragic incident and Internal Affairs. After one of those oh-so-fun, I.A. mandated grief meetings, Grunning gets a call from his boss to “checkout a disturbance” at a local residence.

That’s the setup for Top Pup Media’s Fissure, a feature film-turned-web-series put out by director and producer Russ Pond. The web series premiered this week and stars James MacDonald who is known for his bit-parts in everything from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to CSI:Miami and Jericho.

Fissure, the series, can be found at Fissure TV, which despite its somewhat misleading name is not a content portal like KoldCast TV or Strike.TV. Instead, the site acts as a central location for anything and everything about the series, including a pretty in-depth bio of how the film was produced. Several “Behind-the-Scenes” featurettes can also be found as well.

Pond said in a recent email that the web series is simply part of a larger, 90-minute film which will be released after the series ends.

“At 35 minutes into the movie, there is a good cliffhanger, and that’s where we’ll leave our virtual audience hanging, but only for one day,” said Pond. After the online episodes end, the full movie will be available in various stores for rental and purchase on Aug. 11 through a distribution deal with Dallas-based Indigenous Filmworks. Pond also said that the movie will be sold online at the iTunes store.

The film itself has garnered notable praise in the last year, winning an award for Best Lead Performance from FirstGlance Hollywood and making an appearance at AFI Dallas.

The site currently is running two different contests, including one on Twitter, which should help drum up a little more buzz about the series. The “Find the Clues” contest offers up a 32-inch flat-screen TV and the Twitter contest promises “signed DVDs, autographed photos, and iPod shuffles.”