Leylines Podcast
Chicago, Illinois | Series
Drama, Fantasy
Leylines is an urban fantasy podcast spanning three American cities, three stories, and one search for the truth. Born from the imaginations of seven writers and long-time collaborators, we need your help to transform our finished scripts into a fully realized podcast.
Leylines Podcast
Chicago, Illinois | Series
Drama, Fantasy
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $6,315 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
52 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Leylines is an urban fantasy podcast spanning three American cities, three stories, and one search for the truth. Born from the imaginations of seven writers and long-time collaborators, we need your help to transform our finished scripts into a fully realized podcast.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
WHAT IS LEYLINES?
Lines of power suffuse the earth; where they meet, fonts erupt inspiring the formation of cities and channeling the latent magic of the surrounding terrain through those who seek it. Over 12 episodes and three distinct, interconnected stories, we explore the hidden worlds of three American cities and their resident’s power, mystery, and grief.
Leylines: Guidance (Episodes 1-4) – We start in Boston along the Charles, following Kai as she discovers that her cartography hobby has the power to alter the cityscape around her. The more she explores and changes, the more attention she draws from a master of the craft: Arnie. The result is a cat and mouse game over whose vision of the city will prevail.
Leylines: Loyalty (Episodes 5-8) – From Boston, we take I-90 West to Chicago, where Siobhan has returned home to comfort her mother, grieve for her sister, and hide from the world. Unfortunately, her homecoming cocoon is cracked when she gets drawn into a secret collective repurposing mob magic of the early 20th century and determined to protect their city of broad shoulders.
Leylines: Attuned (Episodes 9-12) – Our final stop on 90 is Seattle, the story that weaves them all together. We ditch humans discovering magic and drop fully into a world of arcane creatures dwelling in the forgotten corners of Seattle’s natural roots. The city is on the brink, and Kadin, Faye, and Rin must put aside their mutual distrust to chase down the rogue magical elements before their home crumbles around them.
WHY MAKE LEYLINES?
These worlds came out of a simple coffee between Cole and Lindsay during a rare visit in Chicago. We had a group of longtime collaborators who had been split up across the country and wanted to make something together that reflected how we were forging paths in farflung cities. We are artists across many mediums: theatre, film, webseries, musical, comedy, game design, educational - and together, we made Leylines.
There isn’t enough original fantasy, especially that recognizes and interacts with our current country and its people. We are a bunch of longtime nerds who have BASKED in every subgenre of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and mystery for decades. We wanted to take that devotion and make something wholly new.
WHAT IS THE CITY COMPETITION?
As part of our crowdfunding we’re running a contest to see which city can donate the most and show their true dominance as a strong community! Whichever city contributes the most will win a day on our social media and website of adoration for that city, a write up of that city’s magic system to fit that city’s personality (or a more in depth sneak peek if Boston, Chicago, or Seattle win), and the general pride of knowing your city really is superior to the rest. Check below to see which city is pulling ahead. Our podcast is all about rooting for the underdog and exploring lesser-loved cities, so we’re really hoping a Greenville or Fairview will take the lead!
WHAT WILL WE DO WITH ALL THAT MONEY?
To make this a podcast deserving of the nerdy, clever audience we intend it for, we need support. We have been working on this podcast for three years: the scripts are finished, the world is built, and the only step remaining is actually producing it. We’ve gathered an amazing collection of talent: actors, sound designers, directors, writers, graphic designers, painters, editors, but we want to make sure they are compensated fairly for the time and skill they put in. Additionally, while a podcast is cheaper than a film, it still requires studio space, marketing, visual design, hosting, and dozens of other small fees to keep it running.
It’s easy to get investment for re-interpretations of classic tales because they have a proven, built-in audience. We hope you’ll join us in pushing the genre forward with new stories that are for and of our time with artists who reflect our communities.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Actors - Main Characters
Costs $1,750
We need incredibly talented voice actors to bring our story to life!
Actor - Minor Characters
Costs $1,400
Can’t have mob magic without a mob. These actors will round out our sound.
Hosting Platform
Costs $1,200
We need to host our podcast somewhere so all you lovely folks can access it.
World Building Media
Costs $600
Logos, posters, videos, and music. All that stuff that makes us look polished and keeps fans happy.
Share this update!
About This Team
We approached this story as a collective writers room, developing the overarching plot and concept together before breaking the story into 3 arcs of four episodes each. From there we divided into teams and tackled each arc before knitting them back together into Leylines.
Cole von Glahn (Creative Director, Writer - Guidance/Attuned) is a Chicago-based story nerd. He emerges from his primary job as a theatrical producer in Chicago’s vibrant storefront scene to leap headlong into a variety of fantastical efforts, each with the same goal: to create or enjoy incredible storytelling experiences with equally excellent people. Along that path he has designed board games, written and run dozens of roleplaying adventures, and re-read the Redwall series an unhealthy number of times. When he steps away from stories you can find him among the woods, at the stove, or in the woodshop.
Sarah D. Espinoza (Sound Designer) is an award winning Chicago-based sound designer. In 2015 she won the Non-Equity Jeff award for sound design for The Arsonists (Strawdog) and in 2018 she won the ALTA Award for Outstanding Sound Design for The Displaced (Haven). Some of the productions she worked on include Borealis (The House Theatre), The Displaced (Haven), Damascus (Strawdog), Future Echoes (WildClaw), Another Jungle (Cloudgate), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (First Floor Theatre), and Epic Tale of Scale (Chicago Children's).
Lindsay Carpenter (Producer, Writer - Loyalty/Attuned) thought she was a playwright until she found herself suddenly writing mystery parties, film and TV scripts, and now this podcast. Her plays include “Break”, “Walk, Girl”, “Borders”, “Knappogue”, “Bennie” and more. She is currently a graduate student at NYU's Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing where she tests a fluctuating hypothesis about how much writing is too much writing for one day.
Ben Hertel (Producer, Writer - Loyalty/Attuned) is a Chicago-based actor/writer/comedian/idiot. He is a company member of The House Theatre of Chicago, where his works include the nine-hour high-fantasy trilogy The Hammer Trinity and the upcoming sci-fi game room experience Nova to Lodestar. When he's not nerding out professionally, he enjoys improv with his two teams (Liar, First Time Caller), video games, horror movies and kitties.
Jonathan Hertel (Producer, Writer - Loyalty) played the scorekeeper on the trivia podcast A2DA, runs the Craft & Process food blog with his wife Emilie, with whom he has also had writing published in Fair magazine, and has worked in children's television on "Noodle & Doodle" and "Peep and the Big Wide World." A recent transplant back to Chicago from Boston, he's grown paranoid while working on this project about secrets and mysteries because one of the other collaborators appears to have stolen his last name and keeps appearing at family functions.
Kellyn Henthorn (Writer - Loyalty) is a magical-realism-inclined writer/administrator/TV watcher originally from Denver. A lover of words, bats, and beers, she spends most of her time in Chicago selling tickets to plays you didn't know that you needed in your life! When she can, she hikes (in real mountains, preferably), reads long, wandering novels, and dances to punk music with verve. She has never met a women-only fitness class that she didn't like.
Andrew Prensky (Writer - Guidance) is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. He has edited scripts for The Secret Society mobile game and is currently working on a full-length fantasy novel. If you see him on Twitter, approach him like an ursine mammal: he may react erratically. @wordsgoblin
Edward Rosini (Writer - Guidance) studied drama at Tufts University. Primarily he’s an actor, though he also produces, directs and writes for stage, screen, and now, podcast. Additionally, he acts as Director of Photography with Walk and Talk Entertainment. Some recent acting credits include: Bang Bang!(Gontran) Shadowland Stages, Twelfth Night (Sebastian) The No Name Collective, In the Closet (Young Man) Theatre Row NYC. Ed was also a founding member, co-writer and and fellow with Lord Barnum’s Players (A partner of the Boston Shakespeare Project).
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
WHAT IS LEYLINES?
Lines of power suffuse the earth; where they meet, fonts erupt inspiring the formation of cities and channeling the latent magic of the surrounding terrain through those who seek it. Over 12 episodes and three distinct, interconnected stories, we explore the hidden worlds of three American cities and their resident’s power, mystery, and grief.
Leylines: Guidance (Episodes 1-4) – We start in Boston along the Charles, following Kai as she discovers that her cartography hobby has the power to alter the cityscape around her. The more she explores and changes, the more attention she draws from a master of the craft: Arnie. The result is a cat and mouse game over whose vision of the city will prevail.
Leylines: Loyalty (Episodes 5-8) – From Boston, we take I-90 West to Chicago, where Siobhan has returned home to comfort her mother, grieve for her sister, and hide from the world. Unfortunately, her homecoming cocoon is cracked when she gets drawn into a secret collective repurposing mob magic of the early 20th century and determined to protect their city of broad shoulders.
Leylines: Attuned (Episodes 9-12) – Our final stop on 90 is Seattle, the story that weaves them all together. We ditch humans discovering magic and drop fully into a world of arcane creatures dwelling in the forgotten corners of Seattle’s natural roots. The city is on the brink, and Kadin, Faye, and Rin must put aside their mutual distrust to chase down the rogue magical elements before their home crumbles around them.
WHY MAKE LEYLINES?
These worlds came out of a simple coffee between Cole and Lindsay during a rare visit in Chicago. We had a group of longtime collaborators who had been split up across the country and wanted to make something together that reflected how we were forging paths in farflung cities. We are artists across many mediums: theatre, film, webseries, musical, comedy, game design, educational - and together, we made Leylines.
There isn’t enough original fantasy, especially that recognizes and interacts with our current country and its people. We are a bunch of longtime nerds who have BASKED in every subgenre of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and mystery for decades. We wanted to take that devotion and make something wholly new.
WHAT IS THE CITY COMPETITION?
As part of our crowdfunding we’re running a contest to see which city can donate the most and show their true dominance as a strong community! Whichever city contributes the most will win a day on our social media and website of adoration for that city, a write up of that city’s magic system to fit that city’s personality (or a more in depth sneak peek if Boston, Chicago, or Seattle win), and the general pride of knowing your city really is superior to the rest. Check below to see which city is pulling ahead. Our podcast is all about rooting for the underdog and exploring lesser-loved cities, so we’re really hoping a Greenville or Fairview will take the lead!
WHAT WILL WE DO WITH ALL THAT MONEY?
To make this a podcast deserving of the nerdy, clever audience we intend it for, we need support. We have been working on this podcast for three years: the scripts are finished, the world is built, and the only step remaining is actually producing it. We’ve gathered an amazing collection of talent: actors, sound designers, directors, writers, graphic designers, painters, editors, but we want to make sure they are compensated fairly for the time and skill they put in. Additionally, while a podcast is cheaper than a film, it still requires studio space, marketing, visual design, hosting, and dozens of other small fees to keep it running.
It’s easy to get investment for re-interpretations of classic tales because they have a proven, built-in audience. We hope you’ll join us in pushing the genre forward with new stories that are for and of our time with artists who reflect our communities.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Actors - Main Characters
Costs $1,750
We need incredibly talented voice actors to bring our story to life!
Actor - Minor Characters
Costs $1,400
Can’t have mob magic without a mob. These actors will round out our sound.
Hosting Platform
Costs $1,200
We need to host our podcast somewhere so all you lovely folks can access it.
World Building Media
Costs $600
Logos, posters, videos, and music. All that stuff that makes us look polished and keeps fans happy.
Share this update!
About This Team
We approached this story as a collective writers room, developing the overarching plot and concept together before breaking the story into 3 arcs of four episodes each. From there we divided into teams and tackled each arc before knitting them back together into Leylines.
Cole von Glahn (Creative Director, Writer - Guidance/Attuned) is a Chicago-based story nerd. He emerges from his primary job as a theatrical producer in Chicago’s vibrant storefront scene to leap headlong into a variety of fantastical efforts, each with the same goal: to create or enjoy incredible storytelling experiences with equally excellent people. Along that path he has designed board games, written and run dozens of roleplaying adventures, and re-read the Redwall series an unhealthy number of times. When he steps away from stories you can find him among the woods, at the stove, or in the woodshop.
Sarah D. Espinoza (Sound Designer) is an award winning Chicago-based sound designer. In 2015 she won the Non-Equity Jeff award for sound design for The Arsonists (Strawdog) and in 2018 she won the ALTA Award for Outstanding Sound Design for The Displaced (Haven). Some of the productions she worked on include Borealis (The House Theatre), The Displaced (Haven), Damascus (Strawdog), Future Echoes (WildClaw), Another Jungle (Cloudgate), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (First Floor Theatre), and Epic Tale of Scale (Chicago Children's).
Lindsay Carpenter (Producer, Writer - Loyalty/Attuned) thought she was a playwright until she found herself suddenly writing mystery parties, film and TV scripts, and now this podcast. Her plays include “Break”, “Walk, Girl”, “Borders”, “Knappogue”, “Bennie” and more. She is currently a graduate student at NYU's Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing where she tests a fluctuating hypothesis about how much writing is too much writing for one day.
Ben Hertel (Producer, Writer - Loyalty/Attuned) is a Chicago-based actor/writer/comedian/idiot. He is a company member of The House Theatre of Chicago, where his works include the nine-hour high-fantasy trilogy The Hammer Trinity and the upcoming sci-fi game room experience Nova to Lodestar. When he's not nerding out professionally, he enjoys improv with his two teams (Liar, First Time Caller), video games, horror movies and kitties.
Jonathan Hertel (Producer, Writer - Loyalty) played the scorekeeper on the trivia podcast A2DA, runs the Craft & Process food blog with his wife Emilie, with whom he has also had writing published in Fair magazine, and has worked in children's television on "Noodle & Doodle" and "Peep and the Big Wide World." A recent transplant back to Chicago from Boston, he's grown paranoid while working on this project about secrets and mysteries because one of the other collaborators appears to have stolen his last name and keeps appearing at family functions.
Kellyn Henthorn (Writer - Loyalty) is a magical-realism-inclined writer/administrator/TV watcher originally from Denver. A lover of words, bats, and beers, she spends most of her time in Chicago selling tickets to plays you didn't know that you needed in your life! When she can, she hikes (in real mountains, preferably), reads long, wandering novels, and dances to punk music with verve. She has never met a women-only fitness class that she didn't like.
Andrew Prensky (Writer - Guidance) is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. He has edited scripts for The Secret Society mobile game and is currently working on a full-length fantasy novel. If you see him on Twitter, approach him like an ursine mammal: he may react erratically. @wordsgoblin
Edward Rosini (Writer - Guidance) studied drama at Tufts University. Primarily he’s an actor, though he also produces, directs and writes for stage, screen, and now, podcast. Additionally, he acts as Director of Photography with Walk and Talk Entertainment. Some recent acting credits include: Bang Bang!(Gontran) Shadowland Stages, Twelfth Night (Sebastian) The No Name Collective, In the Closet (Young Man) Theatre Row NYC. Ed was also a founding member, co-writer and and fellow with Lord Barnum’s Players (A partner of the Boston Shakespeare Project).