Last Wednesday, Link’d won its second Force Award for the term. The cast and crew nicknamed this particular episode “The Episode from Hell” because its production was so difficult. Ari Trames, one of the producers of Link’d, explained that, “Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong; the day before shooting one of our leads dropped out, the snow required lots of reorganization, and to boot the power was out for 48 plus hours.” However, instead of giving up, the cast and crew pulled together to make the episode work. The creators of Link’d, Ari Trames and Anna Connelly, shed some light on the challenges that were presented while making this episode.
The first obstacle they faced was a principal actor quitting. He was cast as the boyfriend of Vina (who is the fraternal twin of the show’s main character – Than). In an attempt to recover, Trames stepped in to fill his role and became Naara – Vina’s girlfriend. This was Trames’ first time being on the other side of the camera, and she did an excellent job. The dynamics of Vina and Naara’s relationship was captivating to watch as it unfolded across the screen.
Next, the snow came and the power went out. Conditions were dangerous, icy, and a hassle. Although it was a pain to work around, the snow ultimately worked well in this episode. “It looked fantastic and seamlessly ties into our story,” Trames mused, “We all appreciated the subtle symbolism behind the blanket of white snow covering the town as the ‘epidemic of Link’d’ Naara was so worried about was spreading in popularity.” Additionally, the power went out right before filming the final scene. Because of this, the final scene was cut and they ended up reconstruction the episode.
Overall, “The Episode from Hell” was a success. Despite the many challenges, the crew of Link’d worked hard to create an outstanding episode. Connelly summed it up nicely when she concluded, “In the end, the snow provided us with great memories. We all fought the elements together and worked through the frustration to produce a really great episode.”
By Aimee Griswold