After a dozen years, we've received a lot of questions. Here's a list of those we've received most often, and which might help newcomers understand just what the heck this site is about. Of course, if you have questions that aren't answered below, ask away by sending us an email, using our contact form, or posting in our message board.
Click a header to reveal the answer (and hide it when through).
About Schuyler Falls is an original web-based entertainment series. Episodes are posted online, where you can read the scenes, view images of the cast and locale, look into the characters' backgrounds, and -- most importantly -- take an active part in the direction of the series. ASF is created not only by its staff, but by the audience, who play a vital role in determining plots and characters.
No, it's wholly original and was developed solely for the web; episodes are text-based, like a serialized novel. There are no TV or video episodes. Although we wouldn't say no to a video adaptation in the future!
ASF premiered on November 15, 1997, and was in continuous production (aside from scheduled breaks) until June 2003. At the time it was one of the Web's longest running series. The show continued to be available on the Web, and returned to production in November 2007.
ASF is about a community--a variety of folks who can be kind or malicious, saintly or deviant, clever or dumb as a post, passionate or murderous. At its most basic, it's about the citizens of an upstate New York town whose lives suddenly intersect when a murder rips their world apart.
Speaking thematically, ASF focuses on the darkness and complexity that lurks within the human mind. In Schuyler Falls, people are often their own worst enemies.
Storylines are highly intertwined, in the tradition of classic serialized dramas. The plots tend to focus on mysteries, both criminal and psychological. They have included:
- the murder mystery of the first season that evolved into an overseas adventure
- a young teenager discovering the unsavory truth about her parents' marriage
- an attorney and police officer finding love despite being on the opposite sides of a criminal investigation
- a man's gambling debts leading him to desperate schemes that put his loved ones at risk
- a mentally ill woman's attempt to uncover the secrets of her bizarre life
- a corporate executive brought to ruin by some disastrous choices leading to blackmail
- a crime family taking over a community while still finding time to deal with everyday in-law troubles
- a love triangle that turned into a quadrangle when the scheming 'other woman' came up with a brilliant plan to draw in a fourth party -- not realizing she's trusting the worst possible partner in crime
... and much more! There's a little something for everyone in ASF, from dark humor to starcrossed romance to psychological drama to police procedurals to medical mysteries to family crises.
Episodes are not posted on any set schedule. The series is broken up into seasons, with anywhere from 22 - 50 episodes posted per season. We send out announcements to remind the audience when new episodes are posted -- click here to join this reminder mailing list. You can also follow us on Twitter at @aboutSkyfalls or subscribe to our RSS announcement feed. And we post announcements at the EpiGuide web entertainment community and at the YahooGroups Online Soap Opera group.
It's a continuing drama that focuses on mystery, romance, and humor. To help you put it in the familiar perspective of TV, picture a combination of nighttime drama -- anything with continuing plot arcs, such as ER, West Wing, The Practice, etc. -- and daytime soap opera. The series' TV inspirations include everything from American Gothic, Dark Shadows, LA Law, Picket Fences, Melrose Place, Another World and Days of Our Lives (circa 1990).
"Sky - ler." (Our domain, skyfalls, is derived from the town's nickname.) The town is named after the real Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War soldier and statesman from New York.
Yes, though it's not the town upon which our fictional setting is based. Schuyler is a very popular name in NY, thanks to the aforementioned famous local/historical figure -- there's also a Schuyler Lake, Schuyler County, and even Schuylerville.
The fictional Schuyler Falls is very loosely based on Upstate New York locales such as Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls, and Troy, although we have placed its location further south (in Columbia County, which does exist).
In the first season, you'll meet Frank, a detective who'll need all the grit and strength he can muster as he investigates the brutal slaying of his beloved girlfriend; Jonnie, a young man whose involvement with a 'simple' revenge plot has spiraled out of his control; Tristan, the CEO of the city's largest corporation, whose boyish good looks clash with some terrible secrets and possible violent tendencies; Martina, the intelligent and compassionate attorney forced to fight for her dearest friend's life; Olivia, a sensuous schemer and sometimes vulnerable vixen who is fighting for her own survival; Jem, the ambitious, amoral, greedy, conniving yet charming publisher of the town's newspaper; and Rena, common-sense driven nurse who can't see love when it's right before her eyes…as well as many others.
No. ASF contains mature themes and situations, including some violence and sexual content. Though there's very little material that is "R-rated," ASF is more appropriate for adults and older teenagers.
All past episodes are always available for viewing, so you can start from the beginning and continue at your own pace. Or, since we've provided recaps -- one-page summaries of events from past episodes -- you can just read all the recaps and zip right to the current episode. No muss, no fuss! Finally, we now provide season summaries, which will get you caught up on all of our past three seasons.
Of course, ideally it'd be great if you read the entire archives. There are many subtle plot threads and lots of foreshadowing, not to mention plenty of character moments and patterns of behavior, included within the full episodes. A major theme in ASF is how people are affected by events and their histories, so reading only the recaps won't have the impact of reading through the whole story.
But many of our audience members who've only read the most recent season still enjoy the series a great deal and are able to catch up even without having read the archives. So do whatever you feel works best for you! You can always ask in our forum or on the mailing list if you're confused by events and want to catch up.
(I admit it: this one isn't a FAQ ... yet! The design only just changed, after all.) Since lots of people don't like to read light text / dark background, we offer a secondary style with dark text / light background. Just look up in the sidebar for the "style chooser" buttons and choose #2. Enjoy! The site will remember your choice for 60 days, so after two months you may need to re-select the option.
Back in 1997, ASF actually "pioneered" the use of actor photos to create its ideal cast. Indeed, many of ASF's characters were created with certain performers in mind. The idea was quickly copied throughout the web by other online series ... not surprisingly, since it really is a terrific way of capturing the fans' attention!
However, there are copyright problems involved in using such images. As writers, we never felt right violating the copyright of other artists (i.e., the photographers responsible for the images). We're happy to say that the photographs you now see have been purchased and used with permission free of subsequent royalties courtesy of Dreamstime, Hemera Corporation, Art Today, MicroGrafx, and other such companies. The models' identities unfortunately remain anonymous (though we'd be glad to give them credit should anyone come forward!).
For nostalgia's sake, we'll still offer a list of the characters' "original" portrayers.
Not at all. This is a free content site. .
We are looking for creative sponsorship -- unobtrusive product placement, for example -- but ASF is currently a noncommercial venture. Our audience can help us greatly by donating a small amount towards annual production costs, which would be greatly appreciated. Other ways to help might include visiting our store to buy some ASF products or books/gifts. But our regular quality content is free and will almost certainly remain so.
ASF was conceived back in 1995 by Cassie, Victoria and Kira, a trio of young women who worked together in the same company and shared a love of soap operas (but a frustration with their lack of quality). What started off as a parody of Melrose Place written in a series of e-mails developed a life of its own. Each writer wrote a scene and sent it along to the next partner, who added her scene, and so on, in what is commonly called a "round robin story."
Victoria eventually dropped out of the circle many months later, but Cassie and Kira had fallen in love with the characters, and no longer saw the series as a mere parody. Deciding upon the web as a possible medium for gaining an audience, the pair returned to the beginning of the series and rewrote everything, exising the farcical elements (including some delving into the supernatural) and sharpening the characterizations. Eventually Schuyler Falls (as it was originally called) premiered on a humble AOL site in November 1997.
The series was advertised on soap opera and television newsgroups and message boards, and thanks to word-of-mouth, SF had a tiny but avid audience. At the end of the first season, the series' site left AOL for its skyfalls.com domain and a new name: About Schuyler Falls.
Shortly thereafter, after a great deal of behind-the-scenes work, Kira (who was in charge of promotion and design) decided the site was ready to be submitted to the Yahoo! directory. A rare event occured when on the first try, Yahoo! not only accepted ASF, but its editors deemed the series worthy of being its featured Sites of the Day for June 21, 1998. Thousands of new visitors flooded in, and other directories and awards sites took note: in short order, ASF received praise from CoolCentral, Netscape, Infoseek, About.com (formerly The Mining Co.), among others. (Click here for a list of awards.)
Cassie left the ASF team shortly after its first season due to her upcoming marriage. Her tremendous impact on ASF is still felt thanks to the storylines she helped conceive, many of which will continue to develop in the fourth season.
Kira remains on as producer and head writer for the series. Others who have played important parts in ASF's production include Kim Anderson, Darla Dixon, Chloe Samuels, Jill Robbins, Phil Meranus, Tom King, and Ted Stafford.
From 2001 - 2009, "Hell's Bells," by Dennis M. Reed. This moody, tense piece has been licensed for ASF's use through SoperSound Music Library. From 2009 forward, our theme is "Pull the String," by Jonothan Coulton. The song is about the tension of living a public life yet desperately trying to hide a potentially damning secret. Describes many of our Skyfalls residents!
About Schuyler Falls by Kira Lerner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.skyfalls.com
What does this mean? You're very welcome to share the episodes, providng you keep our attribution (i.e. give credit to either Falling Sky Productions or Kira Lerner, the primary author). Fanfic would be terrific, but do please link back to http://www.skyfalls.com and you should credit the author (again, Kira). And hey, share it with us! If you have any artwork or any other creative derivative material, we'd love to see it.
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