BETWEEN HEARTBEATS: AN AUDIO DRAMA

Background:

“Between Heartbeats” is an urban fantasy audiodrama about trauma, redemption, and moving forward in a broken world. The show is the brainchild of Chijioke Williams, inspired by years balancing minimum wage jobs with personal growth. Chi grew tired of watching violence and inequality gut her city while the wealthy lined their pockets off of her labor.

She spent ages thinking about how giving power to the powerless would change our society, potentially transforming the systems designed to overlook the vulnerable.

Would even extraordinary powers be enough to change the world? Or would the system just change form to accept people's labor, while shunning what made them exceptional?

Between Heartbeats is an exploration of these ideas.

For 4 years, Chijioke used her radio show, Status Quo, to introduce characters and vignettes of the Between Heartbeats world that her listeners grew to love. Now, we have the opportunity to introduce the wider world to our story, with help from supporters like you!

So, what is the story about?

We find ourselves in a parallel Chicago, with one critical difference. For a fraction of the population- nearly always the disenfranchised- trauma can unlock physics-defying abilities. Some people can fly, others can control fire, and some can move fast enough to make sound seem slow. And yet, while the stuff of dreams has become commonplace, the waking world has shifted into a nightmare.

Suddenly faced with a populace wielding unimaginable power alongside deep-seated trauma, the city succumbs to fear. They don’t offer therapy, they eschew guidance, and they start passing restrictive laws. For most of the Empowered, their abilities become a burden. None can use their powers in public, none can use their skills for profit, and the safety of unpowered civilians takes precedence over their own.

Enter, our protagonists. 

Our story follows Sundiata, a guilt-ridden time manipulator with a knack for losing jobs, and Nadia, a moralistic telepath determined not to lose control, as they balance frayed mental health against an unsympathetic police state. But when a malevolent presence rears its head, their neuroses become the least of their problems. Can our heroes make the most of their abilities before the option is taken from them?

What can I expect from Between Heartbeats?

Between Heartbeats is a gem with many facets. We have light moments, dark moments, platonic love, and evolving identity. We also have: 

• A Sci-Fi Chicago
• Weirdly Family-Oriented Speedsters
• Mad scientists (who hate being called that)
• A telepathic cop (who hates cops)
• Magical Kale!
• Creative powers you never would have thought of, and some you may wish you hadn’t heard of…
• Dynamic sound design that captures what reality sounds like when it bends until it breaks.
• Calm, mindful, lo-fi, goodness
• Time-stopping, bullet-catching, roof-running action! 

Trigger Warnings:

Between Heartbeats was created to hold a mirror up to our own world. As such, this show focuses on troubling themes like depression, guilt, loneliness, self-hatred, discrimination, trauma, death, police violence, and the crushing grip of capitalism.

However, it also touches on friendship, family, self-love, healing, overcoming expectations, community and, above all, redemption.

Ideally, this show reflects not only the darkness of our everyday world, but also the light we wish to see in it.

Meet the Team!

Chijioke Williams (She/her)

Twitter: @Inner_Qi

Chijioke is the writer, director, producer, sound designer, and voice of Between Heartbeats. She’s been working on the BH world for years, and she can barely believe that it’s becoming a reality. She dances in place about it a lot. Just...bursts into dance. It may not be good dance, but it’s definitely joyful.

Beyond BH, Chijioke also acts on various other Audio Dramas, including Startripper, Someone Dies in This Elevator, and SuperSuits.  She enjoys sound design, parkour, and poetry in her free time, all of which have left distinct impressions on the making of Between Heartbeats. 

“Watching Between Heartbeats gain popularity has been a literal dream come true. Every time another piece falls into place, this story comes a little bit closer to reaching a wider audience. I’m so excited to share this with you all!” -Chi

Gaby Hall (They/them)

Twitter: yogabygaby_hall

Gaby is the co-writer, co-producer, and artist for Between Heartbeats. They wear many hats in the audio drama realm, including writing, voice acting, art, and- oh dear, there’s too many hats! They’re toppling over! Look out! Outside of the audio drama realm, Gaby draws copious amounts of serotonin from brewing tea and doing science. Within the world of Between Heartbeats, they would be a Savant who could transfer knowledge through various tea blends. As you drink a cup of tea, the specific notes and flavors activate precise neural pathways that imbue (rather... imbrew) a book’s worth of knowledge directly into your mind.

Perks! Perks! Perks!

We're very appreciative of your support, and we have various perks for different gift tiers to show our thanks. These include early access, buttons, stickers, and more.

$5 USD - Speedster:  At this tier, you'll be listed as a supporter on our website, and you will have our deepest gratitude. $5 goes a long way towards making Between Heartbeats a polished product!

$10 USD - Savant:  At this tier, you’ll receive the rewards of the Speedster tier, plus a shout-out on Twitter, and a mention in our "backed by" announcement at the end of each episode.

$25 USD - Pyrokinetic:  At this tier, you'll receive all the rewards of the previous tiers, early access to episode 0, the option to send a question (via audio or email) that we will play/read and answer in a bonus episode, and a Between Heartbeats button!

$50 USD - Shapeshifter:  At this tier, you'll receive all the rewards of the previous tiers, along with a 3x3 Between Heartbeats sticker, a personalized thank you letter, and a character-specific Between Heartbeats playlist.

$75 USD - Biokinetic:  At this tier, you'll receive the rewards of the previous tiers, along with a (recorded) guided meditation by a Between Heartbeats character, and an ad space for a project you wish to promote.

$100 USD - Telepath:  At this tier, you'll receive the BIOKINETIC rewards (except ad space), along with the option to pick a name of an empowered person and their power whom we will reference in an episode, and audio of a BH character saying a custom phrase of your choice.

$250 USD - Time Manipulator:  At this tier, you'll receive all TELEPATH rewards, along with the option to make a short fictional in-universe ad that will play in an episode for a fun shop/service of your making, and credit as an associate producer.

Why does Between Heartbeats need support?

Our goal is to tell a story with quality writing and sound design. To reach a high level of quality, folks will lend us their voices, sound design skills, music, and more. We really want to compensate our artists for their time and effort. The more we raise, the more we can pay these awesome people who help make Between Heartbeats a reality. Even if we don't reach 1000 dollars, we will make the podcast.

So, let’s look at the numbers:

               Two Musicians = $420

 Two Sound Designers = $660

         15+ Voice Actors = $1020

                               Perks = $50

                                Total = $2150

Between Heartbeats Budget Prior to This Campaign = $1150

$2150 - $1150 = $1000 Needed from Indiegogo Campaign

Note: Writing, script-editing, and visual art are all done by Chijioke and Gaby in-house.

What are other ways to support Between Heartbeats?

Word-of-mouth is a powerful thing. We would love it if you Tweeted about us, shared our content, or forced your friends to listen to our trailer while they're locked in your car. Share our posts about the campaign while it's active, if you can. Any way you can help us out will be greatly appreciated and pushes us to make better content!