That magical bridge of space and time called the internet allowed Myouterspace to sit down with the talented Maya Sayre, currently starring in the weekly releases of the sci-fi noir webseries AIDAN 5.

Myouterspace: Kudos!  Your performance as stoic, quiet Detective Riley is one of the chief reasons to watch AIDAN 5.

Maya Sayre: Well first off, thank you!  Riley has been a very interesting character to portray, and I've relished the opportunity to do so.

MOS: What resonates for you about Riley’s story?

Maya: Being a clone is a large part of who she is, but she's very different from her “sisters”.  Riley has a strong drive to help people, to do what's right, and to rise beyond her status as just a “clone”.  I find her constant struggle to prove herself empowering; she is quietly relentless. Perhaps we could all use a little more “Riley” in our day-to-day existence... I know I sure could!

MOS: What about the status and emotional lives of clones do you think your audience can relate with?

Maya: I find it interesting how the writers took the idea of cloning, expanded on the social implications, and turned it into a civil rights issue.  Clones are considered second-class citizens in AIDAN 5, but they strive for equality.  Right now, there are so many people around the world fighting to be heard and valued, weather it be with their government, at work, or even at home.  It's all over the news - it's everywhere.  People struggle every day for the right to be who they are, and to be accepted for that.  I think that anyone who's ever felt a sense of isolation and being an outsider can relate to some of the deeper elements in this series.

MOS: As Riley, you are often called upon to portray internalized moments through layers of sci-fi genre and noir tone.  How do you approach that?

Maya: There were many levels to the finished product, but I really approached Riley just like I would any other character. When you're working in such a stylized visual genre, the humanity of the characters might be the only “real” thing the audience can to relate to.  Portraying a sense of realism was something that I strived for, and I just hope it all works in the final cut.

MOS: How does the AIDAN 5 team sustain the balance of all the sci-fi and noir elements without becoming too wink-wink? 

Maya: I think it all comes down to allowing the characters to just be genuine.  These are real people with real problems. Forget the fact that they live in a noir or comic book environment, they still have to solve their problems and survive.  (Although I do love a good “wink-wink” moment now and then.  But I may leave that to Monty Python...)

MOS: Episode Seven, “The Life of Riley” was the first really Riley-Centric episode – giving fans of AIDAN 5 a long-awaited entry into her history and psychology.  Did you know Detective Riley’s backstory earlier in the filming and did it influence the way you played her?

Maya: For a long time before we shot anything, all the details were very hush-hush. However, I was told some of the aspects of Riley's background, so that gave me something to work with.  With someone's circumstances as unique as hers, I couldn't help but allow that to inform my choices about the character. 

MOS: No spoilers here – “Life of Riley” opens on a great tableau – how do you conjure all of the atmosphere and elements of a scene like that while standing alone on a green screen set?

Maya: Anytime I work on a green screen, I always find that my amount of homework increases exponentially.  It really is all in the preparation, knowing your mental and emotional state in each scene.  The challenge of AIDAN 5 wasn't really just the green screen though.  It was that we shot multiple episodes, out of sequence, on a green screen.  Bryan Michael Block [Detective Matthew Aidan] and I relied heavily on each other, and on the director, to figure out exactly where we were and what was happening.  At first, it was extremely difficult; however, the more time we spent in the green, the more comfortable we became.

MOS: There’s a moment in “Life of Riley” where you are looking in a mirror, the frame of which is drawn, like the rest of the set, and across your image’s face is a sketched crack – an unexpected detail that focuses and realizes the world of the story.  Do you usually know about these details during filming? 

Maya: Usually not.  Those kinds of details are up to the artists, and I'm just fascinated by what they do!  On the set, I'm told the basics like, “You're in your room, looking into a mirror.”  It's really up to me to imagine the rest of the details, and sometimes what I see in my mind is very different than what ends up in an episode.

MOS: Are you a fan of the sci-fi genre?  Do you have any other geek or nerd proclivities – comic books, roleplaying… Doctor Who fanatic? 

Maya: Oh...you have no idea!  I'm a HUGE fan of the genre, so getting the chance to work on this was... well, I was like a kid in a candy store!  Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who... you name it, I love it.  I actually started a blog last year to channel some of my inner geek.  Check it out, and feel free to let me know if I officially qualify for "geek-girl" status. ;) www.DownAndNerdyBlog.com 

MOS: What kind of roles would you like to open up for you after AIDAN 5?

Maya: As I said before, I'm a huge science fiction fan, so I would LOVE to be involved in more productions in that genre!  Other than that, give me a good story and an interesting character, and I'm happy.

MOS: AIDAN 5 is no-budget, which means you’re essentially a volunteer (thank you, by the way).  How do you see the future of webseries and internet projects? Do you think that entertainment will become ubiquitous, more of a hobby, and that the age of paying productions are over, or do you see a model developing where independent producers will be able to micro-budget and continue producing?

Maya: If the consumers speak, the investors listen... right?  (That's the ideal, at least).  I think in order to maintain and improve the level of production we are seeing right now, webseries are going to require decent budgets. I hope that as they become more popular, investors will come to understand the power of the online market and act accordingly. There will always be the independent projects, whether for the web or otherwise, and I'm just thankful they have places to go for crowd sourced fundraising like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.

MOS: Finally, what other webseries do you enjoy?  What webseries do you think we’ll look back on as groundbreaking or paving the way of the future of the medium?

Maya: Webseries have come a long way in the last few years, and I really do believe we have just seen the beginning.  There has been a shift in the way people take in entertainment, and I think that's going to continue to evolve.  Are webseries groundbreaking or the future…? I would venture to say both!  They are contributing to the change in our entertainment landscape, and I don't see them going away anytime soon.  Some of my favorite series right now are : Submissions Only, Blood and Bone China, Vampire Mob, Video Game Reunion, Solo The Series and Compulsions.

Comments (4)

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Bruce Farquharson Music said:

	Composer available Greetings. I am a composer who is interested in scoring projects. Please stop by my website for samples of my work as a composer: http://www.brucefarquharsonmusic.com Thanks.
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December 01, 2011
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Pete_N said:

... This is a very comprehensive and detailed interview. I love the questions you asked her. I hope that this venture is a success and I also hope that you will share more interviews in the future. Reading that a character has a drive to help people is something that we do not hear much of these days and I hope that the concept resonates with people everywhere. Uitbetalingen zijn misschien niet meer zo goed als ze vroeger waren, maar met deze online casino haal je het beste uit casino bonussen en daarnaast bieden ze ook nog casino opstart bonussen.

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September 24, 2011
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terrafovea said:

	wow... This show is REALLY badass!!!
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September 02, 2011
Votes: +1

Aidan5Series said:

	AIDAN 5 link Check out Maya in AIDAN 5 at: http://www.aidan5.com, or right here on Myouterspace! http://www.myouterspace.com/in...MY_VIDEOS/
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May 27, 2011
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