Syncope Drain began production in December 2023, hot on the heels of my previous webseries, ROUTEBACKHOME. The series is ongoing, with five installments currently published and three in production at time of writing. Production overlapped significantly with my master's program, and the slow pace of release is partially due to me having to juggle school, a full-time job, and all the duties that come with a scrappy internet project.

This webseries is, bar none, the most complicated thing I have ever worked on. It is a full-blown alternate reality game, with story directions heavily influenced by audience interaction, a multi-layered story structure based on puzzle-solving, and a nationwide scavenger hunt to boot. Rather than my usual found-footage approach, Syncope Drain is scripted, shot, and directed like traditional video—aside from some of the nested layers with are, in fact, found footage. Like many other internet productions, though, I still typically jump between direction, camerawork, and acting during the same shoot.

Syncope Drain has been a whirlwind, and it never would’ve come together without the love, support, and labor of my friends and family, many of whom have been actor and/or crew at some point in the past few years. The credits won’t roll for another year or two, but I want to give credit now to Harshal Desai, who plays the series’ protagonist.