“When the world becomes a ruthless police state, mercy is for the Elite!”

Welcome to the 7SoL website, a place for all things related to the production of this web series, such as cast, crew, stories, method behind the madness, etc. This is a sci-fi/dark future web series wholly filmed and taking place in Austin Texas.

Our sister page, Project Lenity, deals with all things inside the story, from the main villain’s viewpoint, Dr. Helgesson.

This mythos had been brewing for a few years, and it burst out into my mind after re-watching the movie Red Dawn and thinking “What if instead of Russians, those were OUR troops? What if the US became a police state?” Little did I know, back then, how true those words were to become. Flash forward to the 2008 Presidential race, and enter Ron Paul and the Truth Movement, and I realized the importance of my statement/film. It was time to make it an actuality.

Out of that came a work-in-progress script that was too expensive to shoot on a micro-to-no-budget. But who would fund a film from a first time writer/director? Our move to Austin answered that. Having met Matthew Lee Willis of Texas Parkour fame, and learning about Free Running, the idea for a first low budget called Free Runner was born. Free Running fit perfectly in the framework of the story, and when the cast was picked and the script written, the money to make it became an issue again. So, the answer to not having a budget, was to shoot the web series that was supposed to continue where the Free Runner film had left off. That series is 7SoL.

What are the 7 Shades of Lenity?

Lenity, according to the 1913 Webster’s, is “The state or quality of being lenient; mildness of temper or disposition; gentleness of treatment; softness; tenderness; clemency; — opposed to severity and rigor.”

In a police state, there is seldom any leniency. But ultimately, it depends on where you stand. Different people respond differently.

So, the 7 Shades of Lenity, are the different shades of gray of people’s actions and reactions to living in such a society. What would you do? Free Runners run, people do what they’re told, often without consideration for the ramifications and repercussions of their actions. Frequently, this is the case because the powers that be don’t want you to have a reaction different than what they want. So, they control media and education in order to keep you from questioning what’s right and what’s wrong. And some still, try to corrupt those very values, so that their crimes and misdeeds go by unseen and unpunished.

This web series and the 2 films that surround it (Free Runner, and another work in progress) are my ode to 1984. They’re my cautionary tale. They’re my attempt to do something about the current state of affairs in the world and, especially, in the United States of America… the Land of Free and Home of the Brave.

Nowadays we might as well be called the”Land of the Free… Puppets” or the “Land of the Not-so-free.”

And as unscrupulous people in power continue to undermine the very values that made this country strong, like our Constitution, and pass laws that could turn anybody who disagrees with them into a domestic terrorist, we couldn’t just sit by and do nothing.

Writing and films are my passion. This is our contribution. It’s a work of fiction based on facts. Based on history, past and very present.

These are advanced times to be living, and to paraphrase one of my favorite authors, L. Ron Hubbard, who wrote that the Price of Freedom is Constant Alertness, Constant willingness to fight back. This is more true to me than it ever was. But, if you read through the pages of history, you find that this has always been the case. And that the US was built on that principle, and that we’ve been led astray from it. We’ve been made to forget Civics, and the Constitution, and the pledge of Allegiance, and for some, even the horrors of letting a despot like Hitler rise to power (coincidentally, right after Time Magazine published an article touting Hitler as man of the year).

After helping with the relief and rescue effort at Ground Zero on 9/11, I learned without a shadow of a doubt, than man is basically good. That strangers will endanger their lives and limbs to save you from the rubble of a fallen building. That some will even die trying to save you.

Of course, we all fall prey to the pressures of life, but deep down, it is in our nature to be good and helpful.

May this work of fiction help you to look around and see what is happening around you, let it alert you to how bad things can get, because things can always get worse. Look at Burma (now Myanmar) — we’re not there yet, but what’s to stop that from happening?… That’s right…. US!

So, join the Project Lenity mailing list — you’ll get inside story information as well as indirect updates to what’s happening with this website, showings, etc.

See you on screen!

7SoL Team