Three Posters, Six Episodes, One Mission
- Oklahoma Ward
- May 17
- 9 min read
"What the creature didn’t tear apart, the edit will."
"TANK doesn’t sleep — and neither do we. Week by week, we’re bleeding through the cut… and loving it."
Behind-the-scenes updates, production news, and indie filmmaking insights from TRYHARD COMPANY.
🕹️ TRYHARD PROTOCOL
The time has come. Episode One’s full breakdown is now LIVE in the TRYHARD COMPANY Command Center — and it's just the beginning. Over the coming days, once we fine-tune the layout and functionality, all six episodes will go live for full access — letting fans track every visual effect, edit, sound mix, and color grade as we bring this beast to life.
📑 TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Battle for Survival: TRYHARD COMPANY Update
Mission Briefing: Eyes Only - Sneak Peek
Code Red: Filmmaking - Director's Thoughts
Reconnaissance: Hidden Masterpieces - Cult Classics
Surveillance: Hidden Treasures - Underrated Series
Debriefing: The Mover and Shaker's Club - Meet the Game-Changers
Intelligence Gathering: The Vault - Past Highlights
Victory Report: Crawl or Die
🏆 CRAWL or DIE Spotlight
“The tunnel never ends — it only narrows. ”
Before TRYHARD COMPANY... there was CRAWL or DIE.
A relentless indie beast that clawed its way from the U.S. underground all the way to a fan-frenzy explosion in Japan.
💥 Below are three vintage promo posters from the original release — now cult relics. 💥
Click to enlarge. Soak in the grime. The grit. The legacy.
TANK wasn’t just a survivor in CRAWL or DIE — she became an icon of indie sci-fi grit.
In TRYHARD COMPANY, that legend deepens. This new series expands her mythos, throws her into an even deadlier warzone, and introduces a team built for chaos. But at its core — it’s still her story. A fight for survival in the darkest corridors of a world on fire.
🎬 Now - rent or stream the original film - CRAWL or DIE below — and prepare for TANK’s return in TRYHARD COMPANY: The Series.
🎬 Rent / Buy / Stream the Original CRAWL or DIE
⚔️ Battle for Survival: TRYHARD COMPANY Update
The Command Center Is Live — and Notes/Changes - Are Being Made & Prepped for Implementation 🚨
🗓️ Target: Thursday, May 22 — every episode node page will be unlocked.
TANK’s not the only one crawling through tunnels — I'm grinding through the edit, frame by frame.
This week, on the actual edit of the series - I cranked out another batch of sequences, pushed VFX layering deeper, and locked in key beats for the next teaser drop.
Also: the edit bay is chaos (in the best way).
Reels, notes, wires — coffee’s low, stakes are high.
🛠️ TRYHARD COMPANY: The Series is being built with sweat and flame — and we’re not letting up.
VISIT the EPISODE ONE BREAKDOWN page now before it's changed into its final look THURSDAY May 22 - experience the BTS changes ;-)
🔻 Tap below to enter the Command Center and witness the war as it unfolds.
Mission Briefing: Eyes Only
3 THINGS I THINK I THINK...
#1 I think... I hate HTML.
I’m building out the episode breakdowns for the TRYHARD Command Center, and I’m elbow-deep in HTML. It’s buggy. It’s frustrating. It’s not elegant.
The goal? Make progress bars clickable and update-able in real time — not static, not “make-a-new-image-every-time” style. Because I’m juggling six episodes at once, and if I stop to make visuals for every tick mark, this train derails.
This phase is raw. Messy. Behind the curtain. Just like editing the series — I’ll rip out a 5-minute scene in Episode 5, rework it, trash it, rebuild it, until I hit the rhythm that feels right.
Same goes for the site. Trial. Error. Evolve. It never launches perfect — and neither did TANK.
👉 Check out what I mean inside the EPISODE 1 Command Center page — the scars are visible.
#2 I think... I never realized how much I’d love having my own website.
For years I thought websites were dead. Why bother? We’ve got social media, right?
But platforms change — ownership, policies, what you’re allowed to post — and suddenly your voice doesn’t reach who it used to. I’ll still use them. Quick hits. Hard drops. And when the PR campaign rolls out for TRYHARD COMPANY, we’ll burn through every social feed available.
But this website?
This is mine. My rules. My design. My tone.
It’s a space where I can vent, create, and drop behind-the-scenes chaos without a filter.
What’s wild?
People from all over the world are already visiting — and staying.
Didn’t expect that.
I’m loving every bit of it.
🧭 Take a look around — especially the Command Center landing page. It’s just getting started.
🎥 #3 I think... I’m actually proud of how I planned for the chaos.
When I first outlined Episode 1, I had a scene — kind of expositional, not my favorite thing. But it was good. Cool. I liked it.
Still do.
But somewhere deep down, I knew something would go wrong. And it did. This isn’t a Hollywood production with 500+ crew members smoothing things out.This is me. And sometimes Nicole.
That’s it.
Actors drop out. People move. Haircuts change. Bodies change. Suddenly you’ve got a critical moment with a giant hole in it — and no way to patch it.
Unless you planned for the patch.
And I did.
I made the call early: leave that scene blank.Shoot it last.Let it sit there like a pressure release valve — a story backdoor.And now? I’m plugging every plot hole with that single moment.
Pivotal. Precise.And honestly? I think I nailed it.
🧩 Once all the EPISODE BREAK-DOWN pages are live - you'll be able to visit the moment I’m talking about - in the EPISODE BREAK-DOWN page I'm talking about - cool, right?
Head to the EPISODE 1 Command Center page and scroll to the notes section to have a hint of what I'm talking about!
🎥 Now — watch the teaser trailer below. Just a taste of the tone. A flicker of what’s coming. The full war’s about to unfold — but this is where it starts.
🔻 Trailer below — your first mission briefing begins here.🔻
Code Red: Filmmaking - Directors's Thoughts
Step into the mind of the director as we explore the creative process behind TRYHARD COMPANY, with personal reflections, insights, and inspirations.
🎬 Let’s cut to the truth...
Short and sweet today.
I’m deep in it — building out the full Command Center, hammering away at edits, layering in SFX, and finalizing the look of TRYHARD COMPANY.
Exhausted?
Yeah.
Exhilarated?
Hell yes.
I’ll be back with a deeper dive once the episode nodes are live — but for now, a little fuel from someone who got it:
🎞️ "Every great film should seem new every time you see it."— Roger Ebert
🖋️ "Movies are the most powerful empathy machine in all the arts... When I go to a great movie I can live someone else’s life for a while."— Roger Ebert
🔥 "Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you."— Roger Ebert
🎥 Reconnaissance: Hidden Masterpieces – Cult Films
Directed by Tony Bill | Starring Adam Baldwin, Chris Makepeace, Matt Dillon
❤️ WHY I LOVE: My Bodyguard
One of my favorite guilty pleasures.
Yes — we’ve all seen the teen nerd getting bullied.For whatever reason.Seen it a million times.
But this one’s a gem.
A young Matt Dillon — one of the greatest actors in my opinion (see Drugstore Cowboy if you have any doubts — and the man chews scenes in Something About Mary like few can).To see him this young? Raw talent.
Martin Mull. Ruth Bussey. But what hits hardest is that this movie goes beyond the cookie-cutter.
The nerd is flawed. The hero is flawed. Even the bully is flawed.
And that’s what I love. I’m always drawn to the reluctant heroes — the ones trying to hold it together while the world throws punches.
Here’s to movies that stay popcorn… but go a few steps further.
📜 Summary:
Shy kid gets bullied. Hires the school outcast to protect him. That’s the hook — but the heart of My Bodyguard is something quieter. It’s about trauma without melodrama. Power without violence. Friendship without a hashtag.
Set against gritty, believable Chicago backdrops, it’s a coming-of-age film that doesn’t feel manufactured. No pop soundtrack. No easy victories. Just vulnerability, rage, and survival — all in the shadow of locker-lined hallways.
🧩 Two Interesting Facts:
• This was Adam Baldwin’s first film — and he was only 17.
• Many of the school scenes were shot on-location in real Chicago high schools during class hours.
🎭 Actor Spotlight:
Adam Baldwin as Ricky Linderman — an iconic performance in silence. Baldwin doesn’t speak much, but every glare, hesitation, and twitch speaks volumes. He’s wounded and terrifying — and weirdly noble. You believe him. You fear for him.
🎬 Iconic Scene:
The scene at the bike rack — Ricky steps in for the first time, without warning, without a word. Just presence. The bully doesn’t get flattened. He gets stared down. And the entire tone of the film shifts.
🗞️ What the Critics Say:
“A cult classic with a quiet soul.” — The New York Times “Subtle, scary, and unexpectedly moving.” — Roger Ebert “Still the realest anti-bullying film ever made.” — Collider
📺 Surveillance: Hidden Treasures - Underrated Series
📡 Featured Series: The Mod Squad (1968–1973)
Created by Bud “Mr. T” Ruskin | Starring Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, Michael Cole
☕ Pick up your coffee cups...
❤️ WHY I LOVE: The Mod Squad
There’s cool — and then there’s Mod Squad cool.
Three broken kids thrown into a system they don’t trust, doing the kind of work that chews you up even when you’re the one wearing the badge.But they’re not cops — not really. They’re outsiders pretending to be insiders, and that friction? It hums under every scene.
What I love about The Mod Squad is that it could’ve played it safe — made the hippies cute, the stories clean, the endings tidy.But it didn’t.
It was messy. Heavy. Ahead of its time.
It talked about race, poverty, addiction, abuse, and war — in the late 60s, on network TV. All while the leads looked like they’d just walked out of a protest rally and into a crime scene.
And the chemistry? It’s real. Clarence Williams III barely says a word sometimes, and yet you feel everything he’s thinking. Peggy Lipton was a whole mood. And Michael Cole brought that jagged edge that said, “I’ve seen too much already.”
It’s dated, sure — but like vinyl, not VHS. The texture makes it better.
This isn’t nostalgia. This is legacy.
📜 Summary:
Hippies turned narcs.A cop show that tried not to be a cop show.
The Mod Squad followed three young outsiders — a rebel, a runaway, and a hothead — who get recruited by the LAPD to infiltrate the counterculture.But instead of turning into propaganda, it actually dug into race, class, addiction, Vietnam, and anti-establishment rage.
It’s dated — gloriously so — but under the groovy slang and paisley shirts, there’s fire. Real fire. It wanted to say something. Sometimes it did.
🧩 Two Interesting Facts:
• Peggy Lipton won a Golden Globe for her role as Julie, becoming a legit icon of 1960s TV.
• Clarence Williams III (Linc) later played Prince’s dad in Purple Rain — and brought the same intensity he had in Mod Squad.
🎭 Actor Spotlight:
Clarence Williams III as Linc — calm, calculating, but always one breath from fury. He redefined what “cool” could be on television, and he did it with depth and restraint. One of the most underrated presences of 1960s/70s TV.
🎬 Iconic Scene:
In a quiet alleyway, Linc confronts a corrupt cop — no gun, no backup. Just truth. One of the earliest network TV moments to call out systemic racism… and they let it air in 1969.
🗞️ What the Critics Say:
“Groovy, sure — but way braver than people remember.” — TV Insider “Stylish and subversive.” — AV Club“More punk rock than primetime.” — Decider
🎥 [Watch the Intro]
Take a trip down memory lane with us as we explore the archives of our past content, with forgotten gems and timeless insights.
Classified Files Pending...
TRYHARD Recruitment: Sign Up Now
🧠 JOIN THE TRYHARD COMPANY TEAM
We’re building this series from the ground up — no studio safety net, no big budget machine. Just passion, scars, and a relentless drive to make something real.
If you've made it this far — you're already part of it.
💥 Want to go deeper?
🔗 Visit TRYHARDseries.com
📣 Share this blog with someone who loves raw sci-fi
🧠 Follow us on socials and spread the word:#TRYHARDCompany | #TANKarmy | #IndieSciFiLives
🎥 The mission's underway. The team is growing. Let’s make this impossible thing happen — together.
Mission Accomplished... for now.
The briefing may be over, but the mission continues. Join the TRYHARD COMPANY team and stay tuned for more updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes information. Share your thoughts and join/follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, twitter/x etc. - and we'll catch you every Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday...
Create fearlessly,
Oklahoma Ward
Comments