Alien Earth (Transmission 01) | TRYHARD RADIO Underground + CRAWL or DIE Legacy
- Oklahoma Ward
- Aug 24
- 11 min read
"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 Oklahoma Ward
📚 TABLE OF CONTENTS
🎬 PRODUCTION BREAKING NEWS
The Final Edit Has Begun — and Red Tank Is Coming.
Starting this week, I officially launched the fourth and final edit pass of TRYHARD COMPANY.
This is the master pass — the one that locks it all in. From minute one of Episode 1, I’m going all the way through to the final moment of Episode 6.
No rewinding. No second-guessing. No circling back.
Everything is being finalized except for color correction and the score, which will drop in at the very end.Right now — it’s all about tightening the edit, sealing the story, and carving in the emotional backbone of the entire series.
And while that’s happening… I’ve also been building something behind the scenes.
A new set. A new presence.
A character — or maybe an idea — that weaves through every episode.
I’ve started calling it Red Tank —
but honestly, I’m not sure that name’s even accurate.
Some days it feels more like The Other Tank.
Other times, The Red Within.
It’s not a villain. Not exactly.
More like a shadow you only see when the light hits just wrong.
The set I’m building for it is unlike anything else in the series — eerie,
personal, and designed to feel slightly off.
📸 (Set photos incoming.)
Honestly, I couldn’t be more ecstatic. It’s finally coming together.
This is my favorite time of the year — fall is creeping in, and I live for it.
Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas.
I’m not a summer guy. Never have been.
All the projects/art/movies I make? They’re moody. Shadowy. Indoors.
Everything I write lives in the cold.
And now, with the leaves about to change and the edit finally locked in motion —
I feel like I’m finally standing at the edge of the tunnel, and the light is real.
Red Tank is real.
Whatever it is.
🛠️ PROJECT UPDATE: TRYHARD COMPANY
💬 Field Notes from the Director's Chair – Progress, Pressure, and the Push Forward.
Episode 1: 14 Minutes Locked — Final Pass Is Moving.
I’ve officially started the final edit — and I mean final.
No more circling back. No more half-finished scenes.
This is the pass where I go from minute one of Episode 1 all the way to the very end of Episode 6 — and when I hit that last shot, it’s done.
So far, I’ve got the first 14 minutes of Episode 1 fully cut.
That means everything but final color and score — the structure, the pacing, the sound… it’s locked.
It’s strange. After all the versions, after all the drafts and tests and pickups — this one feels different.
It feels clean. Direct. No excuses left.
I’ve also got trackers set up for each episode now, so as I keep moving forward, I’ll be updating those along the way — but I’m not pausing.
I’m just putting my head down and getting it done.
This is the edit that finishes the story.
🔍 Curious where each episode stands?
The TRYHARD COMMAND CENTER gives you a live look at every mission — from edits to effects to final sound.
Every update. Every step. Every fight to the finish.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
(For access to all Episode Breakdowns)
🎙️ DIRECTOR'S THOUGHTS
Wires, Guts, and Everything in Between.
🎬 Let’s cut to the truth...
🎙️Why I’m Still Here
One thing that kept hitting me this week is the difference between being an independent filmmaker and working on a big-budget studio project. On a studio set, you’re paid to be there full-time. Six days a week. All hours. Everyone’s there, life is put on pause, and you power through because that’s the job — even if things go sideways at home.
But in the independent world? Life doesn’t pause. There's no buffer. When the septic system breaks, when the power goes out, when hospice updates stop coming through because the internet’s down — you’re still in it. You’re still expected to show up for your film, your family, your sanity. The only reason you keep going is because it matters to you. Because you have to. And if it doesn’t mean something deep to your bones… you’ll stop. Because there are a thousand reasons to stop every single day.
🔍 Three Things I THINK I THINK - That Hit Me This Week on YouTube:
🎬: The Candy Factory
So I just watched this short documentary called The Candy Factory — and man… it got me.
It’s this group of artists in Brooklyn who’ve all lived and worked in the same building for decades — painters, sculptors, musicians, filmmakers — and it’s all because of this one woman named Ann Ballentine.
She’s kind of… I don’t know… part landlady, part guardian angel. She never kicked them out. Never raised their rent. Just quietly held space for them to build and keep building.
And what that created… is something rare. Something you don’t see much anymore.
There’s a moment in it where it just clicks — you realize these people made each other better. Not by pushing. Just by staying. Just by not leaving.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m in that headspace right now — final edits, long nights, feeling all of it — but it reminded me how much it matters when people just… care. About each other. About the work. About holding the damn line when everything else says sell it off and walk away.
It’s beautiful. Quietly beautiful.And it reminded me why I still do this.
🎥 Wizard of Oz in 16K at The Sphere
Okay… I just saw this — they’re showing The Wizard of Oz inside The Sphere in Vegas. And I’m not even gonna lie… it kinda wrecked me.
I mean — the tornado, the color shift, the Emerald City — it’s all been reimagined with AI, artists, tech… 16K projection, on a screen bigger than four football fields. You feel it. You’re in it.
And honestly? This is the kind of thing that reminds me why I love what we do. Yeah, yeah, it’s spectacle — but it’s also heart. It’s taking something classic and saying, “Let’s make people feel this again — but more.” That kind of imagination? That kind of collaboration? That’s the stuff I live for.
I probably won’t ever get to see it in person. But I wish I could. And if I had a kid? I’d take them and make them watch it 20 times. Not even kidding.
This is what happens when artists and tech and love for story all collide.
And I think Judy would’ve smiled.
🎬 COUNTDOWN TO ALIEN EARTH — I’M LOSING IT (In the Best Way)
Okay… I have to say it — I haven’t been this excited for something to drop (outside of TRYHARD COMPANY, obviously) in a long, long time.I’m talking about ALIEN EARTH — it’s hitting Hulu in seven days and I’m losing my damn mind over it.
You have to understand — Alien (the original) isn’t just a movie to me.
It’s the movie.
It’s the one that made me want to become a filmmaker in the first place.And sometimes, when things get tough — when you’re deep in the edit bay, or wondering how much further you can go — you have to remind yourself why you fell in love with stories in the first place.
Well, this? This reminded me.
Grace Randolph’s spoiler-free review on Beyond The Trailer just dropped — and let me tell you, I’m pacing around the room. I watched the whole thing. Twice. It gives nothing away and somehow made me want to see it even more. She mentions the Xenomorph mythos, hybrids, parasites, characters like Wendy, Kirsh, Morrow — and it’s clear this show is going to be weird in the best kind of way.
Nikki and I are so hyped we’re literally going to dress up and record a 2-minute reaction when we watch the first episode. Yes — I’m that excited.
More than Stranger Things.
More than Wednesday.
This is the one.
I just hope it delivers.I hope it rips my face off and leaves me wanting to make 100 more things.
Because this is why I do it.
This feeling is why I make stories.
Watch Grace’s no-spoiler review.
Watch the trailer I’ve linked below.
And if you’ve ever loved Alien the way I do?
You’re not ready. And that’s the point.
nuff said.
🎙️ Radio Tunnel
⚡The signal is live. Welcome to the very first broadcast of TRYHARD RADIO UNDERGROUND. In Transmission 001, we talk Alien Earth, Ridley Scott’s Alien legacy, and tease the rise of RED TANK.
🎧 Watch the first transmission below — then join the #TANKarmy by sharing your thoughts in the comments, dropping your take on Alien Earth and the rise of RED TANK, and spreading the word with fellow indie horror fans.
🎭 ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
They didn’t just play the role.
They became the reason you kept watching.
🎬 Featured Actor: Timothy Hutton
❤️ WHY I LOVE: Timothy Hutton
You know, it’s funny — I think a lot of people overlook Timothy Hutton.
When I first saw Ordinary People — and let me be clear, that’s one of the top 100 movies ever made, hands down — I wasn’t looking for Timothy Hutton. I didn’t know who he was. I was a young man, and honestly, that kind of quiet, dramatic film wasn’t what I was drawn to back then. But times were different. You had ABC, NBC, CBS… maybe HBO or Cinemax if you were lucky. If a new movie hit the theater, and you were a cinephile like me, you went. You saw everything. That’s just what you did.
So I sat down to watch Ordinary People… and his performance hit me like a freight train. It’s restrained. Quiet. But gut-wrenching. More powerful than any sword fight or screaming match with veins popping out. The way he carried that character — the weight, the silence, the pain — it was just… brilliance.
After that, he did Taps, which I thought was okay, and I wondered — was this going to be one of those “lightning in a bottle” actors? Like Ed Norton in Primal Fear — came out of the gate phenomenal, but would he sustain it?
Man… Timothy Hutton sustained it. He just kept coming back. Again and again.
One of the lesser-talked-about performances that I absolutely love is in Beautiful Girls. That’s one of the most honest, real, coming-of-age-into-adulthood stories I’ve seen. He was so good in that.
And that’s the thing — he’s always good. Always present. Always real.
I wanted to bring him up because I just don’t see enough people talking about him. And they should be.
If you haven’t seen Ordinary People — go. Start there. If you love film, you have to see it.
Mary Tyler Moore is stunning in that movie. Absolutely shatters what you think you know about her. Donald Sutherland is, as always, incredible. Judd Hirsch nails it. But Timothy?
Timothy Hutton owns it. And not by outshining anyone — but by disappearing so completely into that role you forget he’s acting at all.
That performance has stayed with me my whole life.
And I’ll never forget it.
📜 Summary
Timothy Hutton is the kind of actor who never screams for your attention — but quietly steals the entire scene. From his breakout role in Ordinary People to his haunting presence in The Haunting of Hill House, Hutton brings a quiet intensity, deep empathy, and inner life to every role he touches.
He doesn’t just play characters — he wears them. Broken men. Determined sons. Grieving husbands. Shadows of former selves. There’s always a sense of something unspoken just beneath the surface — and that’s where Hutton lives as an actor. In the silence.
🧩 Two Interesting Facts
🎬 Youngest-ever Best Supporting Actor — At just 20 years old, Hutton won an Oscar for Ordinary People, making him the youngest to win in that category at the time.
📺 Father and Son Legacy — His father, Jim Hutton, was a popular film actor in the 1960s. Timothy’s early performances were often seen as grappling with his father’s legacy — which only deepened his emotional depth onscreen.
🔥 Most Underrated Moment
Leverage (TV Series)A masterclass in subtle leadership. While the show leaned campy at times, Hutton’s performance as Nate Ford gave the entire series weight. Watch the moments where he’s not speaking — that’s where the real character lives. It’s the kind of role a lot of people wrote off… but he never phoned it in.
🎭 What Makes Them Great
Timothy Hutton’s strength is restraint. He knows when not to speak, when to let the camera find him instead of chasing it. There’s a broken, searching quality to his performances — like he’s always just on the edge of something lost. And that’s what makes him real. In a world of noise, Hutton whispers — and you lean in.
🎬 Iconic Scene
“It’s not your fault.” — Ordinary PeopleThe whole film builds to that moment — and when it lands, it wrecks you. The tears, the body language, the refusal to accept forgiveness. Hutton doesn’t just cry. He breaks. It’s raw, unflinching, and still one of the most honest pieces of acting ever captured on film.
🗞️ What the Critics Say
“Timothy Hutton was never about Hollywood flash. He was about the hard truth of human emotion.” “He doesn’t perform grief — he becomes it.” “Even in silence, he dominates the screen.”
📺 SERIES SPOTLIGHT
Drops every other Saturday.
🎥 FILM SPOTLIGHT
Drops every other Saturday.
🏆 CRAWL OR DIE CORNER
The film that started it all.
Before TRYHARD COMPANY, there was CRAWL or DIE — a relentless indie beast that clawed its way out of the U.S. underground and became a cult phenomenon, especially overseas.
🎬 WATCH IT NOW
You can stream or rent CRAWL or DIE here:
🔥 Cult underground sci-fi. One tunnel. One woman. One chance.
🎨 FAN TRIBUTE VAULT
This week’s spotlight: Vintage Fan Art
From the early days of the film — gritty, handmade tributes from the trenches of indie fandom. 🔍 Click to enlarge. Soak in the grime. The legacy. The love.
💬 STILL BLEEDING INDIE
TANK wasn’t just a survivor — she became a symbol. A silhouette of desperation, rage, and raw survival. In TRYHARD COMPANY, her legend evolves. The war gets bigger, the world gets meaner — but at its core, it’s still her story: One soldier. One mission. One endless tunnel.
🎬 Rent / Buy / Stream the Original CRAWL or DIE and Prepare for TANK’s return in TRYHARD COMPANY: The Series
FOLLOW THE JOURNEY
🔴 Don’t Miss the Next Drop 🔴
STAY IN THE LOOP WITH US
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👤 Follow Oklahoma Ward – director, editor, indie war room general
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If you’re reading this — you’re part of the mission.
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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 Weds/Saturday...
Create fearlessly,
Oklahoma Ward
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