Just about two years ago, I received an email from a brilliant man by the name of Ivan Hayden. Having been involved in the “Supernatural” production, Ivan and his cabal of friends and fellow visionaries — Jason Fischer, Kirk Jaques and Misha Collins among them, had conceived and were in the process of giving life to a brave new undertaking. An on-line web-series.

Here’s their rationale:

“The old way of creating television and movie content will still be around for years to come, but we believe that now a new form of visual storytelling can be created, one that exists online. We’ve assembled the best cast and crew for “Divine” and we’re going to find a way to make an online series work from both a commercial as well as a creative point-of-view.”

 Being invited to contribute to their vision was — and is — an exciting prospect. The question Ivan posed at our initial get-together was “Could your hawk be a meaningful character in the show?”. My response was, “Absolutely.” I knew from past experience a Red Tail had the presence and power Ivan was looking for in a non-human character to pair with his “bad guy” — the wonderful, generous and talented, John Emmet Tracy.

There’s one critical thing to keep in mind here. ‘Mohave’ had not yet arrived into our care.

He was still in Quebec, growing under the expert supervision of Master Falconer Dan Paradis. When shooting began early in 2011, our beautiful red-tailed Companion had only been with us for two and one-half weeks. It is nearly impossible to describe how proud I was of how well he adjusted to the complicated, and what surely must have seemed ‘bizarre’, (at least to a bird-of-prey!), environment of a busy set.

There were people he’d never met before, cameras staring over his shoulder from a snorkel-lift and from the sidewalk below, bright lights and strange objects being wheeled about. And for the most part, he weathered it like an experienced pro.

Thus far, ‘Mohave’ has appeared in two of the inaugural six episodes. For anyone who was a fan of the show “Millenium”, or who follows stories such as “Supernatural”, the “Divine” series is just what the doctor, (or in this case, the Father), ordered. The passion, generosity, drive and incredibly creative integrity of everyone involved shines through this intense, dark, and fascinating tale, and with continued support and enthusiasm from the web-savvy public, Ivan promises he’s got many more ideas on the story-board.

I’ll spend more time discussing the process of working a non-human character into an established performing ‘family’ on subsequent “Divine” posts — particularly as we look at developing the skill and confidence of ‘Mohave’s’ partnership with the character of Scorn…