Science fiction fans have been stoking the fires of new TV project Slingers over the past week, as the sizzle reel was posted online by scriptwriter Mike Sizemore via Vimeo.

The sizzle reel (a promo, often made before the show goes into full production for a network) isn’t typically well known, and making it public isn’t usual practice. However, the team felt that it was a chance to show off the concept and establish a ‘feel’ for the show that will hopefully follow.

Though never intended to be viewed en masse and originally created for industry-eyes only, director Steve Barron has been doing his bit to support the sizzle online, as have the likes of Warren Ellis and Moon director Duncan Jones – all of which have contributed to over 55,000 views within the first seven days.

We talked to Sizemore about the role online has played in drumming up both awareness and support. “As far as I’m aware, this is a first. But the Internet has a great way of proving you wrong. There are similar projects, but none of them exactly like what we did. So for example, the SyFy show Sanctuary started as webisodes and was so popular it lead to a ‘real’ show. That’s a good comparison because it was pulled together by people with a track record in science fiction TV, mostly Stargate. They could have just gone straight to pilot, but tried something online first.”

District 9 also began as an online short film some years ago, but garnered enough interest for it to turn become a movie. More recently, Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures made a deal with Uruguayan commercial director Fede Alvarez to direct a movie based on his short, “Ataque de panico!” (Panic Attack). So, Sizemore and Slingers production company, Sleepydog, are well aware that LA keeps an eye on the Internet very closely.

In terms of next steps, and turning this into a ‘real show’, Sizemore is conscious that you can’t force something down people’s throats, which is refreshing to hear. “We’re doing a good job of tracking the conversation as it builds and commenting where appropriate. But people seem genuinely excited all on their own. There’s even talk of trying to ’save’ the show – as happens with a popular show when it faces cancellation – BEFORE we’re even on the air. That’s just something I’ve never seen before,” he said.

But turning this huge amount of online support into success could potentially be the difficult part. “We’d be crazy to say we’re not looking for a huge amount of viewers. We not only want to get on the air, we want to stay on the air until this story is told. I’m told it was a huge deal for this to get picked up a few days ago by the Huffington Post because it’s a first step into the mainstream. That’s all very cool. But I’m a geek. I live and breathe this stuff and while I get a huge kick out of us being picked up on Slash Film and the other big sites, I grin like a loon when I see us being blogged about in the same breath as my favourite shows by fans.”

Sizemore and the team will be posting more news on Slingers in the coming months on the recently-built Facebook page, which has been created to share updates on the project.