Send me (@singledarkshade) a message with a list of seven of your favourite TV shows or movies or a mixture of the two. In return, you will be given a selection of seven actors from your chosen shows/movies.
What you do then is create a show bible for your show.
The show bible must include:
· At least one-paragraph blurb on what the show is about (like you’d get in a TV Guide)
· What character each actor is playing (you don’t need character names, although it’s always good to have, but you do need to provide a character description.)
If you choose to cast a few more “roles” in your show, that is great too.
· For extra credit, give a sketch of a plot arc OR a couple of two-sentence teasers for some important first-season episodes. – In the past we’ve had ‘shows’ that have provided a few episodes for season one, a full mini-series sketched out and even a full five-year arc so don’t feel constrained to a few episodes only.
As the challenge is running over the ‘holiday season’ then extra ‘extra’ credit will be given if you can add in a 'Christmas/New Year/Festive Season' episode.
Past shows created can be found here – 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Send your show/movie list by 10th December 2025 and I’ll get your ‘cast list’ to you ASAP.
Then your Dream Show Details should be posted by 7th January 2026.
Thanks to everyone who joined in the Dream Show Challenge.
These are the incredible shows that were produced by these amazingly talented people, all different, and I want to see every one of them.
Please read all these incredible shows and let the creators know how much you like them as they are all fantastic ideas.
A Hero’s Dawn by @kalinara
Heroes aren’t born, they’re made. Sometimes literally.
Dream On by @singledarkshade
Welcome to the Hayes Institute for studying sleep disorders, the effect of sleeplessness, helping those with night terrors and other sleep issues as well as trying to help those in comas. During their research they’ve found the Dreamscape, a central space which connects the spaces where people go when they dream.
Finding Home by @incendiaglacies
Natalie is new to Wonder Falls and there is nothing wonderful about it. She finds it mundane and boring and dreams of adventure. Soon, she finds herself exploring all different types of worlds and all she wants is to return home to her mother. Follow Natalie on her journey through this limited series exploring all types of genres and find the true meaning of home.
Uplifting by @theadrogna
As humanity enters its latest phase of expansion it encounters worlds which failed to make the jump to interstellar travel, some of which are dead, others are dying, and some that haven’t made it quite far enough in their journey to tell their outcome. It is clear that humanity’s path may be the exception and not the rule. Humans are faced with a clear choice, either they can let these alien civilisations die or they can try to help them find their path to join the humans as a peaceful multi-system civilisation.
Literary Detectives by @personinthepalace
When book characters go missing, B.A.L.D. (British Agency of Literary Detectives) is on the case.
Years Gone By @riphuntertimemasterlegend
Dark forces have imperilled Earth. With the world on the brink of extinction, it’s up to two time travelling brothers to nudge humanity back on course.
Thanks to all who participated in the challenge, and if you want to join in the next one we do keep an eye on the RBACL Tumblr.
Send me (@singledarkshade) a message with a list of seven of your favourite TV shows or movies or a mixture of the two. In return, you will be given seven actors from a selection of your chosen shows/movies.
What you do then is create a quickie show bible for your show.
The show bible must include:
· A one-paragraph blurb on what the show is about (like you’d get in TV Guide)
· What character each actor is playing (you don’t need character names, although it’s always good to have, but you do need to provide a character description.)
If you choose to cast a few more “roles” in your write-up, that is great too.
· For extra credit, a sketch of a plot arc OR a couple of two-sentence teasers for some important first-season episodes. – In the past we’ve had ‘shows’ that have provided a few episodes for season one, a full mini-series sketched out and even one with a full five-year arc so don’t feel constrained to a few episodes only.
Past shows created can be found here and here.
Send me your show/movie list by 7th July 2023 and I’ll get your ‘cast list’ to you asap.
Then your Dream Show Details should be posted by 7th August 2023.
Last year as we entered Quarantine @theadrogna and @singledarkshade set the Dream Show Creator Challenge, the results of which can be found here.
They have decided to do it again, so introducing:
RBACL DREAM SHOW CREATOR CHALLENGE 2021
How To Play:
We’re switching things around a little this year in how you are given your cast, as from the previous Dream Show and Dream Movie Challenges, we have multiple cast lists already.
If you wish to do the challenge, send a message/ask to @singledarkshade with a number between 1 and 20.
In return, you will be given seven actors from a selection of shows/movies. It is possible you may not know an actor or two in your list so you have the option to recast one person only from your list, but you must use all the others. (YouTube and IMDB will be your best friend in order to work out who your cast is if you don’t recognise the name straight away).
Once you have your cast then you create a show bible for your show.
The show bible must include:
· A one-paragraph blurb on what the show is about (like you’d get in TV Guide)
· What character each actor is playing (preferably with character names but you don’t need these however you must provide a character description.)
If you choose to cast a few more “roles” in your show, that is great too.
· For extra credit, a sketch of a plot arc OR a couple of two-sentence teasers for some important first-season episodes.
Contact @singledarkshade by 15th May 2021 and your ‘cast list’ will be sent to you asap. Then your Dream Show Details should be posted by 31st July 2021 for everyone to enjoy.
Thanks to everyone who took up the challenge and created these fantastic Dream Shows.
This time rather than the participants receiving a cast list from shows/movies that they had chosen, instead each participant chose a number and received a random cast from the previous Dream Show and Dream Movie Challenges.
They were allowed to recast one role only but could add other cast members if they wanted.
The full list of the shows is below.
They are a mixture of genres and I want to see every single one of them.
@singledarkshade created The Clean Up Crew: Magic is real and there are constant instances where magical creatures are set loose, and people witness things that can only be magic.
Which is where the Clean-Up Crew come in.
A neutral team set up by agreement between the Council of Light and the Council of Shadows many years before. Their basic job is to catch all the creatures, ensure the witnesses remember nothing, hunt down missing magical items and to clean up any destruction.
Well, they do their best.
@incendiaglacies created Starlight Falls: Starlight Falls is the picturesque example of a small town when the Knights first move there. But the kids soon find out that there’s more than meets the eye. It is a town filled with magical beings, safe from the humans who had ostracized them long ago. No human has ever visited before. So what are the Knights doing there?
@yesmissbzzz created Dark Rain: Latin Blade loves being a hitwoman for Dark Rain, a criminal organization which targets high profile people, always helped by her companion Red Bunny, who can hack -and pilot- anything she needs.
But there is just one things she loves more: Agent Alesso Mazza hot on her heels every time.
Yes, life was perfect, until the target had too high a profile and the head of Dark Rain: Castor Walsh, decides to expose their real identities, lying to everyone that they work alone.
The girls don't know where to hide, until Red Bunny has an idea: get in contact with Alesso and make a deal. Get their revenge on Castor Walsh by offering all the information they have on the biggest criminal organization in the city.
@ciceroisthefamilycat created Night Moves: After the human health and energy crises of the 20’s, the U.S. finally adjusted Daylight Saving Time, at least – if only it weren’t replaced with an entirely new Schedule, designed to minimize energy use, food demand, and exposure to other social bubbles. For almost thirty years, the population has been divided into two societies living side by side but rarely interacting, with half the population only free to move about from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the other half only free to move about from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. (with only two meals a day, on the 10 and 2 o’clock hours). Energy use in homes is limited to base comfort and refrigeration, and social media left quicker than it came when computer use was restricted to work. But there are fringes everywhere. Those shirking the energy caps, to those shirking the curfew laws. And when another sickness, this one related to the scheduled shifts, breaks out, things may come crashing down all over again.
@oasis-wasteland created Unlucky Number 7: Thirty years ago, for reasons unidentified, time stopped, throwing the world into chaos and darkness. They called it the Freeze. Seven organisations around the globe rose to power taking control and enforcing order and law on the world once again.
Charlie Carter was a simple bartender trying to enjoy an eternity with her new family when the death of her mother brought her back home, only to discover her younger brother had gone missing.
With the help of others, she sets out to unravel a mystery and find her brother, which leads her to a journey much bigger than she ever anticipated.
@probiepanikkar created Utropia: Long ago, the world lived in chaos - infighting, wars, heroes and villains clamouring over each other to declare themselves as the One True Hero/Villain. Now though there’s Council - every individual is given a role at birth. Hero, villain, doomed to die love interest, all of it is preplanned to keep the world in order, and you’re trained to live and breathe your role.
Our heroes from the Fantasea Isles have always known they’d meet, but the day has finally come for them to become a group. Join them as they face countless journeys, find friendship, betrayal, and maybe even love along the way.
@kalinara created The Gates of Kallipolis: When Lydia Nowlan receives an invitation from her estranged uncle, she has no idea what to expect. She had no idea that she had an uncle. And she certainly had no idea that he had invented a working time machine.
But Dr. Nowlan called her for a reason. Time is behaving strangely, and there are people scattered through time who need their help to get home.
@kyrianati created Asunder: Ever wonder about the ripple effect of any bad decision made? Scientists and theorists have spent years puzzling over the possibility of “alternate universes.” One of the more popular of these is the theory of Morstoval.
Morstoval—a dimension between ours and the next where every bad decision we make goes to live when we forget them. Or more accurately, an alternate reality created by choices we could’ve made.
Two forces have an interest in it:
One side wants access to it to study it.
The other wants all access to it sealed.
A neutral leader of the two parties brings the two groups together; but Morstoval is in need of a guardian and not everyone on the team has the purest of intentions regarding the exploration mission.
@theadrogna created Virtuality: Good people die before their time and it happens every day. Eli Danzig is doing his best to change that. He invents a way to upload consciousness to an online server where the dead can live out a normal life in a virtual environment. He builds an entire world to keep his uploaded souls entertained, making it as lifelike as possible. Huge amounts of processing power are required so Eli must choose his clients carefully.
The electronic world is called Virtuality and the uploaded persons are known collectively as the digi-souls. Virtuality has a small but growing population, which is a continuing concern as it means more storage space is always needed. Eli funds his enterprise by playing the stock market using his AI Tallis to filter information and predict stock prices. Sometimes he sells patents for the things that the digi-souls invent, but more often they give their inventions away for free. However, money is always a worry because none of this is a stable source of income.
It’s the time of year again, the Dream Show Challenge, and here is my show.
With thanks to @theadrogna for choosing my cast list for me.
My given Cast List is:
Firefly Gina Torres
Ted Lasso Nick Mohammed
Murderbot Alexander Skarsgard
Leverage/ Leverage Redemption Beth Riesgraf
Star Trek: Lower Decks Jack Quaid
Bridgerton Nicola Coughlan
Community Donald Glover
DREAM ON
Welcome to the Hayes Institute for studying sleep disorders, the effect of sleeplessness, helping those with night terrors and other sleep issues as well as trying to help those in comas. During their research they’ve found the Dreamscape, a central space which connects the spaces where people go when they dream.
Matt and Carly come to the Institute for a sleep study for different issues, during the first night find themselves entering the Dreamscape where they meet Jo. Jo is not a sleeper, but in a coma in the Institute. She guides them through the fun things they can do but as they go deeper inside the Dreamscape, they learn that there are others who use it, and other beings that could escape into the real world.
Starring
Gina Torres as Dr Jasmine Gordon
Jasmine, a neurosurgeon, but when her best friend Jo fell into a coma after an accident she accepted the position at the Institute, which her father and Jo’s father started. She uses her father’s old notes on sleep disorders, coma patients and his theories on a Dreamscape in the hopes she can find a way to wake her friend or at the least contact her.
A brilliant doctor, Jasmine is fiercely protective of her people. She feels responsible for Jo’s accident as they were meant to meet for lunch that day and she had to cancel.
Nick Mohammed – Dr Eric Mayhew
Originally a paediatric doctor, Eric lost his job when he disagreed on treatment for one of his patients with the Chief of Surgery and the father of the child. Despite being right, he was forced out. Needing a job, he applied for the post at the Institute hoping it would give him some money until he managed to get a ‘real’ job again. To his surprise, he not only enjoys working at the Institute but likes the people he’s working with for the first time and is intrigued by the Dreamscape.
Donald Glover - Davy Caine
Davy is the Institute’s IT genius who created most of the equipment used. Upbeat with a quirky sense of humour. He originally worked with Jo’s father, then Jo when she joined the team and hopes that the research they’re doing will bring her back to them. He’s the member of the team who has worked with every iteration of the Hayes Institute team and knows every secret from all of them as well as every part of the building.
Jack Quaid – Matt Jones
Matt was a lawyer with one of the largest firms in the city and dating the daughter of his boss. A night out with her, her brother and his girlfriend ended with them having an accident which injured both Matt and his girlfriend. The accident was blamed on him as he was moved to the driver’s seat while unconscious, but Matt was cleared thanks to security cameras from the store they crashed outside of. He still lost his job, and no firm will hire him thanks to his now ex-girlfriend’s father blackballing him.
He applies for the sleep study as he doesn’t sleep well after the accident and is reluctant to become a part of the team at first.
Nicola Coughlan – Carly Atkins
Carly has had a history of not being able to sleep well, from sleepwalking to night terrors. When she sees the advert for the sleep study decides to see if they can help her. Originally a nurse, she found that the shifts made her sleep issues worse, so she found a different career as an event planner. Currently between jobs she has the time.
Amazed by the Dreamscape, Carly is intrigued by the possibilities that come with it and accepts instantly when Jasmine hires her to work as a nurse.
Beth Riesgraf – Dr Josephine (Jo) Hayes
Jo is the daughter of one of the men who founded the Institute and was a researcher after she graduated from medical school. Almost a year earlier, during a fight between two men at the train station Jo was accidentally pushed onto the tracks, hitting her head and has been in a coma ever since. Jo has spent a lot of her time wandering the Dreamscape learning how to navigate it but because she is in a coma can’t contact anyone until Matt and Carly join her as dreamers. With their help, she is able to enter the dreams of Jasmine, Jay and Max to spend time with them while she becomes their guide when they’re in the Dreamscape.
Alexander Skarsgard - Max Anderson
Max used to be a police detective but after being injured couldn’t return to the force so opened his own detective agency, although he still has friends on the force. He was also Jo’s boyfriend, intending to propose the night she had her accident, he visits her as often as possible, despite everyone telling him she’ll never wake up.
Selection of Episodes
Pilot – Welcome to The Dreamscape
Jasmine Gordon runs the Hayes Institute helping people with sleep disorders, while researching what her father called the Dreamscape in the hopes of waking her friend Jo Hayes from the coma that she’s been in for almost a year.
Only certain people have the ability to enter the Dreamscape without help, but they never remember being there, which is what Jasmine and her team are working to change.
Matt and Carly are part of a group of six who have come to the Institute for help with their sleep issues. During their initial tests both are found to be candidates to enter the Dreamscape, to Jasmine, Eric and Davy’s astonishment. After months of searching for one candidate, they’re stunned to find two. Both are bemused when asked to go through additional tests but, in the end, agree.
In their dreams, they each find a door which takes them to a part of the Institute they’ve never been to where they meet one another and Jo. She’s ecstatic to see them as she’s been alone for a long time, although not as long as it’s actually been. Jo leads them to the Dreamscape, knowing this is why Jasmine has sent them there. Both are instantly lost in memories and dreams until Jo pulls them back, explaining that the Dreamscape can be extremely dangerous if you don’t know how to navigate it.
On their second test, Carly finds a door in Jo’s dream. Jo tries to stop them going through because she’s so afraid, they manage to persuade her to let them go through the door. Finally, she agrees and takes them inside to the day of her accident.
Carly and Matt watch what happened, seeing from a different angle from the security camera discover that the fight was a distraction and although the men came close, she was pushed by someone else.
When they tell Jasmine, she contacts Max, Jo’s boyfriend who vows to begin investigating what actually happened. Jasmine offers Carly a job as an on-staff nurse and asks Matt to help them for the next few weeks with their research which both accept.
Nightmares
Matt and Carly are bored while Jasmine and Eric put them through a series of tests to check both are healthy after the time they’ve spent in the Dreamscape as staying too long within it is not good.
The tests end when Jay arrives to visit his sister and is briefed about recent events.
Allowed to go into the Dreamscape to let Jay see what they’ve learned Matt discovers the ability to enter other people’s dreams without being invited. Unfortunately, he ends up in the nightmare of a child and gets trapped moving through nightmares as he can’t work out how to escape.
While Jo and Carly try to rescue Matt, the others in the real world worry about the effects of prolonged exposure to the Dreamscape on his body. When he finally wakes, Jay offers him a job as a lawyer for the Hayes companies, mostly based at the Institute.
But as night falls in the Institute, it looks like something followed Matt out.
With Special Guest Star Alan Tudyk as Jay Hayes
Jay is Jo’s older brother. Trained as an accountant like their mother, he took over the running of the Institute, as well as the other companies they started when their parents died. Distraught when Jo is injured and, it becomes clear she won’t wake up, he turns to Jasmine to take over the Institute and continue her father’s research. He visits randomly, sometimes for business reasons and other times just to spend time with his sister hoping one day she’ll wake up. He and Jasmine are close friends.
The Sandman
Depressed after talking to his ex-girlfriend, Eric and Davy take Matt out to the bar that is just next door to the Institute. Here they introduce him to Mike, the barman who claims to own the bar, and explain there is a second Mike on other days who also claims to own the bar. Eric explains they have never seen the two of them together, they’ve nicknamed them Mike One and Mike Two and no matter how much Davy digs he can’t find out the truth.
Back at the Institute, they have some new patients for the sleep study, one of which won’t wake up. Matt and Carly go in to find them, but even with Jo’s help can’t find them anywhere. While traversing the Dreamscape, Carly finally manages to find the other patient, trapped in a dark space that Jo doesn’t recognise. After saving the patient, the team head to the Sandman for a drink where this time Mike Two is behind the bar.
Nathan Fillion as Mike One
Arthur Darvill as Mike Two
Christmas Time Is Here
Despite the Institute being closed for the two weeks over the holiday season, bad weather cancelling flights and family issues mean the entire team along with Jay and Max are in the Institute for the holidays. As they all wander the halls, bored and feeling sorry for themselves at being stuck for the holidays the episode flashes back to how Jasmine, Jay, Jo, Max, Eric and Davy all came to be at the Institute.
From Jasmine taking her father’s place on the staff, Eric’s troubles with his former boss, Jo’s accident, Jay having to step into the shoes of his mother despite not feeling ready, from Max and Jo’s first meeting to his almost proposal.
On Christmas Day the entire team gather in Jo’s room to swap presents and spend Christmas together.
Lost
Max arrives at the Institute early one morning. He’s been contacted by a friend of his in the police due to a number of unexplained deaths recently where it appears that they’ve died in their sleep.
Jasmine agrees to let Matt and Carly head into the Dreamscape to get Jo’s help to see if they can see what’s happening. Following a lead from Carly and Davy’s research they manage to find the man who is bringing nightmares into people’s dreams from the Dreamscape which are frightening people to death as they are not for them. They race to stop him and to save his most recent victim. They manage to save the potential victim, nearly losing Carly into the nightmare zone. The attacker manages to escape into the deeper recesses of the Dreamscape but Jo breaks the connection he had so he can’t attack anyone again the same way.
Wake Up Time Part One
When working in one of the other offices of the Hayes corporation, Matt runs into his old boss and is horrified by how stressed, nervous and guilty the man can still make him feel. When he’s back in the Institute, Matt enters the Dreamscape with Carly but finds himself in the Astral Plane instead. Matt finds his former boss and begins to follow him. Confused he’s not there Carly continues on her mission to follow the trail of the man they think pushed Jo onto the tracks. Getting frustrated as missing something that flashes past her, Carly discovers that she can rewind, fast forward and pause dreams and memories.
Following the clues, Carly finds they were right, just as Matt overhears his ex-boss talking to his son about Jo’s accident. Horrified Matt returns to his body but as he starts to tell Jasmine, Carly wakes up and to tell them what she discovered.
Just as the entire Institute is plunged into darkness…
Wake Up Time Part Two
A dark creature stalks the corridors of the Institute, trapping everyone in different sections of the building. Davy desperately tries to get the Institute running again while Eric and Max try to communicate with the others trapped in Jo’s room.
Jo finds herself pulled into the far reaches of the Dreamscape where another of the nightmare creatures begins to stalk her pushing her further and further into the dark.
Davy, Max and Eric manage to get power back on and electrocute the creature, Jo’s heart stops. Thankfully the equipment has means Carly and Matt are able to enter the Dreamscape to try to help her. Together they manage to pull her free and Jo suddenly wakes from her coma. Everyone crowds round Jo, trying to understand what happened. Celebrating that they survived and that Jo is awake once more.
In the basement of The Sandman, Mike Two is lying unconscious on a bed while Mike One notes they may have to tell the Institute why they’re there. In the mirror with the Dreamscape behind him, Mike Two agrees as the nightmare creatures are only the beginning of what the Institute will face.
