Fund It Friday: Afflicted Podcast Season 2

Help support creativity, diversity, and the indie spirit with Season 2 of the wildly compelling storytelling podcast “Afflicted”.

After some major setbacks, the crew behind the Afflicted podcast needs your help securing funding for a second season after wrapping a successful first season!

Last summer, we had the honor of featuring the first season of Afflicted, a fiction podcast with an anthology-style format. The first season reached full funding and was a hit with over 350k downloads, an average rating of 4.6 stars, and reaching #3 on the drama charts. It’s obvious the creatives behind the podcast are putting in good work and seeing results as well! 

The first season has been thoroughly praised and called “electric, attention-grabbing, and terrifying,” “captivating and stomach-churning,” and a “compelling world with intriguing characters.”

However, it hasn’t been easy going with the campaign for the second season.

The campaign page outlines their hardships, stating, “We originally launched this campaign on Seed & Spark in hopes of keeping more of your contributions. Unfortunately, that failed spectacularly due to technical issues with Seed & Spark that prevented us (and other creators) from accepting donations. You can read this tweet thread for the full story, but the short of it is that we’ve lost about $6k in actual and missed donations, and we have to start from scratch and need all the help we can get. That’s why we created a $1 tier — almost everyone can afford to help us make up that shortfall.” 

Now, you all might be wondering what this season is about.

Since this is an anthology series, think American Horror Story from FX and The Haunting series Netflix; the second season will be an entirely different tale from the first one.

So, if the first didn’t grip you, the second might be more your flavor of horror.

The plot is described as The Conjuring meets True Blood. It will be set in the 1960s and is a take on the legend of The Bell Witch Haunting.

(If you’re not familiar with the Bell Witch, you should take note and read up because that alone should pique your interest!)

The campaign gives us a taste of the plot, stating:

“Folks from the area insist that the Bell Witch has returned, almost 150 years after her original appearance, but is this Bell Witch a copycat or something far more sinister? If you listened to Season 1, you know a demonic book bound in human flesh was responsible for the supernatural disasters that befell Gunnaway, and this season is no exception. The question is…who wields the book’s power this time?”

Afflicted is a production with diversity and inclusion at its heart as well as masterful storytelling.

Like with the first season, all of the actors and creatives are paid for their services, and that is, in part, why the fundraising is crucial to the production of another smash season.

In a time where writers and actors are often undervalued, it is integral to help aid grassroots, independent productions like these to help pay their talent for the hard work that they put in.

Writer and director Tonia Ransom and co-writer, producer, and sound designer Jen Zink from the award-winning Nightlight podcast are returning to helm the second season. The season already boasts a wonderfully varied cast of actors and characters. Zink and Ransom tease the cast and characters, writing that the production will include “​5 Black actors + a Black writer, 7 LGBTQIA+ actors, interracial and queer relationships, a disabled parapsychologist, and a non-binary British version of Lorraine Warren.”

Of course, there are perks and fun to be had!

“The new season will premiere in June 2024, with the finale on Halloween 2024. As with Season 1 of Afflicted, all episodes will be released for free with ads. However, supporters will enjoy digital and physical perks, plus ad-free early access to episodes, as well as our exclusive premiere and finale parties with our cast and crew,” states the campaign page.

If you’re not interested in perks and just want to help out some awesome horror creatives, that’s fine, too! You don’t have to join in on a tier and can just give freely! When the campaign reaches 50% funding, the cast will be revealed, so make sure to start pledging and soon! (Because the sooner you do, the sooner we know the cast for the season!) 

For more details, head on over to the campaign page at IndieGoGo here and help make season two of Afflicted a reality.