Pacer1

Pacer1 Serials and Collections (otherwise referred to as "Pacer1", formerly known under the full title of "Pacer1 Serial Writings and Collections") is a small serial-story network brand founded by Zachary Serra as a pen name substitute in 2020. The brand is based in Canada and the United States, but does not have any specific location.
In the midst of August 2020, Pacer1 made the suggestion that they'd be working on publishing their stories on the websites StoryFire and Wattpad, in addition to their own public website. Following 2021, Pacer1 no longer published their stories to Wattpad. In 2023, Pacer1 suddenly stopped releasing material on StoryFire as well and announced that new releases would not be releasing on the platform, though they did not specify a reason.
On a December 4, 2020 announcement, Pacer1 confirmed the upcoming release of four series on varying dates in 2021. These released include the reboot of Rise, a spin-off to the original series called RISE and REVOLT, and two new series called Dire and Joshua Lane.
On March 31, 2021, Serra would announce via his personal StoryFire account that the slate of episodes to new and pre-existing series set for 2022 had been written, and he was now in the process of writing episodes for such series that would be set for release in 2023. On December 10th, 2021; the project announced that it would begin releasing stories on an official Facebook page in 2022, as well as offering the back-catalog from their 2021 releases at some point prior to 2022. In 2022, Pacer1 began releasing two new series, the science-fiction series Dream Sequence, and the survival mockumentary Neptune City.
On December 2, 2022, the "State of Pacer1 2022" post on the project's website announced many plans for the project's future. In addition to announcing the release schedule for 2023, the project announced four new series to premiere; Tonight at 9, Kings of Cambridge, Generation Alpha, and Remedy Hills. Pacer1 also announced plans to release material on TikTok and YouTube to promote growth, presented a subscription service through crowd-funding platform Patreon, and plans to release an audiobook service called Pacer1 Audio. In 2023, Pacer1 started promoting their weekly releases on Tuesday Serial, a web fiction website and uploaded select episodes of each original series to the website Neovel. On December 16, 2023, Pacer1 announced the second-annual "State of Pacer1 Address" to take place the week following Remedy Hills' first season finale, indicating that it would become a yearly occurrence at the end of each year.
== History ==
=== Inspiration and Formation (2017-2021) ===
After co-starting UZ Media as an independent production company in 2017 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Zachary Serra began influencing the production's shift towards producing more original content. Upon creating Let's Talk and Here's Why on his personal YouTube channel as a demo for video content, Serra would prove such plans to be potentially viable, allowing UZ Media to begin planning new series for an eventual release. In July 2017, it would be reported that the original video content had been put on hold due to an increase in business in freelance work, which would continue through the fall and winter months. Suspecting the company to no longer have the resources necessary to begin producing original video content, Serra instead focused on literary content, creating a web serial called "Deathly, Sickly, Dead." Intended as a demo, the series did not last long, though would be used as the concept behind the Rise series, and it's future spin-offs. After a successful launch on his personal website, as well as internal interest in the concept, Serra would convince the company to move in the direction of producing original literary content, which would be done through independent and contracted writers.
At the end of 2017, outside investors would become involved with the platform, eventually investing enough money into the production to dwarf that of Serra's own investments, thus, taking on more say in daily operations. Unpleased with this outcome, Serra would begin looking into creating a competing production of his own, though, would remain working under the UZ Media banner through 2018. During 2018, Serra would begin writing the material for the first season of Rise, which would be released on both the production's website and it's own Facebook page, gaining moderate traction. After producing sixteen episodes of the series, compiled over the course of two seasons worth of material, Serra would begin to engage in a dispute with UZ Media in the spring of 2019. Having proven to himself that the industry of written web serials can be profitable under proper circumstances, Serra would begin looking into the process of creating his own company separate of UZ Media, a process many investors would take poorly to. With influence from executives in the company, UZ Media would cancel Rise after two seasons, arguing in later court dates that they owned the intellectual rights to the series in an effort to stop Serra's company from being granted licenses. Requiring Rise as a proof of concept to be granted licenses, Serra would take UZ Media to court over the course of 2019 in an effort to regain the rights to producing more episodes of the series, in addition to regaining to rights to republishing the original works to the new platform his company would engage with.
At the start of 2020, it appeared as though UZ Media would retain the rights to Rise and the associated social media accounts with the series. Due to obligations, Serra would have been required to remain with UZ Media through the remainder of his tenure, which would have allowed him to leave the production at the end of 2020. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, UZ Media would be forced to lay off or furlough a number of employees throughout their multiple locations as an effort to remain profitable, with many employees being severed entirely. The civil suit no longer being viable financially for the production, UZ Media would settle the claim with Serra out of court. As a result of this settlement, Serra would have the intellectual rights to the series returned to his ownership, however, would not be allowed to re-release the first two seasons of Rise released under the UZ Media banner until July 2025. In addition to this, Serra would retain the rights to every social media platform created by him under the UZ Media banner, as well as other content, both video and literary, created in the prior seven years. Upon the civil suit being settled, Serra was granted the licenses to launch the platform he had intended on doing, which would go onto become Pacer1.
On August 3, 2020, the Pacer1 Instagram account would be created, and the first announcement of the company's existence would be made, an indicator of plans to begin releasing the content on the social media platform StoryFire. In an Instagram post on August 22, 2020, the company's logo would officially be revealed. In August 2020, Serra would officially confirm the launch of Pacer1, which would begin releasing content in January 2021. On December 4, 2020, Pacer1 announced the creation of three new series and the return of Rise for a third season. The first series released under the Pacer1 banner, Dire, had been announced months prior, and began release on January 10, 2021 to critical praise. The second series, Joshua Lane, would begin release of it's first season on March 7, 2021. Later that year, Pacer1 would begin producing new episodes of Rise and begin releasing episodes of the series' spin-off RISE and REVOLT. By the end of 2021, all four series would be picked up for additional seasons.
In February 2021, the company began operating under the tagline "Where Stories Matter", which would be used on all of their active social media. On March 31, 2021, Serra would announce via his personal StoryFire account that he had completed the entire slate of episodes to be released on the platform in 2022, and was now working on the episodes intended for release in 2023. Pacer1 began releasing two new series in 2022, the science-fiction series Dream Sequence and the survival mockumentary Neptune City. Dream Sequence would be picked up for a third season for the 2023 slate of releases, joining Rise and Dire in being renewed. Joshua Lane would be the first to suffer cancellation at the hands of Pacer1, not being renewed following the conclusion of its second and final season. Also in 2022, in addition to being renewed for a fifth season, Rise would be joined by two additional seasons under the name 'Rise: Remastered', which would remaster and greatly add to the first two seasons of the series that had initially been released with UZ Media. Ahead of their respective season finale's, Pacer1 would renew RISE and REVOLT for a third season and cancel Neptune City after one.
=== Growth Efforts and New Ventures (2022-present) ===
During the State of Pacer1 2022 post on the project's website, founder Zachary Serra would announce an assortment of plans for the future and desires for Pacer1 moving forward. Amongst these plans would include the launch of a subscription service through Patreon, granting readers with small perks such as early access to material and involvement in a yet-announced project-specific community. Through this subscription platform, a "Standard Plan" of $5u.s would grant readers access to new releases twelve hours before they release to the public. The "Plus Plan" of $10u.s would grant readers access to new releases twenty-four hours early, and the "Premium Plan" of $20u.s would grant readers access forty-eight hours early. In addition to the Patreon for financial growth, Pacer1 launched TikTok and YouTube accounts and vowed to become more active on Instagram, hoping to reach a larger audience than what their website and StoryFire following could offer. Part of this search for a larger audience was the announcement of Pacer1 Audio, a platform specifically geared toward releasing weekly releases of Pacer1 stories in an audio format to reach the audience of people who prefer not to listen to stories read to them as opposed to reading themselves. Through Pacer1 Audio, the project would release material onto TikTok and YouTube in order to grow a natural following through those, and Serra would become a sporadic figure on the TikTok account as well in order to better the chances of the account growing.
Part of this growth strategy included releasing material from the "Pacer1 Archives", the name Serra refers to the project's back-catalogue of stories as. Through TikTok and YouTube, the series' archives would gradually be released to the public for free through the Pacer1 Audio concept, though greatly behind the pace of the series. Beginning with RISE and REVOLT, Pacer1 would begin releasing the first season of the series through social media near the end of 2022, weeks after the finale of the series' second season had already been released. This was in an effort to begin creating an audience for the project's various series in addition to a following for the project itself.
In addition to renewing multiple series during the "State of Pacer1 2022", Serra greenlit four new original series to the project. Generation Alpha and Tonight at 9 would both be period-pieces, though the former would take place in the future whilst the latter takes place in the past. Generation Alpha focuses on the youth belonging to the dubbed "Generation Alpha"- children born between 2012 and the mid-2020's. Tonight at 9- inspired by the HBO series from 2010-2012 The Newsroom- would take place in 2006 and revolve around the figures involved in producing a nationwide nightly news broadcast by the name of Tonight at Nine. Kings of Cambridge would serve as a crime thriller revolving around the life of Matt Tory, a drug kingpin masquerading as a psychologist whilst not amidst committing criminal activity. Remedy Hills- a small town horror mystery- would follow author Avon King and his wife Penny as they move to the aforementioned town years after tragedy took place. With a history of writers coming through the town to write their own twists on the real-life events, the people of Remedy Hills take poorly to the King family's presence in spite of the fair intentions they carry as opposed to their predecessors. In May 2023, Pacer1 began promoting their new, weekly releases on a website called Tuesday Serial, which serves to offer creators a platform to advertise their works, and the following month, they would begin releasing select episodes of their series on the website Neovel.
During the 'State of Pacer1 2023' address, Pacer1 would renew all series from 2023 aside from two. Kings of Cambridge would be cancelled after only one season, whilst Remedy Hills would be 'annualed', a term given to a series that would take a year off before returning the following calendar year. Remedy Hills' annualing would see the series take 2024 off before returning for a second season in 2025. All other series would be renewed, and Dream Sequence would be renewed for a third and final season, making it the first Pacer1 story to reach its series finale.
=== Slogans ===
* Where Stories Matter (2021-present)
== Series ==
=== Drama ===
* Tonight at 9 (2023-present)
==== Horror-Drama ====
*Rise (2021-present, originally released on UZ Media)
*Rise: Remastered (2023)
*RISE and REVOLT (2021-present)
==== Dystopian-Drama ====
*Dire (2021-present)
=== Crime/True Crime ===
*Joshua Lane (2021-2022)
*Kings of Cambridge (2023)
=== Thriller ===
==== Psychological Mystery ====
* Generation Alpha (2023-present)
=== Sci-Fi ===
* Dream Sequence (2022-present)
=== Horror ===
* Remedy Hills (2023-present)
=== Mockumentary ===
* Neptune City (2022)