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From mid-January to March 2013, the management of the film company “KARBUSH” decided to open its own Internet television channel “Karbush TV” aimed at promoting art-house and art-house cinema.

The channel was live for just over two months, during which time it garnered over 6,000,000 views. Thanks to the EFIR broadcasting platform, Karbush TV had statistics on visits and views. We observed the following picture…

We showed a variety of content on the channel, but more than 50% of the airtime was taken up by projects we produced ourselves – the series “Another Reality” and behind-the-scenes footage, or how the series was filmed in Siberia.

The audience watched most of our own content – that was certainly a joy)))

But broadcasting stopped because we were just testing it. To broadcast a channel permanently online, you have to pay for it, and quite a bit. It’s impossible to find advertisers for such a channel, because, again, advertisers want content for the masses, or at least for the channel to broadcast to the masses!!!

That is, broadcasting such a channel requires more than 200 thousand rubles per month.

Pavel struggled with the decision whether to cancel the project or start over. Vague doubts and emotional vacillations continued. But the goal was clear: to finish the series and release it at any cost, no matter where, as long as it’s released.

There were many options, because while Pavel was editing, he was also calling film distribution companies to get them to at least notice the series and decide on its premiere.

But everything changed when Pavel contacted the company “Russian Happiness” LLC and the opportunity arose to release the series on DVD.

The first premiere of the series Another Reality took place on DVD (which, as of now in 2024, is an addition to the scenes with flashbacks for the third season), then in the spring of 2013, 5,000 copies were made, all the discs were sold in 2 months.

The series was then pirated, and during the same month of piracy, it garnered over 2 million views online (though only two of the 13 episodes were posted), incurring losses of over 500,000 rubles for KARBUSH Film Company LLC. This version of the series can still be found, but instead of 13 episodes, only two are available for online viewing.

By the way, the series had already undergone multiple re-edits by this point, especially in a staggered fashion, because the disruptions in filming played a cruel joke, because it was necessary to reassemble and film the storyline to the end, and if the actor left, then it was impossible to film.

After consulting with several partners, Pavel decided not to back down, but to accept that it’s normal for a TV channel to pay less than the cost of producing a series, because it’s just the beginning, not a loss.

So filming continues with renewed vigor, the next episode is number 2, and it’s time to begin casting and scriptwriting.

This time, Pavel wrote the script for the second episode himself, without assistants or controllers, because, first and foremost, the Creator of the series is Pavel himself.

But it so happened that the relationship between Natalia Taran and Pavel Latushkin deteriorated, even to the point of a confrontation, but this did not interfere with filming.

Soon Pavel Latushkin and Natalya Taran began to have personal disagreements and Natalya Taran left the project in February 2012.

The entire cast and crew continued filming the series without Natalia Taran.

But this process dragged on for so long that the entire first season was filmed from February 2012 to October 2012.

New faces also arrived. Therefore, the series was filmed chaotically, gradually introducing new main characters, and also had to play up the absences of previous main characters without completely ruining the overall storyline.

Therefore, for six months, the cast looked like this– Anara Nurbaeva, Vitaly Ivlev, Yana Chapaeva, Igor Suppes, Anton Shevchenko, Vitaly Orover, Yulia Mikheeva, Natalya Mikheeva, Sergey Voronov, Alexander Yavorsky, Yan Kubinets, Ekaterina Smirnova, Diana Slepchenko, Vitalia Lyubimova, Andrey Petin, Tatyana Pankova, Anastasia Sovest, Inna Pozitiv, Anna Nikitina, Tatyana Moskvina, Roman Askelov, Egor Sherstobitov, Tatyana Sadykova, Alexander Gudkov, Alexander Zhelonkin, Evgeny Sadykov (he also became the composer).

This cast filmed the entire first season (starting in January 2012 and ending in October 2012), and then the cast finally broke up (for various reasons, ranging from a reluctance to film, to the banal – they couldn’t find a common language with the director).

But that same year, in May 2012, Pavel signed a contract to distribute the series on online platforms with Media Technologies LLC (the contract was good, everything was fair, and there was even the option to register with RAO and receive royalties). These royalties were small enough to cover the series’ costs, but they did inspire hope that the more you film, the more royalties you’ll receive. For now, royalties were coming quarterly.

When filming ended, the entire cast disbanded, leaving only Alexander Gudkov, Anton Shevchenko, and Vitaly Orover.

Therefore, talking about the series’ release on regional television channels is pointless, because the actors repeatedly violated the filming schedule, so the TV broadcasts never took place.

Reshoots have begun, or rather, filming of the first pilot episode of the first season!

The main cast of the pilot episode included Natalia Taran, Igor Suppes, Anton Shevchenko, Vitaly Orover, and Ekaterina Kharitonova.

After filming one scene of “two lovers,” as if they were breaking up, Ekaterina’s cousin Yana Chapaeva came to support her.

But Pavel and Natalia noticed Yana; she was so bright that they decided to add another character to the main plot.

As a result, Yana Chapaeva also took the lead role.

Yana’s first days of filming took place, and everyone was absolutely delighted. Yana handled it with ease, and Natalia was a great help not only in her leading role, but also in working with the other actors. Natalia played the lead role and knew better who to see in the scene next to her, correcting and directing.

At that time, Pavel had already agreed with regional TV channels on the time and place for the final pilot screening; all that was left was to wait for the filming and editing to finish.

By that time, the first pilot episode had been filmed, and Pavel decided to continue casting and assembled a full cast for the filming of a full first season, which will consist of 13 episodes!

But it was important to remember that all the actors were literally just off the street; they all came from different places, with different professions. Therefore, the actors had to balance their personal lives with filming (and sometimes it was difficult to negotiate and adapt when there was a large filming schedule and all the actors had to be in the same frame, for example).

There’s no need to worry yet, the first episode has been filmed, editing has begun, and then there will be a test screening.

The episode turned out alright, but there was a problem with the special effects. To avoid any problems at the beginning, Pavel decided to focus the series on drama, charisma, and acting, thereby smoothing over the lack of special effects.

But the TV channels didn’t appreciate this production; they weren’t impressed by it at all. They didn’t appreciate the acting. Still, there are channels willing to show this series, but only for a very modest fee, which wouldn’t even cover one day of filming.

Pavel Latushkin’s script has an unusual feature: the series’ plot doesn’t focus solely on main or supporting characters; for Pavel Latushkin, everyone is a main character. But if someone decided to skip filming, or not show up at all, then yes, either unknowingly and carelessly, they either left the project, or Pavel wrote fewer scenes, or they said goodbye to filming altogether.

But Pavel never intentionally cut back on filming for those who had little participation; everyone was equal and the roles were written equally for everyone.

The series began filming in a city dorm, and the plot was about how mystical phenomena began to happen to a teenage girl: she saw dreams, hallucinations and illusions occurred, and most interestingly, Pavel introduced events from the film Cursed into the plot of the series.

The cast of the winter 2011-2012: Yulia Mikheeva, Anara Nurbaeva, Igor Suppes, Vitaly Orover, Vitaly Ivlev, Natalia Taran (starred in an episode) and others…

So, they filmed about 10 episodes of the first season over a couple of winter months, and when Pavel started making the first edits and then invited Natalia Taran to watch the pilot, Natalia said that it was no good… a colorful main character was needed, someone the audience would follow. And Pavel chose the leading role as the aspiring actress Yulia Mikheeva (whom you can even see in the frame that she is afraid of the camera).

No one is offended, everything is correct, even Yulia herself agreed that it is necessary to prepare professionally and then shoot confidently.

Thus, Pavel Latushkin and Natalia Taran teamed up for the entire night and wrote the pilot episode of the series.

At this point it was already January 2012!

After all these bad events, the director and general director of the KARBUSH Film Company, Pavel Latushkin, decided to go the serial route, and that is how the series Another Reality appeared, and the story is just beginning…

The thing is, these are indeed amateur films, shot on a point-and-shoot camera, but these projects have already managed to win over and gather a small number of viewers (fans) who still haven’t seen the full films, and only fell in love with Pavel Latushkin’s films from the trailers.

Pavel also stated that it’s difficult to make films when there’s such a high turnover of personnel, when there are no professionals, and so much work needs to be done to reach your audience.

The Internet is the future; you can realize yourself more easily on the Internet…

Moreover, I already had experience, for example, releasing just a piece, a promo on the Internet, and for example, in almost no time it got more than 1 thousand views… Considering that this was 2011-2012 – not everyone has the Internet, much less laptops and PCs.

But we need to start with a bigger, more expansive project (Pavel admitted that it’s difficult to make a film with such a rich plot), or we’ll have to make 50 films on the topic (but we’re not Marvel, and certainly not Star Wars), but it’s better to take a simpler approach and make a series (after all, we’re not filming based on books, and our plots aren’t based on comics), we have our own, invented story, which is no worse than plots from Hollywood studios!

But fate decided otherwise: Pavel Latushkin has a new cast and a goal: to film the series Another Reality.

And so it happened that if Pavel decided to make a series rather than a film, then so be it. Pavel compiled a list of federal and regional TV stations and started calling and writing to editors to get them to notice the series, which, again, was amateur and, moreover, mystical.

After Pavel found a couple of local and regional television channels willing to provide a platform for the show, he still needed to find sponsors and advertisers willing to buy advertising, thereby covering the costs of production and broadcasting the series on TV.

But there was a second option: TV channels were willing to buy, but only a truly worthwhile project that would hook the viewer, despite the fact that the format was still amateur.

And after this news, Pavel is 100% motivated to film the series, but what the team’s motivation is will be seen later.

There’s another interesting twist to this story: in the fall of 2011, Natalia Taran, Anara Mukhanzharova, Igor Suppes, Pavel Latushkin, and Sergei Voronov began filming Cursed 2 because they’d enjoyed the first film so much that they didn’t want to part ways and end the project. They were joined by other actors (all of whom came through connections and on recommendation from Oleg Ananyev): Vitaly Ivlev, Ilya Panasenko, Anastasia Antsiferova, and others.

They ended up filming footage for a trailer for the film and two scenes for a future sequel, and then the project was shut down, due to the fact that the cast was starting to fall apart, but without Pavel Latushkin’s participation and not through the actors’ fault.

Pavel continued to try to persuade Natalia Taran to leave the cinema and instead focus on TV and film a full-length series.

The union turned out to be strong and resilient, with great ambitions (everything went smoothly: filming, editing, dubbing with Twist Studio, receiving a Distribution Certificate and an offer to show the finished film in Russian cinemas), but… there is always a but…

Despite the fact that the plot of the film “Cursed” is also connected with the village of Verkhniy Karbush and especially with the mass grave (it was difficult to fit it into 1.5 hours), therefore there are many buts….

The second premiere as the film “Cursed” was also supposed to take place at the Babylon cinema in Omsk, but the director did not want to risk his reputation twice and avoid political scandals, and completely removed the film from cinemas where it had already been released.

The film was released in many small regions of the Russian Federation, but in its hometown of Omsk, it was not picked up (explaining the experience of the first premiere and the fact that everything Pavel films is no good, it is of poor quality, and so on).

Therefore, there’s no point in doing local screenings in other cities, because there hasn’t been enough publicity to talk about the return on investment for the distribution, and now is likely neither the time nor the place… Organizing a distribution requires not only advertising but also expertise in negotiating new distribution contracts with movie theaters, especially those endless requests to rent the film… Although even small theaters certainly benefit from renting a well-promoted blockbuster.

In general, our Russia is not at all ready to release low-budget, and especially debut amateur works.

After the film’s release failed to materialize, Pavel was invited to participate in a festival and pursue a different path. Pavel submitted the film “Cursed” (2011) to the “Kaplya” (Drop) Horror Festival in Moscow. Pavel asked former actor Pyotr Volkov, who was already living in Moscow at the time, to represent the KARBUSH Film Company at the festival. Pyotr received an award for his participation, and Pavel said he would keep the nomination as a thank you for his participation in “Another Reality.”

Pavel Latushkin’s life is in full swing, but suddenly he’s hit hard on the hands. But he can’t stop. At that difficult moment, Pavel received very good support from his business partner, Oleg Ananyev (he said that bad and dirty PR is still PR), and he needs to move on.

It didn’t take long to see results. Pavel borrowed a video camera from Igor Nesmachnykh for the entire summer of 2011, met Anara Nurbayeva, who invited her friends Natalia Taran and Igor Supess, and a local guy from Verkhniy Karbush, Sergei Voronov, joined them. Together, with this small creative team, they began filming a new movie – Cursed.

The project with a new name – the film Another Reality – was decided to launch at the Babylon Cinema on March 10, 2011, and the day before in February, a provocative thread was created on Omsk Forum (in order to attract the attention of viewers), while other media portals also provided excellent PR assistance.

Interviews were conducted with both Pavel Latushkin and Oleg Ananyev.

It was a PR stunt, a huge scandal (especially given the lackluster and ambiguous behavior of Pavel Latushkin himself). “What wouldn’t you do for PR,” Pavel admitted! “It was fun!” (he recalls).

– People from the forum even came to Oleg Ananyev’s office to find out the facts (what’s true and what’s not)

It can be considered that the First Premiere took place on March 10, 2011 – (the title of the film according to the Distribution Certificate is Another Reality: Total Recall), at the local Babylon cinema in the city of Omsk.

But unfortunately, the film’s premiere was cancelled two hours before release due to political disagreements, although the media officially wrote that the film is of poor quality and illiterate.