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SHOOTING two seasons of a series at the same time might sound crazy, but the creator of hit gay web series The Horizon finds it easier in the long run.

Boaz Stark, who is currently waist deep in post-production on season seven and eight of his groundbreaking web series, describes the process as 鈥渉ectic鈥�. It took 15 鈥渓ong鈥� days to shoot the 16 episodes which make up the next instalments, but Stark says the good outweighs the bad in the end.

鈥淲e鈥檙e never sure if the actors are going to come back so the more we shoot, the more we鈥檙e guaranteed to have the same cast,鈥� he says.

Both season one and two of the series had different casts, but they have managed to keep the same solid roster of actors since season three.

鈥淲e鈥檙e producing over two hours of drama by the time it all gets edited,鈥� Stark says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 long, intense days and we don鈥檛 always get all the shots we want. There鈥檚 an expression 鈥榶ou shoot Gone With The Wind in the morning and Home And Away at night鈥�.鈥�

The series has been made possible, in part, by an ongoing partnership with ACON (the AIDS Council of NSW). The organisation has sponsored the series since the beginning, which Stark says has given it a 鈥渘oble purpose鈥�.

鈥淎CON is amazing – they have been generous with us both in terms of supporting us financially and giving me artistic freedom with telling our HIV stories,鈥� he says.

鈥淓ven though it鈥檚 quite subtle, we鈥檙e talking about HIV and gay men鈥檚 health issues by naturally weaving them into the storylines.鈥�

The new seasons will centre around a PrEP storyline, featuring the series鈥� serodiscordant couple Jake and Mickey, and a 鈥渟uper hot鈥� new character Tyson played by Daniel Needs.

Stark sees the PrEP storyline as an opportunity to present a well-rounded representation of the views in the community, while also educating them about what it is capable of.

鈥淓veryone gets a voice – The Horizon allows me to show PrEP from different viewpoints and raise concerns through different characters,鈥� he says.

鈥淚 spoke to a lot of people on PrEP and it tends to be younger people embracing it a little more readily.

I think people of my age went through the AIDS crisis, lost a lot of friends and had condom usage drilled into our brains.

鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to let go of that and it鈥檚 raised in the storyline.鈥�

Casting the new character Tyson was a struggle for the production. Three gay actors were cast before they ended up settling on Needs.

Stark says one really high profile, gay and out actor accepted the role but backed out when he discovered how racy the storyline would be.

鈥淚t took a straight boy who loved the idea of a challenge to take on the role,鈥� he says.

鈥�(Needs) is very ambitious, very open to playing a gay character and finding himself in situations that might make other actors uncomfortable.鈥�

The creative team behind The Horizon was also granted funding from Screen Australia last year to produce a 45-minute pilot in hopes of replicating the success of the web series on television.

Even Stephan Elliott, the director of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert, was brought on board to direct it.

Stark says they haven鈥檛 been able to sell the pilot yet, but it鈥檚 not dead.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be released on iTunes in the next few weeks so people will be able to watch it,鈥� he adds.

The television pilot is basically a reboot of the first and second seasons of the series, using the current cast with higher production values.

鈥淪tephan took it up a level which is fantastic. Audiences loved it – we had a standing ovation,鈥� Stark says.

If the pilot isn鈥檛 picked up, Stark plans to keep producing the web series for as long as he can.

鈥淚 wrote these two seasons with an open story at the end so I want to keep it going to at least bring those stories I set up to light. There鈥檚 a lot of stories to tell, it鈥檚 a very exciting time,鈥� he says.

鈥淭here鈥檚 still hardly any gay-centred programs and I think it鈥檚 one of the reasons we鈥檙e so popular.”