Though FOX cancelled the action drama series Drive after just four episodes, the series already had loyal viewers. It will likely be remembered by a small group of devotees as one of those short-lived ”brilliant but cancelled” series. Drive will also be remembered for making Emmy history.

As viewers of the series know, Drive incorporated lots of unique special effects. Most of them revolved around the actual car race and moved seamlessly from the open highway into, around, and through moving cars. The race scenes combined live-action stunt photography, a 220-degree matching highway psyclorama, green screen stage work, CG cars, reflections and characters. The result was an amazing experience in race photography, as seen through the eyes of an omniscient camera lens that wasn’t bound by physics or structure.

A three minute clip entitled “The Starting Line” took special effects house Zoic Studio up to 18 months to produce. Unfortunately, because Drive was cancelled after so few episodes, the show and its effects were ineligible to be nominated for an Emmy Award.

Visual effects producer Raoul Bolognini says, “We had originally submitted for the category of ‘best outstanding visual effects in a drama series’ — but the show was cancelled. We felt so passionately about the work we created that we wrote a letter to the Academy to see if there was any other category we could be considered for.”

After hearing back from the Academy’s special effects peer group, Bolognini persuaded FOX to stream the complete three minute clip on their website. Under a new broadband provision, this made the clip eligible for nomination as a “special” in the special visual effects category for mini-series, movies and specials.

The clip was nominated in that category and it marks the first time a series has received an Emmy nomination via the new broadband eligibility. Bolognini shared, “I’ve got a happy crew on my side at the moment. They felt like a year and a half of their work was going to go to waste.” Stay tuned!