Festival Fun: 4 Webseries From the LA Web Fest

Dumper Entertainment is pleased to announce that Big Bother is an Official Selection of the L.A. Webseries Festival. It will be screened on Saturday, March 26^th at 5:25 p.m. at Stage 52 Theater. Lots of other great webseries will be screened over the weekend too. Many of which we’ve covered in the past, like GOLD, SOLO, In The Rough, Hard Drive 13, Suck and Moan, Miss Behave and Out With Dad. But there are many shows we haven’t yet covered, so this month’s webseries category focuses on a few of the LA Web Fest’s Official Selections.

Asylum

St. Dympna is a hospital for the criminally insane. Only the most difficult patients end up here. The methods of head Dr. Suli Urban (Sophie King) and her disturbingly close-knit staff seem unorthodox, but you can’t argue with the results they achieve. But when an outbreak of violence draws the attention of Department of Mental Health Agent Patrick Aubert (Dingani Beza from SOLO), Dr. Urban has some explaining to do – starting with the whereabouts of her predecessor.  Asylum is written by Dan Williams and directed by Scott Brown (Both from Blue Movies) and produced by Matthew Arrevalo (From GOLD: NOTZK).

Who…

Men, did you ever wonder what women discuss when no-one else is around? “Who…” has the answer. In each episode, a pair of African American gossip queens (Played by Shoneji Loraine and Nafeesa Monroe) discuss everything from “Who… Needs Jesus” to “Who… Better Not Look At My Man” to “Who… Needs To Shut The Hell Up” to “Who… I’d Do” to “Who… Be Workin’ My Nerves” to “Who… Can Kiss My @$$.” Besides the episodes themselves, AjakweTV.com features a wide selection of music you can listen to as well. Who… was created by L.A. Web Fest founder Michael Ajakwe Jr.

The Best Friend

Our next selection is about Sooze (Allie Smith) the beautiful girl the boys adore. But this is not her story. This is really the story of her best friend Millie (Marilyn Anne Michaels). We first meet the duo when Millie’s date is smitten with Sooze. Next, Sooze’s stalker does nothing to make Millie feel better about herself (Though it does allow Millie to break into a great “Stalker” musical number). The Best Friend is created and produced by Smith and Michaels; written by Smith, Michaels, Dominic Conti and Krystel Schley, and directed by Tarique Qayumi and Wednesday Standley.

Cell

Last but not least is Cell, the story of … a cell. It’s actually two cells, but that’s not important. What’s important is how the cell inhabitants got there. Or maybe it’s “where do they go from here?” We’ll see. Brian (Danny Cameron) wakes up in said cell looking for answers. Instead, he gets a cattle-prodding from his jailer (Kevin McCarthy). Brian’s only other company is the woman in the cell next door (Jourdan Gibson). Together, they attempt to find out why they’re here, and more importantly, who they are. Cell is written, directed and produced by Mark Gardner.

Should I Bother to Write a Script?

Happy April Fool’s Day! We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate this foolish holiday than to release the “Big Bother” teaser. Check it out at www.BigBotherShow.com . What’s a teaser you ask? It’s a 30-second promo for a show that is usually released a year in advance. Not to worry, it will (hopefully) be no more than a few months before our web series officially launches.

In the last BBlog, I brought you up to speed on how the concept of “Big Bother” came to be. It turns out it’s a long way from concept to final product (Or even 1st day of shooting). Writing began innocently enough in August 2007. We’d shoot and release a 10-minute webisode. Then we’d repeat this simple process every month or so until the series was complete. Right?

As I mentioned, I’d recently come into a windfall of cartoon character costumes. Their previous custodian was moving to a studio apartment. This would have been fine for roommate Mike and me at any other point in our cohabitance. However, the one hundred plus costumes were dropped off at the same time Mike’s fiancée moved in. Suddenly every available square inch of our bachelor pad was filled with either fuzzy creature heads or necessities from the softer side of SEARS.

To justify the menagerie of costumes I was forcing everyone to live with, I vowed to use as many as possible in “Big Bother.” The vision of four or five characters sharing an apartment suddenly became 16 characters living together. It was soon evident that there was no way we’d reassemble this cast once a month for the next year. The bulk of the script would need to be shot over a few weeks.

So, the simple 10-page script I was hoping to delve into the world of directing with was now going to need to be a feature-length 100 pages. Somehow, it took me four months to write the first 10. In my defense, I had a lot going on at the time, with multiple jobs, trying to pursue acting and writing careers, etc. I also did some limited research of the reality TV show I was going to parody, “Big Brother.”

The only show event I directly satired in the script was taken from the beginning of Season 8 when one girl is mortified by her unflattering photo. I thought it would be great to have our Farf Infader character experience the same trauma. Over the next four months, I nearly completed the rest of the script. Go figure.

In March of 2008, I made an Easter visit to Chicago. I had a great idea to cast my Mom and Dad in a scene I had yet to write. Actors in their own right, I owe all I’ve learned about the stage to them. They’d play the parents of one of the housemates, Mermalade the mermaid. Despite being midway through her chemotherapy treatment, Mom was already pulling out possible costume pieces (She’d sewn hundreds over the years). We made plans to shoot their scene when I returned home that summer.

As I continued writing the final stretch of the script, Mike and our friend Nate (Both will also play roles in “BB”) helped me begin the pre-production process—finding props, creating set pieces, moving furniture, etc. During this process, Mike’s fiancée was less than thrilled with the space it required. It began looking like this apartment wouldn’t be big enough for both a female and a digital film production. As fate would have it, she and Mike had their final fight (amazingly unrelated to "BB"), called off the engagement, and we suddenly had room to shoot. Go figure.

Alas, by May of 2008 the script of “Big Bother” was complete – 140 pages. An easy task for a first-time writer/director/producer/performer. Right?

NEXT BBLOG: “LIGHTS! CAMERA! BOTHER!”