The Trials and Tribulations of Producing an On-Line Web Comedy: Part 1- Casting
by Justin Kownacki
Writer / Producer, Something to Be Desired
http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
Something to Be Desired is a web comedy about a group of DJs at Pittsburgh’s struggling WANT FM. Now in its third season, the show has blossomed from an online experiment into a regular destination for college students and office workers alike. But bringing a web sitcom to life is not without its challenges, particularly when the cast and crew are volunteering and the budget is anything but big.
As the writer and director of STBD, I try to meet every challenge head-on in the hopes that it will make me a better filmmaker. While the proof of that logic is always open to debate, the truth is that the production of our web series is frequently more hectic, scatterbrained and downright hilarious than the fiction we put onscreen. And, as a character-driven comedy, most of this real-life spectacle can be traced back to the seed from which all chaos springs forth: casting.
When STBD began, Dan Stripp was tabbed to play the series lead, Jack Boyd. The first season revolves around Jack’s return home to Pittsburgh for his sister Caroline’s college graduation and the inevitable drama he becomes embroiled in simply by association with his old friends and ex-lovers. The catch is, Dan Stripp and his wife Erica had become pregnant shortly before filming was scheduled to begin and, microcinema film schedules being what they are, we unintentionally managed to stretch the length of filming all the way to the baby’s due date.
Caroline and Dean exchanged an on-camera hug before fate intervened
Thus, on the day Dan was set to film his final scene of the season, his wife went into labor. The rest of the cast and I had to devise a backup plan to explain his absence from his sister’s graduation. A vague excuse about “having to leave town early” was worked into the script, despite the fact that we’d already filmed additional Jack Boyd scenes for the end of the final episode. As a result, proud daddy Dan was drafted back into action a week later to film a pick-up shot “in the back of a cab” that explains how he goes from familial absentia to a final farewell on the radio. (Fun fact: yours truly was driving “the cab” with one hand and filming Dan in the backseat with the other because STBD has, shall we say, a sparse crew.)
Thinking Jack Boyd would have to be written out of the series following the birth of his daughter, we resolved to proceed apace without him and began writing around the remaining cast. A few weeks into production, Dan informed me that he would actually be able to pop free for a few shoots a month if we still needed him, an idea that I readily accepted. (I tend to get attached to my leads.) So Jack was written back in, filming resumed, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.
Then I learned that Dan’s family plans had changed and he and his wife would actually be moving six hours away from Pittsburgh by the season’s midpoint. This left me with the interesting conundrum of having to write Jack out again, and fast, shortly after having written him back in. Soon afterwards, and in a complete reversal from the snail-like pace of filming during Season One, we completed the filming of all of Jack Boyd’s necessary scenes for Season Two in a total of two weeks, making us feel almost like a professional studio (except for the lack of paychecks).
Meanwhile, Benjamin Bratt (no, not that Benjamin Bratt), who played WANT station manager (and Jack Boyd’s rival) Ray King, received a job offer to move to Phoenix, AZ, as soon as possible. Suddenly I found myself having to write out the arguable protagonist and antagonist of the series within the space of a month and still have enough dramatic heft left over to coast into the climax of the season. I invented a nervous breakdown for Ray (which had nothing to do with anything occurring in reality), beefed up the roles of Dean (Shaun Cameron Hall) and Leo (Will Guffey), crossed my fingers, and somehow made it to the end of the season without suffering further cast atrophy.
When Season Three came around, I decided to build the central storyline around the burgeoning romance between Dean and Caroline. Clearly the gods of central casting got wind of this idea, because in April – a full month into production – Ann Turiano, who plays Caroline, received word that she’d been accepted to grad school… in London. By now accustomed to fabricating the unexpected exits of my key characters, I resolved to complete this season without adjusting the storyline and therefore leave the conclusion open-ended… for now.
Ann Turiano, AKA Caroline, before she headed off to London...
So, what becomes of Caroline and Dean at the end of Season Three? Only a few more months (and some judicious editing) will tell. In the meantime, I’m realizing that the best way to get rid of any potential troublemakers on the set might just be to give them the lead in Season Four…
Something to Be Desired updates weekly through April of 2006.
Justin Kownacki
Writer / Producer, Something to Be Desired
http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
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