Enjoyed the series. The characters have enough depth to draw you in regardless of the pool premise. Could perhaps use a bit of tightening up by dropping a couple incidental characters... five is a good number to get your B-plots in a fifteen minute serial. Nicole Poole is a treasure wonderfully expressive face and good timing.
A new web series based on pool league - 8 for Vegas
- Thread starter stilesjp
- Start date
Hey Ron, thanks for the kind words!
Our initial script had a full cast of 7 characters, plus the director joining the team. Heather (the silent one) had a full part, and we pared her role down because it was just TOO much. I get what you're saying, though. Trying to include everyone in every episode can be a stretch. We'll see what we can do with season 2.
From Nicole (I shared your comment with her):
"awwwww!!!! That'll keep me going for several, SEVERAL days. Thank you!
...
Big smooch (and thanks again for passing on the praise - it means more than I can say)"
So, thanks for that!
Thanks for the donation! We really appreciate it. You play APA in Queens, correct? (If not, well, the ball is in motion anyway)
I talked to Ross, the Brooklyn/Queens APA operator, who extended our APA $25 Registration dues perk to Brooklyn and Queens. It was originally just for NYC, but he was kind enough to allow us to extend it, so, tell your fellow APA friends!
I am not a certified trainer. I'm terribly out of shape.
I do tell women I am a yoga instructor, though. 99 out of 100 roll their eyes. The other one laughs and says 'get the **** away from me.'
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Ha! You know, one of my favorite things about the series (and I tried hard to do it all the time, but it wasn't working out) were some of the things happening behind the interviews.
There's an entire episode where people buy drugs from Heather (who usually knits in the back). Sui's character happened to be one of those. Episode 2.
We were playing at Society on Sundays, from 11-4ish. It was a bit too early for him to pass out. But goddamn, he loves their bloody mary's. They're awesome, I must admit.
My APA team watched the whole series, laughed and donated...hell, I think my whole leauge likes it. I've actually PM'd John about using some unique stories from last session in season 2. He's a nice guy and responds quick...I hope season 2 goes great.
PS: Leslie is hot, reminds me of a crazy ex, and makes me want a bacon air freshener for my cue case.
PS: Leslie is hot, reminds me of a crazy ex, and makes me want a bacon air freshener for my cue case.
Hey Link, thanks for contacting me and for commenting! And, of course, for donating! Glad your fellow APA players enjoyed the series!
I hope we can use some of your story in our 2nd season. Should be a lot of fun, and I'm writing away, happy with what I've done so far.
Leslie is hot. Not sure if you meant Jennifer (who deals with a bacon scented air freshener), but the good thing is, they're both hot. It was fun working with so many attractive women. Truly. Fun.
Haha...John I meant to type that Leslie was hot and Jennifer reminded me of my ex and made me want the air freshener....but this mental imagery of hot girl playing pool and bacon distracted me.
seelesscacti
Member
Really impressive series. I'm a terrible critic of a lot of amateur attempts to put something out, but this was overall really well done. Even more notable if this was really the first attempt at putting together anything like this. Most of these independent web series (hell, a lot of big budget television or movies) I get disgusted at the poor attempts and turn it off after a few minutes. This, I watched the whole thing. Great job.
My only issue with this series is that I felt here and there, the writing was a little racist, with no ethnic American character to balance it. (I have this issue with a lot of our media.) I mean, fine, if an audience is going to laugh at race-based humor, sure I guess you might as well add it in for an easy laugh, but then you have to balance it with a fully-developed, identifiable ethnic character or else it just comes off as out of times. Especially when we're talking about pool -- perhaps the most diverse sport there is. I'm a humor snob -- a number of jokes in here were well written and well performed -- I laughed; that's saying a lot. And one of the best bits of humor in the series was in the first episode when Ian, when asked why he plays pool, goes on this long, lurid description of a sexual encounter before finally concluding that the only thing that matters in pool is whether or not you can actually play pool. Good, well delivered shock joke. But better point. My advice: Take that further.
Regardless, honestly, really great job on all this.
I'm surprised if you're having an issue finding sponsors for a second season. I'm not a big fan of the APA, but I think this is quite good marketing for them. Have you tried going to them to get sponsored and you just show their logo a lot? What about Diamond or a cue company or other billiard products? You have 90 minutes of some quality material that will find an immediate audience with league pool players, if not a larger audience in general (there isn't too much pool being featured to turn them off) -- you should definitely be able to get sponsors. Hell, there's some awful show I caught a glimpse of centered around a fantasy football league -- this is leaps and bounds better than that.
Anyway, good stuff, good luck.
My only issue with this series is that I felt here and there, the writing was a little racist, with no ethnic American character to balance it. (I have this issue with a lot of our media.) I mean, fine, if an audience is going to laugh at race-based humor, sure I guess you might as well add it in for an easy laugh, but then you have to balance it with a fully-developed, identifiable ethnic character or else it just comes off as out of times. Especially when we're talking about pool -- perhaps the most diverse sport there is. I'm a humor snob -- a number of jokes in here were well written and well performed -- I laughed; that's saying a lot. And one of the best bits of humor in the series was in the first episode when Ian, when asked why he plays pool, goes on this long, lurid description of a sexual encounter before finally concluding that the only thing that matters in pool is whether or not you can actually play pool. Good, well delivered shock joke. But better point. My advice: Take that further.
Regardless, honestly, really great job on all this.
I'm surprised if you're having an issue finding sponsors for a second season. I'm not a big fan of the APA, but I think this is quite good marketing for them. Have you tried going to them to get sponsored and you just show their logo a lot? What about Diamond or a cue company or other billiard products? You have 90 minutes of some quality material that will find an immediate audience with league pool players, if not a larger audience in general (there isn't too much pool being featured to turn them off) -- you should definitely be able to get sponsors. Hell, there's some awful show I caught a glimpse of centered around a fantasy football league -- this is leaps and bounds better than that.
Anyway, good stuff, good luck.
Thanks for writing, for your comments, and kind words!
It was my first attempt at a production. I had a blast and learned a lot.
In regards to the ethnic issue: One of our first casted members was African American. We had long talks about the character, etc... and then she completely dropped off the radar. Found a Puerto Rican girl to replace her, that fell through. Maebe is as close to ethnically diverse as we could find in the short amount of time we had, and I had to re-write a bit of the script.
And, I should add, Maebe replaced ANOTHER casted actress who I had to fire after the first week, and re-shoot the entire first episode.
I completely get your point, though, and I had full intentions of rounding out the cast, ethnically. It's one of the reasons why I tried to get other diversities as opponents. I did what I could. We'll see what happens in season 2.
You know, in regards to sponsors, at first I tried hard to make the series as ambivalent (in terms of branded league) as possible, because I didn't want to get sued, or a cease and disist letter, specifically due to the humor. With the fundraiser up, I will work on trying to get either a liquor or pool equipment sponsor to help us out. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks again for the kind words. I'll be sharing it, as I have the others, with the cast and crew!
* edit: I accidentally a word.
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Great job. This way, way exceeded my expectations of a online web series. I watched the 1st episode last night, got hooked and watched all the episodes back to back.
Really impressed with the writing, acting and being your 1st production. The web is generally 99.99% junk. This was very high quality work. If you are not already on Vimeo, might want to put the series there in addition to youtube.
I will be contributing and sending you a PM as I am in NYC and would be willing to lend a hand if needed.
Really impressed with the writing, acting and being your 1st production. The web is generally 99.99% junk. This was very high quality work. If you are not already on Vimeo, might want to put the series there in addition to youtube.
I will be contributing and sending you a PM as I am in NYC and would be willing to lend a hand if needed.
Wow, thanks so much for the very kind words. I appreciate it! I got your PM, I'll be in touch!
Also, for everyone else who's been paying attention to our fundraiser, here's an update!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFsHjAJcyu4
Even the updates are hilarious.
Hey, thanks Canadian donor!
Thanks very much, Kevin. I try.
Also, we really appreciate the monetary donation, and not a random package in a ziplock bag... biohazard sticker on the side.
Best for everyone, really...
Hey John. Have enjoyed the episodes! I cannot seem to find the finale - week 9. I read in your blog where there were issues with the giant music company type a$$holes, so is this episode not available on YouTube? Or maybe I am just a moron who doesn't know how to search correctly???
Hey Rob,
It's quite possible that episode 9 is not available in your area, unfortunately. Such a bullshit situation.
You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRPBX1r5dpE
Or here: http://vimeo.com/34182854
Thanks!