We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now. Read previous installments here.
What would happen if a bunch of Guy Ritchie‘s fast-talking mobsters butted heads against vain Los Angeles cops? That question is answered in Bad Lads, a new web series from creator Michael Plewa.
In the first episode, rough-and-tumble Cockney Jimmy Smythe (Jason McBeth) relocates from London to LA. Shortly thereafter, he is arrested for dealing cocaine, and in order to avoid jail time, he agrees to help Detective Ambrose (Jennifer Mather) go undercover with his gang. What follows is a fish-out-of-water comedy, as Ambrose attempts to fit in with her new Cockney mates without arousing too much suspicion.
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Ritchie’s crime thrillers are clearly the most prominent influence here; Plewa, in an email to Tubefilter, claimed to be a “huge fan of the Cockney toughs” in Snatch. At the same time, Bad Lads offers snatches (pardon the pun) of many other genres as well. Jokes about linguistic differences between British and American English recall this genre of YouTube videos, while Jonathan Biver (who we’ve seen in this space before) delivers a Reno 911!-esque performance as Ambrose’s police partner.
There’s a lot to take in among Bad Lad‘s five episodes, but the series is consistently a fun ride. Check it out on YouTube.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
- Night School. Author CJ Daugherty has adapted her own book series (set at a British boarding school) for the web.
- Life of Hers. This story of four young, black Londoners is marked by high production values.
- Shift Into Gear. A driving school provides mockumentary-style comedy in this web series.
- Tenants. Two guys move into an apartment. As the pilot’s description says, “Not everything has to more complicated than that.”
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