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.
One of the finest pilots to come out of this year’s New York Television Festival stretches the “odd couple” setup as far as it will go. In Saving a Legend, created by Murf Meyer and James Chupka, an evangelical teenager decides to embark on a mission from God in order to redeem his washed-up porn star college roommate.
The protagonists of Saving a Legend are Freddie Legend, played by Meyer, and Luke, played by Griffin Newman. In the pilot, which aired at NYTVF, we see Freddie and Luke arriving at an unspectacular state school for very different reasons. Luke is there to redeem as many sinners as he can, while Freddie is taking advantage of the free tuition he received for being older than 40. Naturally, they are paired up as roommates, and the comedy flows from their ridiculous interactions with one another.
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The core of Saving a Legend is the juxtaposition of its two leads, and Meyer and Newman certainly have a palpable chemistry. What really makes the show’s pilot stand out, though, is Chupka’s direction, which is particularly strong for a comedy. There’s a lot of fun camerawork here, and as a result, Saving a Legend succeeds as both a visual feast and a snappily-written farce. Go check it out.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
- Disillusioned. A magician tries to put his tricks to good use.
- Club 5150. An intervention sets the stage for a dark comedy filled with crazy characters.
- The Grossmalerman Show. A contemporary artist hosts a strange and loony live show.
- Unproductive. College students created this series, which deals with the drama surrounding a class project.
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