'Love Pop Trash' Extols The Modern Day Mall Rat

The American mall has been the setting for many a great classic pieces of entertainment. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Mallrats, Paul Blart: Mall Cop–okay, so Blart is the exception, but Love Pop Trash embraces the American mall love mantra to its fullest, and with style, and for good reason. Creator Saul Levitz (AC/DC Fan Nation) has long since loved American classic television where kids hang out in what they think are stylish hangs ala The Peach Pitt and Bayside High School, so for him, the mall location was a natural.

“There’s something realistic about a mall,” said Levitz who went out of his way to create a real teen world in a real teen setting. “I worked with half professional actors and half real people,” added Levitz. “I went through high school drama departments and high schools in East LA to find some of the kids… many had never acted before. I got a lot out of those auditions… some stuff from auditions made it in the show.”

What Levitz has over some other popcorn teen classics like his beloved Saved by the Bell and 90210 is color. Adding ethnicity to reflect what American teens look like today (the opposite of milk toast) along with a flourish of native tongues mainly bilingual Americans speak shows kids have gone beyond Valley talk slang, and no longer are just dealing with who to take to prom, but also what if feels like to grow up a multi-ethnic American.

If we’re lucky, Levitz and producer-writer Ingrid Crowe Levy will continue to spice up the malls of America. What started as a cleverly financed pilot project (note: Levitz took photos throughout the production for Getty Images, who then helped back the project) has now landed a distribution deal with Koldcast TV for its five-episode first season. “Koldcast helped with getting a press release out, and getting on iTunes and Tivo,” says Levitz, who plans to continue to spread the word about the show through social networking while he weighs the options of a second season.