Freed from the self-inflicted pressures of having to launch the pitch-perfect PR strategy, or secure a brand name sponsorship, the Absolute Disaster crew are just having fun.
“We are really trying to play with experimenting on every level—length, releasing schedule, format,” said Register. The first series, an enigmatic five-parter called Lost & Found, was the first of their creative experiments.
The short web series are seeped with the farcical but understated brand of humor that clicked with fans of his previous series, The Crew. The green screen sci-fi comedy found its share of fans, and there’s talks of a major online distributor picking it up for its second season. But the bigger the deal, the slower it seems to happen, even in the web television world, so Register enjoys the time to work on the new projects. “It’s nice to be in production while we wait for other deals to go through,” said Register.
But Register says he doesn’t really like traditional sketch comedy, preferring to tell a story episodically with a defined arc. He throws out the phrase “incubating story lines,” which I take it to mean these micro-series could be developed further should the right interest be there. Trying short daily releases with this one, new episodes of Werewolf
come out every day this week, ending on Friday.I visited the set of Werewolf shoot, which doubles as Absolute Disaster’s base of operations and home to half the team. It’s a lean, skeletal crew, no more than necessary. Tim Riese, the team’s DP on camera with just one guy as assistant camera op and another on boom. Even Stoll jumped in to fill a gap on boom, showing how each one of them wears many hats behind the camera.
Register doesn’t hide the fact that he’s learning from another web series ensemble team, the Streamy-nominated four-man directing outfit Big Fantastic, which has helmed numerous studio-backed web projects like Prom Queen, Sorority Forever and Foreign Body. In fact, he worked directly for them on the recently-wrapped new season of Prom Queen, meeting Stoll and Mancini in the process.
A notable difference from his web mentors is Register’s choice to remain on both sides of the camera, often casting himself as the lead. This is something the Big Fantastic crew rarely if ever does. If you ask him, however, Register will tell you he thinks of himself as a director and creator first, and actor second. Stoll, Frank and Mancini, on the other hand, consider themselves actors first, but are active in writing some of the team’s upcoming projects.
There’s even a secret project, which Register has the team on lockdown from even whispering about. It’s another nod to his Big Fantastic mentors, who he notes, “create a mystery around everything they do.”
“We’re going to see where it takes us,” added Stoll. “We all trust each other and we’re excited to play.”
A major player in the burgeoning newsletter industry has made a sizable addition to its…
Meta has kicked off the week with a pair of announcements that should make its creator…
MrBeast continues to show us that he's in a league of his own as far as…
Jellysmack and StyleHaul alum Chas Stahl has joined GEM Studios, the digital content production wing…
John Oliver appreciates that his fans can watch his late-night show on YouTube, and Last Week Tonight fans are…
Footballco is betting on the growth of soccer in the United States. Over the past few…