Indie Spotlight: In ‘Axis Of Action’, Life Goes To The Movies

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. 

This edition of Indie Spotlight is sponsored by Tongal.

The self-described “first web series to feature both kung fu fighting and tap dancing” is here. Axis of Action, created by Kyle Cowgill, blends genre parody with some typical indie web series setups to produce a well-executed result.

Axis of Action stars Cowgill and Kelly Park as Kyle and Amy, a couple that experiences the usual relationship troubles. Each episode starts out innocuously enough, with an accusation of infidelity or an argument about spending time together. Soon enough, the situation evolves into a specific genre parody, with Kyle and Amy evolving into stock characters. In the debut episode, Kyle must sneak into Amy’s apartment, James Bond-style, in order to reclaim a slip of paper with another girl’s phone number on it.

What’s so clever about Axis of Action is the amount of movement that takes place within each episode. More than anything else, this series is efficient, and it packs a lot of plot into four minutes. The second episode, which brings its characters to the Old West, runs through a fair number of comedic twists while still managing to tie everything together.

This is an ambitious series, and its executed with enough confidence to make it work. I’m looking forward to future episodes, where I assume we will finally get the tap dancing we were promised.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Roomiess. A pair of roommates go on misadventures in this web series styled  after Portlandia.
• Wingman. A vengeful angel forces a man to sleep with seven women in seven days after his use of contraceptives prevents a baby from being born.
• Loaded. A degenerate coaxes his friend into trying out various schemes in this web series set in Dallas.
• Dennie and Sharp. A recent video from this channel makes fun of YouTube vlogs and their copious jump cuts.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.

This edition of Indie Spotlight is sponsored by Tongal. Tongal is changing the way creative work gets done, by making it accessible to people everywhere. For brands, studios, and causes, Tongal’s innovative platform provides continuous access to a global network of creatives, offering fresh ideas and insights, and top filmmaking talent to bring them to life. Tongal’s collaborative, merit-driven process enables everyone to focus on the work they do best. The result is outstanding content delivered with great speed and efficiency. Tongal is based in Santa Monica, California.