Indie Spotlight: ‘Stage Dad’ Follows A Family With Big Dreams (But Little Talent)

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 installment of Indie Spotlight is brought to you by Spreadshirt.

Some of the shows we’ve featured in this space have satirized the concept of helicopter parents, and Stage Dad is another entry in that canon. Alex Jacobs and Brandon Scannell‘s web series about a father who attempts to mold his son into a child actor is a witty mockumentary that adds just a dash of heartfelt emotion to its stew of zany comedy.

In Stage Dad, Jacobs portrays a father who, after being abandoned by his wife, looks to stay productive by fostering his son Cody’s development into a star — or at least that’s what he thinks. In reality, Cody (portrayed by Scannell) is much better at messing up his auditions in hilarious and over-the-top ways than he is at displaying any genuine acting talent. In the first episode, Cody tanks a tryout by telling an inappropriate story.

Stage Dad

is funny, but Jacobs and Scannell bring the right amount of pathos to their project as well. Cody and his dad are just a couple of boys who miss mom, and while their repeated screw-ups are laughable on the surface, the seven episodes available on the Stage Dad website will leave you feeling bad for the show’s two protagonists. Check ’em out.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• The Vertical. Editors at a food blog are the stars of this workplace comedy.
• Floaters. This series gets laughs by imagining space in a way that’s less fantastic and wondrous than other sci-fi shows.
• Dated. A woman getting back into the dating scene after a long relationship looks for advice.

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.

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