Youth content company Astronauts Wanted is teaming up with Mikey Murphy — a popular vlogger and filmmaker, who counts 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube — to produce a short film about high school bullying.
Dubbed Andy (working title) and co-written by Murphy and Emily Mattoon, the film is loosely based on Murphy’s personal experiences. It follows a bullied teen who is driven to exact revenge on his tormentors through social media, leading to harrowing consequences. Murphy will executive produce and direct the project alongside Judy McGrath, Nick Shore, Kim Rosen, and Cassidy Lunnen, who are serving as EPs for Astronauts Wanted.
“It’s a story that needs to be told, and the Astronauts Wanted team is helping me realize that dream,” Murphy, who is also set to direct an episode of Fullscreen’s forthcoming FANtasies series, tells Tubefilter. “My hope is that this film will offer other people hope to make sense of their own bullying experiences and let them know they’re not alone.”
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“Mikey has a long history of connecting on a personal level with his fans as an influencer,” said Kim Rosen, head of development for Astronauts Wanted, which is a joint venture between former MTV Networks chairperson Judy McGrath and Sony Music Entertainment. “We at Astronauts Wanted are excited to be working with an artist of Mikey’s caliber on a project of very real, timely, and cultural importance.”
Last month, Astronauts Wanted announced several other influencer-led projects from the likes of Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, and Timothy DeLaGhetto.
Murphy is represented by Amron Lopez at Big Frame and Melissa DeMarco at Abrams Artist Agency. Mattoon and Astronauts Wanted are represented by CAA.
