Possibly the best directed and shot live action web episode we’ve ever seen…and the script ain’t too shabby either:
https://vimeo.com/263671911
Here’s the downlow:
On April 8th, 2018, the first episode of the original comedic web series My Death Co. was released. The series follows a recently deceased man, Sam (Jon Huck), as he’s forced to work as a grim reaper in the afterlife. Sam has to learn to connect with and bring closure to those on the brink of death and, in doing so, finds meaning in his own (after)life.
Created by Shawn McDaniel and Ben Hammond as a method of depicting loss in a more positive light, My Death Co.’s dark humor stands out and invokes a sense of hope in dark times. Directed by McDaniel and scripted by Hammond, subsequent episodes in the six-episode season will be independently released over the coming months via the My Death Co. website (www.mydeathco.com).
Though the creators have funded the first few episodes of the show themselves, further episodes will be crowdfunded via a pay-what-you-want model on Patreon. While the cost of network programming can reach millions of dollars per hour, McDaniel and Hammond have managed to shoot the first three episodes of My Death Co. for around $1,000 and are looking to raise $3,000 more for the remainder of the season. Proving that they can shoot high quality content on a minimal budget is part of their proof of concept as they look to develop My Death Co. as a series for studios like Amazon and Netflix.
“It’s been two years since the conception of the idea and we’ve gone through a feature script, a short film script and a pilot… but a short form web series really feels like the right place for people to fall in love with Sam and the struggles he goes through while learning the ropes of being a grim reaper,” Hammond says of the writing process. “Once they meet him, I think they’ll want more and we’re prepared to grow this thing if the demand is there.”
“My Death Co.” lead Jon Huck has appeared in Comedy Central’s “This is Not Happening” and “Live at Gotham,” as well as MTV’s “Punk’d,” NBC’s “Superstore” and CBS’s “Angel From Hell”. He will also appear later this year in “Hidden in the Heart of Texas: The Official Hide and Go Seek Documentary”.
This is work that its creators can be proud of. And so can anyone who participates via Patreon. (Yeah, that’s a hint.)
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