Q&A: Writers discuss new Comedy Central television series, rise in industry
On Tuesday, the Campus Events Commission will host writers and comedians Alex Anfanger (left) and Dan Schimpf (right) to preview their new Comedy Central television show, “Big Time in Hollywood, FL.”
(Courtesy of Jesse Grant)
By Kevin Truong
March 31, 2015 12:01 a.m.
“Big Time in Hollywood, FL” is a new Comedy Central television show detailing the struggles of two delusional 20-something filmmaker brothers as they try to get famous posting online videos against the humid backdrop of south Florida. Real celebrities get involved as the brothers participate in increasingly surreal and dangerous situations that often leave them bewildered and without usable footage.
The program is the brainchild of writers and comedians Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf and was produced with the help of comedy star Ben Stiller, who discovered the duo through their own Web series “Next Time on Lonny.” The Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Campus Events Commission will host the pair in Ackerman Grand Ballroom Tuesday, where they will showcase the new series and answer audience questions.
The Daily Bruin’s Kevin Truong spoke with Anfanger and Schimpf about their rise in the entertainment industry, the offbeat setting for their series and advice they would give to young filmmakers trying to make it big in comedy.
Daily Bruin: So I read that you came up with the idea behind “Big Time” actually before your Web series took off. Tell me a little about where the conception for the show came from.
Alex Anfanger: We were getting out of school and we were out doing a bunch of jobs that were terrible. I was auditioning for things, I was trying to do other things and, to be honest, I felt a bit lost. But what I knew is that I wanted to keep making things. So (Dan and I) decided we wanted to make a show together … It started with Ben and Jack – (the show’s main protagonists) – and we kind of perfected them as characters who were basically insane versions of us, but who were completely delusional. At the core of the show is this dysfunctional family (of people) who are these big dreamers and have this blind confidence. We thought it would be fun to go on this journey with these morons, the joke being that their lives are turning more and more into the film they originally wanted to make.
DB: As I understand it, after writing the pilot for “Big Time,” you kind of shelved it and instead moved to posting videos online. Were you thinking of using the Internet as a way to spread your name and brand?
AA: We realized that after we wrote the pilot nobody knew who we were and nobody would read it. The Internet comedy scene was something neither of us were really familiar with. All we knew is that we just wanted to keep making things and the Internet provided an easy way to distribute your work and share it with people. I didn’t really have, like, an expectation of where it would lead, but part of it is that you’re in this environment where you’re forced to create.
DB: What made you want to set the series in South Florida of all places?
Dan Schimpf: The original draft was set in the suburbs of Los Angeles; that’s where we originally wrote the script. But then it became too much about inside Hollywood and the industry and less about this crazy journey for these two brothers. So when we were thinking of a different place to set the story I thought about my grandparents living like 50 miles from this place called Hollywood, Fla. And I thought, ‘That’s perfect.’ You know Florida has a bunch of warm colors and pastels and people are brightly dressed and we thought that provided a good contrast to our story, which, as the series progresses, gets darker and darker.
DB: What advice would you give to people who may be in college or just out of college who want to make it in the comedy or entertainment industry?
AA: Well I would say this a great time for that now. You can put your stuff online and develop your own voice and sensibilities online without being told what you can and can’t do by a production company or studio. The important thing is to try and find your voice through the things you do and the things you make. The way that we went about it was to be more meticulous about what we put out, but that doesn’t work for everybody. Some people find success through putting things out constantly.
DS: Everybody has a different story about how they found success but they all had their own way of doing things. It’s about deciding who you are, what your voice is and following through with it.
Compiled by Kevin Truong, Bruin senior staff.
