52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Scary Guy

Scary Guy (#41)

I was kind of inspired by all those Slender videos on Youtube that are big with all the horror kids. Here's the progression of events for this sketch.

SATURDAY EVENING
5:30pm  - Write sketch and print it out.
6pm - Pick up my brother from LAX. I throw a script at him as soon as he gets in the car. He's not an actor.
7pm - Arrive at Sacred Fools. We have one hour before our three hour show starts. There will be no time to shoot anything afterwards.
7:10pm - Grab Erik Engman from a nearby bar. Promise him riches and fame we don't have access to.
7:20pm - Shoot a few takes. This is only the sixth or seventh time I've looked at the script.
7:40pm - "Edit" it. Compress it.
7:50pm - Upload to Youtube.
8pm - Enjoy our show. (Neverwhere! Amazing!)

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Giggle Fits

Giggle Fits (#40)

Another one that was pretty tough to memorize. Felt good to pop one out that was just Zach and I again. There's an unassuming simplicity to this sketch that I find pretty appealing, sound issues notwithstanding. 

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Nick's Great Idea

Nick's Great Idea (#39)

Ah, the straight man vs. the funny guy. The oldest double act in comedy,and explored in detail this week. Anthony Backman's deadpan is so perfect in this. Dang near steals the whole sketch despite the way I loudly carry on, not to mention Douglas Gabrielle's hilarious cameo. And look at that picture quality/editing job! We're spoiled this week, folks.

I think the closest friendships stem from people who enthusiastically participate in each other's terrible ideas. There's a bonding quality to finding yourselves neck deep in trouble from all sides. My high school pals and I used to have at least one terrible idea every day, and those friendships have lasted for years. (Though we did spend most of our teenage years horribly grounded.)

That seems to be the relationship ol' Nick and Jerry have. I was kinda surprised at how epic in scope this little three minute video wound up feeling. You get a pretty clear picture of the past, present, and future of the entire relationship. Too much fun, I tells ya.

Also: I wasn't joking about seducing Beyonce. It's gonna happen.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Tough Guys

Tough Guys ( #36)

I got in a fight a few times with my babysitter's kid back in the day for knocking over his Lego's. People don't seem to be very impressed with that story. Or the time in college my friend and I decided to duke it out on New Years just to kinda see what it'd be like. No, you aren't a real man unless you just KICK THE CRAP OUTTA SOME PUNK!

Which, alas, I've never done. So I must be contented with smudging the front window of the Man Club with my nose for now. At least until I can get somebody to try to beat me up...

Hey you! Reader! You're stupid! I hate you! If you were a baby seal, I'd club you over the head! WHAT'RE YA GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!!

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Marshmallow Fix

Marshmallow Fix (#35)

Plump, delicious marshmallow. It's like chewing on a soft, sugary cloud. You can set it on fire and IT'LL ONLY BE EVEN MORE DELICIOUS THAN BEFORE. Seriously, they're unstoppable. Sure, maybe they're full of empty calories, but they're also full of vitamins FOR YOUR SOUL.

ATX's first fan art!

Friend of ATX Daniel Davis did this awesome poster for our horror short "Noise." Looks great, Daniel!

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: I Think, and Therefore I... Um.

I Think, and Therefore I... Um (#32)

Mwahaha! With Zach out of town, my high-art existential comedy BS is free to RUN WILD!

My favorite feedback about this sketch:

• Other Guy
  just watched your video
• 
  

  9:46pm

  Nathan Wellman

  oh yeah?
• 
  

  9:46pm

  Other Guy

  yeah..

  : //

  ?
• 9:46p

  ??

  ?????
• 9:46pm

  Nathan Wellman

  EXACTLY
• 
  

  Other Guy
  

  ...

  exactly

  
  

  All jokes aside, this sucker was a nightmare to learn. Many an hour was spent pacing my empty apartment, muttering to myself with no pants on. I actually had a few takes where I didn't stumble over the words nearly so much, but I felt like the character bumbling through the monologue added an extra layer of hopelessness to it that made things more fun/real.

  
  

  As far out there as this piece really is, I think it's one of my favorites. It's extraordinarily unique it its bizarreness. Like a big logic vacuum that sucks the audience's brains out. Or something.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Serial Killer Happy Ending

Serial Killer Happy Ending (#30)

He finally butchered somebody! Yaaaay! Eh?

So ends our first little trilogy. I'm going to miss that character. He was one of my faves. Just like I'll miss ol' Matt.

And no, we haven't cleaned the blood off the walls yet.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Noise (Goodbye Matt)

I met Matt Hatfield in college. He was without question the funniest guy in that department and insanely talented onstage. That guy is still the only person I know who can hold a whole cafeteria table's attention for three hours. People would literally skip class just to sit around and listen to Matt crack jokes.

Even more interesting (to me) was that he was THE WRITER of the group. People respected that about him, and as an aspiring freshman writer myself, it gave me something to shoot for. I wanted people to talk about my work the way they talked about Matt's one day. In this way, Matt was pretty influential in the fledgling stages of my writing career.

Backstage for Matt's Midnight Beckons

Over the years, we started emailing manuscripts and screenplays back and forth for the other to viciously critique. His play Midnight Beckons was the first show I ever directed outside of class, and he later acted in Oleanna, which I directed as my sort of goodbye to Morehead State.

Matt in Oleanna

So I was of course delighted when Matt decided to come with me to Los Angeles. If we pushed each other forward at school, imagine the possibilities in a place like LA! We crammed into a tiny little bohemian apartment, and Adventure Team Extreme was born. (In fact, he came up with that name.) And what a ride it's been.

But, over the past year and a half, it became abundantly clear that for whatever reason LA just isn't a place where Matt can thrive. The personality of this place just always seemed to clash with his. So I wasn't too surprised when one night he told me that he was leaving to go pursue other opportunities.

Before he left though, he wanted to make an ATX piece that was more epic/ambitious than anything we'd ever tried to do. So for the past three weeks he and Zach have been constructing makeshift camera dollies, splashing blood all over our walls, and screaming in agony at 2am while our neighbors tried to sleep. This creepy Hitchcock tribute is the result of that effort. I think the cinematography on this is our best yet.

Noise (#28)

I'll miss collaborating with ol' Matt. It's a shame our paths had to part. But I'm excited to see what new opportunities come his way. See ya soon, old buddy.

Also: You left your copy of The World Ends With You here. You're not getting it back.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Humble Sprouts of Grass

Humble Sprouts of Grass (#27)

Okay, I admit it: I listen to NPR on a fairly regular basis. I think it's a fine radio program. Now that being said, I've spent more time than I care to admit grinding my teeth through some breaking news they have on the newest organic cantaloup to hit the market. NPR listeners are stigmatized as tree-hugging hippies for a fairly understandable reason.

Just once I'd like to hear one of those calm, soothing voices just completely lose control and rage out Fox News style on some poor unsuspecting sap. Maybe it could be an Opposite Day thing?

And yes, I do still have that zit on my face. I'M VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT IT.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Atheist Missionary

Atheist Missionary (#24)

I really wrestled with this idea for a long time. Must've gone through about four different drafts before landing on this one. I knew that I thought the idea of a door to door atheist missionary was funny, but how to approach it without sounding like I'm trying to make some big smarmy statement (one way or the other). I always had trouble balancing it out. 

The answer kinda came to me in having both characters change their minds at the end: The redneck embraces atheism with intense zeal, which prompts the atheist to say a quick prayer as he walks away. It's a really subtle joke, which I guess is why I missed it for so long. 

Glad it came together though. I also really enjoyed going toe to toe with Matt, as we really don't get many scenes together. It's still a Herculean effort on my part to keep from laughing any time I try to act with that guy.

Anyway... really procrastinated on putting this post up here. The new episode will be up in just a few hours, for Pete's sake! (I've never known who Pete is...) Better late than never?

One thing that never has been, and never will be late, is our Supreme Saturday submissions on Youtube. Every Saturday. All year. BRING IT ON!

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Aqueezor!

Aqueezor (#23)

Matt's hilarious graphic design is obviously the big star of this one. His artwork has a way of making you feel like a little kid again, reading old comics in your grandpa's attic. 

Doing voiceover work was a new challenge for me. I can kind of tell where I made a few rookie mistakes (over-enunciating, talking too slowly, etc.) but it mostly just made me excited to try to tackle that medium all over again. Once I start getting some big checks for my Kia commercial I plan to pursue that field more aggressively.

Poor, unqueezable Aqueezor! I've always loved it when villains actually win and they're forced to confront what that victory actually means. Often the pursuit of victory is more invigorating than victory itself. Aqueezor's minion obviously doesn't understand that, the turd.

Here's a few more of my favorite illustrations from this week:

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: New Nanny

New Nanny (#19)

Brand new ATX contributor this week in the form of the very funny Candice Martin! I met her at Act Now and was thrilled when she agreed to hop on board with us.

We weren't sure how to approach this from a cinematography perspective, since the whole thing is pretty much just two people saying in one place, talking to each other. I thought of the Steinbrenner scenes from Seinfeld, and we figured we'd go that route. I like how that back of the head thing somehow gives my character this weird authority that he wouldn't otherwise have.

And of course, how can you go wrong with Zach as Mary Poppins? Sometimes I think my entire calling in life is to film that guy doing embarrassing things while wearing dresses as often as possible.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Vegan Food

Vegan Food (#15)

You know that you probably have the wrong kind of friends when you send them a script involving them eating poop and they respond with "This is awesome! I can't wait to do this!"

But that's the kind of trooper our friend Evan Nischan is. Evan eagerly brought his Meisner mastery to our humble little script, not to mention his apartment as a location. He also gets the honor of being the first guest star to appear in two atx episodes. (His other appearance can be found here.) Congrats, Evan! You should feel... proud?

Special thanks to this kid for an easy fake urine recipe. (Yes, all the food was fake, sickos.) It was strangely difficult to find a feces recipe though. Seriously, never type "Edible Poop" into Google Search. Zach and I pretty much just kinda had to wing it. It took us a good couple of hours to get those two little turds figured out.

And no, I have no idea if the ingredients were vegan or not.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Stop the Anti-Bullying Campaign

Stop the Anti-Bullying Campaign (#12)

Ah, the persecuted bully. Finally, one of them has the courage to stand up for themselves! I think the bully's bloated sense of dignity is my favorite part.

I've recently started to discover the power of the monologue for the low budget sketch writer. Amazing what a high quality story you can tell with just actors in front of plain black backgrounds. We got a lot of love for Audition a month or so ago, which had a similar set up. So I figured I'd try something similar with this. What do you guys think?

I think this is the best utilization of Zach that ATX has done so far. For whatever reason, a lot of these sketches have focused a lot on Matt and I, with Zach stuck playing the straight man. It's always bothered me a bit, because he really has a powerful stage/screen presence. Expect to see a lot more of that guy in future sketches.

Really proud of how this one turned out. It's a lot more grounded than some of our louder, wackier stuff. Excited to pursue more grounded, story/character central humor in the future.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Sara and Andy's Wedding

Hollywood Spotlight Stories: Sara and Andy (#11)

Slightly unconventional collection of sketches this week. Our friends in Kentucky wanted us to shoot something for their wedding, so they sent us videos across the country of them answering our questions and told us to have a blast with the rest. So we rolled the cameras and just told Zach to go crazy. I think I can confidently say that he took that direction and ran with it, haha.

I really love the two commercials, especially knowing how much footage got left on the cutting room floor. Matt did a pretty awesome job of distilling it down to the essentials. Haven't had to bust out my Italian accent since my college production of Napoli Milionaria! three years ago, but I had a lot of fun with that character. Maybe we'll bring him back sometime?

From what I understand, the video was a hit at the wedding. (I think they played it as a sort of prelude to the ceremony.) Pretty cool way to be involved from a good 2,000 miles away!

A lot of exciting things have been going on these last few weeks. I'll try to write about some of it tomorrow.

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Conflict Resolution (Grappling with Green Screens)

Conflict Resolution (#9)

Old ATX fans will recognize the ever-talented Jamie Burke from Melvin Becomes a Man making a triumphant return to our channel, and boy is she a force to be reckoned with. It was good to have her on set with us again. A lot of laughs were had during that shoot, and you can kind of tell in some places of the video where people were trying to keep a straight face. Hopefully we'll be able to trick her into getting into more nonsense with us again soon!

Well, my big triumph in this video is that I figured out how to use green screen effects ALL! BY! MYSELF! Boom. 

I guess our Final Cut's green screen program wasn't working for whatever reason, and Matt had pretty much given up on the idea. So I plopped down in front of my computer with a steadfast heart and a cup of hot cocoa... An hour of Youtube tutorials later and I figured out a way to transfer the completed video onto iMovie and add the green screen effects there. (Side note about iMovie: Not my favorite editing software.) 

I know that the end product probably isn't what one would call professional quality... I probably won't be working at Pixar any time soon, but I still think it's a nice touch that really gives the piece something that it wouldn't have had before.

Mostly, I'm proud of myself for being confronted with a problem that I had absolutely no idea how to fix, and then just grappled with it until I could make it work without any outside help. And as a result, I have one more skill that I can tuck into my back pocket for future videos.

How to be a "Real" Actor

I've noticed a growing trend in the roles I've been going out for lately. Here's a snippet of the last couple of character breakdowns that I've auditioned for:

REAL to slight character looking. He's REAL and relatable...

REAL to character looking...

...REAL with character to very character teen...

Within the past couple of years, it's become important for casting directors to find actors who are "real." You can't go to an audition anywhere in this town without being asked to look real. But what in blazes does a real actor look like?

The first step to being real is looking like a real person. Just what the heck does that mean, you ask? You need to look just like "somebody you'd see on the street." Not specific enough for you? Okay, well let me try again...

Real Actor

To be real, you can't look like a big glamorous super star. Just look like a normal person! But at the same time, remember to stand out apart from your competitors or you won't get the gig. But don't try too hard, or then you won't be relatable anymore. They want somebody who is both mediocre and attractive. Just be real!

Not a Real Actor

Being real isn't just in your looks either! It's in how you act as well. You want to be approachable and down to Earth. (But don't forget to have more confidence and pizzazz than your competitors!)

Sometimes you'll be going for a role that is "Real to character looking." This simply means that they're looking for an actor who looks both subtle and animated at the same time. It's as easy as being told to act "Happy to sad!"

(If you're as befuddled as I am, don't worry. If you're alive and breathing, congratulations, you're real. When casting directors ask for a real actor, they're basically just saying "We're looking for an actor that we want to cast." Real means something different to each casting director, and you don't have much control over what that's going to mean. It shouldn't affect your performance at all. Go in there and ride the hurricane of chaos that is auditioning, and don't give it a second thought.)

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: First Kiss

I'm back in LA and ready to kick the crap out of some auditions! Woot! Until then... here's the new ATX!

First Kiss (#8)

Ah, thank God we managed to shoot an episode in a location besides our apartment. The backdrops help to give an illusion of variety, but I would like to see us switch things up more than we do. But new locations require either generous friends or shooting permits. Sooo that's why that can be tough sometimes. It's probably partly my fault. I can get a little timid about asking people for favors when I'm sure more often than not it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. Man up, Wellman!

But speaking of asking for outside help, we got ourselves a bona fide Groundlings alum! I met Sara Cravens through the Virginia Avenue Project, which is a children's theater group I got involved with last July. She's one of those fearless actors where you say "Okay, now you're going to climb on top of me and scream right in my face as loud as you can" and she very comfortably replies with "Like this?"

I was a little nervous about this one as I was writing it, because originally the roles were switched, and it was the guy who was the awkwardly aggressive kisser. It kinda worried me because I was afraid maybe it would come off a lot darker than intended. The safer (and much funnier, I think) idea to have the girl be the aggressor came to me maybe a few days beforehand. I ran it by Sara and we both agreed that it was funnier, so I went through the script and swapped character names around. Funny how just one change can improve a script so significantly.

Also got to put my editing hat on for this one, which I'm a little proud of. Matt did most of the editing, but I went in last week while I was in Kentucky and cut a few things down. Basically I just cut some of the monologue at the beginning (it was WAY too long) and a joke at the ending that didn't really work. Took me a good hour whereas it probably would've taken Matt about three minutes but I'll still call it a victory. 

Barely posted this sucker on time! I was madly scrambling to throw the video onto the internet before midnight like Cinderella trying to escape the Prince's dance before the spell breaks and everybody finds out she's just some poor tramp. But by Jove, we made it! Two months in and we've hit every deadline! Stay tuned!

52 Sketches in 52 Weeks: Puppy Love

Oh, hello there internet. So sorry for forsaking you. I managed to put this sketch up on time, but somehow doing the corresponding blog post always managed to fall securely in the "I'll do it tomorrow" quadrant of my vacationing brain. But anyway... yeah. New sketch. Here it is.

Puppy Love (#7)

If I can pinpoint any one common thread in our sense of humor, I'd say it has to be ugliness. When I hear of anything especially serious or horrifying, I'll eventually think "How can I make that funny?" As a rule, comedy is generally only funny when somebody isn't in on the joke. The audience's laughter is mostly a knee jerk reaction of "Thank God that's not me." (Or, sometimes, "That's me! That's me!") That being said, I think this ATX project has become something of a challenge of mine to see just how ugly I can make a character and still get laughs. 

The guy in Puppy Love is, I think, one of the more extreme examples of that effort. Heartbreak, obsession, rage, delusion, loneliness, insanity... funny stuff!

It's another weird little piece, and yes, the filming process was just as strange, if not more so. It was literally just Zach following me around with the camera while I did creepy stuff with some confused dog that isn't even mine. He kept nervously shaking his head and saying "What the fuck are we doing?" I got a little excited every time he asked that, because in my artistic experience, that question is always followed by a really unusual answer. 

I just about never know what I'm doing with these things, but as a result, the end product always surprises me. As long as that keeps happening, I'll stay happy, because that means I'm continually making new discoveries.