Lucas Heil

WATCH THE PILOT - CLICK HERE

'Punchliners' will be a six-part mockumentary-style comedy that follows the writing team of a flailing sketch comedy show called Slappity Bam. In the first episode, the audience will be introduced to Jacob, an aspiring young writer who has been drafted in to help revitalise the shows dwindling ratings. The film crew will observe the almost-surreal exploits instigated by the lead writer, Kevin, and his team, through the eyes of an earnest, naïve Jacob. The six episodes will include a story-arc for both Jacob’s personal life and the writing team’s creation of the latest season of 'Slappity Bam'.

The individual acts of episodes will be bookmarked with sketches from 'Slappity Bam', complete with studio-laughter and professional graphic titles. The aim of these is to broaden the comedic appeal, in much the same way that famously successful shows such as Seinfeld and Louie integrate more instantly accessible humour via stand-up sequences. Please note, that due to budget restraints when filming the current pilot (or more accurately, the virtual lack thereof) the sketches included should not be considered indicative of the quality of the final product. They'll look and sound much prettier. And you won’t be able to see the boom guy’s shadow.

The principal cast will consist of the two main characters, Jacob and Kevin, as well as a secondary cast consisting of five additional writers, Michelle, Andrew, Nathan, Forrest and Emma. The pilot episode will explain that Jacob and Michelle are new to the team. Throughout the start of the series, their preconceived misconceptions of the team’s questionable professionalism will be a common source of comedic situations.

'Punchliners' will be targeted toward an 18-45 year demographic, and will include adult themes and uncensored coarse language. Like the word ‘cock’.

The pilot episode for ‘Punchliners’ has already been produced at our own expense, although will be reshot in its entirety. While this pilot is a decent indication of our intentions, achieving our funding project and having a budget capable of accommodating superior equipment will ensure a far more polished episode.

The painful reality of Australian television in its current form, and indeed for television throughout most of the world, is that risks aren’t being taken. Competition, and indeed money, is incredibly tight between the major Australian networks, and they simply aren’t able to go out on a limb as much as they would clearly like to these days. That’s why they’re forced to stick with safe options like ‘Everyone Loves Raymond' re-runs and the ever reliable ‘dramady’ format. (things like 'Packed to the Rafters', 'Offspring' and 'Winners and Losers'). Sadly, they’ve been burnt by Australian made comedy. It’s with a great deal of embarrassment that we must admit to being a part of a generation living in a country where the most consistently awarded local ‘comedy’ production of our time is the NRL Footy Show. Our dream is for this to change.

As mentioned, the major networks aren’t really in a position to be able to take risks on the production side of new Australian comedy at the moment. The ABC and SBS are therefore bombarded with an overwhelming number of pitches, to the point where unless you’ve blackmailed or kidnapped the Chief Commissioning Editor’s daughter, you’re not getting on television.

That leaves us with traditional funding methods, such as Arts Grants and Film Council funding, but these too have their problems. Investors such as these predominantly want to make films rather than television, because that’s where the profit and recognition lie. We have a back-up plan for this (sneakily making the series but cutting down the six episodes to film length, a la ‘The Trip’) but it remains a secondary option for the time being.

So that’s where you come in. Crowd-funding gives us the opportunity to maintain complete creative control over the project, without having the pressure of private investors breathing down our necks. We have a target, based on a detailed budget for a two-week filming period, but we have plans in place for every $1,000 over that amount. This brings us nicely to...