Webventures is Pitching Perfect

The Webventures of Justin & Alden: now on your intertubes!

What would YOU do to get famous?
This is an interesting question and one that Justin and Alden are working through at the moment in their wacky Webventures. Episode three is now out and our hapless duo find themselves mixed up with some bad - and hot - company (with guest appearances by Scott Chernoff, Adam Leiphart, Jessica Rose, Douglas Sarine and Taryn Southern):



Sticking it to the basics
Webventures is multi-layered, not unlike the Trident Gum so artfully placed within each episode. On one level it is a buddy movie with the familiar standards of the less-than-smart slacker and his even-less-smarterer friend who are fighting against 'The Man' to achieve a dubious goal (where 'fighting' equals 'driving around in apparent circles', 'The Man' is their obscurity and the dubious goal is fame. And Felicia Day.).

Webventures is also a road trip where the guys live and love and learn. Just, you know, with not much of any of those things actually happening.

On another, slightly more elevated level, it is a stark indictment of the paucity of ambition in today's youth, where the only motivation to do anything is driven by a desire to achieve that most ignoble of goals - FAME! They want to live forever. They want to learn how to fly. Fame! Remember....What were we talking about again? Oh yes. Pie.

And the last layer is the same as the first. Like pie. It's a snappily-written comedy that manages to knit together most of the stars of the webseries firmament into a mostly-believable* narrative where product-placement literally provides cohesion. Where we go back to the future to when soap operas were a legitimate form of entertainment (and advertising), and George Washington roamed the earth.

Who is behind Webventures?
It might be easier to list the people in new media who aren't involved in some way with this series. From the writers Sandeep Parikh (Legend of Neil and The Guild) and Tony Janning (Legend of Neil) to the actors Justin Tyler and Alden Ford (both from Milk Men) and award-winning director Sean Becker (here's my interview with Sean), this webseries has a serious pedigree. And it shows.

What have we learned?
Webseries can be funny, knowing, informative and pay the rent. And former Presidents might try to jack the gas out of your ride.** You can tri-denting their reputation but once you've chewed it over you'll gob-solutely admire their tongue-in-cheek humour and won't want to burst their bubble.***

And now for something completely different....
Don't forget that Goodnight Princess Act 1 and Act 2 are now up on YouTube. The final Act 3 will be out next Monday and you can find out more here. We've had some really positive feedback so far - so yay for trying something new!

* My suspension of disbelief might be calibrated differently to yours
** I'm trying not to hold Sean Becker responsible for Kenny's recent troubles, but I think we all know who the culprit was.
*** You can blame Hubby for these. Sandeep and Tony have now legitimised his obsession with puns and now he Just. Won't. Stop.