Kickstarter

CREEPY CARESS, a new sketch comedy group founded by LA comedians Brenda Colonna and Candice Thompson, is offering supporters of their Kickstarter campaign the opportunity to be a part of their new web series with incentives ranging from having a character or appearance in a sketch all the way to directing a full episode.  “We knew we wanted to have high production values & an experienced crew for our new series, which takes money” says Colonna, “We’d seen other film and web projects have great success with getting funding through Kickstarter. It’s a good way to raise money while maintaining artistic control.  And we wanted our supporters to be able to be involved in the creation, not just the end result.”

Colonna and Thompson are hoping to raise $6000 to cover the cost of equipment and reward the talents of their cast and crew.  Thompson explains, “We’re all in this because we want a creative outlet and have a great time filming sketches together, but we want everyone to be compensated and to be able to include the highest level of talent available.”  Colonna adds, “As artists, we respect other artists’ time and talent.  When you watch even a :30 scripted YouTube video, the artistic and technical staff involved are donating their time and often incurring out-of-pocket expenses.  Because of the availability of so many, both high and low-end videos for free online, they often get taken for granted so it’s our job as producers to ensure the people we work with aren’t  taken for granted.”

Influenced by shows like Kids In The Hall and Strangers With Candy, Colonna and Thompson like to approach sensitive and potentially offensive subjects with an absurd sensibility that leaves the viewer laughing, and maybe a little enlightened.  Colonna adds, “We’re producing sketches that dance on the hurt line but have the audience come out laughing.”  Each 8 minute episode will include a monologue, sketches and transitional vignettes all centered on themes like racial profiling & stereotypes, drug & alcohol abuse and fear of clowns.“

We want the sketches to be funny above all else and what we think is funny is naturally edgy.” explains Thompson, “Take race, we don’t do the old “White people do this, black people do that” schtick.  We want to play with people’s stereotypes and expectations and show that race is literally not a black & white issue.”  Colonna adds “We aren’t going for shock value in the traditional sense. We just like to explore topics at the frontier; things that people are thinking about right now but probably haven’t seen addressed in entertainment yet.  Look at child abuse, which a lot of people are thinking and talking about right now - what happened at Penn State really raises a whole new crop of issues surrounding the topic that deserve to be addressed in a fresh light.  And comedy is a great way to work through tragedy”