About this project
Court Ordered: Cartoon Series Pilot
$10,783
162
WELCOME TO THE NEXT BIG THING IN COMEDY!
COURT ORDERED is a show about down on his luck alcoholic, drug addict ERIK MYERS, who is sentenced to Rehab Group Therapy after being arrested for drunk driving. There, Erik meets an array of characters who help him on his journey to getting rehabilitated back into life. Struggling with the stresses of looking for work, dating, and dealing with everyday people, all while completely sober.
The show is loosely based on the life and stand-up of comedian Erik Myers and features stories from an all comedian cast and its ongoing guest stars.
We produced a short of the cartoon last year with the money we could pull together and everyone pitching in their time for free. It was featured on both FUNNY OR DIE and NEWGROUNDS, and was very well received. The short below is just a small taste of what we are looking to accomplish with the series, both animation and story-wise. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP!
ERIK MYERS (Writer/Main Character) is a stand-up comedian and recovering alcoholic drug addict. A Baltimore native who has been killing audiences with his fast-paced, high-energy comedy for the last fifteen years. A paid regular at The World Famous Comedy Store, was recently featured on Showtime's "Andrew Dice Clay Presents The Blue Show", has a one-hour special "Dopeless Romantic", and is a crowd favorite at all the major comedy clubs around the country.
ERIC J. FREEDMAN (Writer/Producer) is the creator of Tomorrow's Nobody. He has been producing cartoons, sketch comedy, web-series, and more since 2001, helping create the popular cartoon series, "Tomorrow's Nobodies" while still in High School. His cartoons have been featured all over the web and viewed millions of times. Eric fell in love with comedy when he was five years old and when he was fifteen, instead of just playing with his dick all the time, he started writing jokes about it. In his spare time he tours the world with Sublime With Rome as their Road Manager. Eric worked on the documentary "MANNY", performs stand-up comedy all over the country, and has been told by many Hollywood Executives, "No".
TONY CELANO (Animator/Director) has had a love for animation for as long as he can remember. Tony began animating in middle school with flip books and stop motion. In high school he found Flash and became enamored with it, frequently submitting cartoons to Newgrounds. He and Eric met and began working on cartoons and sketch comedy together over ten years ago. Under the Tomorrow's Nobody name they have continued to produce cartoons for the internet, as well as producing content for other comedians, companies, and unsuccessfully pitching series to Television Networks.
SAM TRIPOLI views comedy as a calling more than a profession. It's a passion he has used to reach audiences at comedy clubs across the country and on television. Tripoli's 2nd Album "Believe In Yourself" went #2 on iTunes in America and #1 in Canada. His TV credits include Showtime's "Live Nude", Russell Peters "Comics Without Borders!", E!'s "Love You, Mean It! With Whitney Cummings", CMT's "The Josh Wolf Show", and Comedy Central's "Premium Blend". He's written for the "MTV Movie Awards", Comedy Central's "Roast of Joan Rivers" & "Roast of Pamela Anderson", and The 2011 "World MMA Awards".
STEPHANIE SIMBARI is one of the stars of Oxygen's "Funny Girls". She is a comic, actress and bonafide yogini, and is making a name for herself from coast to coast. She can be seen performing regularly at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and is currently opening for notable comedians Whitney Cummings and Ben Gleib. Stephanie is the co-creator of multiple sketches that appeared on “Last Call with Carson Daly” and co-hosted Glamour.com’s webseries “Why Do Guys: Comic-Con”. Her comedy has been highlighted in LATFusa.com, Wildfang.com and Golly Magazine. Stephanie’s style is fun, self-reflective and honest.
CRAIG PHILLIP CONANT was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His mother is Mexican and his father is white as hell. Craig has been performing all over California, Las Vegas, and Arizona and is quickly making a name for himself. He stands out on every show he's on, even performing alongside some of today's biggest comics including: Chris D'elia, Daniel Tosh, Anthony Jeselnik, Dane Cook, Iliza Shlesinger, and Ian Edwards. Craig used to do a lot of drugs and you can tell, even though he is sober now. He always has a smile on his face and will eat anything you hand him. Also known as "The Lomita Man".
BECKY ROBINSON is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress. Her comedy has been featured on FOX's "Laughs" and NuvoTV’s "Cabo Comedy Festival Fresh Faces". She was cast as a lead in the Oxygen pilot "Straight Up With a Twist" and worked on Nikki Glaser’s Comedy Central pilot "Not Safe For Work". Becky was recently cast as a featured player on Season 8 of "Wild ’N Out" with Nick Cannon on MTV. Becky and rapping alter-ego Lil Pickles can both be seen live during upcoming Los Angeles tapings.
JAY DAVIS is an actor, stand-up comedian and comedy promoter/producer who garnered nationwide attention after appearing in Dane Cook's "Tourgasm", where he was dubbed "the nice guy". Jay produces some of the most popular comedy shows in Los Angeles, bringing through today's biggest comics. He performs in all the major clubs around town and continues to perform stand-up comedy throughout the U.S., both with and without his Tourgasm colleagues. A true staple of the LA Comedy Scene.
WHAT THE MONEY WILL GO TO:
Production of an 11 minute Animated Pilot Episode (out by end of September 2016)
ANIMATION: From storyboard to finished cartoon. The majority of the money will go here. We have some incredible artists and animators ready to go.
TALENT: Sure we could be like most clubs in LA, ask our comedians to bring out lots of people, and then pay them in booze...but four of them are sober now. Plus, we believe in paying the talent.
AUDIO: Everything from recording, to sound effects, and music. We have some amazing people pitching in help in this area for next to nothing.
KICKSTARTER and REWARDS: Some of the money goes right back to Kickstarter and we have to cover all of the great rewards.
HOW WILL WE COMPLETE IT?
Pilot script is done, talent is in place, and we're ready to record as soon as we're funded. Storyboarding will begin while a cut of the audio is put together. Then onto an animatic while backgrounds and character files begin. Then into the trenches with the animation. More money means more help and less casualties. We will add sound fx, music, some fancy credits and watch it a million times to make sure our eyes fall completely out of our heads.
*Anyone who donates $25 or more will be a part of this process and at times we will ask for your comments and suggestions!
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT'S DONE?
We all celebrate like rockstars and cross our fingers that no one ends up back in rehab or in it for the first time.
The finished cartoon will go online for everyone to see, pass around, and hopefully enjoy! We will hold a premiere at a comedy club in Los Angeles and Phoenix, where we will show the cartoon and the comedians will perform. We also have some people around the industry waiting to see it. The finished cartoon will be pitched around town in hopes of finding a network or company to partner with so we can continue the show as a weekly or VOD series.
Risks and challenges
With the production of any show there is always the challenge of delivering the best quality in a timely manner. But we have given ourselves a reasonable amount of time and scheduled out our entire process. We are very confident we can deliver an amazing cartoon for all of you to watch no later than September 2016. The more we can raise, the more we can get all the talented people around us to make this a priority and possibly release it even earlier.
Getting all the great rewards together will be it's own challenge. Luckily we already have some great companies around to produce all the physical goods. We're prepared to handle all the personal rewards, and already have a couple comedy clubs that we have relationships with for the premiere.
Keeping Erik sober.
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Funding period
- (30 days)