The DYNAMITE CHANNEL is an interactive sketch comedy channel championed by the Dynamite Sisters, Katie Folger & Juliet Robb.
We see the online channel as the modern variety show— each sketch, its own act! We love an array of comedic genres both past and present, giving Dynamite a flare that's classic, timeless, modern all at once. Tune into DYNAMITE and you may find:
- slapstick like that of Buster Keaton
- a full-fledged dance and song number that takes you back to I Love Lucy and The Carol Burnett Show
- a character-driven mockumentary series a la Trailer Park Boys
- satirical sketch a la Key & Peele & SNL
- content that inspires, emboldens, and interrupts!
But wait...Dynamite's more than just funny stuff. It's interactive, too.
That's right... we want you to create with us! We are thrilled to share what we love with you, and we want you to share what you love with US. Think fan suggestions, think live online performances, think Dynamite Sisters dares. We're pushing ever-further into the ever exciting frontier of storytelling and audience engagement. Stay tuned during our campaign-- you just might get your first of many invitations to the disco of creator, audience, heart, and honky tonk.
Get to thinking, pardner... WHAT MAKES YOU DYNAMITE?
C'mon now. Don't be shy.
BOOM.
The Dynamite Sisters are the bolder, fiercer, sillier, braver and more rascally versions of ourselves. When Katie couldn’t possibly imagine singing a cowboy ballad in the middle of a crowded restaurant, her Dynamite Sister self certainly could. And when Juliet wouldn't dance like she was the queen of disco in busy downtown Austin, her Dynamite Sister self didn’t bat an eyelash. These clowns are cheery, hilarious, vibrant beacons of leanin’ on your partner in the good and bad. Think Thelma & Louise with a little more funk. Lucille and Ethel with a little more spunk.
It’s 2010. A nervous redheaded high school senior is knocking on theater professor Lucien Douglas's office door at the University of Texas. "Come in." As young Juliet enters, she sees a blonde around her age sitting at Douglas's desk-- a freshman Katie Folger. Suddenly, Douglas leaps from his chair and draws the two girls together, cheek to cheek, a wild grin and epiphany gleaming in his eyes, as he prophetically announces, “You two...are going to be GREAT friends!” And hot damn was he right.
And we were set off, seven years ago, with a rather appropriate BOOM! We became quick friends, natural collaborators, and found an amazing tribe of creative women that we lived with in college. Together the ladies were complete dynamite, like an action shot of a building exploding behind a line of babes slow motion walking toward the camera-- POW! We spent coffee dates and late nights making each other die laughing with insane impersonations, impromptu music videos, and dance parties across the house. This force of ladies was the seed of Dynamite Sisters Comedy. Meanwhile, Katie and Juliet started conspiring to spin their spectrum of passions-- film, stage, comedy, and community-- into one helluva brand new platform.
But faster than you can say 'hasta la vista," graduation arrived--and the real world along with it. We had no money, and the call of the 9 to 5 was getting louder. We looked at one another and said NO! Our creative visions deserved a ferocious shot, hell or high water.
So we moved into a tiny apartment, tightened our belts, and spent every free second visioning the world of Dynamite. It felt like being a kid blindfolded and dizzy at a birthday, whacking the entire candied guts out of a Spongebob piñata…and the crowd goes wild. We hatched a game plan for developing short form sketch comedy for an online channel and wrote a television series called Las Leyendas de Dulce Vida that was a finalist for the Sundance Episodic Story Labs!
And then the visions started to materialize. We spent the better part of 2016 in Albuquerque, New Mexico developing the Dynamite Comedy Channel. It was magic. With the first leg of work shot, we knew we had to take it back home to launch it in the place that inspired its creation in us-- Austin, Texas!
So, TA-DAH! Here we are! We are now embarking upon our tender second stage of this whole dream, and it involves you. YES. Because we believe in you. AND we believe in your Mom, in your dog, in your ex-boyfriend, in your best friend. Come out on the range with us...right here, right now! Thanks to the web, the possibilities are endless! With your help, we can dosey-doe past previous barriers and bring our content straight to you!
We will be shooting lots and lots of short-form sketch content for the DYNAMITE channel (www.dynamitesisters.com) in the coming months. With your help we will be able to make this explosion of this work possible. Let's do it ya'll!
Meeting our goal will be a tremendous demonstration of the generosity and kindness that we know exists in our community. Our dream is to push ever further, generating opportunities for other artists along the way and creating joyous experiences for you and your compadres to share in together. We want to make live shows, community events, and the pilot episode of our original series for you! A difference of a hundred dollars can open a position for a well deserving performer or crew member for a day; and it is for this reason we are asking you to go above and beyond. We would be over joyed by meeting our goal of $15,000; surpassing that goal creates more opportunities for artists and audience members alike.
Here's where your dollars will go:
- cast + crew: we believe in fairly compensating artists, and we want to rally the best of the best to make this channel happen!
- equipment rentals: we need the proper lighting and sound equipment to make a gorgeous product!
- wardrobe, props, + set design: DYNAMITE's got style, and we want the threads and set dressing to show for it.
- marketing: I bet you want to see what we make! we do too! advertising is huge, and we want to share DYNAMITE with everyone we possibly can.
We’ll be uploading regular content and creating opportunities for you, our audience, to interact and create with Dynamite— both in person and online! Think DYNAMITE dares, live variety shows, DYNAMITE parties and events…it’s all in the works.
We also hope to host others' work, gathering diverse creators and content that inspires, emboldens, and interrupts. Holler at us if you've got some ideas to bring to life, y'all!
In the long run, Dynamite will be a production company that makes both long form and short form content— sketch comedy, feature films, episodic series, etc. We were stoked that our first long form project, Las Leyendas de Dulce Vida, a southwestern comedy, made the final round of the Sundance Episodic Story Labs in 2016.
Katie Folger (creative director, co-founder) wears a whole lotta creative hats, but she sure enjoys her cowboy as of late. She got her start in film acting in a whole bunch of award-winning Austin-based indies and projects, both comedy and drama-- Zero Charisma, The Honor Farm, Results, and From Dusk Till Dawn (TV Series) to name a few. Most recently, she reprised her role as sniper villain Meredith in season 2 of Rooster Teeth’s Streamy-Award winning sci-fi series Day 5. Folger created a support system that hosted workshops for women in all avenues of Austin film, inspired by her own magical experiences at the Sundance Labs and Austin Film Society Labs. She's also a published poet and visual artist.
Juliet Robb (creative director, co-founder) is a rebel minded, modern day pioneer woman. Graduating from UT Austin's Theatre and Dance department taught her one thing; you gotta take your destiny into her own hands and the first step is finding fantastic creative partners. She has starred in many theatrical performances including A Streetcar Named Desire in which she played Blanche Dubois. For the last two years she has ventured into the film realm, debuting in films as an actor as well as writing a television series with none other than the spit-fire, Katie Folger.
BOOM SQUAD
Madeleine Robb (creative producer- AUSTIN, TX) Look no further: the joke is here. Madeleine is the bodacious wild card who brings the loud and brings the goddess. With a background in theatre and opera, her presence as a performer is truly a force of nature. Currently a brand ambassador for Goodwill, her other merits include: director, photographer, and social worker. "My aim as a creator is to craft art that generates compassion in all who encounter it." A co-sister in the early days, she's been a part of the Dynamite project since day one!
Jacques Colimon (creative producer- LOS ANGELES, CA) is an award-winning multidisciplinary Haitian-American performer, writer, and documentarian. He loves systems that cater to spectrums and enjoys a deep penchant for anti-marginalizing narratives and experiences. Griots, freedom fighters, myths and mystics. This collaboration has been in the works for years-- he and Katie met at UT theater camp in high school and always knew they'd be forever creative allies. Together they developed a documentary investigating the cancellation of the Superconducting Super Collider, which is still in the works. He and Juliet are off to Alaska this summer to star in their second film project with Austin director Caleb Kuntz. The overlap is endless! (ICM, Untitled; SAG/AEA ; 2015 Austin Critics Table Lead Actor award; 2016 B. Iden Payne Lead Actor;UT Austin BA Theatre & Dance / BS RTF)
Derek Beck (editor- BROOKLYN, NY) is a director, editor, writer, producer and actor - in that order only. Any other reorganization of these self-described titles would be patently false. He worked at Vimeo as a video editor and community manager for almost six years and was a co-founding member of the super group Neko Neko Films. He’s made all sorts of videos over the years and claims that the best ones can be found at www.derekbeck.co How can we verify this claim, you ask? Unfortunately, we can’t. I guess you’ll just have to blindly trust this biography that Derek, himself, is definitely not writing in the third person at this very moment.
Elijah Marquez (director of photography- ALBUQUERQUE, NM) is a filmmaker based out of New Mexico. After graduating from the University of New Mexico, he fell in love with science fiction and horror films. Working with the hilariously talented duo The Dynamite Sisters has rekindled his appreciation for comedy and love for storytelling.
Virginia Hilliard (stylist, set decorator- ALBUQUERQUE, NM) is a bombastic composer of genre fashion and the proud owner of a bangin' vintage clothing store Heck Yeah Vintage (https://www.etsy.com/people/HeckYeahVintage). Intuitive and resourceful, she makes it her business to create custom styling for women to feel beautiful as they strut their unique vibe. A true pioneering babe, she's recently started to rock film set dressing and event design like the lady boss she is in her everyday life.
David Barrera (producer- AUSTIN, TX) is the 25 year old family man with a plan. He is the proud father of a beautiful 3 year old girl, Mila Isabella. He has been acting since he got his first role when he was 8 years old and has been involved in both theatre and film since then. David believes in the power of storytelling and has made it his mission to encourage empathy and vulnerability through his own work.
Vicky Boone is a casting director and creative powerhouse. She cast Terence Malick's The Tree of Life, Richard Linklater's That's What I'm Talking About, Spike Jonze's Scenes from the Suburbs, David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Peter Landesman's Parkland and Jason Reitman's Men, Women and Children. Prior to her rockstar career in casting, Vicky worked professionally as a theater director and producer for 15 years, directing over 50 plays and producing many more. For ten years she ran the critically acclaimed Austin theatre, Frontera Productions, and produced the annual fringe performance festival, Frontera Fest. Vicky's grace, humility, yet undeniable force is exactly what we wish to embody as we navigate this beloved venture.
Mike Blizzard is President and co-founder of Blizco Productions, which provides strategic consulting, public and media relations, and collaboration on books, screenplays and documentary films. He is the producer of the award-winning NO NO: A DOCKUMENTARY, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and has been licensed by Showtime, Netflix, and ESPN. Mike serves on the Board of Directors of the Austin Film Society, and served two terms as Board President. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Hill Country Conservancy. Mike is one of our original Dynamite fans and we are so grateful for his guidance in the marketing of this campaign. It is an honor to work so closely with somebody as rooted in the historic Austin film scene as Mr. Blizzard.
Kirk Lynn is a playwright and novelist. He is one of six co-producing artistic directors of Rude Mechs theatre collective. Kirk has written and adapted more than a dozen plays, including Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra, Stop Hitting Yourself, and The Method Gun. His work has premiered at the Lincoln Center, Humana Festival of New American Play, and Playwrights Horizons in NYC. He published his first novel, Rules for Werewolves, in 2015. Kirk also happens to be head of Playwriting and Directing in the theatre department at our alma mater, UT Austin. We both were spoiled rotten when students in Kirk Lynn's playwriting class. He taught us how to steal from the work that we love, to be PLAYFUL in our own work, and helped us shape our television pilot that was in the finals at the Sundance Episodic Labs. We love and thank you, Kirk Lynn! You're a dream!
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dynamitesistas
instagram: @dynamitesisters https://www.instagram.com/dynamitesisters/
BIG THANKS to additional Kickstarter team:
Garrett Ferguson (Ruckus Paintball; Albuquerque, NM)
Spencer Greenwood
Lauren McFather (production assistant)
Jordan Herron (production assistant)
Risks and challenges
Creative projects are uncertain by nature--luckily our wagon's packed with support and talent to boot! We are saddled up for the challenge with an amazing team of next-big-thing creatives and award-winning, A-list mentors. We need your help to make this the biggest blast off it could possibly be.
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