Film review site Screen Nut featured SUMMIT last week and said some cool things about our teaser trailer for the film. The wonderfully supportive site creator Mike Holden then invited Christina to do a Q&A about the film & her work in general. Give it a read HERE.
Kelsey: The Webseries
What Kelsey Could Have Been
As a reward for our recent Crowdfunding campaign, we promised supporters that they'd get our outline for what would have been Seasons 2 & 3 of Kelsey, had it continued, along with the would-be Series Finale script. We're keeping the script exclusive to the campaign supporters, but we decided to share the breakdown of the would-be seasons with the rest of the series fans. Enjoy!
What Kelsey Could Have Been
Our original plan for Kelsey was to have 3 seasons. We went in expecting to do 3 - no more, no less - assuming the series found an audience. As you all know, it did find an audience, but continuing past a first season just wasn’t in the cards for us (http://www.congestedcat.com/blog/2014/4/8/christina-kelsey-talk-kelsey-whats-next).
That said, we did do a lot of planning for what the series would have turned into, and are proud to be able to share it with you. We hadn’t worked out all the details, but had seasonal arcs & storylines for each character.
The Story
SEASON TWO
Kelsey & Joanne
We would have jumped 3 months from the season 1 finale, explaining that Kelsey took a stand and chose Joanne, asking Shane to leave and not contact her or her friends. Joanne gets over the incident and she and Kelsey are happily in love for a couple of episodes until they start discussing where their lives are headed. Joanne’s character is developed more throughout the season. She’s in school and has literary aspirations. A rift in their relationship is planted early on and grows as the season progresses. Joanne is very determined and, in her final year of Grad school, often busy working and writing. Kelsey becomes annoyed with Joanne for never being available to go out. Joanne becomes frustrated because Kelsey doesn’t understand why planning for the future is so important to her. She points out Kelsey’s lack of direction and it becomes apparent to both of them that Kelsey’s wishy-washy nature doesn’t pair well with Joanne’s plans for herself. They end up breaking up. It ends mutually, realizing maybe it’s not them but the timing that’s not right.
Sam & Rowan adjust to really just being friends. We were very against on-and-off relationships; we definitely wanted to firmly keep them off. Rowan would settle into domesticity with Kate and be surprised that he was happy about it. He would continue to grow as a person and have revelations about what it means to be in a good relationship with open communication, which at times could sound preachy, but the others would accept him. Sam expands on the business front. She becomes boss to a whole group of employees and ends up dating one of them. This turns into a serious relationship throughout season 2 despite her initial distaste for him (keeping in line with her type).
Tyrone would go through a dating phase, where he’d sleep with a new man every week. He considered this the path to finding himself but continuously feels emptier. By mid-season, he would go into a dry spell and decide to study religion, to humorous effect. He would not end up with anyone by the end of season 2.
The season would end with Kelsey attempting to find a hobby by doing something with each of her friends to no avail: yoga with Tyrone, jogging with Rowan, kickboxing with Sam. It would end with her doodling to pass the time and realizing she’s always loved drawing. This was a seed we planted in season one with her doodles all over her office and bedroom.
Fun Bonus: We had one fun idea for a 3 episode arc towards the middle of the season where Sam, Rowan & Tyrone would meet up at the bar without Kelsey, not knowing what she’s up to, and end up telling stories about what they did yesterday. In each story, Kelsey would make an appearance. What happened for her that day and ultimately where she is at the moment of them all meeting up would only become clear through the combination of her appearances in each of their stories. We unfortunately didn’t get to flesh this out further, but believe it would have been a ton of fun to do. Interestingly, this idea was conceived before Arrested Development season 4 premiered on Netflix. If you’re a fan as we are, you can imagine that we were not disappointed, but rather elated that we had come up with such a similar creative-structure to that of those brilliant writers.
SEASON THREE
Kelsey would have relationships with women that weren’t perfect and they’d usually end in Kelsey getting the fade away. Showing growth, she would not be too bothered by it. By mid-season, she’d meet Carol, who would have been in three episodes. They’d get along and have chemistry but Kelsey would realize that she has a lot of growing to do and Carol is not the one. She ‘d substitute her need for love with the passion she’s found in drawing. By season’s end, she would get hired by a creative agency and actually flourish in the new environment.
Rowan would accidentally get Kate pregnant and they’d decide to keep the baby since Kate is very financially stable and ready. She and Rowan would decide that he would be the stay at home parent. Many jokes would come out of the group’s reaction to how much Rowan has changed, for the better.
Sam would break up with her boyfriend and casually date another guy throughout the season. She’d get promoted again within her company to Marketing Manager, which would force her to consider moving to the West Coast. After a pro and cons episode, she’d decide its best if she goes, and Kelsey would have to come to terms with it.
Tyrone would meet the man of his dreams at Kelsey’s new job. Fearing he’s been replaced, he would follow her to happy hour after a workday to meet her new coworkers. It would turn out that the guy she had befriended is just enough like Tyrone that they hit it off.
By the finale, Kelsey would get her own studio apartment and learn what it means to be okay with being by herself.
The Look
Christina wrote about the unique look & feel of the series/1st season in her ‘Directing Kelsey’ series on our blog. Feel free to give that a read here: http://www.congestedcat.com/blog/?category=Directing+Kelsey.
As for where the rest of the seasons would have gone visually:
SEASON TWO
Season 2 would have been firmly planted in the present, with no more flashbacks/camera-slides to the past. This would have meant a big shift for viewers of the show (though not unfamiliar since we toyed with it in Episode 9 of the series), but a necessary change to represent Kelsey’s ability to finally live in the present. An exception to no longer doing flashbacks would have been the 3-episode arc towards the middle of the season, (discussed above) involving the 3 supporting characters. It’d be a fun throwback to the 1st season and Kelsey’s story-telling nature.
Christina & Peter (our DP) were still in talks about how they’d progress the look of the show in Season 2 when the decision was made not to continue. However, since the motif of working up to tighter shots and lenses was no longer a constraint, they discussed the varying ways they could show the deterioration of Kelsey & Joanne’s relationship, a lot of which revolved around creating physical distance and strategically placed barriers between them as the season progressed. (For instance, using furniture or literal dividers like doorways, to separate them within shots.) The show would retain its warm, intimate look both in shot construction and color tone.
SEASON THREE
Season 3 on the other hand would focus quite a bit on the future. In fact, it would spend much of the season flash-forwarding to Kelsey breaking up with Carol, specifically Kelsey doing the dumping. The season would have brought back the camera-slides of the first season, but always sliding into the future. It would still feel warm, but with a little less of a sitcom glow to it. It’d grow up, so to speak. It’d look a little more cinematic and have more blues (over its original orange-hue) incorporated. This would have been to create a sense of finality, while retaining an openness to future possibilities. The motif of progressing the color tone over the course of the season, basically working its way up to the look of the flash-forwards, was discussed and likely would have been one of the more noticeable shifts of the series, most reflecting of it coming to a close.
Seattle Gay & Lesbian Film Festival: Kelsey
A few month's back, Christina & Kelsey were invited to participate in a Panel tour for LGBT Web Series. Their first screening and panel were at the Cinema Q Film Festival in Colorado, which Kelsey recapped here. Our next is at the Seattle Gay & Lesbian Film Festival today at 1pm! Unfortunately, neither of us could attend to speak on behalf of the series, but episode 5 will screen and hopefully cause an increase in our series fans! We hope to be able to attend and participate in future panels/festivals as they come up. If you're in the area, you should definitely attend this one, not just to see "Kelsey," but the other funny and well-executed series, and to support the creators as they speak about their work.
Web Series are the New Black - Cinema Q Recap
Christina and I were invited to be a part of a panel tour on web series a couple of months ago. Kieran Turner, who writes and produces Wallflowers, had reached out to Christina because he had watched our show and thought we’d be a great addition to his panel.
We thought it was a great opportunity for us to expand our audience and meet other filmmakers.
Christina and I are planning on attending as many panels together as possible. This one, however, was scheduled on our original shooting dates for ‘Not Our Living Room’ and ‘We Had Plans’, so Christina encouraged me to go on my own to represent. And who would say no to that? That = Christina. No one says ‘no’ to Christina. Just kidding. I was thrilled to be able to go.
Cinema Q is a Denver based film festival in its sixth year. It is sponsored by The Center and Out Front Colorado, and the panel took place in the beautiful Denver Film Society building. Ernie Quiroz is the programming manager and he coordinated most, if not all, of our travel.
I flew in to Colorado on Friday, July 25th. I’d been patiently awaiting this day, because a) I’m always excited to meet other filmmakers, b) I love anything LGBTQ and c) I’d never been to Denver and I’d heard lovely things about it; I couldn’t wait to explore.
I was the first of my panel to get to Denver. The Film Festival organizers had a volunteer pick me up at the airport. His name was Matt and he was wonderful. I ended up taking the ride with two other filmmakers, Dan and Antonio, who shot Mala Mala, which opened at TriBeCa Film Festival and celebrates the trans community in Puerto Rico.
During the ride Matt gave us a bit of background information on all of the myths surrounding the Denver airport, which made the ride go by quickly.
After settling in at the hotel, two of the four other panelists arrived at the hotel.
Kieran, the organizer or our panel and creator of “Wallflowers” and Jason Cicci, who is the creator/writer/actor of “He’s with Me” arrived at the same time. I had watched both of their shows and was a fan. Both are relatable, down-to-earth comedies about life, love and daily tribulations with LGBT elements.
We all hit it off immediately. I wasn’t expecting such genuinely sweet and hilarious individuals (because Hollywood…), but we could not have had a better time. Kieran, Jason and I got a bite to eat and had a couple of drinks, shared filming stories and personal anecdotes.
Later, we all got a ride to the Film Society. At the building we met up with the final panelist Rick Copp, the writer/producer/actor of “Where the Bears Are”. He was the perfect addition to our team. He’s a super entertaining individual and he has a lovely loud laughter that fills a room.
The panel began on time at 7pm. There were between 20 and 35 people there. I forgot to count. Personally, I thought it was closer to 35, the others thought it was closer to 20… so I’m giving you the range.
Sebastian La Cause, from Hustling, had to cancel last minute, so he wasn’t there in person, but all of our shows got to air one episode.
I got very nervous as ‘Kelsey’ was about to go on. It was weird, because I only get that way when I have to speak in front of strangers, and that wasn’t the case. It is a very nerve wracking, but also humbling experience to see your work on the big screen. Luckily, Rick was sitting right next to me and was laughing throughout the screening, so that boosted my confidence enough to feel comfortable speaking about our show on the panel.
I did miss Christina, though. A lot.
The questions individuals asked were great. They really seemed interested in the medium and what the mechanics behind the scenes were. It did appear that all of us had self funded the first season, and every season the learning curve improved.
As for what the future of web TV is, I don’t think we came to a clear conclusion. More data is needed, more success stories and more outlets. We all had the consensus we’d stay with web, since it’s affordable and we can tell our stories the way we want to, but as far as how to fund projects, there are many ways to do it, but none of them are easy or consistent.
After the panel the four of us went out to drinks to the ‘Shag Lounge’. It was great. I was exhausted (jet lag from the 2 hour difference). We had a couple of good laughs and parted ways.
I can’t wait for the group to meet Christina and to do more panels. I’m also addicted to all the shows now (yay binge watching!). I will say Rick had the best tagline for his show: “Where the Bears Are, it’s like Golden Girls meets Murder She Wrote with big hairy gay men.” Who doesn’t want to watch that?
All in all, it was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had career-wise. And I can’t wait to do it all again. Next time with my partner in crime, Christina Raia.
We finished our thank yous & have some news!
Hello all our wonderful supporters,
We hope you had a great week. We waited to update because we wanted to finish up all our thank you cat photos and personalized jingles for each of our public supporters, and were finally able to do that today! Hear our final jingle:
I think it's safe to say that I'll be taking quite the break from snapping pictures of my cats. I'm curious to see how long that lasts though. If you missed your thank you photo, you can find it amongst all 111 of them on our Facebook page. You can find yours or any other $50+ supporters' personalized jingle on our Facebook page as well. Kelsey got creative with each and every one, and I've definitely enjoyed listening to all 42 of them. I'm sure you will too!
Also, as promised in my last update, here's our group photo from our celebratory dinner last Friday night. We all had a blast.
Some more exciting news is that our web series 'Kelsey' has been invited to screen at the Cinema Q Festival in Denver next weekend and Kelsey is being flown there to speak in an LGBTQ Web Series Panel! This is the first of hopefully many screenings and Panels we'll have throughout the next year because we were invited to do a Panel tour of LGBTQ Film Festivals. We'll keep you updated on the progress!
Lastly, I was interviewed by FilmSyrup.com a couple weeks ago and the Q&A was released this week. Feel free to give it a read if you'd like to know a little more about CongestedCat Productions.
Thank you all again for your support. We're working hard to make you proud. More updates soon!
Christina