Popular movies, TV shows, comic books, and video games have all seen their share of crossovers. The concept has really taken off on the web particularly. The collaboration process has become the go to strategy for YouTube personalities trying to increase their audiences.
Yet, SUPER MASHED UP, from SUPER KNOCKED UP creator Jeff Burns, may be the first web series of its kind to embrace the concept, with different characters from such popular shows like PAIRINGS, THE BLOODY MARY SHOW, CLUTCH, and Burns’ own series, all appearing on screen together at the same time. Seven different shows are represented in the eight episode series, which debuted on April 16th on Youtube, with new episodes airing each Tuesday.
Each episode features hilarious, yet exciting adventures with unlikely partnerships – and enemies – among characters that one would never imagine seeing in the same show. Among the notables include Ed Robinson (Alan from PAIRINGS), Jourdan Gibson (Jessica James, Super Villain DarkStar from SUPER KNOCKED UP), “debt collectors” Matt (Matthew Carvery) and Lex (Caitlynne Medrek) from CLUTCH, plus Vanessa Verduga (star and creator of JUSTICE WOMAN), plus various cast members from the kung-fu movie spoof CHOP SOCKY BOOM, THE BLOODY MARY SHOW, and the sci-fi thriller REALITY ON DEMAND.
The concept for SUPER MASHED UP was developed by Burns, who knew that unlike the legal hassles that come with gathering multiple casts from multiple TV shows (those produced for mainstream TV), the casting process was fairly simple, not to mention the fact that each actor was not only conveniently in the same place (the series was filmed during LA Web Fest), but also that they were, and still are, close friends, a factor that contributed to the production’s overall success. “We’ve all hung out so much as friends and at festivals, and it was nice to see us all practice our craft together,” Robinson says. Many of the episodes were written on the spot, with a lot of input from each actor. “I feel like we wrote it (the series) in the same way that comedy writers quickly write things for the Academy Awards backstage,” recalls Robinson.The production process was further enhanced by a closely-knit crew, spanning each web series, not to mention a talented cast of actors, who despite having never worked together, achieved instant on-set chemistry. “One of the coolest things for me as a director was how easy it was to see her (Jourdan Gibson) work with Ed or with Matt (Carvery) and Caitlynne (Medrek) from CLUTCH. It was like they had worked together the whole time, and they never had. That’s the first time any of them had worked together,” Burns says. “Putting characters from popular web series together on screen is exactly the kind of thing that separates what we’re doing on the web from what can be done on television. It was great to see that web series creators and performers alike were not afraid to just play,” Robbins says.
Along with Burns and PAIRINGS director Jodie Younse, Robinson points to another key component of the series’ success – cross promotion of each of the shows featured, further building audiences for those shows. “The easiest way to quantify the success of promoting each other’s shows is on social networks. I have had several fans of Super Knocked Up and Twitter and Facebook reach out to me to tell me they just watched Pairings because they saw it on Super Mashed Up and they loved it. I have also had a few Pairings fans tweet me to tell me that they’ve enjoyed Super Knocked Up and Clutch. That personal interactivity with the fans is what makes web series…and Super Mashed Up, great.” Robbins also echoes those sentiments. “I’ve already seen fans from other shows cart over to Clutch and I assume the same is happening from ours. I think this is the case because the characters are so distinctive to the shows they represent, it’s more than just seeing all the actors together,” Robbins says. Yet, the biggest goal for each creator is simple, Burns says: “The big thing in the end is just having fun, doing what we love, with the people we love.”
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/SKUWebSeries
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SuperMashedUp
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/supermashedup
Each individual web series is available on the following links:
SUPER KNOCKED UP: www.superknockedup.com
CLUTCH: www.clutchtheseries.com
PAIRINGS: www.pairingstheseries.com
THE BLOODY MARY SHOW: www.bloodymaryshow.com
REALITY ON DEMAND: www.realityondemandseries.com
JUSTICE WOMAN: www.justicewoman.com
CHOP SOCKY BOOM: www.chopsockyboom.com