Last Call: Moving Day
It’s our last day of Dorm Life coverage here, and it coincides with the show’s second semester finale.
We do not recommend you watch that without watching the first or second semesters in full. But we do recommend you click the jump.
Other Interweb Hilarity
- Hotchickswithstylepoints.com? (Style Points)
- Rodeo rides roughshod in recession. (Sportress of Blogitude)
- Debunking Whitlock on Watson. (Souvenir City)
- Examining The Beckham Experiment. (Avoiding the Drop)
- So you’re not fans of Freddie Eastwood? (Unprofessional Foul)
- Two good pieces from Buch and A-A at TPP. (The Phoenix Pub)
The fine folks at TPP are also recording a podcast tonight. When it’s live, you can call 1-724-444-7444 (Ext. 57250#) to air out your thoughts.
Our Wares
- PP is downright mean to Norman Chad.
- Samer pays tribute to Julio Lugo.
- I write about how we’ll remember Tom Watson’s weekend.
- TDD gets a shot off at Army-Notre Dame.
A Farewell to Shared Showers
Dorm Life goes dark today, on indefinite hiatus, with its season finale debuting last night. (It’s really, really good.) But we have a little more for you, in the form of interviews with some of the cast, who double as the production workers, on “Global Warming,” Marshall’s brother, where this magical school is, and, of course, on the future of “the Michael Jordan of web shows.”
How did the original concept come about?
Jim (Gopher): All seven of the creators were in the same comedy troupe at UCLA in overlapping years, and we always had a blast making videos and skits that played on our shared college experiences. Oftentimes, the first part of the brainstorming process was simply telling each other funny stories to make each other laugh. We always had the dream of making a show together so that we could keep making each other laugh, and a dorm floor seeming like the perfect place to set the show because of the variety of characters, silly adventures and heartfelt moments that were readily available in that world.
Fortunately, some of our videos got some attention from various people, and pretty soon we partnered up with Attention Span Media. ASM is a social media studio who fit perfectly with what we wanted to do with Dorm Life, because they were excited to make a premium web series and also flesh out the social side (with character profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.), which is something that we were also totally excited about from a storytelling perspective. At that point, we just hit the ground running, meeting almost every night and weekend day to brainstorm the dorm story that we wanted to tell. As a result, a lot of the situations, story lines and characters that became Dorm Life were actually taken directly or indirectly from our college experience.
Are any of the characters based on people you know?
Chris (Mike): There are definitely some loose associations. We all had fun telling stories of people we knew on our floors and a lot of those characteristics eventually became the colors to our characters. No character was directly modeled after someone we knew- but some were close…
Is any of the show improv? Do any of you have improv backgrounds?
Chris (Mike): All of the primary episodes are scripted, but improv was always encouraged. Some moments that made their way into the episodes were the result of improv, but for the most part, the episodes stayed pretty consistent with the scripts. A majority of the cast has a strong improv background, taking classes with the Groundlings, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, and Improv Olympic.
What about the webcams?
Jordan (Danny B): While those in the actual episodes are scripted, the bonus webcams are largely improvised. We encouraged every character to take some time in between taping to record as many or as few as they were inspired to do. While Danny B’s fun facts required a little more planning/research, a lot of people just sat down in front of their laptops and started talking. We were so fortunate to have talented actors/improvisers, familiar enough with their characters and the story to provide some great supplemental plot and character development.
Where’s the college supposed to be? Is it a pastiche of things?
Jim (Gopher): We purposely created our own college, though we based a lot of it on UCLA. They say you should write what you know, and we know UCLA. However, for all the things that we borrowed from UCLA (the Undie Run, the Campus Tunnels, basketball camp outs, etc.) there were a lot of things we changed or made up (semesters rather than quarters, the RA of the Year competition, etc.). One thing that was really rewarding about the feedback from Dorm Life was realizing how universal our show really is. Though we based it on our experiences, so many people have told us “My room mate was just like that” or “That totally happened to me last semester”. There is something really rewarding about referencing something that is super specific but that is also universally shared amongst people within the college community; it often feels like we’re making an inside joke with tons of people we don’t even know. It feels like we touched on a nerve. I love that.
What’s the theme music?
Chris (Mike): The theme music is an original composition by composer Jeff Toyne. Jeff, an accomplished composer and orchestrator, composed the score for my feature film ‘Shadow in the Trees’. After their collaboration, Jeff came onto Dorm Life as the primary composer.
One thing for Brian: Who plays your twin brother Willie?
Brian (Marshall): Thanks to Web-Show magic, I got the opportunity to play my character’s twin brother named William. Doing the scene where the two characters were talking to each other was a bit difficult but I’m really good at talking to myself (I get that from my Mother) so that helped. We considered using my real twin brother to play the part but he actually is extremely awkward on camera (he’s a grad student) and wouldn’t participate.
Where is the show filmed?
Jordan (Danny B): We filmed at the University of the West in Rosemead, California. They were gracious enough to let us use one of their dorm buildings that was empty for the summer. Filming on an actual dorm floor really helped everyone get, and stay, in character—mainly because we spent most of our down time in our character rooms, playing a made up drinking game without the drinking (“Global Warming”—it involves a nerf gun and a laminated map of the world). We felt a lot of ownership over our set, and I think that made everyone feel more comfortable during production.
How accommodating has the school been?
Brian (Marshall): The school we film the show at was incredibly accommodating. We do a lot of wacky stuff in our show and the students and administration there were always supportive and amused by the antics we brought to their campus. We definitely couldn’t have done the show without them. Not only did they provide the perfect physical location for our shoot, the culture of their campus really contributed to the feeling that our characters were living together and going to school with each other. We moved into our dorm rooms, ate in the dining halls, swam in the campus pool, etc. Without them, Dorm Life would not exist.
When you first started how did you get the word out?
Jim (Gopher): We made a big push amongst our friends first, which was made wayeasier by social networks. We asked all our friends to join a facebook group, which became our starting point to mobilizing fans. Luckily, UCLA (where we had the most friends) is a pretty big campus, and as it spread throughout UCLA it started to get passed on to friends of friends everywhere. At the same time, all our characters were actively using facebook, among other sites, to interact with fans. As a character engaged with a set of friends, we started seeing that group introduce the show to their friends, and soon we had little pockets of fans everywhere from Susquehanna to Purdue to San Diego State to New York City high schools and everywhere in between. It’s just now reaching a point where we’ve started getting recognized on the street or at the airport, which is really silly and very fun. I think we’re more excited about it than our fans are.
We’ve noticed you reach out to fans all over social media. Do you consider fan input in plot decisions?
Jordan (Danny B): We filmed all of the episodes over a 20-day period, so when fans are seeing the episodes and commenting on them, most of the future plot decisions have already been made and can’t really be changed. We believe that fan reactions/predictions are an important part of the experience, and we are thrilled to see that people actually have an opinion about who’s doing what in our show. Getting that kind of audience investment is, I think, one of our greatest accomplishments.
What do you make of the effusive fan reaction?
Chris (Mike): It’s exciting for all of us to see that what started as a small grass-roots effort has taken on a life of its own. A lot of work went into Dorm Life both on the creative and production side, so there’s a great validation that comes with reading comments to our videos like: ‘I love your show..better than anything ive seen on tv’ , ‘funny but good’ , or ‘first’.
Has the exposure from the show gotten anyone offers for other projects?
Brian (Marshall): The show has been incredible for the talent involved. Filmmakers, writers, agents, and managers have all approached various people involved in the project. Right now we are getting over 150,000 weekly views for our show. This is bigger than some (bad) shows on TV. What Dorm Life has accomplished is much bigger than we had anticipated and everyone is so grateful for the attention and opportunities it has given us. And to think that we are now being interviewed by The Rookies! It’s incredible.
What are your plans when school’s done?
Brian (Marshall): Most of the people involved in the project are writers/actors/directors. I think it’s safe to say that we want to continue making shows (web and TV) and do film. It’s going to be interesting to start a new show and see how the Dorm Life audience reacts to it. We’re hoping they will buy into a whole new world and set of characters we create but I suppose it’s also possible that they will treat us like Michael Jordan playing baseball (and yes I think we are the Michael Jordan of web shows- we just don’t have as nice a sponsorship deal). Personally, I hope to make a career out of film and TV. I have been lucky enough to fall into a very special and talented group of people whom I hope to take advantage of in the near future.
We have to ask: Will there be a third season? A fourth?
Brian (Marshall): With Dorm Life, we created a world of characters that can easily live on into many more seasons and iterations of the show. There is an incredible momentum behind the show and unreal opportunities when it comes to sponsorship of the show. Not all the characters die at the end of season 2 so the show most definitely can continue. That being said, at this point we don’t know for sure how far off season 3 is as we are also exploring options with TV and DVD distribution. The audience (and creators) would be very sad if the show did not continue, but I can confidently say that even if you have seen the season 2 finale, you’ve not seen the last of Dorm Life.
Again, we would like to thank all the folks from Dorm Life for not only producing a treat of a show, but for being great to us regarding this interview. We started working on this back when our server was held together with twine, and we absolutely bombarded them with questions, but they answered everything with grace and wit when they could have big-timed us.
We appreciate that. And we wish them the best of luck.
I’m not sure I can support a site named after Berthiaume and Eric Young’s hackneyed blathering on BBTN.
I remember when BBTN was “can’t miss” TV for baseball fans
The best advice I never took was if you love tv & film don’t ever do it professionally. Satisfying as a passion, unfulfilling and often soul crushing as a job.
Want me to put them in touch with you via email? I know you’ve got experience.
that would be welcome, it’d be fun to see where they branch out.
Hola peeps, what’s shakin’?
certainly not my girlfriend’s luggage, it’d take the most powerful earthquake in global history to shake those tanks.
good god its July 20th already, time really does start to fly when you get out of school.
lemme guess – you’ve got one pullman, she’s got three, plus a pilot’s bag, and two carryons?
I’m thinking the driver is going to tell us he can’t fit all of the luggage, and that is going to be like her own personal 9/11
Wait. She really needs all this stuff? Didn’t you say she was planning on dropping like 3-500$ over there? Why would she need two of stuff? Leave it home, buy it there. duh.
/tell her she can yell at me, leave you out of it.
if there’s a diagnosable disease for people that worry they won’t be able to find everything they use in their daily life in other lands I’d donate whatever it takes to have it named after her.
Honestly, I looked through one bag and there had to be like 12 bottles of shampoo.
If anyone cares, I just found a USL game – Cleveland City Stars vs ??
Hmmm…interesting read Rockabye. I think the most fascinating aspect is that there is stuff actually occurring in Rosemead. Don’t ever go there, friends, it’s not worth it.
Here comes the funcooker!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNZ9stU6zq4
Evening all. Hope everyone had a funtastic weekend.
Howdy folks, it’ll be quite a while before the show, but keep peeled when we start recording. We’re actually letting 10 of ya sound off.
Comment the phone number and I’ll put it up in the post, too.
I’ll PM, Rock, to not clutter it up.
Alright, check Twitter DM, Rock. You’ve got a number.
Posted, as you can see.
I’ve written about 5000 words on Spycam-gate, and I don’t even know if it’s worth posting.
Good evening everyone.
Do it! I was thinking of writing something myself, but I don’t want to scare people w/ my earnest feminist side.
Do it! It would be a good perspective to have. The only thing scary about earnest feminism is the occasional inability to take a joke, but that doesn’t really seem to be your style.
Cool, that will probably be my normal Friday post, unless I get more energy. But yeah, I can take a joke, but I will call someone out on their shit if they see this as an opportunity to objectify and dehumanize her.
No argument from me on that.
I have a lot of words written, I just don’t know if they are good enough. Maybe we could proof-read for each other.
I can proof for either one of you…
Sure, you have my email right? If not, ask FD or Sculptor and send it my way!
I’ll share with the whole editorial staff, you can all have at it. I’m still self-editing.
Hello guv, how are you this evening?
Got the word today. I’m back in the homeland next Spring. I’ll be starting my “Goodbye America” drinking tour any day now. How’s tricks with you?
Whereabouts? The more desirable, or the longer commute?
It appears to be up in the air at this point, I’ve been told I’m assigned there, but where “there” is is still TBD. Our office in West London is being closed in December, so we’ll see.
/rolls eyes.
“there” is likely to be Hamburg at this point. sigh
okay, so now you’ve no excuse not to haul your ass out here…
Yeah, we’ll have to plan something. This weekend’s no good, I’m in Baltimore. August is relatively clear though.
Hey guys, hope you’ve had a good one.
When confronted with a real team, the Cubs are lying down again. Who would have guessed?
Has everyone left to call JB?
Not me. I’m on the phone with hubby.
not me, I’m negotiating luggage reductions
That’s easy – whatever she can carry, BY HERSELF, in ONE TRIP downstairs. Purse excluded.
she’s being pretty agreeable so far. I actually eliminated an entire suitcase of stuff so far.
lovely!
how I always manage to reassure hubby (and sometimes myself) – it’s not like we’re going to the middle of the Yukon territories. forget something or run out? go buy more. Might not be the 100% preferred product, but still.
“I didn’t realize how much stuff I gathered! Gosh!”
she’s adorable sometimes.
That is not a battle easily won. Good luck with that.
No, I’m not in the mood to mess w/ them.
Jack Nicholson is at the Phillies/Cubs game tonight. I don’t know what to make of that.
He’s gone blind?
Or deaf?
Or senile?
Supposedly in town making a movie with Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon. He also just got confronted by a Batman-outfitted Phanatic. I think I may have just seen everything.
OMAIGAWD. Please please please tell me you have pictures.
It might just break the interspaz if those pictures go up. I would check the Phillies website later, or some of the main culprits in the sports website ouevre. I’m sure we can find it.
Perhaps they’ll show it again. I didn’t realize that this game wasn’t blacked out for me. Comcast Philly often manages to black out even ESPN, so I didn’t even attempt to tune the game. It figures!
If you get Ch. 17 out of Philly, it’s on there. WPHL. The game itself is pretty much over, it was 9-1 last time I checked.
That’s teh problemz. Neilsen says i’m in NY market, so I get NY local channels. FCC says I’m in both, so Philly games get the blackout rule applied. It totally SUCKS.
if you have digital they have a free preview of extra inning until the 22nd. I’m watching my Braves game on TV instead of mlb.tv.
Be happy…Is Lou Adler w/ him? His daughter?
So Buckholtz doesn’t say Eh really at all or have a Canadian accent, I’m kind of disappointed.
GODDAMNIT! Why do you have to ruin my day? I so wanted him to say “eh” and “aboot” a lot!
you can listen to him right now, he sounds sadly normal….
So you’re saying he’s a very good actor?
Oh, I can…who else is on it…I want to know if it is worth muting my music.
FD and JB for sure. I’ve no idea who else they got…or who called in.
anybody seen the old film Anatomy of a Murder and want to save me 2.5 hours of my life with a synopsis?
i haven’t seen it in so many years that i abstain…but did you wiki it? or imdb it? there’s got to be some synopses out there somewhere…
I saw “Dial M for Murderousness”. I can sum that one up for you. Troy McClure was outstanding.
Get ready, we have overtime. So, call the number, and do it!
I refuse to…just imagine I sound like Rosie Perez
That could be funny. I wish I could imitate Suzanne Plechette, then I’d call in.
I would go along w/ this rumor, but FD knows what I sound like…
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
Christopher Walken as the Continental? Or Just regular?
hmmm….good question
DeJuan Blair’s first 3 games as a pro:
13pts, 10 reb
20pts, 5 reb
16 pts, 11 reb
Suck it NBA GM’s.
Oh and to top it off, some guy named Mahinmi dominated Thabeet.
I really don’t know how he fell to the Spurs, he’ll be in the league long after half the people drafted before him are gone.
I’ll never get it. As the man himself said, “my knees didn’t stop me from becoming the Big East POY or from becoming an All-American.” Although somehow 29 GM’s found a way to see a problem that doesn’t exist.
Show should be up sometime. We had technical difficulties galore, but not a bad show. We’ll definitely get the call-ins next week.
So, who should we expect for the latest broadcast?
Please tell me you guys can get CPSL for next week. That would be hilarious. Do a call-in dating game for him….
He is on tap for next week, as we’re going to be grabbing ATD. It’s footy time, y’know.
And if you are doing this “dating game”… We need ladies.
Put it out on Twitter…ask the “ladies” to call in.
Where would we find the ladies for him?
down the block from MagicJohnson’s house is a “massage therapist” I think that she would work out.
I listened while I packed, I convinced the GF it was a Justin Timberlake interview. When she heard Andrew’s voice and said “He sounds different.” my laughter killed the joke.
but good job guys, in the words of Bill McNeil “Good pipes.”
Why Justin Timberlake? Keep in mind, I haven’t listened to it yet.
I just picked someone random that wouldn’t be talking about Erin Andrews on a podcast…Scott Baio was my 2nd choice, but I didn’t know if that would have meant much to her.
oh and I heard my name dropped by JB, excellent!
Sup? So what’d I miss?
Three things for tonight:
A. I am in terrible shape (heaving heavily from a modest run)
2. I don’t know when the Onion changed to the current format, but dammit it’s hilarious
D. Mad Men season two is free OnDemand. I will get nothing done in the next two days.
Smoltz is self-destructing…
I don’t want to hear that. The only good that can come from that is maybe Clay Buchholz coming up.
it went from 2-0 Boston to 5-2 Texas (bot. 6th). And the inning isn’t over yet – 2 outs.
Did Andruw hit any more homers? I love seeing him do this. I wish he’s put together a highlight of every single homer and send it directly to Frank Wren. Wren needs to be reminded daily how the power hitter we need right now was there and he ignored him.
How many episodes are in each season of Dorm life? I’m on episode 5 of season 1. It gives me something to do in work.
This is late, but: I think 20 in the first one, 26 in the second. And they get longer, more like 10-12 minutes.
DIE SMOLTZ, DIE.
FUCK YOU SMOLTZ
Oh jeezuz krist, Smoltzy, suck it up!
I was watching online and i closed it down. I can’t take anymore.
They yanked smoltz. put in delcarmen.
It appears that smoltz yacked.
just before he shit the bed.
Bucholtz sounds Californian…color me disappointed
He’s from British Columbia. They’re more American sounding than you think.
Nevermind, he said “A-boat”…HE’S ONE OF THEM!
No, he’s IN BC. He’s FROM ON (outside of Toronto)
Actually from B.C. Work/go to school in Ontario most of the time. Apologies for sounding Californian.
Oh, my bad. See if I believe your blog bio again.
Actually, I hear your accent. I’m a linguistics/language development nerd, so accents/phonetics fascinate me. I did mention I’m a nerd, right?
Oh yaz. That’s why lots of us love you. Well, one reason anyway.
Piss off, inuits?
Someone club your seal?
Ya know, i’ve been debating all day whether or not to mention that. All I got is WTF???
Save the Whales, Club a Seal.
Save the Whales, win valuable prizes?
What kind of prizes?
Blubber, mostly. If you’re really lucky, Ambergris.
It’s in the show that we embedded.
wow FD is you’re on
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/2009/07/the_jeff_jarrettkurt_angle_situation.html
*kicks Saber signal* Is this thing on? Evening, all.
Next week on RAW… IT’S THA SHAQ SHOW!
/insert robotic dancing here…
Well, thanks to Smoltz shitting the bed the Red Sox lost.
/searches around for a game in HD…Reds Dodgers, that’ll do.
Manny being Manny. Damn, was that thing hit a long way…
I know the person who created this:
http://www.junglethief.com/about_us
I love a good laugh.
That is…bizarre.
HAHAHAHAA Manny Ramirez bobblehead night (tomorrow or weds, not sure which) is SOLD OUT at the Dodgers. Probably the biggest crowd in like 5 years.
FYI, The Right Stuff is on TCM. Great movie.
things seem to have died off here so I’ll make my exit before I just completely forget. Everyone take care and I’ll see you in a couple of months.
Safe travels, babe!
actually very quick before I go, friend just said that Stu Scott was promoting some Shaq vs Big Ben show on SportsCenter as John Anderson kind of awkwardly cringed/changed the subject cause I guess news just broke that Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault in Vegas.
As pointed out on Deadspin, the news station (WTAE Channel 4 – You Stay Classy Pittsburgh!) Decided to print the potential Sexual Assault victim’s name.
Way to go guys, now she’s going to have a million rapid and potentially fucked up Steeler’s fans harassing and assaulting her for the rest of her life. Way to make a terrible situation a million times worse.
OH FOR THE FUCK OF SHIT! I hope those assholes are forced to go a rape crisis center and works w/ the victims.
I thought that was the first rule of potential sexual assault cases.
#1 Use a credible source
#2 FOR FUCK’S SAKE DON’T PRINT THE POTENTIAL VICTIM’S NAME.
Jesus that’s awful.
That’s just genius.
Though it’s a civil case. I think that matters.
yeah, seems like a technicality in this case. Still a really poor judgment even if it’s not technically breaking the unspoken rule.
Oh, sure, I’m not saying it’s anything but gutter-level crap.
Just trying to figure out why.
I also hate that they call it Sexual assault. Sexual assault is grabbing boobs or peeping in a room.
Rape is Rape. Call it that.
Can someone give me a source, plz?
They still deserve castration.
/Volunteered w/ rape victims
Deadspin has some including the bastard one in question.
It was first reported by Pro Football Talk.
But If I’m going to link to someone, and my choices are Deadspin, a TV station that prints a potential sexual assault victim’s name and PFT. I’m going with Deadspin
Nice
PFT did the same thing. Well done Florio, way to be a douchebag.
For the record, we don’t care where you link, as long as it’s not, well, what we’re not linking to around here.
And isn’t Florio a lawyer?
What? Links!
Also, hi, I’m back.
A’ight, I’m toast.
See you perps tomorrow.
nothing like a late night tornado warining
That sounds interesting…IDK, I’m from earthquake central
Yeah… not much fun. I think it’s dieing before it gets to me, but it’s still kinda nasty outside.
I’m on the third floor of a hotel, so we’re prepared to go to the ground floor in a moment’s notice
On that note, i should shut my computer down… night all.
well you shut your computer down already, but it died by me, so it shouldn’t really hit you.
Whut up shitmoppers???
Bad news monday. Just a bad news monday, sports, work, the whole nine. Hope things are going better w/ you peeps.
Things are lookin’ up! I’m going to Houston this weekend for a Lastros game (I don’t care if they’re not in last, it’s more fun to call them that). I’m looking forward to it, both for the game and for the fact that Houston is basically the only place I can get anything Houston Texans-related. Although my brother said that a CVS Pharmacy near me has Texans gear. I’ll probably go and check it out, but seriously… a CVS is the only place I can get Texans shit? Really?
Fuck, damn night shifts. I always miss these things.
I’m on the eternal night shift. If you’re here and it’s past 2 AM, trust, I’m probably around.
I suppose I’m not surprised at that. Last night the character @Real_Ron_Artest was in a dream I had. We were hanging out as #thetwocoolestdudesintheghetto or some shenanigans, then he disappeared and I got stabbed. I must be spending far too much time on the internet, it’s invading my dreams.
That is…that’s a problem.
But on a lighter note, I am liking this Dorm Life thing.
It is well worth your time.
Thank you for pointing it out.
I’m going to bed but damnit gally, write part 2 of your deadspin thing on your site, I liked part 1
I’ve been super busy lately, class in the morning until I go to work in the evening. I don’t work tomorrow so I’ll put part two and maybe part 3 up as well. I didn’t get much feedback on it, so I wasn’t sure I had an audience. But now that somebody has actually asked for it, I will oblige.
I like Dorm Life too, but I’ve only seen the first 11 episodes. Does it become less of a, uh, slog eventually?
It does pick up. It should’ve hit its stride by now, though, so if you’re not loving it, you might want to cut bait soon.
Oh man, that reminds me, I had another waiter dream.
I wake up pissed off and freaked out at the same time. True nightmare fuel. Anyway it’s good to have company this late
(Please pardon any typos right now though, the pc here isn’t playing nice right now.)
And go phillies. heh heh
Your dream was waking up….. huh? So you’re still dreaming?
WAKE UP MAN!!
I hate restaurant-mares. They shake you to the core.