Have a Swingin' Christmas

And a very, very, very hap'nin New Year!

Here's a little video that we made for the holidays. Just some extra split screen fun. Since the Amber Turnipseed video was such a blast to make, we decided to do another in a similar vein (we won the Turnipseed competition by the way).

Hope you like it!



You can also see the video on YouTube. Please feel free to rate and comment! it would be the perfect Christmas gift!

Happy Holidays!

ROBB

Winner!

So, the winner of the "Very First Contest" for Break A Leg was announced last night -and it's US!

Yay!

Here is the winning video again, in case you haven't checked it out.



I can't tell you how much fun this was to make. It took Robb and I about 3 hours all together to film - which doesn't include Robb recording the song and editing.

So, thanks Break A Leg people!

While it was fun to see everyone else's entries, I think you can figure out why I can't help but have a special fondness for this one.



Tanya

Some News

Hello Lifties, Robb here to tell you that it’s been an exciting Thanksgiving season. Is there a Thanksgiving season? I hope so since I said there was earlier (see above) and I hate to look like an idiot (not that it doesn’t happen all the time, but I don’t have to like it!) If not, it doesn’t matter since it’s over now.

All that aside, we’ve been featured on YouTube! That’s right the YouTube! “But, Robb” you say, “I’ve been to YouTube thousands of times over the Thanksgiving holiday break in order to get away from my family and especially creepy uncle Ted who keeps insisting that the 60s sexual revolution never really died – almost too adamantly – and I haven’t seen LFTI featured on the front page at all.”

Well, first I’d reply “why do you use such long rambling sentences when you speak?” and then I’d tell you that you’re right. We haven’t been featured on the front page…yet. The front page of YouTube is still pretty much reserved for Weblebrities, sleepy pets and Canadian music videos. But we have been featured on the “Entertainment” page. It’s in the “Catagories” section. It’s behind a yellow dumpster at the back of an ally just off the secondary road to the main highway of…look, why don’t I just give you the link:

http://youtube.com/categories_portal?c=24&e=1


There, now you can find it.

Please, feel free to go to the Episode 4 (Part 1 of 3) page and rate it! Comment too! We could use all the support we can get. Episode 3 has already been featured and we got some nice comments. But as with everything on the Internet, there are those who like to show the world just how insipid they can be. So why not go to the page and show everyone that our viewers can actually string a proper sentence together (you don’t have to spell correctly though, just pretend that you’re a nice foreigner).

Here’s Episode 4 (Part 1 of 3):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HCPGUMho56o

We also have entered the Break a Leg “Very First Contest” Contest with our own special love letter to Amber Turnipseed.

Confused? Maybe this’ll clear things up:




That didn’t really help much did it? No. But it is cute right? Sure it is. As LeVar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, “But don’t take my word for it.”

Here’s an article from Tilzy.tv to back up my claim:

Tilzy.tv article about the contest.

Okay, they didn’t say it was “cute” per se, but what do you want from me?! They liked it! And if you like it too, go ahead and comment and rate it on YouTube.

“But, Robb” you say again, asking too many questions, “I need a YouTube account to rate and comment don’t I? Won’t I look stupid having an account since I don’t make videos?”

Well, yes you do need an account. And no, you won't look stupid. In fact, if you leave a nice comment you'll just look, well...nice. And nice people rarely look stupid.

Anyway, that’s the news from here. I’m working on the music for Episode 6, we have another short in the works and we’re starting pre-production on Episode 7! Look for all that soon, but not too soon, we have to keep up standards around here.

ROBB

Congratulations!

So, we are a bit late for this, but we need to send HUGE congratulations to Joel (aka Eric) and Deven (aka Olava) who were married on October 14th.

Congratulations you two - we couldn't be happier for you!

I feel like I need to point out that this mean all three of our Recurring Guest Stars are now married/engaged. Apparently we at Katr are very good at helping our recurring cast find that special someone. Okay, fine, these people were all together when they started this project, but we'd like to pretend we had a hand in making this all happen.

Tanya

We’re Featured

On indieTV.tv that is.

I urge you to go to indietv.tv and give them some love. You’ll probably recognize some familiar faces on the front page. Our viewership on indieTV has been a nice little boon, so, again, go to indieTV and watch, or at least vote or comment or something (as long as you’re in the commenting mood, why not visit our iTunes page and write a review? Or, go to YouTube and leave us a nice note. You could also subscribe to us now on Miro – if you haven’t checked out Miro, I highly recommend it, it’s great. BTW, people who liked us on Miro also liked Katie Couric’s podcast. Really? That’s cool with me. But weird, no?).

Anyway, Kaywood Hopkins is the man behind indietv.tv. I’ve actually been a member of the site for quite a while. I joined up right after we decided to make an online sitcom. Kaywood used to produce an indie sitcom called 35th Street Mission and I liked it. Plus he was a fellow Washingtonian so his show had even more interest to me.

Also, Kaywood built an entire coffee house set in his basement! And I’m not talking about some crappy cardboard boxes painted and taped together either. It was a good looking set (Hey Kaywood, do you still have that, I’m just curious?). Now that’s dedication.

So, go to indietv.tv and check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

And watch for the Halloween special to appear there very soon.

ROBB

We Were Mentioned (By Proxy) in the Huffington Post!

Thanks, Yuri.

Okay, here’s the deal; Ryan Davis of the Huffington Post blogged about independent “TV” shows on the web yesterday.

Two shows in particular were on Ryan’s radar, “The Burg” and “Break a Leg.” They are both very good shows. Both of them produced by good people. Kathy, Tanya and I actually bought “dinner” and drinks for Kathleen Grace and Thom Woodley, the producers of The Burg (they were in LA from Williamsburg, very nice, but where are the new episodes?!). We haven’t had a chance to buy Yuri and Vlad Baranovsky of BaL a meal yet, but if they’re ever hungry we will be more than happy to.

So, how did we get mentioned, and why am I so eager to buy food for a couple of expat Ukrainians? Well, the only reason we’re on the Huffington Post is because Yuri and Vlad mentioned LFTI as one of the shows that they are watching.

Wasn’t that cool of them?

I’m not sure of the number of hits that have been generated for our site due to the Huffington Post’s…uh…post because they didn’t hyperlink to us. But we had a good day yesterday. Our second biggest ever. Yeah us!

[Okay, I just checked back in with the article. It seems that we are now hyperlinked! So now I’ll be able to track just how many chocolate martinis we owe the Baranovskys.]

Anyway, check out the article on the Huffington Post (mention how much you hate the war in Iraq and get a free smoothie!).

And, whatever you do, don’t forget to watch Break a Leg! Visit their blog. Buy some T-Shirts. Just say “thanks.”

Thanks again BaL.

ROBB

You Say You Want a Resolution

Well, you know…we all want to change the world.

Or your online sitcom-watching experience anyway. It turns out that resolution(s) are not just for the New Year, because last time I checked, it was still October (although, as old as I am now, I’ll blink and it’ll be August again).

I suppose my point here is that…we have added “Hi-Resolution” versions of every episode! Yeah! Now, when you subscribe to iTunes, you won’t have to sit and watch crappy recompressed files!

(Okay, I just want to take a second here to let you know that we do indeed have a proper iTunes page now! I was afraid that they’d let us twist in the wind, but they didn’t. Good ‘ol Apple. Maybe they’d feature us if they knew that we do the entire show on a Mac? I dunno. But I wanted to say that you can subscribe to us through the iTunes store now. We’re under Podcasts/Comedy. Just search for “Life From The Inside.” You may have to look closely, but we’re there! Although Episode 4 seems to be missing at the moment...)(Right, back to the post)

Yes, thanks to blip.tv (seriously, one of the best sites on the Internet. Go there and give them some love – and tell them to feature us!) we now have super-high quality versions of each and every episode.

I can’t stress enough how different your viewing experience will be when you watch the hi-resolution files. You’ll notice stuff like subtle facial expressions, set decorations…actors.

Gone are the days of feeling like you’re watching our show in a Saharan sand storm. Say “goodbye” to tinny, indiscernible musical cues and lines. Say “hello” to the era of noticing audio edits, boom shadows and crap that we accidentally forget to remove from the kitchen.

Yes, the videos are that high quality. But don’t let the boom shadows frighten you, the show is – dare I say – 200 times more enjoyable when you can see stuff (that’s a scientifically proven fact…trust me…don’t research it).

The files have not been changed for episode 5, but episodes 1-4 are new and looking great. They’re also looking huge. So when you click on the “watch in hi-resolution” button on the respective episode’s page, give it a moment to load before you watch. I case you forget we’ve included a gentle reminder on each page.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that there is a new feature on lifefromtheinside.com.

Quality.

I’ll leave you with some thumbnails that I made to upload to blip.tv. They’re tiny on Blip, so I figured I’d show you a few here. I did make them after all, you might as well look at them.

ROBB








Robb’s “Mason Moment” brought to you by Life From The Inside:

My computer wants me to capitalize the word “Internet.” I’m sure it’s proper. Why would my computer lie? But I’m not very comfortable with the idea. At best, it makes me feel like the Internet is a person or a proper place (Like “The Louvre” not like “the bathroom”), at worst, it makes me feel like I should worship it.

Maybe I’d feel better if we stopped capitalizing “God?” Maybe we should stop capitalizing the Louvre while we’re at it…or people’s names. Don’t people have big enough egos already?

Damn you Internet! Who do you think you are anyway? Free porn does not a deity make, pal.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Mason

Our Halloweenie Halloween special is online…yesterday. Yes, it went up yesterday. But have no fear, if you act within the next two months, you can still be one of the first 45 people to see it! How’s that for the ground floor, huh?

Oh, I’m kidding. I’m sure that “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Mason” will take the Internet by storm! I mean, it is listed on the “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” Wikipedia page after all (a special thanks to the wikihead who listed us!).

So, if you haven’t seen “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Mason” go there now and watch it. I’ll wait. Hmmm…waiting…waiting…waiting…

Okay, I can’t wait anymore, it’s not fair to those who have seen the short. Those people who left to watch the special will just have to catch me later, I’ll fill them in.

Speaking of Wikipedia, LFTI has it’s own page now as well (thanks again anonymous wiki user)! If you have stuff to add to it, just create an account and edit the page! It’s that easy…I mean, so I understand. I, personally, have never used Wikipedia. Nope. Not ever. I don’t have to. The anonymous poster does all my work for me. In fact, I think I’m going to have the anonymous wiki-person get me another cup of coffee right now…

Ahhh. Thanks Wiki-Dude.


They Like Themselves! They Really, Really Like Themselves!

Sorry for the subcategory (Wikipedia allows users to add sub-categories, like, say, special guest star categories for instance) but I wanted to change the subject a little.

As Fuz pointed out in the comments, it’s time to vote for the TV Guide awards. So, if you’d like to, go ahead and vote. I urge you to vote for the “little guy.” No, there’s no specific show called “the little guy.” I was speaking figuratively.

In the case of the “Original Web Comedy Series,” “the little guy” would be the professional actor with the least amount of money.

Your options are:

“Clark and Michael” starring Michael Cera (from Arrested Development and Superbad) and countless celebrity cameos.

“Illeanarama: Supermarket to the Stars” starring Illeana Douglass (diva of the big and small screen) and countless celebrity cameos.

“Derek and Simon” created and produced by Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show and numerous other things) and featuring cameos from Bob’s celebrity buddies.

“Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager” starring…well…Chad Vader (Darth’s Younger Brother – evidently much younger considering Darth lived a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away).


Okay, “Chad Vader” isn’t a big show. They worked their way up from the bottom like a good indie show should, but, let’s face it, they built their show around a character that was already established in the American psyche. Half their work was done for them.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is…go ahead and vote if you want. Me? I’m not going to bother. You? Go ahead. Why not vote for Steve Carrell (The 40-year-old Virgin, The Office) for “best web actor?” He could use the boost.


Zen and the Art of Website Maintenance

Another sub-category! I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to get the new short (“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Mason”) on the front page. And I finally did it!

Yeah me! Go me! Me in ’08!

Yes, our normal web diva has taken a new job (congrats Lauren) so she doesn’t have the time to do the little stuff at the moment. So I’ve taken up the mantle. I put on my Cher wig. I am the new web diva!

We don’t need Lauren anymore!

(No, Lauren, we still need you. Please! I’m begging you! That was just a self-congratulatory outburst brought on by an unusual feeling of…what is it? Self-esteem? See, I don’t even know how to describe that emotion! Don’t leave us! KATR needs you! LFTI needs you! We’ll write GDD into every show!)

Enough of my groveling. Watch our fantastic new Halloween Special!

ROBB

I've nominated Episode 5 for a TV guide award in the category of "Best Web Comedy Series."

I'd like to thank Break a Leg for illuminating me about the fact that TV Guide is even having such awards.

I figured that I'd nominate Episode 5 since it's our newest episode. But it doesn't have to be the only one! If you get the inclination, go ahead and nominate your favorite episode. There are 4 more to choose from (plus you could also nominate episode 5 again, it might help our chances). It's easy. Just pick a category and fill out the form. A process made even easier since our fantastic new website contains all the info for each episode right on the page with the video!

Copy, paste, nominate. Then watch the acclaim start to roll in (possibly).

Then, don't forget to vote on the 15th (I'll remind you)! You don't even have to vote for our show (though I don't know why you wouldn't). You could vote for Break a Leg. In fact, why not go to their site now and watch? I thought I'd ask. It's the least I could do since I stole their idea. Seriously though, they have a great show. I watch it all the time (well, as much as I can, they only have two-and-a-half episodes up so far). They're good people. Give them some love.

But only if you have enough love left over after nominating and/or voting for Life From The Inside!

Thanks so much!

ROBB

If the excessive amount of hyperlinks didn't give it away, you can go here to nominate us!

Oh, and you can also nominate any one of our fantastic actors as well! A nice award could be just the thing to make them forget how horribly we pay them.

Congratulations!

A huge congratulations from all of us at Katr to Jimmy (aka Grocery Delivery Dude) and Lauren (aka the worlds most awesome web designer) as they got engaged this weekend!

Go check out GDD's short "Bagging" and make sure to leave a congratulatory comment for Jimmy and Lauren. (Oh yeah, I totally worked a plug into this post).

Congrats you two! We can't wait to hear the whole story.

Tanya

October is a fabulous month

Our friend and website designer extraordinaire, Lauren Cole, has worked tiredlessly with us (well, mostly with one of us, the other two of us trust his judgement) to create our beautiful, newly redesigned website. We love it. If you need and want some web design help, we highly recommend Lauren. You can check out her work at www.laurencole.net. She's easy to work with, affordable, very fast, and has a great eye. Thank you, Lauren, for making our October an even better month than usual!

I love October. The weather cools, chili and stews simmer, the NFL is in full swing, and Halloween infiltrates all the southern California theme parks. What's not to love? My fellow producers love October, too. So much so, that we planned two October Life From the Inside releases!

Our first release is available now, it's our fifth episode, our scary episode, entitled *side effects may include night terrors. We think this might be our best episode yet. Which is comforting, because that's our goal - get better with each episode.

Episode 5 has some interesting stories behind it. (Interesting to me, at least.) The episode was originally written by our head writer back in May of 2006. It was a favorite from the start. It sat untouched for a year during our production of the first four episodes. When we looked at it again in the spring of 2007, we still loved it. Which was kind of rare. Robb did one rewrite based on all the things we had learned producing and writing the other episodes, and then it was ready to shoot.

After having an outside director for the first time on episode 4, we knew we wanted to do that again. Working with Thor on ep. 4 was an all-around wonderful experience. Thor wasn't available for five, so we started brainstorming. And we decided to shoot for the moon. I had met Geoffrey through a wonderful producer/director friend of mine. Not only is Geoffrey well-known for his acting, but he is a highly-respected east coast director who had recently relocated to L.A. We approached him about directing 5, knowing he was booked with acting and directing gigs for months. But we were shooting for the moon, so we went for it. And Geoffrey said yes! He made a huge difference in the episode for us and we are grateful he took the time to work with our little show.

Besides the script that flowed easily, and the reknowned director, and the fact that it was shot entirely at night, there was one other thing that made this episode unique. It was the first time we had three guest stars in the apartment for the majority of the shoot. We've had three guest stars before, but they were in different locations filmed at different times. To have eight actors, plus the crew and our director, in a one bedroom apartment for a two day night shoot - well, it was a challenge and very fun.

We loved having Joel back reprising his role of Eric. Besides Joel's appearance in LFTI, he has some small, silly movie opening this month with some guy named Ben Stiller in the lead. Joel is great to have on set. He stays in the moment so well that some of his ad libs make the main cast, especially the producers, start laughing. Great for us, bad for the take.

Father Timothy is played by the talented David Boyd. And yes, that's his real accent. David is an actor who supplements his income by being a tennis pro. We made many a joke about middle aged woman taking numerous lessons. We first met David because he used to be roommates with Jimmy Bopp, who is the recurring (and starring in his own short) Grocery Delivery Dude.

And finally, Sid, brought to life by the uncomparable Stephen William Moore. We've known Stephen for years. His day-job is a very corporate gig where two of the producers also work. Doesn't look corporate, does he?

So that's a few behind-the-scenes tidbits of episode 5. But I mentioned two October releases. The second release I can't tell you much about, it's super-secret. I can tell you it will appear in a few weeks, and it will be worth the wait. It's different than anything we've done at LFTI so far. And we're very excited about it. Stay tuned.

Kathy

First Post, I Win!

Welcome to the fabulous "Life From The Inside" blog! What is "Life From The Inside" you ask? It's a new internet sitcom from Katr Pictures, of course.

Go and watch it! It's here, at lifefromtheinside.com.

And be sure to check back here for interesting tidbits posted by the cast and crew. Actually, I can't really guarantee that the tidbits will be interesting, but I'm sure that they'll be tidbity.

ROBB