May 6, 2011

It was about 5 years ago that I had first interviewed writer Steven Tsapelas for ICONS OF FRIGHT. On top of sharing mutual friends and both being from Long Island, NY, I was impressed with his unique and distinct writing style that made of all the short films he had contributed to so memorable and quotable. Back then we discussed ALPHA DEAD, his collaboration with occasional ICONS contributor John Torrani, as well as his bizarre short film TEENAGE SUPERHERO PREGNANCY SCARE, a 10 minute movie which combined elements of pregnancy scare movies and superhero lore.

In the time period since along with Angel Acevedo and Brian Amyot, Steven was part of the filmmaking troupe called RagTag, which produced the Internet cult web-series WE NEED GIRLFRIENDS. ICONS also published one of his unproduced scripts for a short called “Untitled Lance Henriksen Romantic Comedy“, something we knew every horror & sci-fi fan would appreciate and love. (Read it HERE!)

The entire RagTag team is finally back with a brand new hilarious web-series titled MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND, a riff on BACK TO THE FUTURE and TERMINATOR as filtered through Tsapelas’ unique voice. Given our history, coupled with the debut of the new web-series, we thought now was as good a time as any to catch up with Steven and get the full scoop on MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND. The episodes are embedded below the interview for your convenience and pleasure! Check it! -Robg.

Robg.: First and foremost, I notice elements in MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND both from the Untitled Lance Henriksen Romantic comedy script we posted on ICONS OF FRIGHT and of course your web-series WE NEED GIRLFRIENDS. So what were the origins of MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND? Were you culling from ideas of things you didn’t get the chance to do on those previous mentioned scripts/projects? Or was this a new idea on its own?

Steven Tsapeles: Brian, Angel and I went to the Streamy Awards in 2009 and ran into our internet agent. We asked him, “What are people buying now? What’s selling?” And he said, “Put a hot girl in your show.” So, I started to think of how to make that work and not just be another “hot girl” webseries. I’d wanted to dabble in a “genre” webseries for a little while, as so many of my favorite movies and shows are genre. I’d always loved how low-budget and personal the first “Terminator” movie was compared to the second (and third and fourth and TV show…), and was always so drawn into the love story aspect of it. I thought a rom-com version of that, with a bit of a role reversal, could be funny and relatable. There are definitely trace elements of that “Henriksen” script in this, but I mainly wanted to focus on the romance aspect. Upon presenting the script to my agent he said, “I can’t sell this.” So, as we do, we decided to produce this one ourselves. Thus began the long process from script to tiny screen.

Robg.: One of the things that I find so enjoyable about all your work is the self-referential nature of it all. Meaning, you wear your love of movies and comics and video games right on your sleeve and it appears prominently in your shows. For this, obviously things like BACK TO THE FUTURE, TERMINATOR 2, ANIMAL MAN, TMNT, etc. Do you consider it a challenge or a hindrance putting so much of yourself (personally) in the work? Or does it just come naturally out of the writing of these characters?

Steven: At the time I wrote this, I was living with Brian, Patrick and Angel in Los Angeles and we spent a good deal of time talking about things like “Back to the Future,” comic books, Paul Verhoven movies, etc. When you’re that knee deep in the stuff all of the time, it just appears naturally when you start writing. I also had that Donatello poster in my bedroom anyway and I thought it would be really funny if I called attention to just how ridiculous it is. A lot of times though, and this is what scares me the most, I write a line and don’t realize until much later that it’s a reference to a movie or show. My brain is making references my body can’t cash.

Robg.: Speaking of the writing, there were elements of truth that inspired WE NEED GIRLFRIENDS. How much in MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND is based on actual experiences? Obviously, you didn’t come across a time traveling girlfriend, but you know what I mean. Do you cull from a lot of real life experiences from your real friends for inspiration?

Steven: It doesn’t seem worth it to write and produce something on my own without making it personal. At the time I wrote this, I had become very, very aware that turning 30 was just around the corner. Through making a show about dating in my early 20s, and in reading the comments and reviews of this show, I came to think there was something really young and superficial about the way I approached romance in WNG. Characters fell in love through pop culture and mutual attraction. I wanted to kind of get past that in my life, and in this show, and show that even though people don’t always share the same interests, there can be a deeper connection.

Robg.: It seems like this and your previous web-series work followed the tradition “serialized” format, meaning you guys always end just on the right cliffhanger to lead into the next episode. Is this a challenge for you when it comes to writing the episodes or something you consider fun, getting to those cliffhangers and working them into the overall story?

Steven: In making “We Need Girlfriends,” a lot of our popularity started to ramp up when we did a three episode arc with built-in cliffhangers. I thought that format would work well here too. It was really no different from writing act breaks in a TV script, and it got to be kind of fun figuring out what the cliffhanger would be, and trying to turn these seemingly little rom-com moments into jaw-dropping “Lost”-esque cliffhangers. Brian did a great job directing these and Dan Ingala’s music added a whole different layer.

Robg.: Casting is always pivotal and for WE NEED GIRLFRIENDS you got the right group of actors to make that show work as well as it did. How difficult was it casting MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND and what did each of the actors bring into the project that perhaps you didn’t expect?

Steven: I had written the character of Alan with Patrick Cohen in mind, and thought it would be something different for him to play, rather than just playing “Tom” from “We Need Girlfriends” again. Kirsten Scoles, who played Christina, actually went to the same college as Brian, Angel and I but, for some reason, our paths didn’t cross until we all moved 3000 miles to Los Angeles. Evan Gaustad came in and read for us and we really just dug his subtle delivery. Brigitte Hagerman was also someone that we’d worked with in “We Need Girlfriends,” and we thought she would be completely right for the role. The real surprise was Cheryl Texiera. Kelly was initially written and conceived as an ultra-serious Linda Hamilton-esque character. Cheryl came in and made us realize the character could not only be vulnerable but, also, really funny. She turned so many non-comedic lines into comedic lines and, in the process, completely changed our view on the character. It’s always exciting when something like that happens.

Robg.: One of the fun things about this web-series is you got to film in a variety of locations such as a comic book store (where both of us made grand cameos!) and a karaoke bar. Can you talk a bit about filming in these locations? Was it difficult, fun, as you expected, etc? Any fun anecdotes from filming in these locales?

Steven: It was definitely different. People in Los Angeles are very savvy when it comes to productions, even “independent productions,” and, as a result of that, we ended up having to shell out a lot of our budget on locations. We also, for some reason, managed to shoot during LA’s very brief rainy season, which was incredibly ironic and problematic.

Robg.: What’s next in store for the Rag Tag gang? Would you guys be interested in doing a follow-up to MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND should your fans show interest in that? Are there any other similar themed shows you’re currently working on or would like to?

Steven: I think we’re all kind of trying to figure that out right now.

WATCH MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND BELOW!!!