Jeremy Foley – Mobsters
Who would’ve thought of taking the violence of Goodfellas and the comedy
of Seinfield and making it into a dark comedy series? Jeremy Foley talks
with IFQ about his webseries called Mobsters. Mobsters screened at the IFQ Film and Webisode Festival and won the Audience Award in the Webisode category. The cross-genre series shows a lot of promise on what it can bring to the big TV networks.
Independent Film Quarterly (IFQ): What are some of the advantages in making a webisode?
Jeremy Foley (JF): I think first and foremost the biggest advantage to making a webseries/webisode is the freedom. Right now is a pretty exciting time to be on the ground floor of what is really a new genre in the independent world, which is webseries and content specifically for new media platforms. Since more and more people are becoming accustomed to watching videos on a computer, shows like Mobsters have an opportunity to really find an audience. Our creativity is only limited by how much work we’re willing to put into our show; there are no gatekeepers telling us what we can or can’t do. You can shoot something, edit it, upload and people can start watching immediately – the turnaround from production to screening can be very quick. Another cool thing is you can gauge the work that you are producing, because there are usually things like ‘view counts’ where you can actually see how many people have clicked on and watched your video, or ‘like’ your show, or comment on your show, so that response from your audience and the instant gratification of knowing your stuff is getting watched is pretty cool.
IFQ: What makes Mobsters stand out compared to the other mob-esque shows and films
out there now?
JF: Mobsters is really a genre mash-up: the drama/action from classic gangster movies we all love, but with the buttoned up comedic storytelling of Curb Your Enthusiasm. So really what we are striving for in the series to set it apart is having the show be an episodic dark comedy. My partners, Jim Betterton, Christopher Titone, Kyle Sabihy and I are all big Mob movie fans. At the same time, we’re all big comedy nerds and one of our touchstones is Curb. None of us had really seen a show that was a Mafia comedy, that was dark but funny, where people get killed but was still hilarious, so we decided to make it ourselves. And again, that goes back to the freedom of a webseries – Mobsters is an unusual concept, but on the internet you have the freedom to take chances.
IFQ: What were some of the struggles in shooting the series?
JF: There are definitely the usual struggles that go along with an indie production, such as budget and time. Also, we like to set the bar very high for our show, to push ourselves to make each episode better than the last. We have been fortunate enough to get some really cool celebrity guest star appearances (Jonathan Loughran, Brian Austin Green, Stu Stone and Allen Covert) and with that comes the challenge of balancing everyone’s schedules and being as efficient as possible on set. There are also lots of complicated set-ups and VFX work – gun shots, blood splatter – all things that help set Mobsters apart from your general internet fare, but also make shooting our show much more of a challenge logistically.
IFQ: What’s next in store for Mobsters?
JF: Right now we’re on hiatus for Mobsters, as we’re writing episodes for Season Two and in the process of casting, early location scouts, and are hoping to start shooting the next six episodes this summer. The response we got from viewers and festivals has been really positive, so we’re looking forward to what Season Two has to offer: more really cool guest stars and more funny episodes. We’re also actively pitching Mobsters with the goal of launching the show on a bigger platform so we can bring it to the widest audience possible.