Some time ago Jaime Calder interviewed the writers of Fang! The article is included here for your belated reading pleasure...




On July 20th and 21st the Music Box Theater (3733 N. Southport Ave) will be hosting its 10th annual Chicago Comedy Video and Film Festival. This year, however, a slew of newcomers will invade the theater's silver screen as the festival adds a new component – the TV Pilot Competition – to its agenda. Presented in partnership with the Chicago Film Office, the pilot competition will screen original, unproduced television works from Second City stalwarts (Tracy Letts of Steppenwolf fame will be showing his production Cop Show) and fresh new faces alike.

Ambitious newcomers Larissa Zageris, Joe Tracz, and Lauren Ludwig have their hopes riding on their 27 minute submission, fang! The heartfelt story of a heartbroken young vampire and her search for rent money. In an 'Odd Couple' twist of fate, Fang finds that the man to fit the bill – both literally and figuratively – is not at all what she'd expected, and she and her monster friends must learn to cope with a human more wholesome than Wonder Bread living among them.

"I was originally thinking of starting a web-based sitcom," says Ludwig, "Something like a traditional sitcom with a single camera, but with a vampire – that was the twist." Ludwig began writing with Tracz and Zageris, meeting regularly wherever they could and working late into the night, then filming on a minimal budget.

"It was a vision we developed together," says Tracz. "It was a project we were all completely enthusiastic about, and I think our enthusiasm is what made everything about it possible – from our becoming friends to our having no money to our finding ways to overcome every technical nightmare imaginable."

The three had initially planned to produce the show entirely as a web-based phenomenon, channeling Zageris' previous successes with internet fame following her music video for the band Tilly and the Wall. However, after she found out about the Chicago Film Office's contest, the group began gearing up for the big screen, focusing on one thirty minute pilot rather than several ten-minute YouTube episodes.

When asked to describe fang!, Zageris says, "It's about growing. About growing as friends, growing as people, becoming more than you thought on a surface level."

Fully aware of Hollywood's love for the underdog story, the group is hoping that their pilot's wit and originality will speak for itself, rather than relying on big budgets or famous names. With a shot at a $5,000 cash prize – not to mention exposure to the likes of executives for ABC, NBC, Fox, and Comedy Central – one can only hope that fang! comes out screaming.

The Chicago Comedy TV Pilot Competition will be shown in conjunction with the Chicago Short Comedy & Video Film Festival on July 20 and 21 at the Music Box Theatre. Screenings will begin at 7:00pm on both nights. For more information, please call Wits' End Productions at (312) 642-2156, or visit their website at http://www.witsendshorts.com. Fang! can be found online at www.myspace.com/fangonmyspace.