The Cop(s) Who Love Being Filmed
Several months ago my friend Greg Santos approached me to do a simple sketch about a cop who loves to be filmed. It was a hysterical short script acting as sort of comedic relief or a social commentary on some of the issues in our culture around cops being filmed doing heinous things and sort of turning that on its head. What if the cops actually wanted to be filmed?
That video ended up going viral and reaching 3.2+ million people on facebook, as well as being featured on Funny Or Die. See it below.
One of the coolest parts about our film going viral was seeing the first responder community embrace it so much. I feel like cops were waiting for content like this and we tapped into a need for humor in a world where the job is unimaginably tough.
Because of the success of the first film, we decided to make a follow up. This one involving two cops, one of which is Aram Choe, an actual officer on the force who was a fan of the first film. In addition to the cell phone footage, we also added a third element of the body cam, as a means of a vehicle for comedy, alluding to a "larger scale" film production for the two aspiring actor/filmmaker cops.
On a personal and professional note, this angle was a lot of fun as it allowed me a vehicle to poke fun at the tendency of greener filmmaker folks who lean on laurels or film school, tools and gear instead of the quality of their work. We all make that mistake in the beginning. ;)
Additionally, we decided to partner with Oscar Mike and Humanizing the Badge, to sell a t-shirt called for support of the "Thin Blue Line". Proceeds of sales go to the Oscar Mike Foundation (Rehabilitating disabled veterans through adaptive sports) and Humanizing The Badge (Providing support for first responders, and bringing awareness to the job).
I am super happy with what we created, watch below and make sure to stay through the credits.
Huge thanks to the crew and all the talent; Greg Santos for being, well Greg. Aram Choe and his family for thier hospitality, and putting himself out there as an actor and crushing it. Felicia Folkes for replacing Dallas Mclaughlin (kidding dallas) and adding so much playing it straight comedy. Clifton and Evelyn for shooting, sound and color and all the technical. Dave Shaw for his audio clean up and expertise on the "Nick wind" front. Michael Seifert for his awesome 80's cop music that matches Gregs moustache. All of you guys made a small scale shoot a lot of fun, you gave it big production value and even bigger heart.
