Desperate to raise money for his new sketch comedy pilot, a recent Syracuse University alumnus took to Kickstarter and was willing to get tattoos of people’s names — on his butt.

“With 13 days left of the Kickstarter, we introduced our Butt Quest: Nick (Brown) would get someone’s name tattooed on his butt for a donation of $10,000,” said Josh Frackleton, an SU alumnus and co-producer of the comedy pilot. “We went all around Hollywood to tell people about our #buttquest and The Daily Dot even did an article on us, which helped to tell more people about our campaign.”

This month, Frackleton and Brown, who graduated in 2012 and 2013, respectively, began producing their new sketch comedy pilot “South Canada” through their independent production company El Richard Grande Productions.

Frackleton and Brown, who met at SU through the sketch comedy group Humor Whore, started a 45-day-long Kickstarter campaign in September in hopes of raising $15,000 to fund their sketch pilot.

After an initial three days of heavy donations, the Kickstarter started to lose traction. Frackleton and Brown developed a six-episode web series introducing their newest fundraising ploy, Butt Quest, in order to reach their goal.

The team was able to reach its goal with one or two days left of the Kickstarter, with Brown’s butt remaining inkless. Frackleton said filming of “South Canada” began at the start of November with two sketches filmed per week. Filming will most likely be finished before Christmas with post-filming production scheduled to begin soon after.

Frackleton and Brown collaborated in 2012 to co-produce a six-episode web-series called “The Complex” that went on to win a College Emmy award. Brown moved to Los Angeles in 2013, a year after Frackleton did, and the two began making YouTube videos together. In the spring of 2014, the duo began developing the idea for “South Canada.”

“We felt that we should do something bigger. We wanted to separate ourselves from the masses that were doing content on YouTube,” Brown said.

During this past summer, Frackleton and Brown began recruiting writers, actors and filmmakers, many of whom are SU alumni, to begin writing the sketches and establishing a brand name. Two months of writing meetings allowed for a multitude of ideas to develop into the 10–12 sketches that will be featured in “South Canada.”

“We sourced a lot of people from out here. We had some SU alum on our writing and producing team, but we also brought on people we had met in L.A.,” Brown said.

Frackleton said he and Brown wanted a more professional process when creating their sketch ideas, so they decided to replicate much of the creative methods that they learned from their time with Humor Whore. The process allowed for a creative environment where all members of the project’s team could pitch ideas for the 30-minute-long pilot. During one of the writing meetings, the name “South Canada” was chosen after it was brought up that the United States was really just south Canada.

Along with a myriad of promotion giveaways promised to donators of different amounts, Frackleton and Brown plan to host a revealing party of “South Canada” at a theater in Los Angeles in early March or April.

Ari Weinberger, a 2012 alumnus and the lead producer of “South Canada,” joined the team after Frackleton and Brown asked if he was interested in producing their show. He met the duo through Humor Whore and also collaborated with them on “The Complex.”

“Our plan once finishing the production of South Canada is to pitch it to any network that will look at it. Our goal is to produce a high quality, high production pilot,” said Weinberger.

Once “South Canada” is completed, the team plans to distribute the show by pitching it to a variety of media outlets, such as FX and Adult Swim, or creating a professional YouTube channel where the pilot can be reached online.

Weinberger believes the best platform for “South Canada” is Netflix. However, Frackleton and Brown’s ultimate goal is for the show to air on a television network.

As filmmakers, Frackleton and Brown plan to continue working for themselves by directing their own content. “South Canada” is just the first step.

Said Frackleton: “I first and foremost want to be a film or TV director, but I also like acting. ‘South Canada’ allows me to do both.”

Published on November 18, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Katelyn: kmfaubel@syr.edu