In the Can Productions: The Series

I am Megan Fox's Twin

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:46:00 -0700

A MESSAGE FROM SALLY STARLET

I am Megan Fox's twin. Practically. And I am older and wiser. By older, I mean just by like a day, so don't get all geritol on me. I'm just older when it comes to wisdom. Like, I would never diatribe Michael Bay. I have the wisdom to respect him. He probably knew before all of us that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck were destined to be together. He could see it every day on the Harbor of Pearl - but did he say anything? No. He kept that spine tingling knowledge secret. Because he's Michael Bay. So all of you who love Megan Fox. Know that I am her twin. Practically.

So what are you waiting for already? Just cast me.

Dancing With the Stars Season 9 Is Cast

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:50:00 -0700

Hi. Its Sally Starlet. Again.

Ok, so I'm here looking at the cast list for Dancing with the Stars and apparently they have passed on me AGAIN. Whatevs. But ummmm wtf people who the hell is Tom Delay and how did he get a spot? What exactly is a GOP and if it gets you on the show how do I get one?

If you want to see the likes of me... check it out HERE

Sally's Thoughts on Farrah and Michael Jackson

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:24:00 -0700

Hi, It's Sally. Starlet.
I feel the need to express my inner beingness by fully exploring the pain I feel at the passing of an icon.

Farrah Fawcett.

Farrah's contributions to my life and my art can be summed up in one statement:
I have fabulous hair.
Farrah was the first person who helped me to fully realize that hair is a fashion accessory just as important as jewelry or bags or even shoes. Actually probably more important, cuz you can't really change your hair on a daily basis unless you invest in some killer wigs.

There is a whole slew of idiot boys out there like Moron-athon (see below) - who hung Farrah's iconic poster on their wall when they were kids thinking that her smoking bod was their proof positive that they were not gay. But I say to you that those same idiot boys can be seen prancing around NYC, in metro sexual clothes and Farrah's feathered hair. So really, who do they think they are fooling?

Hair is a daily expression of my mood, my spirit and yes, I will say it my soul.
Now I am not necessarily saying that your soul is not as awesome if you have bad, or dry, or frizzy hair like some people I work with, who I will not name, but may or may not be currently working on a script called Love is a Collard Green, that is totally lame and a waste of our precious natural resources such as film, and editing equipment. But I have noticed the coronary (see below).

Also Bernard is yelling that Michael Jackson died to which I am saying no comment, because I am not one hundred percent convinced yet that this is not a majorly brilliant publicity stunt and that MJ is going to rise from the grave.

There is no way someone that fabulous could die that young.

1. Jedi watch note: Jonathon would like it noted that he NEVER hung Farrah's poster on his wall, only Leia in the gold bikini. And that every day he strives to emulate the hair of Han.

2. Bernice here- I think that Sally meant corollary here, but she is not responding as she is busy maintaining the creation of her Farrah Fawcett reenactment wall.

The In the Canners Predict the 2009 Tony Award Winners!

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 12:26:00 -0700

They are employees of In the Can Productions... and they have opinions about theater. Check it out!

Some Advice from Cyrus Borg from In the Can Productions

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:31:00 -0700

As followers of In the Can might be aware... Cyrus Borg is obsessed with tetris. Here are some tips that he’d like you to know when playing the game:
From Borg:

**Note: if you are the sort of person that plays tetris in front of the television while waiting for a scene between Dr. McDreamy and Meredith on Grey’s Anatomy... If you can pet your dog Spanky or Rufus with one hand while playing tetris with the other... If you don’t dream of shapes during your REM cycle, than THESE TIPS ARE NOT FOR YOU!

1. To begin your serious tetris training you should create a space for yourself. I am advanced enough to use my office, however, you, little tetris minion are not. You must make a room, an alcove or a closet that has an internet connection and light without glare.

2. Make sure everyone knows about the space you’ve created. Tell your mommy, your wifey, rufus and whoever else roams your home NEVER to enter that space.

3. WARMUP. You might be 12 or you might be 52, I don’t care... You must warmup your wrists, your neck and for godsakes, don’t forget about your fingers. Whatever you do, don’t be a pussy and get one of those ergonomic wrist thingys for your computer. You must build the muscles so that you never lose a game due to wrist fatigue. No pain, no gain people.

4. You should have the following stocked in your special tetris space: eye drops, hand lotion, deodorant and a foot rest.

5. This is perhaps the most important rule (and one that I learned the hard way)... DO NOT tell anyone about your tetris obsession. Make them think that you’re using that private room to look at porn or something. The sound of their laughing once they discover what you’re really doing behind that door might make you question your life’s goals.

Watch episodes of In the Can HERE

Big Things Happening at In the Can

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:46:00 -0700

Coming Soon... new episodes of In the Can! While some of the storylines are still under wraps, I can give you a few hints:
Sally risks it all to get her diet pills from DeeDuu
Borg faces down the Tertris Championships
Something's happened to Millie

Stay tuned...

To catch up and watch previous episodes go to: In the Can

Watch Episode 2, Part 11

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Thu, 7 May 2009 09:42:00 -0700

Episode 2, Part 11: Training For Tetris

Bernice trains Borg to Win! Borg my very well Lose.

Watch Episode 2, Part 10

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:01:00 -0700

Episode 2, Part 10: "I'll Make Him A Meal He Can't Refuse"
Jonathon's torture continues. Borg finds out he's on the menu.

Episode 2, Part 9: Watch It Now

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Episode 2, Part 9: The Vulture Descends
Phillipa is on an island. Bernice is not a lesbian.

In the Can, Watch Episode 2, Part 8

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Wed, 8 Apr 2009 13:47:00 -0700

Episode 2: Part 8 - Dirty &*@#@*
Fantasies About at the ITC Office...

Episode 2, Part 7

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:36:00 -0700

Episode 2, Part 7: Sally gets Leia(ed)
Sally tries to advance her acting career while Jonathon has a vision...

In the Can, Watch Episode 2, Part 6

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:11:00 -0700

Episode 2, Part 6

Bernice and Sally try out a new costume, while Borg falls deeper into trouble...

Watch Season 2, Episode 1, Part 5

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:17:00 -0700

Episode 1, Part 5: Spielberg Loves Me
DeeDuu is due...

Click To Play

Season 2, Part 4

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Mon, 9 Mar 2009 06:53:00 -0700

SEASON 2, PART 4: WHERE IS DIDDLY-DEE?
Jonathon has a nightmare and the in the canners wait for dee du to show up...

Three Episodes of In the Can are In the Can!

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Mon, 2 Mar 2009 09:34:00 -0800

Last week we shot three more episodes of our web series, In the Can. This series tells the story of an inept film production company trying to make its first feature film.

The first episode is another journal entry from intern, Jonathon to George Lucas. As a result of a court order, Jonathon can no longer wear or use any of his Star Wars paraphernalia and is now forced into the world of Star Trek.

In the second episode Sally discovers that she's low on DeeDuu's diet drug, "Flintstones." With him in prison on drug violations, Sally requests a "conjugal" visit with him.

Our third episode takes place in a prison conjugal room. Sally needs to know the Flintstone's secret recipe... and she needs it to be "conjugal".

Important to know... Sally is an idiot.

Shooting went well and everyone was hilarious.

Stay tuned for the launch of these episodes. In the meantime, check out all of the In the Can episodes here:
inthecan.ontheleesh.com

What Constitutes A Season

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:01:00 -0800

Since Webseries are still very much like the Wild West, they don't necessarily follow the same models that are displayed by television shows. This brings up a very interesting question: How do you differentiate between seasons?

For In the Can, the answer is simple. We write each season - with a finite number of episodes in blocks. Because of this, we know what we want to happen in any given Season: there is a very clear through line. Since we have the hopes that In the Can will have a life as a half hour show, we break each season down and call it an episode. This "episode" is then made up of parts. When those parts are strung together you have a season. For instance - Season 1 (Episode One) is made up of 7 episodes (or parts). Got it? Wow, it seems much more confusing now that I've written it.

Watch it at: inthecan.ontheleesh.com

For The Sexually, we have a similar game plan. We know the outline of a season and then Jeff writes the episodes and we throw in a bunch of improved sketches. The sketches came out of need to create content while competing with busy schedules. Out of necessity, these created a great place for the boys to really stretch out their characters and provide us with a lot of backstory that we no longer need to jam into a three minute episode. Even though this was our master plan, our story lines have changed as the series has developed. We didn't conceive of the park episodes until we realized we needed a through line. Since we started filming the improved interviews, and the boys brought such intricicacies to their characters, Jeff needed to weave it all together. Thus the park scenes. So...breaking down the sexually so far has been a bit tougher. I look at Season 1 as the Lawyer office episodes and the Central Park episodes. Season 2 are the interviews. Moving forward we have a more clear cut idea of the next couple of seasons - Season 3 brings the boys to therapy. We will still feature both improv and scripted episodes, but they will have a central focus behind them.

Watch it at: www.thesexually.com

This brings us to The In-Betweens of Holly Malone. When we started Holly, we had a lot to learn. She was our flagship show, and we were still getting our feet wet on creating the language of a webseries. The first season of Holly - episodes 1 through 17 have a clear over arching story line. As we progressed, we realized that fast and funny was best and that our audience was willing to overlook certain expositional plot points in exchange for funny jokes. We also learned to keep the episodes current. Now we have jokes about the Oscars, politics and the economy. Right now we're still in Season 2 of Holly, but this season could go on indefinitely. Since we haven't delineated the idea of what marks a season in Holly, we're likely to just keep creating and not worrying about seasons.

Watch it here: hollymalone.ontheleesh.com

However, these theories could all go out the window as each series develops!

In other news, we've been tossing around ideas to combine all three series into an "On the Leesh Webseries Special." We don't have a plot line yet, but our idea is that all the characters would meet and interact. Imagine Holly up against Johnnie or Juice with Phillipa...

Stay Tuned!

Growing Pains: A Web Story

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:48:00 -0800

A few years ago we developed the website that you see when you visit www.ontheleesh.com. We were still small at that point - smaller than we are now. We had just one web series under our belt, and only a few episodes at that. We had only completed five short films, and we hadn't begun to span into the realm of instructional videos at all. As we've grown and continued to develop our products, we have pushed our website to the brink.

We are redesigning! We have hired a wonderful programmer, Noah Diamond. He has started to reformat the website piece by piece. Our first goal has been to create a web page for each of our web series that reflects the tone and feel of that show. Noah started with The In-Betweens of Holly Malone, and has since taken on In the Can.

Our next hurdle is our third web series, The Sexually, and then we need to create a more in-depth page for clients to look at for information about our corporate/instructional video services.

After this work is completed, our goal is to reformat the whole website. It's going to be about a six month process. So please check back periodically for new updates.

I Gotta See A Man About A Horse...

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:01:00 -0800

In the Can Productions- Season 2, Episode 3 "I gotta see a man about a horse"

Borg relives that time he met in the infamous Mr. A...

Things I've Learned About Producing for the Web

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:06:00 -0800

When we first started producing The In-Betweens of Holly Malone, in 2005, web-series were such uncharted territory, they didn't even have a real name yet. We were calling them nano-series. There were a few serial based programs on the web, but mostly the web was a place where you'd look for one-off entertainment involving people falling down, exploding mentos or the like. We've learned a lot of things over the past few years, and I wanted to share some information for those who are interested in starting their own series.

1. Get in and get out.
When watching programs on the web, people have a very short attention span. Think music video. People will generally give you about 3 minutes of their time before they click off. Now what's strange is people are more willing to watch four three minute episodes than one twelve minute video. I can't tell you why this happens, as I am not a scientist, but this is what we've learned time and again. Three minutes is a magic number.

2. Comedy plays better than drama.
To this day, I've only seen a couple of dramatic web-series. Typically, people seek out comedic content on the internet. Perhaps it's not such a leap from looking up a funny video on youtube, to watching a serialized story. This may change over the next few years, but for now, aim for comedy.

3. People are willing to forgive more on the internet.
Production value is a key factor that you should always have in mind. If something sounds like it's down a very hollow tunnel, or it's not in focus, people won't be interested. However, the type of camera that you use is not as important. People are used to watching videos posted by flip cameras on blogs, so you don't need the highest state of the art HD camera that George Lucas will be using to film his next Star Wars saga. Use what you can get your hands on, and make sure it's produced well. Story tends to outweigh production design.

4. Consistency is important.
For anything to gain a following, you need to maintain a consistent posting schedule. We try to post every other week, but if you are able to post weekly, that's ideal. Just don't post weekly for four weeks and then have nothing for three weeks and start posting again. It is better to post every other week and not have a lag in between. Also, plan on having at least three months of content - though six is ideal. You need time to build a following. You don't want to start to get interest and then have nothing left to post.

This means that when working on web content, you are likely to be working on it for a long time. Which brings me to my last point.

5. Make sure you have fun
Since this content is something you're likely to live with for at least 3 months, but closer to 6, make sure you pick material that you like to work on. Work with people who you have a good time with, and keep a clear perspective on the whole process. As it stands right now, you're not likely to make a lot of money working on a web-series. There are definite benefits, but getting labelled the next Bill Gates isn't one of them.

Watch Episode 2, Part 2

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 6 Feb 2009 11:14:00 -0800

Episode 2, Part 2: The Art of Good Phone Sex

Office Manager Bernice schools Sally on the art of great phone sex.

Episode 2, Part 1

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:30:00 -0800

Episode 2, Part 1: A More Peaceful Universe
Screenwriter Phillipa is desperate to get out of her contract with In the Can. Office Intern Jonathon broods of his lost Star Wars toys. Will he ever get the back?

OTL's Webseries on Tivo

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:32:00 -0800

On the Leesh is proud to announce that, through a partnership with Koldcast (www.koldcast.tv) our three webseries: The In-Betweens of Holly Malone, In the Can and The Sexually, will be available on Tivos!

We'd like to thank Koldcast for allowing our shows to be a part of this amazing deal!

If you have Tivo, be sure to check them out!

Vote for In the Can

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:56:00 -0800

Do you like In the Can?
Then go to:

And nominate In the Can for a Streamy Award!
Here's what you do:
Click here:

And then type in:
In the Can (for the show link enter: http://inthecan.blip.tv)

Help us out and DO IT NOW!

In the Can's Slide Show

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:28:00 -0800

Check it out below!

Watch Episode 7 - The Finale of Episode 1

julie@ontheleesh.com (On the Leesh Productions) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:39:00 -0800

Episode 1, Part 7
Moving On
Bernice gets her heart broken, Phillipa suspects something, Borg is ready for production!

Cast
Phillipa Phillips: Marina Kotovnikov
Cyrus Borg: Christopher Borg
Bernice: Julie Tortorici
Sally: Jessica Arinella
Jonathon: Matt Rashid
Millie: Ellen Reilly
DeeDuu: Desmond Dutcher

Click To Play