Some major congratulations are in order for Digger T. Mesch and his team regarding on the successful Agent 88 Kickstarter campaign. That was, let's say, a pretty exciting final week of fund-raising for the project spinning around a crime-fighting octongenarian ( see our recent coverage). A few days before the deadline the team had reached over $40K - which was very impressive - but you were still a long way off the symbolic $88K needed. However in the last twenty-four hours their total doubled and went crashing through the $100K barrier.
We'll be following the project in the months to come, but when things died down just a little from those hectic last days of fund-raising, we asked Digger about the project and his attitude to the industry as a whole...
Digger, the Agent 88 concept will be a full web-based series. Impact's followed this new distribution format and - as people like Mutant Enemy's Tim Minear and The Hunted's Bob Chapin predicted to us five years ago - it was only a matter of time before it came into its own. What have been your experiences gearing up for this kind of media?
Yeah, the 'Net is no longer the bastard step child of entertainment. I feel blessed to be coming in at such a major turning point in film history. Lots to learn for sure but thats what its all about. Filmmakers have control over their own destinies in a way they haven't before. Costs are way down and you if you have great marketing skills and a solid idea you have a much better chance of writing your own ticket. We've been non-stop planning since the Kickstarter cashed out. This round of Kickstarter funding is going towards the completion of what we are now calling EPISODE ZERO. We haven't decided on who our final parters yet but the phone started ringing like a mother fucker as soon as we did the impossible with the Kickstarter. We want to make sure we have partners that "get it" and are coming for the long haul on this.
Can you explain a bit more about the practical origins of Agent 88?
The "pilot" was initially created to be a proof of concept for a feature film when we shot it last Sept. The decision to make it a web series came about while I was producing Kevin Eastman's 35 days Of Kevin Eastman exhibit atMeltdown Comics. The Nerdist Theatre is operated out of the back half of Meltdown and over the 2 months I was up there I met a lot of movers and shakers busting moves online. The Nerdist channel is getting exemplary hits and has a mad fan base and rightly so. Chris Hardwick and his team knows what they're doing. Jan and I agreed that this was a good way to go: Kickstarter and then push towards the web first to build the following up online for what would ultimately make a great film.
Let's talk about the casting process. Kay D'Arcy is your heroine, but the project has got a solid supporting cast of familiar and famous faces..
This is a hard sell, as a feature period with an old woman as an action hero lead and I truly wanted to keep Kay as my lead even though she's largely unknown. Surrounding her with genre actors that all have their own significant followings is already working to get eyes on the project. I had a lot of friends who are very successful in the BIZ tell me that none of this was going to work and we should do this that and the other thing and then of course I did 90% of what i knew I wanted to do in the first place anyway. I appreciated the advice even when I knew most of it wasn't right for us. I think this is a healthy attitude in general for artists helping each other.
As for the actual web series we now have even more amazing talent to take roles, some of them popped up during the Kickstarter but I'm not done bringing on talent by a long shot. The superhuman Ernie Reyes Jr ( TMNT), Peter Mayhew ( Star Wars), Alexis Cruz (Stargate), Mark Strange (Underground),Mark "The Animal" Mendoza from the bandTwisted Sister and Reatha Grey (Betty White's Off Their Rockers). Nino Pilla is going to have a lot of fun doing the fight choreography with this radical cast of characters.
You've spent a great deal of time in Hong Kong. Nowadays, aspects of the Eastern and Western entertainment industry seemed more joined-at-the-hip than ever. What do you think each can learn from the other?
Many things of course. In terms of volume of quality, South Korea is really leading the charge in Asia from what I have time to watch. Eye candy storytelling that effortlessly crosses cultural barriers in most cases. I loved The Raid - Redemption out of Indonesia and anything with Tony Jaa or Donnie Yen I'll find time to watch.
I think I knew when I was in Hong Kong that I wouldn't have anything deeply creative in the near future to offer the East in terms of entertainment. I love action films but most of my film influences are very western. Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese ,Tarantino, Jean Pierre Junet, The Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriquez, Kevin Smith....none of them blowing minds in the East. I tuned out at the end of my stay in HK and stopped watching a lot of eastern films because I had so much catch up to do with Western films that I wasn't on the front line for their release.I learned a lot there watching major talents at work in HK, a unique time in my life. I likely could have learned a lot more if my Chinese was better and they talked ten times slower on set!
I was never in love with the majority of the local content as far as story. I didn't love Infernal Affairs like everyone else did even though it was shot amazingly like most of films there are. The camera work is stunning, the fighting is beautifully choreographed the talent is rad and the bang for the budgets they work with are all pretty impressive but I'd rather be watching Men Who Stare at Goats and wishing it had more action than the other way around. 'Big' MIke Leeder was one of my best friends there over the decade I stayed there and I could always ask him what to watch to save time, because life is short and that dude is a walking encyclopedia of all things Asian film.
What are the next challenges for you on this project and beyond?
As far as other challenges, we're working out of Demian Lichtenstein's ( 3000 MIles to Graceland ) studio,Equilibrium, and he's a genius that I can ask for advice all day long so I fear no evil. We're in good shape to move forward.
Finally... you are the guy behind the Minimates figures. Mike Leeder, of course, can boast he has a minimate of himself! Should I start a campaign to get myself at least Lego-ized?
(laughs) Big Mike's Minimate will come out in 2013 even though the short film we shot A Little Less Conversation is being shelved for the time being. F*ck Lego ...but I'll go out of my way to Minimate you. Being Minimated is like being Knighted in the toy world. Its a sign of your Nerdhood!
Huzzah! I'm ready for my close-up...my nerd-public awaits! Thanks for your time, Digger... best of luck.
