WESTERN KY (2/14/12)—A new sitcom-style series created by two Hopkins County natives will be debuting to a worldwide audience around noon on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012, and many involved hope that area citizens will tune in to check it out.
Entitled Mental Space, the comedic, yet sometimes serious first season of the show—which is filmed entirely in Hopkins County and is primarily composed of a recognizable regional cast—will be released one episode at a time via the creators’ online production company page, Every Exit Productions.
To find out more about the project, such as the show’s overall synopsis, why an online outlet like YouTube.com was chosen to host the series, what the overall goal of producing the series was, and beyond, SurfKY News interviewed the imaginative duo behind the show, Jessica Dockrey and Aaron Frasier, who also depict the central characters in the series, “Alan” and “Amber.”
When asked to explain the show’s overall feel or theme, Aaron said that, “It’s basically a comedy that focuses on a guy and his sister, Alan and Amber. The sister is kind of crazy, to say the least, and the audience gets to see her brother deal with a variety of ‘situations’ she gets herself into because of her mental disorders.”
“She kind of drags everybody through the mud with her, and Alan, her brother, is the one with the level head that tries to take care of it all,” adds Jessica. “Though the show is mostly comedy, it’s not funny all the time. There’s some serious stuff going on, too.”
Though this is the duo’s first shot at filming and directing an online sitcom-style series—which they say has been a “blast” so far—both are far from being “green” when it comes to actually acting.
Whereas some might have a hard time acting out the rather off-the-wall role of “Amber,” Jessica exclaims that she’s “played a host of ‘crazy’ characters along the road.” Specifically, she cites her roles in locally-based, but internationally recognized films by Big Biting Pig Productions (BBPP), including popular titles like Maniac on the Loose, The Creepy Doll, Hell is Full, and the company’s forthcoming release, Spirit Stalkers. In addition, Jessica has acted on-stage in several productions at Madisonville’s Glema Mahr Center for the Arts and performed both live-action stunt work and theatre work across the nation.
Along with an urge to act from a young age—most of which was inspired by his ongoing dream of playing Superman on the big screen—Aaron has gone on to act out roles in several productions. Along with portraying a character alongside Jessica in BBPP’s soon-to-be-released Spirit Stalkers film, Aaron has also worked on the sets of two notable productions in Evansville, IN—as a minor role in The Lynneville Incident and as an extra in the upcoming horror-film, Three Tears on Bloodstained Flesh. Furthermore, Aaron is currently working towards a journalism-related degree at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green, KY.
Beyond the two creators’ roles in the series, a laundry list of other local actors will be showing up in the show throughout the first season, many of which have also portrayed BBPP characters in film. Alongside actors Emmaleigh Hoard, David Russell, Christian Alexander Gray, and yours truly, the first season will also include guest appearances by BBPP founders and acclaimed actors/directors, Steve Hudgins and PJ Woodside, as well as appearances from Michael Coon, Cindy Maples, Casey Piscitelli, Felicia Stewart, Ashley Burden, Pete Law, and Travis Coffman. Along with filming assistance from Madisonville, KY resident James Gibbs, a local photography studio, Focus Photography, was also able to collaborate with those involved and produced the official “Mental Space” cast photo (see main photo).
Of the ultimate “goal” of the show, both Aaron and Jessica explain that it’s really all about providing free entertainment and having a great time with friends.
“We just want to entertain people and have a good time,” explains Jessica. “Most of our mutual friends are actors, or are into this sort of thing, so it gives all of us something fun to do together. If we can entertain people, that’s just an added bonus. If we can make some people laugh, we have accomplished our goal.”
“We’re just doing this to have fun,” says Aaron. “If we somehow wound up becoming popular or something from doing this, that would be cool, but we really are just having fun.”
As far as why they chose an online medium like YouTube.com to introduce their creations to the world, Jessica says, “Anybody can put their stuff on YouTube and we can control what we put out there. YouTube allows you to make your videos available to anybody anywhere. All they have to do is click a link."
After the premiere of Mental Space just after lunch/noon on Wednesday, February 15th, both Aaron and Jessica explain that a new episode from the first season will be posted to the Every Exit Productions page each of the following Wednesdays (just after noon) until the series finale. What’s more, both Aaron and Jessica say that work on season 2 of Mental Space is underway and that it’s shaping up to be much funnier.
“We will have the characters and their stories setup by the time the second season starts showing, so it will be easier to put them into even crazier or more absurd situations,” says Aaron.
Though the series hasn’t been officially rated by any kind of national association, the creators say that it would probably be considered PG-13 due to some mild language, some suggestive content, and some “chaotic” situations.
Other than the Every Exit Productions YouTube page, fans can also stay updated on the latest Mental Space news through their official Facebook page, which can be found by clicking here.
Luke Short
SurfKY News
Photo taken by SurfKY contributor, Jeff Harp of Focus Photography
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