Lindy Langley's Bio

Peter & I wrote elaborate bios for our characters, thinking that we would use them on the website. But alas, we had to shorten everyone's bios on www.getaclue.tv. But little Lindy is my baby, so I thought I'd share her extended bio with you guys!

Lindy Langley thinks that she was born in California , but she’s not sure because all records of her birth were lost when her parents, Logan & Lily, were killed by a hippopotamus while on an African safari when Lindy was only 2 years old. Lindy had no other family, so she was immediately send to the Holy Sisters Orphanage, where she lived until she was 20 years old.

Life at the Holy Sisters Orphanage was happy but sheltered – the only television shows that the nuns ever allowed Lindy to watch were reruns of “I Love Lucy” and “Leave it to Beaver”. The orphans also weren’t allowed to eat sweets, listen to rock music, or read “dirty” books. Despite her hardships, Lindy was a happy go lucky child who loved to sneak into the orphanage kitchen and eat handfuls of sugar directly from the box.

When Lindy was 20 years old, she discovered an old newspaper clipping about her parents’ death – although the official report had listed the cause of death as “hippopotamus impalement”, no hippopotamus teeth sized holes were found anywhere on the bodies. Sensing that there was more to the story of her parents’ death, Lindy made it her life goal to discover exactly what had happened on that ill-fated safari.

For a few years, Lindy had no luck with her investigation. When she met Jack Stone, though, she knew that she had found a partner who could teach her everything that she needed to know about being a detective! Together Jack & Lindy formed the “Get A Clue Detective Agency”. Lindy hopes that someday soon she will learn enough about being a detective to solve all of life’s really big mysteries.

YouTube Insight

So Peter & I discovered a function in YouTube that allows you to check out the demographics of who is watching your videos. It was very informative. For instance:

- 74% of the people watching our "Get A Clue" teasers are female. I guess chicks like comedy/mystery web series teasers better than dudes do. Either that or our female friends on the mailing list are way nicer than our male friends. Thanks guys. THANKS.

- Most of our viewers live in Connecticut & California -- where Peter & I are from. Sooooooooooooo...that is good.

- Someone watched us in the Philippines! I like to imagine that he (no wait, SHE) is very very VERY excited about "Get A Clue". As she should be!


So here's to the Philippines -- which I had to look up how to spell! And here's to figuring out how on earth we can get more people to watch our show. Dun dun dun...

Ego Check

I know, I know. Two posts in one day. It's a good thing I have a magical job that allows me to work only 12 hours a week. That way I have an ample amount of time to spend on my acting, writing, & producing jobs that currently make me little to no money. But someday, right? SOMEDAY!

So we've shot "Get A Clue". And we're currently editing it. I'm really enjoying the editing process. It's the first time that I've been in the editing room for something that I've written & acted in. And I'll tell you something. It definitely knocks your ego down a few thousand pegs.

There are lines/scenes that you thought would make people pee their pants. And then they can't even make you chuckle. They just don't work the way you imagined them in your head. And the best part is, it's YOUR fault because you're starring in it! So you can't even blame an actor's bad line read.

Then there is the whole aspect of watching yourself onscreen over & over again. From different angles. Sometimes unflattering angles. My character in "Get A Clue" is named Lindy Langley. She's sweet, naive, silly, idiotic, & totally self-UNaware. Oh, and she's CONSTANTLY eating & has no real sense of sexuality. My initial idea for Lindy was that she grew up in an orphanage (because her parents were killed by a rhino while on a safari). While living in the orphanage she wasn't allowed to watch any TV except for "I Love Lucy" & "Leave It To Beaver" so she grew up with a warped, 1950s take on life. I love Lindy Langley. I seriously do. But BOY OH BOY do I look unattractive when I play her. Or more specifically, when we freeze frame on me during one of my many "Lindy eats something" scenes.

The verdict: acting in your own writing projects is both a joy & a curse. Today it's a joy. :-)

Post Production

Well, it's been a loooooooooooooong time since I took to the blogosphere to tell you about "Get A Clue", a new comedy web series.  And I apologize for that.  It turns out that executive producing a web series leaves you little to no time to blog about executive producing a web series.  Who knew?

Anyway, we shot the first 10 episodes of "Get A Clue".  In 6 days.  In Pasadena, CA.  Primarily in my childhood home.  We faced many, many hurdles & adventures:

1. Animals, animals, animals.  The first 10 episodes of "Get A Clue" included (and I'm not exagerrating) 1 dog, 2 rabbits, 3 goldfish, & 2 lobsters.  Our mindset while writing honestly must have been: 'If one animal is funny, then 8 animals will be like a comedy explosion!'  I have since learned my lesson.  That being said, the first 10 episodes are indeed a comedy explosion.

2. Pasadena is friggin hot during the summertime.  I mean, seriously very very very hot.  When we were scouting locations we decided to make an upstairs storage room into our main detective agency office.  We didn't realize, of course, that this room had no connection to central air & was made of all windows.  It was, essentially, a green house filled with 10 sweating bodies instead of fragrant flowers.  When you watch the show you will see a thin-to-thick sheen of sweat on our faces during every office scene.  It's very attractive. ;-)

3. When you shoot in people's homes, they end up hating you.  Because no matter what they think they know about shooting films, they never truly know how disruptive it is.  Shooting much of the footage in my parents' home made things even more interesting.  We had to halt shooting early one night because my Dad pulled out the ultimate Dad trump card of guilt: "I work really hard all week long..."  When a Dad launches into martyr-speak, you know it's time to give him some space.

There were many, many other problems, but you know what?  I can't seem to remember them right now.  In the end, we had an amazing cast & crew that came together under low budget circumstances to create some really funny shit.  For the full cast & crew list you can visit www.getaclue.tv & check out the "About the Show" section.

In the meantime, here are some behind the scenes photos for you:

You can check out more pics at our website www.getaclue.tv.

Thanks for reading & thanks for supporting web content!

Get A Clue -- The Beginning

How did "Get A Clue" come to be? Well, we think we remember it something like this:

Jill: I think we should write a web series together.
Peter: Okay. I'm listening.
Jill: And I think it should be about detectives.
Peter: Why detectives?
Jill: I think they are funny.
Peter: Fair enough.
Jill: And I think that my character is an orphan. And all they were allowed to watch at the orphanage was "I Love Lucy" and "Leave It To Beaver", so she's like this embodiment of 1950s innocence and idealism.
Peter: Okay...
Jill: So. Are you in?
Peter: (Long Pause) Can we somehow work my rabbits into the show?
Jill: Of course.
Peter: (Longer Pause Laced With Hesitation) Okay. I'm in.

So that's not exactly how it went. But that's how we remember it. "Get A Clue" was originally concieved in the summer of 2007 by Jill Slattery and Peter Berube, possibly over drinks at Peter's apartment bar. Maybe during a Runyon Canyon hike. Maybe not. Who can be sure these days?

For six long months, we brainstormed and outlined and edited our faces off. We debated, argued, laughed over funny ideas, then realized those ideas weren't so funny the next day. We lamented Case 2 (by far the hardest case to write), wondered if the script was racist (the verdict's still out), and tried to make Lindy a little less retarded with each subsequent draft (but she's still pretty retarded).

Then we gave the script to friends and got some amazing, very helpful feedback (special thanks to Lauren Ludwig, Adam Marshall, John Swift, and Jeff Perkins, who were absolutely indispensible in their script critiques). We met with our friends over at Big Fantastic (Sam Has 7 Friends, Prom Queen), who showed us the ropes on how to make a successful web series. We contacted production companies and tried the "just because we haven't done anything yet doesn't mean we won't be successful" pitch (we'll tell you what's not successful: that pitch).

And finally...FINALLY our good friends over at StoneBound Productions threw us a bone and said "Yes. Let's make it happen." (We're sure they said something far more eloquent, but that just sounded so very Hollywood.) And so now we stand on the precipice of preproduction (dramatic enough for you?) and we've decided to let the internet come with us on our production journey. And so, in preparation for all that is to come, here is our "Get A Clue" manifesto:

We believe that a web series can be smart, story driven, quirky, sweet, and hilarious. We believe that a web series can draw an sizeable audience outside of the 15-25 demographic. We believe that the online community is hungry and ready for a web series that doesn't involve four girls running around their apartment in their panties. We believe that the web can produce the same quality of content that television produces. We believe that Jumbo's is the best bar/exotic dance stage in L.A. And we believe that things are about to get craaaaaaaaaaaaazy all up in the "Get A Clue" world. And also, we believe we can fly. We believe we can touch the sky.

Stay tuned for all of the latest "Get A Clue" preproduction and production news! We're about to blow your minds...