News

“I don’t think anyone has ever done this and now we know why,” chuckled director Sinohui Hinojosa after the cameras stopped rolling on the live season finale of his web series sitcom, Exit Stage Left. Hinojosa’s plan for the season finale was ambitious. It was to be shot in the same style as any other episode: four cameras capturing the behind-the-scenes drama of the fictional Lowry Theater Company, interspersed with documentary-style interviews. But he wanted to perform it in real time, streamed live to the web, and before a live on-location audience. Why? “Because we can.” Said Hinojosa, invoking the “because it’s there” rationale for climbing Everest. The video above is not actually footage from the live performance. Rather, it’s a regularly taped and edited version of the episode. Though the show was a lot of fun for all involved and those watching in person and in internetland,...

As the summer season officially begins, it looks like another web show will be going on hiatus. Exit Stage Left, that loveable web series featuring an off-Broadway theater troupe and the troubles they face will end its first season June 25th, but in a most unusual way. Live. Sinohui Hinojosa, the creator of Exit Stage Left, said in a recent press release that viewers can get free tickets to the finale which will also stream live at 7 Pm (Pt). The show uses the documentary-style of story-telling that is popular with the web series’ crowd and centers around the fictional Lowry Theater Company and its attempt to put on a successful play. Play director Ronny Simons (Michael Navarra) and stage manager Jill Baynor (Terri J Freedman) are seen through the eyes of Pam William (Katie Kimball), a documentary filmmaking student from Nyu.

Exit Stage Left is a web series by, for, and about theater people. This is not a knock on the project, just a point that needs to be made. In my day job I deal with a fair number of people whose lives revolve around the stage. They’re driven like any other artists, but nearly all that I’ve befriended have that “theater tick”: everything, even the most banal of scenarios, has to be turned into a dramatic situation. It’s taxing, especially for someone outside the theater world who doesn’t know if/when you’re supposed to call Hamlet ‘The Scottish Play’. Fortunately, though the atmosphere of Exit Stage Left is thick with that sort of constant melodrama, it is the only negative I’ve encountered. And, realistically, such an element should be viewed as necessary. This new series is an account of the fictitious Lowry...

by Jason Guerrasio (November 7, 2008) [Editor's Note: indieWIRE's monthly production report looks at independent films in various stages of production. If you'd like to tell us about a film in production for future columns, please contact us.]

In November's edition of indieWIRE's production column, Jason Guerrasio profiles five new films in various stages of production. This month's group includes Tara Wray's "Cartoon College," Raul Sanchez Inglis's "The Company Men," Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte's "Entre Nos," Stephen Burke's "Happy Ever Afters" and Sinohui Hinojosa's "The Last Job: Redemption."...