They Made That Up! (2008)

All experiments with creative movie-making begin with a question. In the case of “They Made That Up!” the question was two-fold: 1) “Can a funny movie be made without a script?” and 2) “Is it possible for seven professional improvisational comedy actors to spontaneously create dozens of hilarious sketches that will keep viewing audiences laughing for ninety minutes?” The experiment took two years to complete, but we believe the answer to both questions is a resounding, “Yes!” From Monty Python’s Flying Circus to Saturday Night Live, the funniest moments on sketch comedy shows are often when the actors go “off-script” and improvise. So we auditioned and hired a cast of pros with extensive backgrounds in improv (Second City, Improv Olympic, National Improv Theater), writing (Comedy Central, Disney and MTV), performance (off-Broadway plays and musicals, and stand-up comedy) and television. All seven sing and play at least one musical instrument. In a three-camera studio we captured the actors creating hilarious characters and situations, on the fly, from a simple scene suggestion just before, “Lights, camera, action!” No scripts. No rehearsals. Eighty percent of the entire production’s time and costs was spent in the editing process. Not every sketch improvised passed our rigorous standards for pure funniness, so, of the 100 or so sketches that were originally taped, only the finest 24 made it to the final cut of “They Made That Up!” Finally, these best-of-the-best sketches were edited down to an average of less than four-minutes each, to keep the laughs moving. We hope you’ll enjoy watching “They Made That Up!” as much as we enjoyed making it. Best, Lee Godden, producer/director