Looking for production crew for Boston-area Irish Mob webseries!

Hi, everyone!

I'm brand new to the site, so hopefully I'm putting this in the right place. It looks like the correct forum.

I'm planning to shoot a webseries in the Peabody, MA area in November. The shoot will mostly be weekends and may start in October, or extend into December, depending on how shooting goes.

Right now, I need literally everything: DP, AD, Gaffer, Key Grip, Best Boy, Boom Operator, PA's, etc.

It's essentially 2 feature length films, broken into 8 "chapters". Each 2 chapters consists of an hour-long episode, so it will be a 4-part miniseries of hour long episodes each.

Below is a character listing to get an idea for the shoot:

1. Sebastian Shaw (18 yr. old / White Male)
The 18 year old son of a Boston-area Irish Mob boss. While aware of his family's interests, Sebastian has no desire to pursue them. But as he comes of age in a familial war that sees numbers dwindling, will he be allowed to retain that innocence or be called upon to help the family?
2. Emma Kelley (18 yr old / Any Ethnicity Female)
A family tragedy due to mistaken identity thrusts 18 year old Emma into a shadowy world full of characters she never dreamed of. The strong and silent type, it won't be long before this intelligent young woman starts to put together the pieces that led to her father's murder.
3. Tommy Kelley (Early 20's / Any Ethnicity Male)
Emma's older brother. Pre-med student Tommy's studies begin to suffer after his father's murder destroys the safety and stability he has come to rely upon and forces him to obsess over the safety of the loved ones he has left.
4. Justin Shaw (Early 20's to mid 30's / White Male)
Sebastian's cousin, he's forced to straddle the line between obeying his uncle's orders and keeping safe the younger cousin he has sworn to keep away from the lifestyle. Tormented by his own, increasingly drastic actions, Justin barrels forward towards his breaking point.
5. Freddie ( Early 20's / Any Ethnicity )
A petty thief with a long track record, Tommy's best friend is far from perfect but miles away from the organized crime he suddenly finds at his doorstep when he begins to help his friend investigate his father's murder.
6. Sylvester Shaw (mid 40's to early 60's / White Male)
Patriarch of the Shaw Crime Family. Willing to do whatever it takes to win the war, no matter the sacrifice.
7. Richie Cullen (mid 40's to early 60's / White Male)
Head of the Cullen Crime Family. While just as determined to win the war against the opposing Shaw family, Richie operates under his own (if somewhat twisted) code of ethics and values and is intensely loyal to those under his command.
8. Kevin "Pinky" O'Connor (mid 40's to early 60's / Any Ethnicity)
Despite being somewhat of an ineffective, bumbling criminal, Pink is loyal to the Shaw family due to their childhood bonds and is somewhat of an enforcer for the family. His nickname eludes to a childhood accident that saw his right Pinky finger severed off his hand, a fact which contributes to his mistake-prone tendencies.

It's a non pay project, as we're on a shoestring budget, however I do realize that may be unrealistic for a couple of the positions, such as DP, and am willing to discuss things further.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post outside emails or phone numbers here, so unless directed otherwise, we'll keep discussion on this board for now.

I can promise you this is an awesome, potentially career-launching project. If you're in the Boston area, this is something that would look great on your reel/resume.

I look forward to the responses from you guys. Thanks for your time.

-Jason Hebert
 
Good luck with all of that - no easy feat to pull off on a shoestring.

There's one detail in that summary that strikes me as "as a bit off" though - the character names and ethnicities appear to be out of kilter with the series theme. What I assume to be the primary characters [white, male] are from the Shaw family, which - from an Irish point of view - would have largely been English settlers, mostly of the middle and upper classes, and definitely not the demographic to have emigrated to Boston to set up a mob operation.

The secondary family [any ethnicity, male/female], Kelley, on the other hand definitely would have been "proper" pale-skinned, fair-haired Irish, arguably with a genetic predisposition to less-than-legal empire-building across time and space - e.g. Ned Kelly in 19th Century Australia to Michael Kelly in 21st Century Ireland. The 20th Century American, Paul Kelly, was actually Italian, but made a deliberate choice to affiliate himself with the Kelly dynasty because who'd be afraid of a guy called Vaccarelli? :scared:

Sure, this is the kind of nerdiness that you'll only find in people who were born and reared in an environment where these family names actually mean something, but for those of us who were, it's the sort of logical inconsistency that constantly distracts from whatever the characters are doing on screen. ;)
 
It's essentially 2 feature length films, broken into 8 "chapters". Each 2 chapters consists of an hour-long episode, so it will be a 4-part miniseries of hour long episodes each.
And a practical suggestion:
You might consider breaking them down into smaller pieces - maybe 15 minutes each - to make it easier to shoot and start to get something out there. If you can get an episode into post-production & released faster, it will be easier to keep people's interest (meaning actors).
 
Yes! Huge project other than a traditional movie, no pay, career launching. Hmmm. Must be a trend! :D
 
Don't know if Jason will come back – we get far too many drive-by requests
for cast and crew – but if you're reading this, Jason, I have a few suggestions.
Interested?
 
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