Five Zacuto employees got together a year ago to produce the first episode of a sci-fi/adventure/comedy web series. Now the third episode of their “Hank Frisco: Galaxy Defender” series will showcase at a premiere party Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Lincoln Tap Room, starting at 9 p.m.
The Zacuto guys – producer Scott Lynch, rental manager Joe DeJulius, product designer Patrick Fee, copywriter Matt Kelley and product assembler Jake VanKersen – produce under their Quicklips Productions banner.
All five were producers, Kelley wrote the script, Fee was the shooter, DeJulius and Lynch edited.
“We work well together and hang together and we got to talking about shooting something together, more offbeat, and came up with an homage to low budget movies,” says Lynch.
The 15-minute is, as VanKersen, put it, “packed with references that will satisfy even the most discriminating of nerds, because hey, that’s who made it.”
As they describe the “plot” of the new episode, “Last Cosmic Standing:” “Captain Hank Frisco, his faithful lieutenant, Bonzo, and their sarcastic robot Archie trapped on the dreaded planet ‘Sitcom.’
“Held against their will, our heroes must endure mediocre plot after mediocre plot for the sadistic enjoyment of “The Audience.” Their only companion in this cliché-ridden world is a mysterious being known as “The Sexy Teenage Daughter;” a sultry life-form who may be the only hope for our Captain and his crew.”
Hank Frisco is played by local theatre actor Scott Cupper, a Jeff-winning ensemble actor; sketch comic Neal Arsenty is Bonzo and VanKersen is Archie, the robot sidekick.
“The love interest is different in every episode. Each time they land on a planet, Hank falls in love with a local girl. This time it’s theatre actress Catherine McCafferty,” Lynch explains.
The new “Galaxy Defender” episode was shot over a long weekend at the Lincoln Square apartment of DeJulius and Kelley and some scenes were shot on Zacuto’s stage after hours and weekends.
Naturally, since Zacuto was the first to introduce DSLR cameras in Chicago, Fee shot with Canon 5D and 7D cameras; Lynch and edited using Final Cut Studio.
“Special effects and editing took us four months after hours, in between all the crazy stuff that was happening at Zacuto,” Lynch says, referring to how busy the company was with new product launches at the time.
Quicklips finances its future episodes through premiere parties, i.e., fund raisers, prior to the online debut of the latest episode. In addition to the $5 admission, the Lincoln Tap room returns a percentage of the profits from the party to Quicklips.
Lynch says they expect 130 or more guests attend the party.
