Local filmmaker wins funding to produce demonic comedy
Far from the corporate hell his webseries depicts, local filmmaker Randy Brososky is up in the clouds after Telus Storyhive announced it would fund his efforts.
The funding program announced Brososky would receive enough cash to produce six episodes of Necessary Evil, his dark yet comedic yarn about a demonic office.
“It’s an absolute honour. We must be doing something right,” Brososky said, adding he was one of 25 recipients in the contest, which drew many submissions from across Alberta and B.C.
The filmmaker was unable to say how much he received, but noted it was enough to make the first “chunk” of the series, which was created using exclusively Edmontonian or Edmonton ex-pat talent.
The story follows a low-level demon in a corporate version of Hell: cubicles, biz cas (business casual dress), etc. The blue-collar protagonist, played by Brososky, is inexplicably promoted to the highest position in the Inferno, and needs to deal with other ambitious demons/workers gunning for his job, or life.
“He’s got to figure out why he got promoted. He’s way out of his depth,” Brososky said. He later catches wind of an “existential threat” to the universe, which Brososky refused to name for the sake of surprise.
Through the production, the filmmaker wanted to downplay the demonic aspects of the characters, opting for small prosthetic horns over full-blown Halloween devil red.
“We wanted to make it so the first thing you think when you watch the show is ‘Hey, I worked with that guy,’ ” he said.
“And the second is ‘Oh, and he’s a demon.’ It has to look familiar first and hellish second.”
Necessary Evil isn’t directly drawn from Brososky’s experience in the corporate world. But he’s worn his fair share of ties in the past, and has a wealth of experience from which to draw.
“I can say that parts of the show were easier to write than they should have been,” he said with a laugh.
Similarly, the former cubicle grunt turned lord of darkness is entirely out of his comfort zone, mirroring, to some extent, the filmmaker’s own feelings on success. Brososky thinks this is somewhat healthy, though; it keeps him on his toes.
“I always suffer from a measure of impostor syndrome. Every time I’m successful on something and people are looking to me, I’m ‘why are they looking at me, what do I know?’ ”
Brososky created a pilot for Necessary Evil in 2014 and shopped it around to other prospective backers, many of whom wanted to see more proof-of-concept. So, for now, he’s just working with the funding he’s got, and hopes that the idea will gain traction and financial support in the future.
Production will begin this winter and wrap up in time for Storyhive’s deadline in May. Brososky expects Storyhive will release the episodes in the summer of 2018 on Telus Optik TV On Demand and online.