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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 2, 2015 | 28 Sheridan grads `Face the Music' with new web series Show's creators hope pilot episode on Youtube will help in developing first season by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff Artscene "Connected to your Community" Four Sheridan Oakville graduates have come up with what they call a "completely inappropriate" comedy web series about death and rock and roll. The series, titled Face the Music, is about the death of a lead singer, who became a one-hit wonder after he left his high school band, and his former bandmates coming together to use the hype of his death to, in turn, launch their own musical careers. "Throughout the show, we'd never actually see our main characters' band play music. It's all about the other stuff that goes into being a band," said Mike Chantaj, creator, co-writer and director of the web series. Chantaj graduated from Sheridan's Media Arts program, along with Alex Shannon (web series co-writer), Pronch Murphy (producer), and Ramit Arora (story editor and camera operator for the pilot episode). The quartet has worked together on various projects over the past few years, including corporate and creative projects, but this is the first time they have created a series "from scratch," said Chantaj. Abridged pilot episode on Youtube Face the Music's two-minute abridged pilot episode is currently available on Youtube and the show's foursome say they are hoping it will spread the word about the series and help them secure more funding to develop the first season -- the pilot, which premiered earlier in March, was self-financed. "At the time being, we've got six episodes ... I thought that a story about bandmates who have known each other that closely for so long would be a funny one. The three male characters in the band are very loose adaptations of my real, old bandmates -- if they had been stripped of any decency and were slightly sociopathic. creator, co-writer and director of Face the Music Mike Chantaj From left, Charlie Hamilton (who plays Ronnie), Paige Locke (Jade), Elise Bauman (Amanda), Scott Law (Paul), and Austin Duffy (Lewis) star in the abridged pilot episode of the web series Face the Music. | photo courtesy Face the Music written for a first season, and Mike and Alex have begun writing outlines for episodes in a second season," said Arora. "With any luck, we'll be able to produce the rest of the episodes later this year and premiere them in late 2015 or early 2016." Chantaj says the idea for the online series is loosely based on a punk band he played in from age 11-20, and his bandmates. "There was a plethora of funny situations we ended up in together, from bizarre shows in sketchy venues to recording in stu- dios with even sketchier producers. And I thought that a story about bandmates who have known each other that closely for so long would be a funny one," he explained. "The three male characters in the band are very loose adaptations of my real, old bandmates -- if they had been stripped of any decency and were slightly sociopathic." `Death' of a band As Chantaj and his bandmates started their post-secondary careers and began working fulltime, their group slowly began to disband. "For a bit, it kind of felt like the band was `dead'," he said. "And since I have a morbid sense of humour... I camp up with a band whose old lead singer stole a song from them, brought it to a new band, gets famous and then dies a few years later -- it leads one of his old bandmates to try and get their old band back together at his wake." The abridged pilot episode stars Charlie Hamilton, Scott Law and Austin Duffy as jilted band members as Ronnie, Paul and Lewis, respectively; Elise Bauman as Amanda, Lewis' fiancée; and Paige Locke as backup singer Jade. Chantaj says part of the reason he and the Face the Music creative team are looking for funding is to be able to pay their actors for their efforts. On the lookout for local artists He adds the web series will also be looking to include local and independent musicians, artists and fans of the show. For more information, visit www. facebook.com/facethemusicseries or www. facethemusicseries.tumblr.com, or to watch the online pilot, visit http://goo.gl/lTPZ25. BIG MOVIES, SMALL PRICES! 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville 905-338-6397 www.film.ca facebook.com/filmca @FilmCaCinemas General: $8.50 Children ( 3-13): $6.50 Furious 7 (PG) APril 2 the lonGest ride (PG) APril 10 PAul BlArt: MAll CoP 2 (PG) APril 17 the AGe oF AdAline (stC) APril 24 AvenGers: AGe oF ultron (stC) MAy 1 seniors ( 65+): $6.50 tuesdays: $5.00