Scene Around Film Company
The RC
Director: Anastasia O'Brien
Producers: Scene Around Film Company in association with Altered Reality Entertainment
Creators: Dean B. Kaner and Julie Abrahamson
Writer: Shaun Broyls
Genre: Comedy
It's safe to say that when it comes to watching television, people enjoy watching folks worse off than themselves, i.e. "train wrecks". It's the only way to explain the popularity of reality shows like Real Housewives, Honey Boo-Boo and the like. When it comes to comedy, there's nothing funnier than watching characters fail at pretty much everything they try. George Costanza, Norm from Cheers, Homer Simpson…we all love these characters because their failures make our lives seem awesome by comparison. In fact, "lovable losers" are becoming staples of not just sitcom characters, but entire sitcom premises. That's where The RC comes in.
Based on the real life experiences of its creators, The RC (slang for "Remedial College") is exactly the type of sitcom that all of us - successful or not - can relate to. It's about the underachievers in America who have been demeaned and bullied by those annoying overachievers who find it SO easy to succeed. Well, success isn't in the cards for many of us, and viewers of The RC will revel in the fact that these poor slobs have it even worse than they do. This inept group of students, try as they might, just couldn't hack it in high school, didn't make it into an actual university, and are thereby stuck in the "learning purgatory" better known as The RC. But to bring this story to light - the story of an immature yet gritty group of kids that struggles not only to overcome their own inadequacies as students, but defend themselves against a snobby group of adversaries from the "real" college with which they share a campus
cREATIVE tEAM
Anastasia O’Brien (Executive Producer, Director): Anastasia is a Massachusetts native born and raised in Quincy where she currently resides. She began her career as an actress 15 years ago and is now a director and producer of both theater and film, as well an acting instructor and private acting coach. In 2011, Anastasia was the acting coach for a NESN pilot called “Shipwrecked” (now titled "Ship To Shore") and helped co-produced Season 2 of “Red Circles,” a web series by Angelwood Pictures, based out of Rhode Island. In 2011 she founded Play Around Theater Company, a non-profit theater group that brings theater to its audiences for free to communities all over the South Shore and Boston, MA. Last year she founded Scene Around Film Production Company and was contacted by one of the co-creators of The RC to produce the pilot.
Shaun Broyls (Writer): Shaun is an award winning journalist and comedy writer whose work has appeared in a variety of venues nationally, including multiple appearances at The Comedy Store. Formerly a news anchor and reporter for affiliates in Michigan, Wisconsin and most recently, Kansas City, MO., he has parlayed his experiences as a journalist, blogger, stand-up comic and actor into a large variety of comedy scripts, both for television and the big screen.
Shaun is headlining his own show called the "Just Give Up Comedy Tour" based on his just released book, "Just Give Up: Why Nothing in Life is Worth Trying At All…Ever." Shaun has spent most of his time penning sketches for production companies and websites for the past decade, his comedy bits having been acquired by such companies as Irish-Wiley Productions, Fat Piggy Media and Easter Bunny Productions, a few of those bits landing on MTV's Sunday Stew. In fact, Shaun just wrote, directed and starred in his own original comedy pilot. He has been honored for both his writing and his performing, being voted TV personality of the Year in Kansas City, as well as most recently finishing as one of only ten male personalities nationally to co-host on Live with Regis and Kelly. Currently, Shaun is an actor, writer and stand-up comic in Burbank, CA with his wife and three children, and continues to play the lottery religiously with the hope of buying a car with air conditioning.
Dean B. Kaner (Co-creator): Dean began writing plays after graduating from the University of Minnesota. He co-wrote and co-produced The Night of Broken Glass with award winning playwright the late Alice Josephs at The Met Theatre in Los Angeles. Co-wrote the play Hardball based on his grandfather’s life in a semi-pro baseball league in northern Wisconsin. Hardball premiered in Memphis at Playwrights’ Forum on May 30, 2008. Co-wrote and co-produced the play The Boys Of Winter at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in 2009. The play was the Critic’s Pick in The Boston Globe.The Boys Of Winter was nominated for an IRNE Award in 2010 for best new play by the New England Theatre Critics.
Julie Abrahamson (Co-creator): The RC is Julie's first professional writing project which she co-created with her cousin Dean Kaner. The sitcom is based on their hilarious and embarrassing experiences as freshman at the University of Minnesota.
Cast
Timothy Bonavita (Jordan), the youngest of three, grew up in Connecticut. He became interested in acting after a friend suggested he audition for an upcoming independent film. After receiving a very small role as “Soldier”, Timothy began training for acting at the Media Performance Institute in Boston, then at the Actors Gym under the tutelage of Reno Venturi, and has continued to expand his acting skills into commercials and theater. Timothy was ecstatic to be selected to play the role of Jordan and was introduced to the project after hearing about it through a friend attached to another project. Aside from acting, Timothy graduated from UConn with a Bachelors in Sociology. After graduating from college he spent a year traveling around Central America learning Spanish as a second language. Upon returning to the US, he found a job working as a Service Coordinator which he has been doing for the past several years.
William Variz (Dan) is 23 years old and was born and raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Wil has been acting for about two years now. He has always loved acting since he was young, but was extremely shy so, he didn’t start taking acting seriously until college. He was at the mall when they were having an acting competition, and his friends convinced him to enter it and he won an acting contract! That started Wil's acting career. He was never really been interested in comedy; he likes to do more dramatic roles but when he saw the posting for the “The RC,” he decided it might be a good for him to at least try comedy; "I might be good at it." Well, he was good at it because we hired him! Wil is really glad we did, because, "Not only did I have fun, but I learned a lot from the people in the cast and crew."
Chris Soule (Jose) was born in Boston Massachusetts. At a young age he joined the drama club of his local elementary school and since then, off and on threw the years he has been on stage. Chris is a member of the RC’s very own director, Anastasia O’Brien’s theater group. Chris is currently getting involved in film work.
Jennifer Fillingame (Cheryl), the youngest of three, grew up in Connecticut. Her long time interest in acting was brought to life in 2009 when she started to take classes in the Boston area. She continues to keep busy working on TV, film, commercial, and print projects, primarily in the New England market, and is thrilled to play the role of Cheryl in The RC. She originally became interested in this project as an extra in one of the classroom scenes and later auditioned for a role in the pilot trailer.
In addition to acting, Jen takes education to heart. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut, where she double majored in Communications and Psychology, and went on to earn her Masters in Social Work from Boston College. Jen is constantly on stage as she educates the youth of America. She can be seen daily playing the role of teacher in the suburbs of Boston.
Nicole Macioci (Chloe) has been acting since 2nd grade, when she wrote, directed, and performed in a classroom show. Nicole has also been singing in talent shows, churches, musicals, and choirs since age 8. She does not have any formal acting training, but she does have a trained voice. Among other things, Nicole is featured in an award-winning documentary about New York Mets fans, “Mathematically Alive: A Story of Fandom.” Her most recent major role was that of Young Eve in the Assumption College production of “Children of Eden” a role that she was honored to portray at the prestigious Hanover Theater, in Worcester, MA.
Nicole was attracted to “The RC,” because she really missed acting, as working full-time makes it difficult to make commitments. However, she really wanted to get involved again, and so she auditioned for the project. She was excited about getting the opportunity to act on camera as opposed to the stage and she would like to thank Stasia for selecting her for the role.
Nicole enjoyed the process of filming the trailer for “The RC,” and has enjoyed meeting the cast members as well.
When she is not acting, Nicole enjoys singing, songwriting, volunteering, watching baseball, and among other things, spending time with her family, her friends, and her boyfriend.
Jaimie Tucker (Paula) is a Vancouver-born actress and model who has had international experience throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She recently relocated to the east coast and is signed by Maggie in Boston. She continues to work locally and in New York City and has worked on numerous projects casting her as herself, such as supporting host in the entertainment feature television show “In Da Cut”, filmed in Los Angeles.
Jaimie is excited to be cast as Paula in series pilot The RC. After communicating with producer Stasia O’Brien about the role of Paula, it was evident a sense of comedic loss of inhibition was required and ultimately generated significant laughter in her portrayal of a haughty and erratic college student.
Jaimie has been cast in Christopher Di Nunzio’s crime thriller as Celine and most recently as Amy, a series regular in John Depew’s Viewpoint 360, a satire project focusing on current events and politics. Jaimie has trained with acting coaches Daniel Boileau in Vancouver, Susan Shaw and M. Lynda Robinson in Boston, as well as Stuart K. Robinson in L.A.
Jaimie’s unique blend of experience in business and fundraising provides an additional asset to her acting career. With experience in fundraising and public speaking, she has the business acumen to raise funds, strategically market and articulately promote the film and television projects in which she becomes involved with.
J. Michael Whalen (Professor Smooth) made his stage debut in 2010 during The Milton (MA) Players’ production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Since then he has concentrated on Play Around, a nonprofit community-theater group for which he serves as an actor and as publicity director. He particularly enjoyed his starring role as Mark Ferris in Neil Simon’s “London Suite.”His award-winning journalism career spans more than 20 years. Currently he is the editor of The Jewish Advocate in Boston. He and his wife Deirdre live in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
Aaron Johnson (Gene)
Steve Perry (Gustavo)
Angel Garcia (Alexandro)
Sean Brennan (Silvio)
Kevin Lowney (Narrator)
