P.S.
I Love You!'s Exclusive
Interview with The Super Secret Project
The creators
of "Perfect Strangers: Boston"
They
say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's the case, not
only are those who set out to recreate the Perfect Strangers theme song
flattering the original show, they're flattering those who have come before
them! On the heels of the brilliant and accurate Perfect Strangers:
Seattle Intro created by The Baggy Pants,
The Super Secret Project, a hilarious comedic entity, has offered up their entry
into this ever-growing video phenomenon! First, have a look at Perfect
Strangers Boston! Then read our exclusive interview with the SSP
below!
Perfect
Strangers: Boston
And
the side by side comparison with the original Perfect Strangers Intro:
P.S. Online: What
was your inspiration for doing Perfect Strangers Boston?
Super
Secret Project: We saw the Seattle version by "The Baggy Pants"
and thought it was just great. We took it as a call to create one for
every US city. As soon as we saw the Seattle remake, we just started
batting around ideas about where we could shoot the one for Boston. Billy
didn't feel like wearing shorts in January and neither of us owned a tux, so we
decided to play up the Boston / New York rivalry a little bit. Oh yeah,
and we had nothing better to do.
P.S. Online: Were
you, or are you, fans of Perfect Strangers?
Super Secret
Project: We live by the creed
"When you rolling out the dough, just be sure
you roll it slow."
P.S. Online: How
did you go about scouting locations for the shoot?
Super Secret
Project: We both went to
Emerson, which is right in the heart of Boston's downtown, so we were pretty
familiar with what would work to stand in for the original shots. Google
Maps helped a lot, too. After we had a rough edit of the video, one of our
"Supervising Producers", Tim Brenner went out and reshot some stuff
(the opening shot of city, the Boston highway sign) and improved the production
value a great deal.
P.S. Online: How
long did it take you to shoot it?
Super Secret
Project: Most of it was shot
in one day, but getting the "Beantown Or Burst" shot was annoying, as
we ended up shooting it twice. The first time we had him in a pickup
truck, and it came off a bit weak. For everything though, I'd say 10 hours
total . . . We also recorded a new version of the song (with thick Boston
accents) that in the end, didn't really work, so we stuck with the original.
P.S. Online: How
much money did it cost to film?
Super Secret
Project: It didn't cost any
real money for us to film, however I am pretty sure I broke the clutch of my
Aunt's Mustang during the shoot. So when I get the bill for that, I will
let you know.
P.S. Online: Any
funny stories to share about your experience making PSB?
Super Secret
Project: It was just
cold. There was a lot of "wait, why are we doing this
again"? Also, when the clutch of the Mustang went out, and it broke
down, Billy was on an overpass about a mile up the road, waiting for it to go
under. And it never did.
P.S. Online: Tell
us about the SSP, your background and how you got into making these humorous
videos!
Super Secret
Project: We started making
videos together after our producer, Darby DeChristopher and I began working
together at a video production house in Cambridge, Mass. One of the SSP
members, Keith Brown, who is out in LA, and I had written a feature called
"Vacationland" and when Darby and I realized we had access to all
kinds of gear, we all decided it could work as a short. We cast Billy in
the lead, filmed it for about 100 bucks, and once it was done, and YouTube came
along, we just started knocking them out. Zach Braff showed a video we
made about him called "Ode To Zach Braff" on "The Tonight
Show" after that, and it kind of kickstarted the whole thing.
P.S. Online: What
do you hope your PSB video will achieve in terms of making a difference in the
world? ; )
Super Secret
Project: Our hope is that
this video single-handedly eradicates poverty worldwide and brings world peace to
the whole, um, world.
P.S. Online: Do
you have any upcoming projects you would like to plug?
Super Secret
Project: As always, we are
working on more videos. You can check them out at our YouTube
Channel.
Super
Secret Project: We saw the Seattle version by "The Baggy Pants"
and thought it was just great. We took it as a call to create one for
every US city. As soon as we saw the Seattle remake, we just started
batting around ideas about where we could shoot the one for Boston. Billy
didn't feel like wearing shorts in January and neither of us owned a tux, so we
decided to play up the Boston / New York rivalry a little bit. Oh yeah,
and we had nothing better to do.
Super Secret
Project: Most of it was shot
in one day, but getting the "Beantown Or Burst" shot was annoying, as
we ended up shooting it twice. The first time we had him in a pickup
truck, and it came off a bit weak. For everything though, I'd say 10 hours
total . . . We also recorded a new version of the song (with thick Boston
accents) that in the end, didn't really work, so we stuck with the original.
Super Secret
Project: We started making
videos together after our producer, Darby DeChristopher and I began working
together at a video production house in Cambridge, Mass. One of the SSP
members, Keith Brown, who is out in LA, and I had written a feature called
"Vacationland" and when Darby and I realized we had access to all
kinds of gear, we all decided it could work as a short. We cast Billy in
the lead, filmed it for about 100 bucks, and once it was done, and YouTube came
along, we just started knocking them out. Zach Braff showed a video we
made about him called "Ode To Zach Braff" on "The Tonight
Show" after that, and it kind of kickstarted the whole thing.