STAGE / FILM
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| Jeremy Larter, the star of Profile PEI, in a scene from episode 16—Bowling |
The camera lingers on Jeremy Larter’s face. Jill from his screenwriting class has just told him that the dialogue in his screenplay is no good. He is hurt and confused and his expression is so funny—and so painful—that I have to look away.
Welcome to Profile PEI, episode six. Part farce, part pathos, part soap opera - all brilliant. And since I stumbled on the weekly editions of this web series, my Mondays have not been the same.
Describing Profile PEI is a risky business. The risk? Putting it into a box, when it is clearly unlike anything else. Comparisons? Don’t even think about it.
On the face of it, Profile PEI is an episodic series that viewers can find at www.profilepei.com. A new edition appears every Monday. It is the creation of Adam Perry, Scott Gallant, Jason Larter and Jeremy Larter. The first three have known each other since high school—Jeremy and Jason are brothers.
The project—if you can call it that—started with Adam’s submission to the Island Media Arts Co-op’s Centred Screenings Artist Challenge. He and Jeremy had been kicking around a character, without really giving him life. The result was a short movie about a guy called, well, Jeremy Larter.
After the initial movie was made, Adam and Jeremy felt that the screen Jeremy had more to say. Thus began the continuing series. They enlisted the help of Jason and Scott and weekly episodes started to appear on a web site.
They didn’t do anything in particular to publicize the site—a Facebook page and word of mouth are what bring most people there. The Facebook page has over 800 members and the creators say they have fans in 22 countries—mostly ex-pat Islanders who came for a taste of home and got caught up in the yarn.
And an incredible yarn it is. The story is (extremely) loosely based on things that have happened to the real Jeremy—if they had happened to a guy whose ambition and enthusiasm far exceed his talent. Screen Jeremy wants to be a screen writer and loves Ellen Page, with whom he claims a sort of relationship. Real Jeremy also has writing aspirations and worked with Page when she shot on movie on PEI.
Screen Jeremy is exasperating, a loud-mouth know-it-all with an opinion on everything. But underneath all that is an intensely vulnerable guy who you want to laugh at and hug at the same time. His brother (on the screen) reacts that way to him, too: his continuing patience with his crazy brother is incredibly touching and, again, incredibly funny.
Finding the time to write, shoot, edit the stories, and get them onto the website, is difficult. Three of the film makers work at other jobs full time, so the work is done on evening and weekends. They are learning as they go and it’s fun to watch the technical quality improve as the learn more about lighting and sound.
And, as the series progresses, the story itself gets more complicated—more characters and more locations. And the group takes advantage of real situations where they arise. The real Jason is invited to play in a charity hockey game—and suddenly an episode (the best one!) is built around it. Each episode could stand on its own, but watching only one would spoil the intense attention to detail from one story to the next.
After eight episodes, Jeremy (the real one) says people are starting to recognize him on the street—and to offer opinions about what Jeremy (the screen one) should do next. Though being a Profile PEI fan feels a little like belonging to a very exclusive club, it’s also nice to see that others are catching on.
How far would they guys like to take Profile PEI? They disagree. Scott (a web designer) thinks it should live on the web. Jason and Jeremy would love to see it on TV. Adam is just eager for the whole ride to keep going. Because what began as his small film project has turned in to something remarkable.
You can find the series at profilepei.com. A warning: there is some swearing. Okay—a lot of swearing.