By Frank O’Donnell, WPRO Arts and Entertainment Contributor
Kevin Broccoli is a familiar name and face in the world of Rhode Island theater. He’s an actor, a playwright, a director and a producer. So it makes perfect sense that he’s also the creative force behind “Amateurs,” a web series all about a local theater company.
“I was working on another project (with filmmakers Richard Dionne and Alex Watrous), and they asked me if I had a screenplay we could all do together,” said Broccoli, a Johnston resident. “I told them I didn’t, but that I’d always wanted to do a web series. I grew up on television, so my mind tends to work in that sort of long-form storytelling style. We thought it would be great to take advantage of the Netflix binge-watching craze and release all the episodes at once.”
So Broccoli got to work and wrote ten short episodes and assembled a cast.
“We filmed this in a really short amount of time – about ten days – so I went with people I’ve worked with before who I knew could devote a lot of time to it,” said Broccoli. “I was also able to put in some cameos, and hopefully, if we do more episodes, we can expand the number of people included.”
Ask Broccoli what he learned from the experience, and you’ll get this: “Film. Moves. So. Slow. Alex, Rich, the cast and crew, everybody was so patient with me. I was an absolute crazy person, because I’m used to theater where things go at a really rapid pace. We had to adjust some scripts that were more ambitious because the timeframe just wouldn’t allow it.”
But he’s happy with the outcome.
“Theater happens and then, for better or worse, it disappears. To have something you’ve worked on be recorded like this is great.”
And being the writer and one of the actors, he does say there are things he wishes he could fix.
“Mainly to do with myself. I’m not a big fan of watching myself on camera. But overall, I’m very happy, and I think everybody did a great job.”
