Interview with Matt Keener, (our) Legendary Screenplay Consultant

Victor is still in L.A. working to get Malaland, formerly known as Wok In Progress, made. He’s been working very closely with Matt Keener of Scenario to get Malaland produced. Matt, as you know, has been working with Murray on the development of the new screenplay. Now, he’s stepping in to help us produce as well. This guy is amazing, and we are grateful to have him on our side.

Matt Keener - Our Legendary Script Consultant
Matt Keener

Victor and Matt typically meet in Loft Cafe/Cafe Loft in L.A.’s Koreatown, and this is where this interview was recorded. Along with giving us an update as to the status of the Malaland story, he also talks about how he got started in the film business and drops some nuggets of wisdom along the way. The interview runs about 30-minutes. Enjoy!

Sitcom On Hold. Film In Progress.

Check our Kickstarter page for important updates to Wok In Progress: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nopets/wok-in-progress-bilingual-sitcom-series/updates

Wok Punch Up!

Punch Up!

Not this kind of punch up! THIS kind of punch up…

Punch Up!From left, Nigel Tu, David Fertitta, Josh Tyas, and Murray Walker

With our successful Kickstarter under our belt, we’re back on track with the production of the next couple of episodes of Wok In Progress. The foundation of a sitcom is its script. Before locking down the script for episode 2, Murray sat down with Nigel, David, and Josh; comedians from Comedy Club China, to ‘punch up’ the script, not each other.

A ‘punch up’ is just a day or two of making a script as funny as it can possibly be. Every sitcom goes through this process. Unlike most sitcom productions, we were only able to punch up episode 2 before running out of time. Nigel, David, and Josh all have real jobs. We’ll meet again to punch up more episodes.

Comedy Club China holds stand up comedy open mic nights three nights a week in Beijing, and have stand up comedy shows on a regular basis. Check their website for show schedules and/or sign up to test your comedy chops at one of their open mic nights: http://www.comedyclubchina.com

All GoodSee? No hard feelings.

YOU DID IT!

Wok In Progress Kickstarter Successfully Funded
Wok In Progress Kickstarter Successfully Funded
YOU DID IT!

You helped us reach our funding goal! Thank you sooo much for everything; for the pledges, of course, but also for sharing Wok In Progress with your friends and for the words of encouragement. We’ve learned that every bit helps when it comes to not only crowdfunding but life itself. It’s amazing what we can achieve together.

It’s been an beautiful journey, but the path doesn’t end here. We look forward to discovering what lies ahead with you. Stay tuned.

3 Hours To Go

3 Hours Left In The Wok In Progress Kickstarter
Did you know you can get your very own Wok In Progress wok as a reward for pledging $75?

3 more hours left in our sitcom’s Kickstarter! We still need to raise $1,765 to be able to keep the rest of the money we raised. NASA (nerds analysing sh*tty analytics) still thinks we are on target! Stretch goals coming soon! Please pledge if you haven’t already, and be sure to share your passion for our sitcom with your friends: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nopets/wok-in-progress-bilingual-sitcom-series

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nopets/wok-in-progress-bilingual-sitcom-series

With 3 hours to go NASA (nerds analysing sh*tty analytics) says things are looking good. Stretch goals coming soon!

4 More Hours!

4 more hours left in the Wok In Progress Kickstarter
4 more hours left in our Wok In Progress Kickstarter! We’re still short $1,820, but NASA (nerds analysing sh*tty analytics) thinks we are still looking good! Look for stretch goals coming soon! Please pledge if you haven’t already, and be sure to share your passion for our sitcom with your friends.

With 5 hours to go NASA (nerds analysing sh*tty analytics) says things are looking good. Stretch goals coming soon!

5 Hours To Go

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We have 5 hours left to raise at least $2,080, dear fans of Wok In Progress. Please pledge, if you haven’t already, and by all means share our Kickstarter with your friends: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nopets/wok-in-progress-bilingual-sitcom-series Thank you! You rock!

With 5 hours to go NASA (nerds analysing sh*tty analytics) says things are looking good. Stretch goals coming soon!

Sound Stage Inspection

Huili County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing are inspecting the soon-to-be constructed sets for Wok In Progress in a sound stage in the north of Beijing with some of the cast and crew
Huili County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing are inspecting the soon-to-be constructed sets for Wok In Progress in a sound stage in the north of Beijing with some of the cast and crew
Huili County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing are inspecting the soon-to-be constructed sets for Wok In Progress in a sound stage in the north of Beijing with some of the cast and crew

Huili County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing are inspecting the soon-to-be constructed sets for Wok In Progress in a sound stage in the north of Beijing with some of the cast and crew. Mayor Li Ningyi had this to say, “Serve the Wok In Progress Kickstarter!” You heard the man. Our Kickstarter is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nopets/wok-in-progress-bilingual-sitcom-series Pledge, share or both.

Yes, this is where we’ll be filming most of the interior scenes for Wok In Progress. After Huili County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing are done with their sound stage inspection, of course.

Man At Wok

Victor Muh & Murray Clive Walker
Actor Murray Clive Walker (pictured right), a one-time resident of Taipei, is in the midst of trying to make his Beijing sitcom dream come true. (Photo: Sanna K)

By Joe Henley

Getting a sitcom up and running is a special sort of hell. Convincing TV industry power mongers to pay attention is akin to standing along a stretch of highway and yelling at the cars that whip by. Oh, and there are about a million people alongside you, all braying ad nauseam about how they’ve got the next Friends on their hands. In short, it’s next to impossible.

Actor, writer and producer Murray Clive Walker is on the verge of making the impossible happen. The South African thirty-something has not only gone through all of the above to breathe life into his pet project, he’s had to do it while navigating the cultural complexities of a foreign land—namely China.

The result is WOK IN PROGRESS, a bilingual sitcom following two college dropouts who try, and mostly fail, to bridge various cultural gaps in Beijing. In the self-produced and financed pilot episode Walker plays Larry, a skirt-chasing dreamer fresh out of his studies in the U.S. His comic foil is the level-headed Melvin, played by Scotty Cox.

In real life, Walker spent three years in Taiwan working and studying Mandarin the mid-aughts before upping stakes for the Middle Kingdom. Prior to living in Taiwan, he studied acting in Vancouver and New York.

While living in Taipei, Walker worked a desk job as a writer and editor at a publishing company that made ESL materials. It was there that the idea to write a sitcom struck.

“They were using a sitcom-type show as part of their English instruction,” Walker recalls. “I tried getting a role in that, but they already had enough actors. But the editor told me they were looking for a lower level English show which I could take a crack at writing. And so I started creating a sitcom for the first time.”

That show was never made, but the idea had a hold of him. His love for the city notwithstanding, Walker knew he would have to leave Taipei in order to fully pursue his dreams of writing and acting.

“I love Taipei more than Beijing actually, but the industry was just too small. I needed the next big thing in my life and so I made the move to Beijing.”

Upon arrival in the Chinese capitol, Walker was poised to fall into the usual western-expat-in-Asia McJob. Then the first in a series of serendipitous meetings occurred.

“I was about to start teaching English again when I met an Australian guy in a coffee shop. He was running lines for an independent movie and he gave me the number of his agent. I met with her and a month later, just as I was being hired to teach English, I got my first acting job on a Chinese TV show called Zhuangshi Chuzheng (壮士出征).”

Since that chance encounter eight years ago, Walker has acted in over 30 TV shows and eight movies. He even landed a role opposite action star Dolph Lundgren once, with Drago himself wrapping his fingers around his neck despite the script not calling for it.

By Walker’s own account, trying to break out as a foreign actor in China hasn’t been easy, but he has been able to make a steady go of it. Now, rather than wait for roles to find him, he’s trying his hand once more at writing his own.

Nobody gets by in the entertainment industry without help, though. To get Wok in Progress made, Walker needed someone with a bit of industry clout on his team. Cue the second entrance of fate into the picture.

“Funnily enough, I met Victor Muh (慕全胜), co-producer and director, at a speed-dating event. Although neither of us found girlfriends that night, we did instead sow the seeds for an awesome friendship and partnership. I showed him the pilot and we got to work putting the different pieces together. Victor and I pulled in our resources in order to make the pilot happen.”

Walker and Muh are now in the final stages of a Kickstarter campaign, attempting to raise the US$30,000 they need to film the first season. With just a few days to go, they have recently passed the halfway point of their goal. It’s all or nothing. If the thirty grand doesn’t come in by Monday night (China Standard Time), they are back to square one.

In the end, Wok In Progress is a work of comedy. But that doesn’t make it any less meaningful, nor the message any less poignant.

“We wanted to create a sitcom that would address these cultural discrepancies,” says Walker, “but also convey the idea that although culture is important, sharing the same culture is not paramount to getting along with each other. Yes, we are all different, but it’s these differences that make us interesting and unique.”

Corporate Sponsor Reward

New Corporate Sponsor Kickstarter Reward
We are now offering a Kickstarter reward for corporate sponsors. Interested in buying our souls? Here’s the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nopets/wok-in-progress-bilingual-sitcom-series

This is what you’ll get: Have your company be our sitcom’s elite backer. This means your company’s, 30-sec. maximum, TV commercial will run once during the 3 commercial breaks in each episode of Wok In Progress for a total of 3 TV commercial spots per episode, for as many episodes as we produce during season 1, for 2 years minimum. Your company’s logo will be featured on all press kits, email newsletters going out to fans, posters, flyers, banners at Wok In Progress events, and all other marketing materials not specifically mentioned here; and will receive preferential sizing and 1st priority placement ahead of other corporate sponsors for 6 months after the end of the first season. Your company will also have the opportunity to distribute promotional items of your choice (pens, t-shirts, hats, etc.) at select Wok In Progress screenings in China. Your company will also receive 8 invitations to our Wok In Progress premiere in Beijing which will include an exclusive and delicious Nam Burger dinner (travel and accommodation not included) with the creators of Wok In Progress and its Executive Producers.

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