Welcome to Flaming Shrimp Productions
Flaming Shrimp Productions is Paul Feig, a man with a mission
and a $450/month office.
What are we doing? Just look!
(WARNING: If you're at all squeamish about the use of the royal "we," you should avoid this page at all costs.)
Get ready, friends.
Because your new favorite television show is coming your way this fall!
"FREAKS AND GEEKS"
PREMIERES SATURDAY,
SEPTEMBER 25TH, AT
8:00pm ON NBC!
(Hey, that's two days after my wife and I's anniversary! Weird, huh?
(Or is it "my wife and my's"? Or "my wife and mine's"? Or "my wife and me's"? Or "my wife and myself's"? Or should I just forget it and keep telling you about the show? Yeah, I'll do that.)
That's right, NBC! The good folks who bring you "Friends," "Frasier," "ER," and used to bring you "Seinfeld" (you know, until he decided to stop doing it and make all those American Express commercials).
But there's so much on TV, Paul.
Why should I watch
your
show?
Well, Mr. or Ms. I'm-Too-Busy-To-Watch-A-Lot-Of-Television, "Freaks and Geeks" will only be your favorite show in the whole world, that's why!
I mean, c'mon! You've got your buddy Paul watchin' out for you. He wouldn't sell you a bill of goods, right? He wouldn't put out some crappy ol' show full of bad jokes and half-baked drama just to make a buck, would he? Oh, others might. They might let the almighty dollar lead them around by the nose but not Paul! No sirree.
This is a good show!
No, I'm lying.
This is a GREAT show!!!
Think about it. We've got a fantastic cast, filled with the biggest selection of talented newcomers you've ever seen, we've got some of the best veteran actors around, including Joe Flaherety, from SCTV fame, Tom Wilson, from Back to the Future fame, Dave "Gruber" Allen and Steve Bannos from Life Sold Separately fame (all right, I know most of you haven't seen Life Sold Separately, but you will soon ... I hope), you've got Jake Kasdan, who directed the great film "Zero Effect," directing our pilot and our first episode back, and you've got Judd Apatow, one of the main guys who brought you "The Ben Stiller Show" and "The Larry Sanders Show" executive producing. And, to top it all off, you've got me, Paul Feig, writing the show and producing it.
I mean, think about it!!! How can it be better???
All right, I know this all sounds a little self-promoting (and it is because, well, it's my web site, for Pete's sake. I can promote whatever the heck I wanna) but in all sincerity (and I know it's hard to realize I can be sincere), this is a good show that I'm very proud of and I'm certain, without a doubt, that you'll all like it.
So, having said all that, please keep your fingers crossed for me.
You know, that we don't get cancelled or anything like that. 'Cause, you know, everybody tells me it's a tough night to have a show on. But we'll prove them wrong, won't we? Huh? Won't we?
Oh, c'mon! Help me prove them wrong. Look, here's all you have to do. Just make dinner plans or dates with your friends or whatever the heck you do on Saturday nights for after nine o'clock.
I mean, think about it. Nobody cool ever goes out before nine o'clock in the evening on a Saturday.
Oh, wait, strike that. My GRANDMA goes out at eight o'clock! She and all her friends go out and play bingo and complain about the youth of today.
So, if that sounds cool to you, then go ahead. Go out before nine and miss our show. I'm sure you'll have a real nice time. Oh, and be sure to pick up a bottle of Geritol to take with you. And don't forget your cane either!
So, just watch my freakin' show, would you? I swear, you won't regret it!
Thank you for allowing me to self-promote. It makes me feel so good about myself.
Oh, and by the way, "Freaks and Geeks" isn't officially a Flaming Shrimp Production. I mean, it started out as one because it's my company and I wrote the thing. But, you see, Flaming Shrimp Productions has no money to make a TV show with, so now it's a DreamWorks and Apatow Productions show, along with being an NBC show, because, well, you know ... they've got money.
What happened to all my money? Well, just look below ...
And now on to our old friend, my first feature film entitled
"LIFE SOLD SEPARATELY"
I'll sum it all up in one word ...
FLIXTOUR!
(All right, all right, this page is a little old. But I spent almost two years of my life with this stupid movie so, by God, I'm gonna squeeze every last bit of juice out of it that I can. That all right with you? Good!)
That's right, I spent most of Fall 1998 touring around the country with my movie on a little thing called "Flixtour," which is a college tour that sends out an independent filmmaker (in this case, me) with his movie and couple of short films that other filmmakers made. Then, at each college I visit in the country, I show my film and then have a question and answer period with the students afterward.
I traveled to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan (my home state), Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. Oh, and Washington state, too. Yes, I was truly the Willie Lowman of film for a few months there and it was quite a nice experience ... for the most part.
If you'd like to read the journal I kept during the tour -- I warn you, it's long but it's quite entertaining (if I say so myself), and if you're an independent filmmaker, it has some good insights and ideas for you regarding the independent film world, along with the self-distribution world. If you'd like to read it, then just
Here's a humorous update! Circa August 1999 ...
"Flixtour" went out of business soon after I did it!
I mean, it didn't go out of business right after I did it -- another group of filmmakers went out on the road and then it closed. So, was it my fault or theirs? I like to think it wasn't my fault and I don't think it was -- in fact, it wasn't anybody's fault except for a few dead presidents who refused to help keep the thing alive, if you know what I mean.
BUT ... check out my Flixtour journal regardless. Just because, well, I worked really hard to write that thing in the midst of all that driving around (it was during this time that I wrote "Freaks and Geeks," so something good came out of it, eh?)
And take a trip down Memory Lane, won't you?
Here's our old announcement and info about "Life Sold Separately," just to fill you in:
We here at Flaming Shrimp Productions shot a feature film in SIX DAYS! Starting on Monday, April 21st, 1997, a cast and crew of fifteen people marched into a field in Topanga State Park with an Arriflex BL camera, circa 1960, a small amount of grip equipment and reflectors and a "can-do" attitude and proceeded to get really sunburned and in the process, make a movie. Power to the People!
Before I tell you any more, I'd first like to list out all the fabulous people who gave their time and boundless energy to this project (gee, it's kinda like the Academy Awards except the music won't start playing to get me off the stage):
Mark Sanford - Director of Photography
Alex Carr - Production Manager
John Orloff - Assistant Director
Parker Chemak - 2nd Assistant Director
Sandy Sfeir - Script Supervisor
Daniel Wilson - Assistant Cameraman
Joseph Levy - 2nd Assistant Cameraman
Erik Magnus - Sound Mixer
Jason Milke - Boom Operator
Kim Engleman - Makeup and Hair
Sarah Daubney - Wardrobe
John Driscoll - Dolly Grip
Jerry Fucchini - Grip
Ashley St. Johns - Production Assistant
Laurie Gilbert - Production Assistant
Athan Karras - Craft Services
and our fantastic Executive Producers
Panos C. Nicolaou & Todd Traina!
And also my extra special cast who put up with me saying "Okay, while we're set up here, let's grab your really emotional moment from that scene at the end of the script. And action!" a lot:
Dave "Gruber" Allen - Roger
Steve Bannos - Larry
Kari Coleman - Bob
Penn Jillette - Fred
Without the great attitudes and hard work of all these wonderful people, I wouldn't have been able to pull any of this off. I love them all (and that's not a load of Hollywood hooey - I'm really being sincere here - I know, it's hard to tell sometime but trust me, you're never on the fence about people you went into war with -- even though it was a fun war).
So There!
"But what else are you doing over there at them fancy offices?"
Well, I'll tell you.
"BAD
SCIENCE!"
Here at Flaming Shrimp, we've optioned our first book to try and make it into a movie. It's a true story called "Bad Science -- The Short Life and Weird History of Cold Fusion" written by Gary Taubes, science writer extrodinaire.
It's the true story of the men who said they'd discovered cold fusion, even though they really hadn't. It's quite a wild story, sort of a science version of "Fargo," but without all the killing. A bit of the movie "Quiz Show," but without the hard questions.
All right, it's going to take a writer of extreme talent to turn this rather dry story into a funny and engaging movie. But who could possibly do that? Hmmm .....
You'd better say "Paul Feig," you bunch a' who-ha's!
Other projects?
You bet!
But, hey, if I give them all away, you'll just steal them and then where will I be? Nowhere! Just sitting in my office regretting the day I put all this info on my web page.
In fact, I shouldn't have even told you about "Bad Science." Or "Freaks and Geeks," for that matter. What was I thinking?!
Uh ... just forget you saw any of this.
Okay?
Okay!
Where do you want to go now?
Paul's Home Page - Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Be Like Paul - PD Comedy Guide - Paul's Showbiz History - Writings and Rantings