Last year, Christopher Correa ’10 quit his job, gathered some friends and colleagues, and put together the first seven episodes of the Wes-set webseries “Postponed.” Starring Correa and Robby Hardesty ’12, “Postponed” revolves around two jobless slackers who decide to squat at their alma mater. Season two finds Correa expanding the webseries format into an ambitious multi-tiered social media project. In addition to the series content, there will be a behind-the-scenes channel called “Unpostponed,” as well as a platform for audiences to share their own stories of post-college malaise. The Argus spoke with Correa to find out more about the upcoming season.
The Argus: The first season of “Postponed” was definitely the funniest and most polished college webseries I’ve seen, particularly the epic finale. Are you feeling the pressure to one-up yourself?
Christopher Correa: Last year was a great learning experience. Over the 10 months that we were producing “Postponed,” I felt an incredible amount of pressure to just make the episodes happen. I had a team that wasn’t being paid, and I felt the need to reward their faith with a palpable product. That pressure was coupled with wanting to make each and every episode better than the last—both in terms of content and production value. On top of all that, I’m working as a PA for 12-14 hours a day while writing ten-minute episodes and planning our weekend shoots. This season, I don’t feel pressure. I know the drill. The crew still isn’t getting paid, but they are fully on board. They know that there’s an audience for this material and that they are able to put on their resume that they are a director, editor, and so forth, on something that they are proud of. My favorite part of producing “Postponed” is being able to subvert audience expectation. We can have a crowd-pleasing episode like episode four and then cut it with something fresh like episode six, where Robby and Chris are dealing with very real emotions. This season, I’d like to play with more of that from scene to scene. “Louie” does that wonderfully on FX. I’m not at all saying we’re in that league, but I’d be lying to say my aspirations aren’t anything less than excellence.
A: Can you give us any teasers for the upcoming season? What new hijinks are the gang gonna get into?
CC: The new season will see “progress” for Robby and Chris. However, for those familiar with the themes of the show, they know that the word “progress” is a loose term. For every revelation, there are three steps backward. This is the struggle of the Postponed Generation: maintaining positive momentum for an extended period of time. During my education, I was fascinated with “Waiting for Godot” and “Hamlet.” Their characters’ inability to commit to action is a theme that runs deep in “Postponed.” I realize that I gave you no sneak peak into season two, but I can promise an incredibly fun season.
A: What inspired you to turn “Postponed” into an expanded social media project?
CC: It was always the plan. I believe in new media as a valid medium to tell a story. Before entering a new medium, you have to look at your story and think to yourself, “How do I tell this story by taking advantage of the strengths of this medium?” The reason for telling this story online can’t be simply because it is cheap and it’s the best way to get my independent story across. It needs to be because I think the capabilities of the web can strengthen this story. Successful content online has been built around an interactive audience. This Postponed Generation is out there. It’s you and me. How can we inform the narrative fiction of “Postponed” The Web Series? We can share our personal stories, our personal failures and triumphs. We can inspire one another to reach for loftier heights by noticing in each other those rhythms that postpone us. Throughout the season, we were collecting bits and pieces of our own personal story with the Unpostponed Tumblr. Opening it up to our audience was a logical next step.
A: What were the most important lessons you learned from season one? Will we see how those pay off in the “Unpostponed” behind-the-scenes series?
CC: I’ve learned a great deal. I’m still learning. My lessons have come from my team and working with them. They’ve come from feedback from our audience. Working on this show was incredibly cathartic. It made me see the parts of myself that were holding me back. Now I’m an Associate Producer at Ish Digital producing content for four different YouTube channels, including Jay-Z’s “Life and Times.” I’ve also been picked up as a host for a movie review show on one of the channels (UnoDosTres). This breaking out has given me more confidence as an executive producer and writer of “Postponed.” I’m able to balance my time so that optimal work-flow is occurring for season two. We’re going to really open up “Unpostponed” to all the voices at Future House Pictures, absolutely making that the premiere place to track the lessons we learn.