Robert Holden on the making of Latest TV’s ‘Sketchers’

Sketchy Business

As I watch Robert De Niro drive down Sunset Boulevard in a jet black Mercedes, script in one hand, steering wheel in the other, shouting out lines into a glorious sunny day, I’m reminded just how close the dream is … or appears to be, here in Los Angeles.

I’m Robert Holden, a Brighton-trained actor and a newbie in the world of writing and directing. Thanks to a revolutionary new venture – Latest TV – my beautiful, talented team and I are riding high after a little sketch show we wrote, directed and starred in – Sketchers ­– is airing nationally. As if this wasn’t enough for a comedy team relatively fresh out of training and for a crew who’ve not even graduated, we also got a global stream on the web.

I have been back and fourth to Los Angeles several times since I graduated. If it’s a dream you’re chasing, you’ve got to be prepared to get a little breathless. No? This, however, is the first time I’ve got something to pitch. In an industry that’s all about what you’ve just done, I can now look agents, casting directors and personal managers squarely in the eye, and tell them our show is being viewed across the globe. The question is, of course, will they listen? Not to mention will they care, or will they even open the door?

Not far from the prehistoric black bubbling tar of the La Brea Tar Pits, the shiny new SAG (Screen Actors Guild) offices climb their way up into the sky. SAG is the union you pretty much have to be in to work in film and television in the US, and it has always been notoriously difficult to get into. It’s the classic Catch 22 scenario: you need a job to get into SAG and a SAG card to get a job. A while ago, however, SAG merged with AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and brought in web media as a new format, so things are looking more positive.

The last time I was in LA studying sketch comedy with one of my comedy idols – Kevin McDonald, who you may remember from the cult classic Kids In The Hall – I learned that a web series or short sketches aired on web media channels was not only a way to get viewed in the US, with sites like ‘Hulu’ or Will Farrell’s ‘Funny or Die’ site growing daily, but also a short cut to SAG membership. You needed a SAG member involved in your show, and I was in luck. A good buddy of mine is a fully paid up member. We shot a sketch and I wrote off to SAG … and heard precisely nothing. However, I have met their criteria.

Over the next week I face many challenges: first, visit the SAG offices and get me and my team SAG membership; second, create enough buzz to get a manager or agent keen to represent me; third, get the show developed into a web series.

Oh, and fourthly, find out if my low budget show, combined with Brighton’s new groundbreaking TV channel, has gained me enough gravitas in my field to move to LA and start a new life – a life where I might one day stand even closer to De Niro as he says his lines.

Watch Sketchers on Latest TV on Fridays at 9pm – Freeview channel 8, Virgin Media 159 or at thelatest.tv