It’s 11:30pm at Denny’s. There are two teenagers sitting at an obtrusive table in the corner. One has a plate with a T-bone steak and overflowing fries. The other has hashbrowns, over easy eggs, bacon, and pancakes. The only thing out of place is a notebook and ballpoint pen resting in the space between their plates. Interspersed between time spent eating their large hybrid breakfast-dinner and joking around, the two have sudden bouts of inspiration and scribble more onto the notebook. This is just one of juniors Tyler Ludwig and Alex Groenweghe’s creative brainstorming sessions.
The idea for the television show came long after they had already created a cast of characters. Over the course of the year, the two had created several characters for fun, most of which were acted out by Ludwig. Over-zealous patriot Pait was created at a debate tournament, conspiracy-theorist Rick was created in the car, Keith and Geraldford were created in friend’s basements, Tina was created while bowling, and Wilfred was created at Dairy Queen.
At first the characters were just personas Ludwig would often take on, offering “Q&A sessions” with a character. In late December last year, Ludwig even created a twitter account for their first character, Pait. After many friends suggesting they do something with all of their characters, Ludwig and Groenweghe decided to create a pilot script for a comedic animated television show, called Sugar Hill, USA.
Ludwig said, “We googled small towns in New Hampshire and we came across a town called Sugar Hill, NH with a population of about 600. We liked it because it was comically small and nondiverse.”
After several more brainstorming sessions, and with the aid of other friends, such as Jimmy Higgins who Ludwig and Groenweghe say contributed a paragraph to their script, their hard work paid off with a 23 page script for a pilot episode.
When describing his favorite part of the process, Groenweghe said, “We have a lot of fun making it and we like to see people’s reactions when they read it.”
So far, they have shown their script to their parents, several friends, and teachers Theresa Maher and Jani Wilkens for feedback.
Ludwig said, “The feedback has been very positive, actually the only one who didn’t laugh was my mom.”
In fact, friend Matt Schneider said, “[their show] is funnier than 96% of shows currently on television.”
Since creating the script, the two have asked a couple people in band for help with theme songs and a friend to draw cartoons for them. They hope to have a illustrated pilot to further convey their vision for the show when they show it to others. Groenweghe’s aunt who works as an advertising executive at a production company is helping them with make appointments with television production companies.
Groenweghe said, “Over the summer, we plan to pitch it to various television production companies. They’re basically all in New York, Chicago, and L.A.”
