In November, filmmaker Julian Klepper and crew, shot 2/3rds of a pilot Klepper wrote and directed called “Hey There Stranger“. It’s about a sweet yet captious dreamer who falls into a dark depression after his girlfriend of six months breaks up with him. Sounds like a bummer right? Wrong. It’s a funny, slightly dark (dim?), honest, serious, but not too serious show about wanting to connect but not quite knowing how. It also comes across as very personal, or more passionate; you can tell this something Klepper has put his whole heart into. Money is being raised to finish the pilot on Kickstarter, and is oh SO close to hitting its goal. Read on for a great interview with Julian, and to learn more about “Hey There Stranger”.
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Serial Optimist: Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, where are you now, and what lead to you ultimately deciding to create the project “Hey There Stranger”?
Julian Klepper: I’m Julian Klepper. I like world history and juice. I prefer liquids to solids. I also think most people are cute. I hail from Pittsburgh proper, but I live in the Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn now and work at a nonprofit in Harlem teaching film to high schoolers.
A couple of years back, a lot of my friends got involved in online dating and I found it fascinating. About 2% of the time they would go on dates that they actually enjoyed but they kept on doing it. People (me included) so badly want to be loved that they’ll venture into strange dates with random people just to entertain the possibility finding love. Side note: people never talk to each on the phone before they set up an Internet date. Call me ‘90s but I find that strange. Side side note: I have seen some really crappy people that I know in real life on okcupid and if you didn’t know them, based on their profile you would think they’d be a great person to go on a date with. On the other hand, I have seen some amazing people, filled with love and vigor that don’t get noticed online only because they look like an ewok. I’m sorry, what was the question? The show evolved into a series based around my strange friends and I trying to find love and not get arrested.
SO: What is the premise and story of “Hey There Stranger”?
Julian: Julian, a sweet yet captious dreamer, falls into a dark depression after his girlfriend of six months (his longest relationship) breaks up with him. After spending three weeks apart from his clingy friends, Signy and Troy, he haggardly comes to the realization that he wants to be a father and his friends are only impeding his progress. Signy and Troy attempt to rescue him from despair only to find Julian struggling with a severely bruised ego and a strange addiction to Adderall and jungle juice. Although resistant at first, Julian slowly lets Signy and Troy convince him to use a new online dating website to find his baby mama…. It’s a funny serious show, or maybe a serious funny show, about wanting so badly to connect but not quite knowing how.
SO: What are you hoping “Hey There Stranger” to become? It’s referred to as a “film and video project”, so are shooting this as a short, or something that will turn into a web series, or something else?
Julian: I want this to be a television series. I outlined two seasons and wrote a couple episodes. This is just the pilot, and should end up running about 30 minutes. Because I come from a film background, I wrote it as just one really long film that fits within the television format. I plan on entering it into festivals and pitching it around to stations. I know I should, but I don’t like to think that far into the future. I just focused on creating something honest.
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SO: From the trailer, “Hey There Stranger” looks compelling on different levels. It’s dark, sad, funny, beautiful, honest, and just intriguing. How personal of a project is this for you? How much of the character Julian is the actual Julian?
Julian: I always feel like there are a thousand different versions of myself. I think the Julian in the show is about 50% like one of those thousand. So that’s, what, .0005 percent like me. No, that doesn’t make sense, because of the thousand versions of me; they all share some basic similarities. So one version of me wouldn’t be 1/1000th of me. Okay, I lost myself. Identity is complex.
SO: Did you want to stay away from labels like “dramedy”, and is there a specific theme you have for the overall tone of the show?
Julian: I don’t like labels like that but sure, you can call it that. I just wanted to create a universe where inherently funny people had to deal with the sad truths of life. Unlike a situational comedy, I wanted it to be a comedy show with situational sadness.
SO: In regards to the show, you say that “It is a drama with a lot of comedy, and the comedy comes from people who dare to take anything in their lives seriously.” Can you elaborate a little on what you mean by that?
Julian: I don’t take much seriously, expect for the things I truly care about (art, my family, my job, liquids, etc.)… But all other things, I say fuck it. I am an old school cut up; I find most things are primed for a silly comment. My friends are like that too, and I wanted my characters (some of whom are as based on friends) to espouse such silly sentiments. I also think it creates tension when you have a character who dares to say fuck it to something that 99% of the world takes seriously. I’m into tension.
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SO: What have you found to be the most challenging thing about shooting and creating your own film, and what have you found to be the most rewarding at this point?
Julian: I was the writer, director, star– in the future I only wan to do two of those three. It was way to hard not being able to be behind the camera. I had to trust me as an actor but luckily I knew the character pretty well.
SO: Who are your inspirations in television?
Julian: One of the shows I most want to write like is “Louie,” which is so earnest and just occasionally funny. I love that combination. I hate it when comedy is forced, any actually funny person can see through it. I also love “Eastbound & Down,” that show is so much fun. They bring great filmmaking to television, which is rare. But I notice it.
SO: Your Kickstarter page is almost 65% funded, that’s awesome! But we need people to make sure it hits that 100% mark. You have some unique and very cool rewards for people who pledge. Can you tell us a little bit about the art, and other rewards, and what happens if you hit your goal?
Julian: I collect photographs of people I don’t know and use them as inspiration for writing poems, stories, and making art. I’m going to create pieces of art with my entire collection for any donors.
I had a party to create art for the film and we made some really fun pieces and those are going to go out to donors of the film.
I once wanted to start a company that made wake up calls to people to really get their mornings GOING, but I never did. So I figured I could just offer my services in exchange for donations.
If we hit the goals, we can film the last third of the pilot and do all the postproduction fun stuff. I’m excited about the possibilities. I think it’s going to be awesome.
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SO Note: To learn more about “Hey There Stranger” and to donate to the project, visit the Kickstarter page here.