 Hey guys, Jeremy here and just giving a little bit of intro to this. This is my interview with Pete Williams. This was supposed to be a play on my radio show last week, last Saturday, but for some reason it was a bit of a programming issue. It will play playing on air next week, but this is the full unedited interview and I just really hope you guys give this a listen. Pete was a great interviewee. We had a really great conversation talking about the show's history, the history of undergrads itself, what he has been doing, kind of the strife and the challenges that he went through after the show was canceled and gives a little bit of in-depth about what he did to kind of overcome that and then obviously of course we talk about the Kickstarter and the programs and all the other things that are going to be part of this whole Kickstarter and what happens once and hopefully this Kickstarter is successful. So I hope you guys enjoy the interview and yeah, enjoy. Hello everyone and welcome to Listening to the Movies, the show where we play classic hits from great film soundtracks. You're listening to us on 11.7 CIVL FM or on www.civl.ca. Reporting to you from the University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford campus on the unceded and traditional territory of the Stolo people. I am your host Jeremy and we have a very, very special guest today. The man I am interviewing is the creator of the classic technically kind of Canadian cartoon show that had its one and only season premiere in 2001 and Teletune ran reruns of it for over 10 years. The show was a classic embodiment of the early 2000s and was a big underground hit for many Canadian fans and now it is getting its return in the form of a movie. You may recognize my host's voice as the characters Nitz, Cal or Gimpy, but today he is undergrad show creator Pete Williams. Pete, thank you for being on the show. Thank you for that intro. It was amazing. It's great to have you on the show, sir. And like I said, congrats so far about how the Kickstarter is going so far. In less than half a week, you've already pretty much reached the halfway point of the goal. From fans has really been unreal. I can only imagine. Were you expecting that much of a response so quickly? To grow and build. I'm sure it's going to start petering off at some point. I feel like I'm hoping we didn't just blow our wad at the beginning, but certainly it exceeded my expectations of the first week without a doubt. Extremely. At first when I literally just been bringing it up over and over again just to see where it is in the process. And I think the first few hours I was like, oh, that's a little slow. Hopefully it'll keep on getting traction. And then all of a sudden two people bought the character and voice rewards and that poof did up. That is that is fantastic. So as we've discussed for this interview, we're going to kind of cover if three main topics, the first being kind of just a reminiscent run through with the show. How you were when you got the chance to win when you won the contest and you got to create your own show kind of the falling out of that. And then we'll ask questions about kind of what you've been up to and sort of your process as being an animator. And then we'll obviously talk a few talk a little bit about the Kickstarter movie and what you can and can reveal about that. Excellent. So the first, sorry. Too many questions about me. Oh, no, it's fine. No, I that's one thing I wanted to do. I've seen some interviews talk about kind of the show status and then also about what's happening with the movie. But I always really like getting the more personal questions about the people who are behind it because sometimes they're just kind of a face. But you want to know more of like the ups and downs, the career choices and whatnot of the person who created a show that's literally been a staple mark for me and many other people for so long. Oh, it's going to be great. So now undergrads was obviously about four best friends and the challenges and courses that they went through. Well, the courses of their choices with group pressure, alcoholism, kind of group acceptance, all about kind of the community aspects of college life. Yet you never really ever saw any of them take classes. So my first question is, what were the guys in the clip going to school for? Yeah, that's a great question. So Nitz, we always assumed was just undeclared. In the beginning stages of development, we thought maybe he would be a film major just because that's what I was going to school for. But we were afraid of pigeonholing him and then making him less relatable to students that weren't pursuing a film career. And we really wanted Nitz to be kind of that every man and be the character that folks could relate to. And so we decided we'll just make him undeclared and that way it's pretty open ended. And also it fits with his character because he doesn't know what he wants. Gimpy was, of course, studying computer science. He's pretty obvious. Cal was a drama major, which is why we saw him hanging out with Kimmy Burton and the drama guy all the time. Rocco's school probably didn't have majors. And that certainly wasn't his reason for going to college. He had other extracurricular activities in mind. But we do know that Rocco was studying abnormal psychology because we saw him with the abnormal psychology textbook in the... Yes, oh. ...reconditioning Cal. Oh, yeah. Where's Brother Gar? Oh, well. So then you say a big thing about the history of this show is that all these characters, the three characters other than Nitz were based off of your best friends. And during a talk you had at a conference, you said that the friends were originally taken aback by the traits, taken aback by these characters that you based their traits off of. How was that process like with them? Because eventually you said that they were a little bit kind of apprehensive, but then they came to, they were happy with it, they let you do it? Yeah, I mean they were supportive of it. Let's put it that way. But yeah, initially when I did my initial contest entry, I showed it to the three of them because we were all home for winter break. And they laughed, they thought it was funny, but the friend that Cal is based on was just kind of silent. I don't think he saw the humor in it because it's a pretty awful, awful impression of him. And it's an impression that we all kind of created imitating him for years even prior to the contest. So it was an impression that I had perfected certainly. Then gathered them together, showed them the animated pilot. The real Rocco thought it was hilarious. The real Gympie was kind of indifferent, but again the real Cal was, I think he was a bit hurt by it. I just had to kind of explain that this isn't you. It's this alternate universe version of you. It is taking these few tiny qualities that we've pointed out time and time again and kind of blown them up and exaggerated them. But there's a lot more to the real Cal. Cal is definitely just an impression of this friend more than the friend himself. Okay. Speaking of Rocco, I know that due to the CRTC rules with creating the show, a Canadian actor voiced Rocco, but the problem is I've never found out who his name is. And I guess, will he be returning for the movie? So I mean my back as many of the original cast members as possible, that's certainly the goal. Some of them may be tricky, like Yannick Besaud who is the star of Murdoch Mysteries now. He was the voice of Kruger and Stoner Dave. He may be too big of a star for us at this point. But we'll see. We'll see. We'll see if we can get him back. But as far as Canadian Rocco, I believe he was voiced by an actor named James Key. And James Key was also the voice of the character of Riley on Quads, which was another animated show that shared the teletune detour block. So if I have the right name, because I never actually met the actor who played Canadian Rocco, his voice was replaced after sort of all my voice record stuff had been completed and the show was in post-production at that point. Oh, okay. Yeah, because that's something that when I did a video kind of doing a retrospective of the history of undergrads, I couldn't find his name for the life of me. It was also was a production. It was the voice of Rocco. And she was she was confident it was James Key. And when I looked him up and then I saw he had done another voice on Quads, I'm really listening. I'm like, oh, yeah, I can kind of hear Rocco in there. Oh, okay. And then how did it feel for the show to end how it did both with the American Early Cancellation on MTV and then the show itself on the sophomore cliffhanger? It was it was certainly, you know, to MTV studio and my my access card didn't work. And it was like, oh, I guess that's that's an indication of what's going on here. What was really sad is that, you know, that the show was canceled on MTV, only six episodes in, so it didn't even get to complete its run. And so, you know, I was I was certainly devastated and out of a job and fairly expensive apartment that I could no longer afford. And so I ended up moving back with my parents and, you know, kind of moons and figure out what I was going to do next. And this was before the show, you know, even aired on Telethune up in Canada. So they had this whole other chance to find an audience that I wasn't I wasn't aware of. I just at that point in time, I just assumed this is a complete failure. And I need to, you know, I need to move on. And that kind of leads me to one of my personal questions about you for someone your age, like at the time you were in your early 20s, right, when you had this show being given to you, like you won it and then you got to create this whole show. And then it obviously and it falls down in front of you. So like how was it like that for someone at your age to deal with those ups and ultimate downs? I was young and so I did still feel like I got my whole life ahead of me, you know. I was essentially the age that I would have been had I just, you know, graduated college. It probably would have been a tougher pill to swallow if I was, you know, if I had been older and, you know, and kind of built up a career over time. And this kind of felt like the end of that career. Whereas I was still still new to the business, still still a young guy. And so I did feel like I still had a lot of, you know, opportunities ahead of me. I just needed to find a way to create those opportunities. And that kind of brings up a good point that I really wanted to ask you. What kind of advice could you give to young and upcoming filmmakers and animators who can find themselves in similar situations where they have projects canceled on them early in their infancy? How did you deal with that situation kind of mentally and career wise? Because that's obviously a huge blow to have so early on in your career. It is. I mean, I think you just need to kind of have a certain level of fortitude and stick with it. And, you know, just constantly find a way to rebound and move on. And, you know, if it's, it could be with the same project, you know, undergrads when it began as the click prior to getting green lit, it was killed in development at one point. And, you know, and again, it was it was sort of a situation where I had to, you know, put it down for a little while, figure out what I was going to do next. Because at that point I had dropped out of school to work on this project at MTV. And, you know, I worked on some other things for the course of a year, but basically decided I was going to try to, you know, try to breathe some new life into the click again and created a new, you know, promo to help to pitch the show and pitch the show to other studios. Not realizing at the time that I actually wasn't legally allowed to do that because MTV owned all the rights because of the contest I entered. But I still created this promo and pitched it around and then MTV caught wind of this and said, uh-huh. And, but then they saw the new promo and said, oh yeah, we like that. Let's do something again. And it revived development on the click, which ultimately led to it getting green lit. So, you know, it certainly could have died numerous times, you know, during development before you, you know, before I were going into production. So, I do think it is important, you know, for creators, don't, you know, you can't kind of let those rejections get you down initially because they're going to come no matter what, you know, if it's not on your first project, it'll be your second or your third. And you just need to find a way to bounce back. And, you know, if you feel really strongly about a particular project, you know, find a way to retool it and make it more marketable and keep going. If you really feel like, you know, boy, those executives were right. They just shot my idea full of holes and, you know, there's no recovery. Then move on. You know, there's creators have lots of ideas. And I think what I found from, you know, my friends that are in the business that have been successful is you need to throw a lot at the wall before something sticks. And you need to pitch a lot of material because you're going to get rejected a lot. Oh, and that's very sound advice. One of the things that drew in a lot of Canadian viewers to the show was the show style of humor. And so some people, I've actually got a friend here who asked this question with friend James. How would you describe the show's brand of humor? And what about it do you think drew in such a cult following? Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, it's I think it's hard to pinpoint the brand of humor of the show because I really do feel like it is a blend of various brands of humor. You know, certainly with Rocco and Cal, those characters, the humor was obviously very crass. Whereas with like Nitz and Jesse, it was a little more dry and sarcastic with Gibby, you know, the jokes were far more ridiculous and cartoony and chock full of pop culture references. But you know, in my opinion, I think what really drew in such a cult following was the fact that beneath all the dick jokes, you know, the show did have a heart. And, you know, as as two dimensional as they were, you know, these characters, you know, were characters that fans grew to care about. And you know, I think viewers could easily transplant themselves or their own friends, you know, into those situations. Oh, most definitely, every single character on the show is someone that we've all encountered either in high school or post-secondary life. And probably that familiarity that really gave that kind of reassurance with fans and what drew them into the show. Again, kind of going back to the whole idea of that classes and homework were kind of non-existent really in the show, a focus again on every other aspect of college life. Was this intentional? And if so, why? Yeah, so it was intentional, you know, myself and the other two head writers on the show. You know, we basically came to a decision that we really didn't want to see the inside of a classroom or introduce any, like, teacher characters or anything like that. Because that, to us, that wasn't what the show was going to be about. It was going to be about everything else that happens at college, which to us was far more interesting than, you know, studying for a test or sitting in a lecture hall. You know, I was still sort of at that age. I was still in it. So I was still of college age. But, you know, the other two writers were slightly older and had a little bit more perspective. And you know, they said, you know, of all the things they remembered from their college experiences, you know, what they were studying or what class they had was not really part of those memories. And speaking of your original writers, Josh Cagnan and Andy Reingold, you announced in the Kickstarter video that they're coming back. How do they feel about coming back to the click? Were they kind of surprised that you that you required the rights after so many years? It's actually Josh Cagan. Cagan, sorry. So yeah, so Josh and Andy have been involved on and off throughout this entire process. Really, this whole thing kicked off back in 2012 when the three of us were invited to do a panel on undergrads in Calgary at a convention. And, you know, the three of us assumed that maybe five people would show up to hear us talk about this, you know, this ancient animated series that had been canceled like 10 years prior. But we were happily proven wrong and and overwhelmed by a packed auditorium of folks who turned out, you know, to hear us speak about a show that, you know, that they still cared about. And, you know, I think for us seeing that real life human beings had actually seen our show and still cared about it, sort of lit a fire under our butts. And that's when we started looking at ways to get the rights back. And so, you know, Josh and Andy have been kind of, you know, a part of that process. And so they've been, they've been kept abreast of what's been going on throughout. And it's been a very long process, that's for sure. Speaking of long processes. So you say that probably about seven, eight years ago is when you really started to push to get the MTV rights back, or sorry, get the rights back from MTV. How, why, you've mentioned in previous interviews that the reason why it took so long is that everyone who was associated with MTV at the time of when you made the show has long gone. So was that and what were other issues in terms of you getting the rights back and why it took such a lengthy time? Yeah, well, so back in, you know, 2012, when we started to, you know, really look at this and how we could get the rights back, we were still on the mindset that we were going to try to get the rights to do a second season. And so that was the angle we were approaching things. And what we found was that the rights to the series were split up between two different companies. It was split up between MTV on the American side and on the Canadian side, you know, some of the rights were owned by Decode Entertainment, which is now DHX, but Decode was the Canadian co-producer of the show for that first season. And so we realized we were going to have to basically negotiate with two completely different parties, and neither one really wanted to get at the same table with the other, because neither one was really interested in doing it with the other. So it was, we realized it was going to be too difficult to try to get a second season going, because negotiations just were going to go nowhere. So then we found out that the film rights were solely owned by MTV. So if we wanted to make a movie about undergrads, we would only have to deal with one set of lawyers. And so that was the path that we ultimately decided on. And then that began the big rabbit hole of, you know, going down the hole with MTV's lawyers. And we just kept getting passed from, you know, one lawyer to another, because a lawyer that would be sort of working on this with us at MTV, they would suddenly leave and be replaced by somebody else. And it was just a very long drawn out process. It lasted over the course of a few years. And, you know, at one point, it just because we kept getting passed along from lawyer to lawyer, there was a breakdown in communication where the lawyer who eventually got our negotiation deal thought we only really wanted the name undergrads. And the deal they put in front of us basically said, you can't use any of the characters, you can't use any of the designs, like you basically can just use the name undergrads. And it can be about college. Wow. I can into the, you know, having a family member, you know, taken hostage, and you're negotiating their return. And you think you're close to finally getting them back. And then you get a pinky set in the mail. Oh, so we had to re explain what we wanted, which was to make a movie with the characters with their names and voices and everything. And finally, you know, some can and we have we came to an agreement on getting those basically licensing the movie rights. Ah, that's definitely a harsh, but kind of true sort of circumstance. I'm amazed that it went through so many hoops. But so now that you say that you're only dealing with just MTV itself, does that mean that MTV is going to have any sort of affiliation with the film itself? Like this Kickstarter is to convince them to kind of finance a project? For a distribution for the film, that there is an audience and to, you know, kind of prove our case. MTV will certainly they will get a shot if they if it's something that they wanted to, you know, either err on the channel or through their their movie division. But at the onset, no, their MTV will not be involved. They don't have any obligation to, you know, be involved in the production itself. They're they're just the the licensor of the of the undergrad's name and property. So yeah, we'll see we'll see what happens. Okay. And speaking of you saying like going through a one point when the the negotiations really broke down, we a lot of us were following the bring back undergrants Facebook page that you ran. And when I did my research video, I noticed that you hadn't had any activity on that for almost over a year. So I was wondering is was it around that time back in like in the middle of 2017 that this is when the negotiations kind of hit their worst point? Yeah, it was it was one of those situations where, you know, it felt like every couple months, it seemed like we were on the verge of getting a deal in place. And so I was, you know, really excited, like, Oh, boy, I'm gonna finally get to, you know, make the announcement on the Facebook page and let fans know. And then it would, you know, fall apart or or it would just take another three months and we wouldn't hear anything from their lawyers. So it was, you know, it was it was frustrating. And I really did not want to keep making the same post on Facebook saying, you know, we're working on it guys, we're trying to get the rights back because I felt like, you know, everybody was tired of hearing that, you know, they've been listening to me say the same thing for the last, you know, three or four years. So I basically said I wasn't going to post anything again until we got the rights. And so that's that's why there was that that very long absence of anything on the Facebook page. Of course. Did you ever feel that at a time you thought that you weren't going to get the rights back at all? It was certainly a fear of mine. Yeah, I mean, because it's much of a hand to play, you know, MTV certainly held all the cards. You know, at the end of the day, it was just coming up with an amount that we were comfortable paying them to license the property back. And what kept you motivated really to get those fans get your characters back? Well, I mean, it's something that I wanted for the last 17 years, certainly. And, you know, not only for myself, because I do still I do still love these characters. I mean, it helps that they're based on real people in my life. But I do have a lot of love for, you know, the characters for the show for all the opportunities that the show gave me, you know, beyond, you know, 2001. And but aside from that, I mean, the fan support throughout the last 17 years has just been amazing. I, you know, I, all the time, I will either run into somebody or I'll get a message from someone and they will, you know, talk about how much they love the show. And it's always a surprise to me because I always forget that people saw it because I'm still in that mindset that the show was canceled on MTV and that was it. But it does pop up in my life every now and then. And when it does, I'm like, yeah, I really, I feel bad that I couldn't, you know, finish that story, at least, at least the storylines that we had set up in that first season. And I really, you know, would relish the opportunity to tie up those loose ends for the fans. That brings me in next to my next question. Since the show was canceled in between that time, it's been 17 years, how often did the, excuse me, how often did the topic of undergrads, the show itself, the cancellation and people just wanting a second season get brought up by your friends and, and your colleagues and just people you met? How did that feel kind of reliving like the past glories of the show? And then also the pains of the show's unfortunate cancellation in those conversations. It's certainly all that comes out because it's, you know, it's, it's nice to hear that either somebody who worked on the show, you know, still remembers it fondly or, you know, there's a friend of a friend that, you know, didn't know I was associated with the show that, you know, we're out for drinks and then they find out and they're like, oh, I used to remember watching that on Teletoon. And it's just nice, it's nice to hear. It's nice, it's always nice to hear nice things about your, you know, something you worked on. But then at the same time, it is just that reminder of, oh my god, it's been, it's been that long since, you know, undergrads aired. And it's that long that it's kind of lied and waste, you know, collecting dust on a shelf. And, you know, I mean, I've always wanted to finish their story. And so it has felt like that unfinished business for the last 17 years. But you've had your own little personal meme of, hey, remember only what's at only 90s, only 80s, only 70s kids will remember these. And you have your own personal thing with your own creation. So right now, guys, if you just tuned in, you are on listening to the movies, the show where we play classic hits from great film soundtracks on 101.7 CIVL radio or on www.civl.ca. We're reporting to you from the University of the Fraser Valley Abbots for Campus, serving Abbots for Admission, Chillowack and Surrounding Areas on the unceded and traditional territory of the Stola people. I'm your host, Jeremy, and we are interviewing undergrad show creator Pete Williams. Pete Williams just finally acquired the rights back to his characters after a long, long battle with MTV. And we are getting a movie, hopefully. He has just started a Kickstarter and we're interviewing him today talking about the show, his personal life and what the Kickstarter holds. So, Pete, we've been talking about kind of the, just how the show came about and the kind of the personal strife that you've gone through. I had one more question. This is actually from a friend of mine, Jesse, about the show itself. Obviously, the click itself was based on you and your friends. And obviously, there was very personal characters, like characters that you created and you really enjoyed working with. But was there a character, who was your favorite character outside of the click in the show? I had a bet that it might have been that one. Yeah, it's, I mean, the Duggler, you know, also because the Duggler was probably one of the few characters that wasn't based on a real person, the Duggler was sort of an amalgamation of RAs that myself and the other two writers, you know, remember from college. And we just kind of, you know, threw through their quirks together and the Duggler was what came out the other end. And he just has a great voice. He was voiced by Richie Favelaro, who, again, another great talent that I'm hoping we're going to get back for the movie. Kind of like you based the Duggler off of your RAs, kind of the similar situation, how Trey Parker based Mr. Mackie off of a counselor that he had back in his school days? Yes, that's right. So you were saying earlier that when you went to a conference in Calgary, you were astounded at the presence that there was with Canadian fans. How was it like to find out that your show had developed a cult following in Canada? Because if I'm correct, you didn't know that the show had done its full run on Teletune for a little while after it had premiered and run its course. So yeah, I was, so I met my future wife on the production of Undergrads. She was a production coordinator up in Toronto on the decode side of things. And so we met on that production. I had to come up here for a few months to do overseas post-production on the show. And I'd been up numerous times before that for voice records. And so we hit it off and started spending all our time together. And after post-production ended, we kind of did the long distance dating thing. I moved back to New York and she was still up in Toronto. So she was kind of keeping me apprised of the fact that it was airing on Teletune. So I knew it was on TV. I just didn't think anybody was watching it. I knew they played the episodes and then when I ended up eventually moving up to Toronto and moved in with her and was living up here, I would catch it every now and then at some ungodly hour on Teletune. And it's like, oh my god, they're still rerunning this thing. That's crazy. But again, I just assumed it's filler. They're just, they need something to fill this unpopular time slot and they're just, they throw in Undergrads in there. I have to admit I stayed up late all the time when my dad, when I finally got a TV in my room back in my, I think I was in grade seven heading into grade eight. I was told by friends about Undergrads and I would stay up late every night as many times as I could to watch the show. And eventually I even, I finally started to figure out that, hey, wait a minute, this is just the same episodes I've seen. And eventually I found out that it was only one season, but it ran on Teletune for years, for over a decade. I, every time I would like put on Teletune late at night, I'd always be amazed to see Undergrads still come up. I actually haven't, I haven't had cable for the last little while since I've moved out. But how, that must have been crazy when you saw that they were still doing reruns of it 10 years later. Oh yeah, it was. It was definitely, I mean, they played the hell out of it. I just, again, it really wasn't until we attended that, that convention in Calgary that it dawned on us that anybody was actually watching Teletune to see those episodes. That's, it must have been an insane experience, considering it's been so long because the show was canceled back in 2001. But as for you, it's been a long 17 years. What have you been up to during that time, both career-wise, family-wise, like what happened to Pete Williams after Undergrads? Yeah, I mean, definitely lots of twists and turns. After Undergrads ended, I moved back home and was trying to figure out what I was going to do next. I was fortunate enough to land an agent while I was still at MTV. And so he encouraged me to start coming up with some movie ideas to pitch out in Hollywood. And so I did that for a while. And I would create these kind of animated movie trailers for the ideas that I was pitching to use as kind of a visual aid and trick Hollywood executives into thinking this was a completed project that all they had to do was sign and turn into money. And so I sold a number of high-concept movie ideas and was paid to write them. Unfortunately, none of those screenplays were ever produced. And eventually, Hollywood decided that they didn't want to buy large budget movie ideas that didn't have a pre-existing franchise attached to them. And so reboots and remakes and Marvel movies ended up taking over the landscape completely. And so I kind of figure out what I was going to do next. And I returned to the world of animation. I ended up partnering with a colleague of mine from my MTV days. And we opened up a small animation effects studio and mainly did game trailers for Xbox and some commercial work and amusement park attractions installations. And then that eventually segwayed into another business where we started making these stock animated effects that we sold to consumers to decorate their homes with using video projectors or their television that we call digital decorations. And that was a company that we started called Atmos Effects, which is still in operation and mainly focused on like Halloween and spooky kind of effects, but other holidays as well. Speaking of Halloween, there's a photo of you on one of your pages of you with what looks like the puppet character from the movie Trick or Treat. Am I correct with that? Yes, that is correct. So that was a product that we produced at Atmos Effects. It was our Trick or Treat digital decoration that we actually licensed from legendary. And the director of Trick or Treat, Mike Doherty, myself and my business partner, Pete Reichert, we had worked with Mike at MTV because he had a show in development at that time in the early 2000s for an animated series, very much in the vein of a Trick or Treat. It was like a horror animated series. So we knew Mike and he kind of found our company because he's a huge Halloween fan, obviously, and he was using our effects to decorate his house. And so we kind of linked up with him and he said, Hey, would you want to do something with Trick or Treat? And so we're like, yes. And yeah, he ended up loaning us the actual Sam Halloween costume, the little Trick or Treater character from the movie. And we shot these fun little vignettes for digital decorations. That's got to be crazy, considering if I'm correct, Mike is directing the next Godzilla movie. Is he not? Oh, yeah, he's huge. He's huge now. I mean, he was he was huge to me even back then. We actually both attended NYU Film School. And so he was a couple of years ahead of me. But I've known the name Mike Doherty for a very long time. That's not so it's so cool to have like experience like getting to meet someone also in their infancy in terms of their career. Now, we bought up a little bit earlier that you've started a Kickstarter for the show, sorry for the show getting revival as a movie. When you were just before you were going to make the Kickstarter, you had a public question out for fans to give their ideas of what rewards were. How did you feel about the response, both with the reward ideas and the inflow of responses, because you had a huge bunch of responses? Oh, yeah, I mean, the response, the response are amazing. I mean, so many great ideas from folks. But then as you pointed out, just the sheer number, you know, certain certain reward ideas we would have loved to offer. But they just weren't feasible. A lot of folks were saying, Oh, I want, you know, how about a Blu-ray copy of the first season or season soundtrack on CD? And it's like, I would love to do that if I own the rights. But blah, blah, you know, it was tough enough getting the film rights. And certainly, certainly, you know, the DVD at this point, I believe is extremely rare because I only a certain number were produced. I'm actually down to my last copy. I used to have about 10 and, you know, kind of given the way over the years. So it's, it would be an awesome, you know, reward. But unfortunately, it's just not legally not legally possible. Speaking of music, the thing that has kind of brought people back a lot to the show is its time, its datedness. The show premier 17 years ago. And there was a lot of mannerisms, technology, music, attitudes and culture that were prevalent during the 2000s. Will that continue over into the movie? Like not just in terms of where the story is, but just the whole sort of time period that the show was set in. I mean, that's certainly something that we're, we're still kind of grappling with. And there's, you know, there's, there's definitely a difference of opinion on this, you know, on the one camp, it's like, do we, do we take the, you know, is this, is this like in the Simpsons universe where Bart Simpson has been in the fourth grade for the last 30 years and Maggie's still sucking on that, you know, that pacifier, even though we've seen the advent of, you know, the internet and social media and all this other stuff on the show, it's, that's a long stretch to be in the fourth grade. But, you know, do we have the summer break for our characters, see all these advancements in technology so that when they return, are there, you know, are their iPhones, are there, you know, is their Facebook? And so we don't know. I mean, at this point, it could go either way. You know, certainly we want this movie to not only appeal to, you know, the old fans of the show, but also speak to a new audience and, you know, and to kids that are in college now. And so there is that, you know, there's that argument that do we, do we catch things up a bit, you know, and not only in technology, but also pop culture, you know, have the, have the Star Wars movies come out? Can we reference those? Or, you know, the other side is, do we just set it in the year 2001 or 2002 and, and, and truly, you know, carry on from that point? Because it's a cartoon, you know, I think we have the leeway to go either way. But that's, that's something I think we're still, we're still trying to figure out. Oh, no doubt that has to be an absolutely daunting kind of question, because you want to give something that's satisfactory to the fans of the show, but at the same time, you're kind of caught in that whole, well, if we change it, do we kind of change the essence of the show? Especially like there's Josh's idea about bringing people back as vampires. And like, what's, what did he say? I believe we have 100% chance of alienating not only fans of the old, but also people now. So, and kind of going back to the whole soundtrack, you said that people wanted the soundtrack option. What were the considerations for music and soundtrack choice at the time? Like, did you have a hand in what music was played, or was that more so MTV? So MTV was not involved. I mean, we certainly had access to MTV's library on the American version of the show, because there are, you know, just, just like there's a Canadian Rocko, there's also a, you know, the Canadian soundtrack that everybody's familiar with is different than the soundtrack that aired on MTV. MTV, we're able to use a lot of songs because MTV has this deal where if, you know, if, if an artist, a song is playing in a music video on their channel, that same song can be utilized in the soundtrack of their other shows. Oh, wow. So we had a lot, we had a very large library to choose from on the American side. On the Canadian side, we had to come up with other options and license, you know, tracks from various artists. We were fortunate enough to have an excellent music supervisor on the show who would basically just give me tons and tons of compilation CDs that he had, you know, compiled together of various artists, various songs, all of different genres, and basically said, so just, you know, basically make a list of the ones you like, and then we'll figure out where to put them into episodes. And that's really how the process went for selecting songs on the Canadian side. And frankly, I think the Canadian version is better. I think that, you know, it's a far more eclectic and, you know, it fits, it fits more with the style of the show than some of the tracks we chose on the MTV side. Oh, for sure. There's always a music presence that's in the background of the show. And something I never really noticed until I really started researching the show was that you guys could have characters talking and songs with lyrics playing at the same time. And yet the two would flow extremely well, which is a very rare, rare case in most filmmaking aspects. On the choice of the theme, was it your choice to choose the Good Charlotte song? So, you know, the original pilot that I had done for MTV while the show was in development, I had a Blink 182 song in the, you know, mock-up opening that I had put together. And so definitely wanted that kind of, you know, punk vibe. We were looking at different bands to do the show's opening. And I think at one point we were looking at some 41, and MTV, I think they put our pilot in front of Good Charlotte and said, hey, would you guys be interested in doing the song? And so before we could really pursue it any further, Good Charlotte came back to us with a song that they had written based on our pilot. And that blew me away because it was like our show had, you know, had really only just been green lit. It was obviously it wasn't something that was on TV or known. It was it was it was about to go into production. And this band had written a theme song specifically based on, you know, the content of the pilot we had put together, you know, they referenced Obi-Wan Kenobi and, you know, a couple other story points from the pilot. So that was just like, okay, that was this is a done deal. Good Charlotte it is. And that's kind of how that happened. Have you, well, once the Kickstarter is completed, do you have a thought of possibly contacting any of the band members to see if they want to do a revitalized version of it, or if they want to have any kind of contribution to the movie at all? Yeah, I mean, the soundtrack for this movie, you know, is very important to me. I know that was a huge part of what made the show memorable for fans. So putting together a really kick-ass soundtrack is, you know, at the top of my list. Of course, it's going to depend on the budget. And that's why I do think even with this Kickstarter campaign, as we get further along, we're probably going to introduce some sort of stretch goals in there that specifically have to do with the soundtrack. Because we do want to be able to license, you know, a variety of songs and work with a number of different bands. But to your question, absolutely, I'd love to reach out to some of the original bands that were featured, you know, because we do have, you know, a number of them were featured in more than one episode. We had a few different songs from particular bands that we really liked. And then as far as Good Charlotte, you know, I don't know how we can do this movie without at least having that theme in there, even if it's more at an instrumental level incorporated into the score of the movie. I would definitely like to be able to license that. The one thing that was so cool about the soundtrack was it was a mix of both Canadian and American artists. Are you going to focus on that kind of that bringing those two together again? And you also said that there's limitations, obviously. And this is purely from a friend, a work friend, his name is Curtis, he's asking, are you, would you consider any up and coming kind of indie talent in Canada or America, specifically his band XIX? Honestly, at the time when we were putting the soundtrack for the show together, a lot of the bands that ended up in the show were indie bands. They were up and coming. They, you know, I mean, we certainly had a few that had hit and were successful and popular, but there were a lot that were relatively unknown and undiscovered. So that would be my preference and, you know, open it up to as many bands as possible that are looking for, you know, looking for some exposure. Oh, I'll let him know. Something that I know, obviously, we've talked about how the technology and the culture of the early 2000s is kind of a a crossroad right now for you in terms of how you bring that back or if you bring that back into the movie. The other concern or thought I had was because the show was made when it was, there's a bit of crude humor that was great, but admittedly now might not kind of form well with new culture and safe place dynamics, mainly a lot of what Rocco said. But are you feel, do you feel that you're going to try and keep that same crude humor style in the movie that the show was so well known for? Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, the thing is that the crude humor even back then, it's not like any of that humor was acceptable. But it came from a character like Rocco who everybody considered to be, you know, a jackass and would point out the fact that what he was saying was dickish and unacceptable. And so I mean, I think as long as we come at it from that same point of view that, yeah, look, character is going to say some awful crude things in here. And it's going to cross the line sometimes, but that is not the point of view of the main character of the show. And there will always be that voice of reason that kind of says not cool guy. Oh, for sure. Probably one of the best worst jokes that Rocco made was the crappy date rape joke. That joke is like, ooh, it's so bad. But at the same time, it is absolutely hilarious. That one's that one's touchy. I mean, it wasn't, you know, it was it was crossing the line back then, but now it's like, whoo, whoo, today's climate is yeah, I don't think I don't think that one would get past standards. Oh, no, definitely not. Well, that's kind of the whole that's the early 2000s in a nutshell. There's a lot of movies and TV shows and other media culture that came out of that time that you would not get allowed now. Like scary movie is another massive example. That movie could not be made today with the amount of very, very insensitive jokes that it had in it. Is the opportunity for you to at least touch on those those touchy subjects? Again, as long as it's done in the spirit of, you know, shining light on some of those issues as opposed to endorsing them, then, you know, I'm all for it. Exactly. Now, the Kickstarter has started and you say this is a means to fund the first phase of pre-production. What for those of us who don't understand, are kind of not familiar with film and animation sort of constructions terms, what does that mean? And how if the first phase is successful, how much longer of a process would there be until the movie is completed? Sure. So, yeah, I mean, the pre-production would basically consist of writing the script, you know, putting out the storyboards, assembling the staff, auditioning for any new supporting roles, you know, new featured character designs of which, of which after this Kickstarter campaign, there's going to be a lot because that's one of the rewards. But, you know, the other goal with this Kickstarter campaign on top of that, of raising these pre-production funds is to, you know, show investors and distributors that there is still an audience that will support this project. So that's why, you know, we're really hoping to surpass our fundraising goal because the more donors we can show that, you know, that have donated, the stronger our case will be when we go to someone like a Netflix or a Hulu or, you know, or anywhere we try to secure distribution for this thing. But to answer the second part of your question in terms of time frame, it's really just going to depend on how long it takes us to secure distribution for the film after the Kickstarter campaign because that's really what's going to allow us to move into production. So pre-production can begin, you know, as soon as Kickstarter ends, assuming we meet our goal, but the actual production will definitely require that distribution money. And speaking of which, there's a plug for you there. For those of you listening, if you want to see Undergrads come back as a movie, make sure to check out Undergrads, the movie in the Kickstarter search area and donate if you want to because there are some awesome prizes on there. So unfortunately, Pete, we're actually coming to the end of the interview. So I've got one more question for you. The task of trying to squeeze a subsequent second season idea down into a feature length movie must be obviously a daunting kind of challenge. What are your primary focuses with the film in terms of narrative and fan service? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think, you know, certainly the big story plot that left everybody hanging is like, what's going to happen next with Nitz and Jesse and the Kimi Love Triangle? And, you know, how does that get wrapped up? And that's certainly something that we want to wrap up in this movie, even though the movie only takes place over the course of the first week at school. And, you know, we're going to see what happens with the other characters as well. But the Nitz-Jesse storyline is certainly the loose thread that was left hanging there at the end of season one. Of course. Well, Pete, thank you again for coming on the show. This has been an interview that we've been long in the building and I'm happy that we finally got to talk despite weird technical issues today and just kind of organizing our schedule. So again, I very much appreciate you coming on the show and giving Undergrads fans a little bit of a heads up about yourself and the movie to come. No, thank you. This is a lot of fun. And yeah, definitely check out the Kickstarter page and check out our Facebook group, the Big Bring Back Undergrads Facebook page. Yes, definitely. Make sure to check it out. I've already donated twice. I've had to, I've just found out that you, well, what was it when I first donated? I found out that you have to, you can only do one prize. You can only do one contribution on an account. So I've already made one other account and I'm going to be making another one probably. So thank you guys. Thanks, guys. Thank you everyone for tuning in to listening to the movies here. We were interviewing undergrad show creator Pete Williams talking to him about the Kickstarter for the Undergrads revival movie. You guys were listening to us on 101.7 CIVL radio and on www.civil.ca. We were reporting to you from the University of the Fraser Valley Abbots for Campus on the unceded and traditional territory of the Stolow people. I was your host, Jeremy, and I hope you guys all enjoyed the show. Thank you for listening. See you guys next week. Anyways, guys, that's the end of the interview. I hope you guys enjoyed that. If you've watched all the way to here, Pete was a fantastic guy to talk to. He was really personal wool and just really funny guy. And I hope you guys enjoyed what we talked about. And again, again, go and do a little plug here. Please, if you have not donated yet or if you've not checked it out or not shared it, please check out the Kickstarter for the undergrads of the movie. We're already halfway there for this project becoming a reality. So we just need the remaining, let's say like $50,000 now. And again, the success for this Kickstarter has been immense. So let's get it done and let's get the click back. Anyway, guys, I hope you enjoyed this interview. I'll see you guys next time.