The Cynical Life of Harper Hall

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The Cynical Life stars (from right) Ashley Avis, Chelsea Rae Bernier, Camille Cregan, and Janna VanHeertum. Photo by Paolo Mascatelli

by Staff

An independent TV pilot shot in downtown LA is turning heads for more reasons than... well, several.

6:15am, Venice Beach Boardwalk - The Cynical Life stars (from right) Ashley Avis, Chelsea Rae Bernier, Camille Cregan, and Janna VanHeertum -- haven't seen each other since an intense eight days of production for the spec pilot, which shot late last month. The reunion is full of girly giggles (as female reunions always are), trading of heels, and a few liters of rapidly consumed coffee.

The independent pilot (written and produced by Avis) has recently garnered a flurry of attention, as well as the eye of several networks for potential pickup due to a few factors. Namely: the impossibility of what the cast and crew pulled off (an entire spec pilot with pre, actual, and post production done in less than fourteen days), the fact that they did it with no budget and worked almost exclusively via barter, and... the up-and-coming talent attached.

Cregan will star opposite Adam Goldberg in The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks on AMC, Justin Taite ("Blaze") recently joined the CMT series Angels Among Us, and Avis has a big-budget snowboarding flick in the works. To top it off? These kids are all under 25 years old.

Now, as for the pilot itself: "The Cynical Life of Harper Hall" is a half hour comedy that centers around the misfortunes of lovably cynical children's book author (Avis) who, after a massive relationship implosion [involving the illegitimate daughter of David Hasselhoff (Kayley Gable)] is forced to move in with her little sister 'Sparrow' (Cregan), an 'actress!' who sells her eggs to a Beverly Hills Invitro clinic for rent money.

PStuck with new roomies (Bernier, VanHeertum) and "I wanted to nuke him" dates (Taite, Gillespie), Harper finds herself being suddenly, unceremoniously flung into a horrifying new world: being late twenties, NOT an actress, and suddenly single in Los Angeles.

The project is now in pre-production for pilot reshoots, as well as the next two episodes, and will utilize some of the same downtown locations it did during spec production (Onyx Lounge, Cafe 9, The Last Chance Bookstore, and Groundfloor Gallery). Cynical is also presently seeking corporate sponsorship and product placement.

You can follow The Cynical Life of Harper Hall on Facebook, Twitter, as well as the official website / blog - where photos and videos from the actual production, fashion editorials, red carpet events the stars are hitting, and hilarious behind the scenes footage (including the car with all the lighting car getting towed, etc).

 

Starring: Ashley Avis, Camille Cregan, Chelsea Rae Bernier, Janna VanHeertum, Alex Ashbaugh, Justin Taite, Bennett Gillespie, David Ballam, Jimmy Q. Dinh, and Danielle Merrill.

Written & Produced by: Ashley Avis. Co-produced by Paul Harrison Daggett & Alex Emmert.

www.thecynicallife.com

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