Wasted Nights Web Series (Episodes 1-10)
10 videos • 25 views • by Mark Thimijan Wasted Nights is a 10 episode web series that revolves around a group of characters who all hang out in the same bar. They experience dreams, hopes, failures, romance, comedy, drama, surrealism, realism, drunkenness, philosophy, heartache and achievement. Above all it's a stylized look at a group of people who frequent the same bar and encompasses their immediate conversations and feelings. Based on many of Mark’s own life experiences, Wasted Nights is an eclectic mixture of film-school esotericism and his own unique, callous sense of humor. Like life, most episodes of the web series are fairly nonchalant on the surface; yet underneath this veneer, via the varied interactions of an entertaining menagerie of characters, it is plainly and painfully demonstrated that even in the humblest of settings (yes, despite how cliché you may mistakenly think it is, often in ordinary places like local dive bars), the mundane avenues and corridors of daily living which we habitually frequent can unexpectedly lead to anything and everything, from mind-altering epiphanies to soul-crushing dejection. Diving deeper still, to the initiated film buff, Wasted Nights is not only a source of anecdotal humor—the kind of corny, self-referential frivolity that only movie addicts would likely understand, much less enjoy—but a living, breathing showcase of the current landscape of media consumption and production: it is neither governmental interference nor technological limitations, but oversaturation (on a scale that no great thinker of the past century could have ever dreamed) that is the greatest barrier to aspiring filmmakers at present. In a vast, ever-expanding sea of content, it is the ability to stand out, rather than reach or viewership, that concerns would-be auteurs; and, as I believe Wasted Nights itself subtly contends, it is something that merits discussion, a demand with which Hollywood is largely unconcerned and, more than likely, of which it is entirely unaware. Relating to both the overarching narrative and the intermingled subplots, I mostly chalk up the series’ realism to the sincerity of the script, the frankness of each and every character. However, as any first-year film student will eagerly attest, the way in which a particular production was created also plays a pivotal role in its aesthetic identity. Mark’s approach of primarily using hand-held footage within an actual local bar (Marz Bar, if you’re ever in the area) during business hours gives Wasted Nights an intrinsic authenticity that I can only hope shines through to viewers as it did for us on location. Of course, this posited many production problems for Mark to solve, and countless obstacles for him and the cast to overcome; but it also led to just as many indelible moments of serendipity: improvised dialogue blurted out of frustration, or alternate takes born out of the tumultuous atmosphere, often times made the final cut after evaluation and consideration from the eternally open-minded director. Though Mark undoubtedly had every scene, every minute detail, envisioned long before shooting began, his past experience allowed him to roll with the punches—to balance passively going with the flow and rigidly adhering to precision—when inevitable schedule conflicts and mysterious absences forced well-laid plans in unanticipated directions. A love letter to any self-professed film junkie, an intriguing epitome of modern filmmaking to the connoisseur, and a bemusing spectacle to anyone who’s ever entered a bar, pub, tavern, or drinking establishment of any kind, Wasted Nights is, paradoxically, the culmination of many productive nights. If you’ve been searching for an independent work of shoestring cinema relevant to today’s entertainment climate, and if you can handle the potential hangover afterwards, this is one concoction you’ll certainly want to try.