\n\tEXCLUSIVE: A fitting one for Halloween. Former So You Think You Can Dance winner Dushaunt \u201cFik-Shun\u201d Stegall is leading cast in short form mobile series Pizza Guys vs Vampires, which is due to debut this week on new U.S. vertical streaming platform Inverted.film.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Flashback Pictures production is an 80s-inspired action-comedy following pizza delivery driver Kenji, whose first night on the job takes a supernatural turn when he discovers his customers are vampires.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlso starring are Toru Uchikado (Heroes Reborn), John Druska (All American), Quartay DeNaya (Kings), Alan Smyth (NCIS), and Melanie Rains (Hawaii Five-0). Written by Mat Raney (Bull), the series is directed by Raney, Dominic Russo, and Daniel Cotroneo.<\/p>\n
\n\tFlashback currently has nine titles in development encompassing live action features, animation and episodic series. It\u2019ll host premiere screenings for Pizza Guys vs Vampires on November 1 at The Motoring Club, Santa Monica, and November 2 at The New Parkway Theater, Oakland.<\/p>\n
\n\tInverted.film is a new U.S.-based streaming platform designed specifically for vertical content. The first five eps of Pizza Guys vs Vampires will be available free, with the remaining nine episodes available for $2.99.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe built Flashback with a Moneyball mindset \u2014 identifying undervalued opportunities in talent and format,\u201d said Daniel Cotroneo, founder and CEO of Flashback Pictures. \u201cAudiences are spending more time with short-form content than ever before. Our mission is to deliver that same immediacy and accessibility, but with the production value and storytelling depth of traditional film and television.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think the vertical format is underestimated,\u201d added Fik-Shun, who plays Raif\u2014a vampire with serious martial arts chops. \u201cI\u2019ve done so many vertical videos, but it\u2019s really cool to get into a space like this. Professional set, professional cameras. Everything and everyone is top notch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDominic Russo, co-creator and executive producer of Workaholics, who produced and directed several episodes, commented: \u201cWhen I made the web series that became Workaholics, web formats were undervalued and overlooked\u2014the vertical format feels similar today. Vertical storytelling is exciting because it doesn\u2019t have to follow the traditional TV playbook; we can take risks, reimagine structure and experiment with cinematic features not possible in 16:9. If you\u2019ve ever watched TV lying sideways on the couch, you\u2019re already watching 9:16, and you love vertical formats\u2014probably Pizza too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: A fitting one for Halloween. Former So You Think You Can Dance winner Dushaunt \u201cFik-Shun\u201d Stegall is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,80063,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-111897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-fik-shun","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}