I got asked by email about Cinema 2.0, "I'm curious...where did you come up with an idea like that? Is that someone else's from NY* or did you think of that yourself?" It's hard to tell by email if the question is snarky or sincere, but I'll go ahead an tackle it: the idea for Cinema 2.0 was one I had on my own, even though other people have had the idea, too. And I even know most of the influences of this idea:

When I was in high school in Adelaide, Australia, I saw a show where they projected a movie and three live performers dubbed new, scripted dialogue for the movie. It was very funny and was one of my first experiences with fringey theater and really stuck with me over the years. (I wish I could remember the name of the show. The movie was a low-budget robot monster movie, and the new script had the Australian government creating a new man for the upcoming Australian bicentennial.)

Years later, after I had been doing improv for a while, I saw Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily?, where Woody Allen wrote a new egg-salad-oriented script for a Japanese spy thriller movie. Remembering the live dubbing performers from the Australian show, I thought "you could do that live, with improvisors." And promptly put the idea in the back of my head.

It's an idea other people have had -- LA Connection did their Mad Movies in LA and on TV, Jet City Improv does Twisted Flicks in Seattle, and there's Mr. Sinus Theater in Austin, TX. (And there's a much longer list of scripted movie dubbings -- What's Up Tiger Lily, Firesign Theatre's Hot Shorts and J-Men Forever, Hercules Recycled, etc.)

But I think we're going to come up with our own spin on it. If nothing else, it's improv, and so the particular group of performers we have will necessarily shape the nature of the show.

* I assume they're referring to the FuzzyCo production of The Neutrino Project, which was created by the group Neutrino from New York. I try to be extra careful whenever I talk about The Neutrino Project to credit Neutrino for the concept.