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Joe Glickman and Andy Howansky aren’t your typical
television producers. Come to think of it, they’re not your typical anything.
Glickman is a 17-year-old high school student who’s enrolled in a special home-schooling program. Howansky is a 32-year-old computer animator and former engineer. Together, they’ve cooked up a somewhat far-fetched idea to tape an imitation of the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld, hoping that their locally produced episode – complete with character look-alikes – will somehow launch them into the world of show business.
“We just want to show we can do something like this,” Howansky explained in an interview Tuesday, as he and his partner sat side-by-side, occasionally producing a bookstore display picture of Jerry Seinfeld for emphasis.
The plan is this: Scour the Capital Region for folks who look just like Seinfeld’s main characters – namely George Costanza, Elaine Benes, Kramer (whose first name was recently revealed to be Cosmo) and Jerry himself – and produce a show that imitates as closely as possible the NBC sitcom. Then, the fledgling producers plan to send their creation to shows like Entertainment Tonight and Hard Copy, in an attempt to garner lots of publicity. While their end goal is not perfectly defined, Glickman and Howansky clearly are hoping for jobs in the industry. And they don’t seem to care what it takes.
“Maybe getting sued would be a good thing,” Glickman said.
“We don’t really want that to happen,” his partner interjected, saying the duo aren’t really prepared for legal action. “We want publicity. We just want to show people we have a lot of creativity.”
Writing of the episode appears to be close to
completion. According to the producers, it centers around the premise that
cinnamon heightens sexual arousal in men. There are several subplots as well, as
the duo attempt to duplicate the sitcom’s structure. Glickman and Howansky say
they came up with the idea for the project when they realized they shared a
certain comedic approach with the creators of Seinfeld, which is known
for being “about nothing” – in other words, the show exaggerates
insignificant everyday activities into over-the-top comedy.
Another stage in the development of the offbeat project
came when the producers were attending sessions of the Forum, a self-improvement
program that offers to unlock “human potential.” The program required that
they do a project, and they decided to pursue the Seinfeld takeoff. The
two had actually met months before, however, when Glickman was working on his
16mm film spoof of Back to the Future (yet to be released), for which
Howansky performed a stunt.
”He did an excellent tree-fall,” Glickman recalled.
Although the two have had some experience in film and video, producing a broadcast quality episode will be difficult. The producers are currently searching for a place to build a version of the Seinfeld apartment set where they can also tape in front of a live audience. Other scenes will be shot at outdoor locations. They’re looking for volunteer crew members and hoping that donors of equipment and funds will come forward. (Interested parties are invited to call 272-8716. And the producers say any potential profits will be donated to Big Brothers & Big Sisters.)
Right now, though, the main task at hand is finding look-alikes for the show’s characters. Glickman and Howansky have already gotten some calls from prospective impostors, and they’ll be holding an audition in a few weeks.
“Somebody’s gonna notice the show,” Howansky
vowed, “and we want to take as many people along with us as we can.”
-Mike Goodreau