So that was the epic end to our series. Thanks to everyone who tuned in and stayed on board throughout. There was the small matter of a global pandemic arriving in the middle of it (really did not see that one coming ) and even though this current shit show made the title of our series eerily prophetic, it was always Bill who was actually having the meltdown.
Our hero/anti-hero/rage ridden nut job was played by the magnificent Matt Steer who superbly portrayed the unhinged Bill Bridle. When the idea was first conceived Matt was too young to play the part of a middle aged life weary man so we decided to age him in real time. It was a painstaking process which involved Matt getting up every morning, existing, then going to bed at night and doing it all again the next day…for 7 years. Just like Linklater did in ‘Boyhood’ but without any actual filming.
Actually we did film a pilot for a sitcom with Bill as the main character but it wasn’t quite the right format. We used to meet once a week and write the script and then in our lunch break we would spend our time making each other laugh with all the shit that was doing our heads in, from our personal woes to world politics to anything that just seemed wrong and we finally realised that this material was actually funnier than what we were writing so our rants became the backbone for the story.
And it wasn’t just us who were banging on about shit that was winding us up. Everyone seemed to be losing their shit on a regular basis, and regardless of the catalyst, from the most trivial to the most humungous, the level of outrage was the same. We were all basically annoyed all the time and essentially looking for things we could erupt over. Bill Bridle is us on all of our worst days. He’s aware he’s got anger issues but he just can’t reign them in.
Will there be more? Who knows? Hopefully. We have a truckload of ideas for where we want to take Bill and his immediates but it will come down to time and money…the first one we have, the 2nd one we want. So if anyone out there reading this just happens to be (or know) a commissioning editor for a tv channel or a streaming service who wants to pay us to make further episodes we are willing to take your cash. We also accept bitcoin. And hand sanitiser.
If you missed any episodes and want to catch up you can you can find them all on instagram.com/societyinmeltdown.
