Part 2 of my “Bum’n Baltimore” Feature. I talked to the creator of “Bum’n Baltimore”, Joel Schneider!

 

Q: What is your connection to Maryland?

I lived in Frederick for a while. I currently live in Toronto, actually. I always visited Baltimore when I lived in Maryland though. I made a tons of friends here..I fell in love with the city. I think it’s a character in and of itself. It’s a great city..it should be written about.

 

Q: How did you get into writing and directing?

It’s been a long winding road. I grew up in a farming town in Wisconsin. I’ve had my hands in lots of different things. I participated in musical theater in high school. I usually had the lead roles. I even had a stint in a garage band. I was always creative. I went to college as a theater major, which didn’t go so well. I went to a really small high school, and they saw that I was willing to do these roles. I never had to try out for them. So when I got to college, I had no idea how to audition. I was clueless. I started doing more of the tech stuff. I graduated, and found a “real job.” The creativity was lacking for a while. I started to get antsy.

 

Q: How did “Bum’n Baltimore” come about?

I was looking for something to get into. A friend of mine randomly said one day, “There should be a show about bums.” There was no more discussion. No genre, no characters, etc. I just packed it away. I had moved around a bit at this point in my life with my fiance. I had just given my two weeks notice at this shitty sales job in Connecticut. People told me that they wouldn’t want me to come in the last two weeks, so you don’t bad mouth them. However, they said they were short and needed me. So I sat down in my cubicle, and hammered out the first draft of what is now the “Bum’n Baltimore” pilot. It all stemmed from my friends idea. I started a new job right after, and I shelved the pilot for two years.  Again, I was missing the creativity in my life. I re-wrote a few drafts of the pilot. I decided I was going to enter my pilot in the NBC Comedy Writers Playground. Two challenges with that: It’s all video based, and I didn’t have a network here in Maryland. So I threw up an ad on Craigslist for a voluntary crew to help.  After a few months of searching for people, I didn’t meet anyone I could really work with. Out of the blue, someone from 360 Degree Studios saw my ad and decided to call me and see what the hell I was doing. I sent them the pilot episode, and they wanted to sign me the next day.  I was a little apprehensive. We signed a contract and shot the pilot a few months later. It’s been fun. They’ve been so supportive throughout this entire process. Couldn’t have done it without them.

 

Q: What was the casting process like?

Good question! 360 actually pre-cast a few people. They had worked with some before. I’ll admit, I was pretty apprehensive, but I went with it. We had a casting call in Manhattan. About 700 actors applied. In the following weeks, in the spare hours I had, I would watch reels and mark my down top ten for each role. We brought them in for a long day of auditions. Our lead character Paul Court, played by Paul Skye Lehrman, was hands down my top pick for his role. Far and away the best. He was stuck in a meeting across town unfortunately. Our producer, Brian Bentz, knew I was upset. We weren’t thrilled with the lineup we had for the character of Paul. We convinced him, if we paid for a cab, we would come across town and audition in the back of a restaurant. So we audition him, and we offer him the part on the spot. And thank God. He’s amazing. He has great timing.

 

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