Actress Minnie Scarlet is only 21 years old and she’s already amassed an impressive resume, with roles in films and the series “Sons of Anarchy” under her belt. But her most recent project is also her most personal, because beyond almost anything else, she loves doing comedy.
“I actually grew up loving the stage; theater and improv were my favorites,” Scarlet said in an interview with Toledo Free Press. “I never saw myself doing film seriously until about a year or two ago but I’ve definitely always been a performer. I also love making people laugh and comedy is my favorite genre to perform, so a comedic Web series seemed like a doable challenge that I’d have fun with.”
The planned Web series is called “Can You Keep Up?” and it’s heavily inspired by another of Scarlet’s unlikely obsessions — the Kardashian family. She said she adores following the trials and tribulations of Kim, Khloe and their ilk, and one night, while hanging out with fellow performer and adult model Paris Kennedy, inspiration struck.
“Me and Paris Kennedy watched ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ the first time we ever met and we bonded over it because we both loved it,” Scarlet said. “We also both think we’re the most hilarious people in the world so of course we joked around … about making a parody and started calling each other Minnie and Paris Kardashian. Then I wrote a script! The rest is history.”
The show will focus on a rather oddball, fame-obsessed family in faux-reality docudrama fashion, just like the series that inspired it. The teaser trailers now available on YouTube demonstrate a style that is not too far removed from “Arrested Development,” in terms of mining humor from somewhat bizarre people doing somewhat bizarre things.
The sisters, played by Scarlet and Kennedy, are joined by a wannabe rapper played by comedian Tenere Williams and the matriarch of the family, Kris, played by veteran comic Sally Mullins.
Mullins met Scarlet through Kennedy.
“Within a week she had contacted me with a Kardashians parody in mind and said she wanted to wrote a cool role for a funny older woman. She liked my stand-up and it was so flattering and very impressive when she got a meeting together and handed this fun role to me.
“We get along very well. It’s fun. Like I said, I’m sort of Paris’ mom as far as entertainment and I have really taken to Minnie, mad respect and love. Tenere is just beautiful on the inside and out. I’m almost scared to add more players.”
The final form of the series is still being fleshed out, as Scarlet works on the script and her fellow actors begin to nail down their characters. The teasers now online were filmed separately from the main body of the series, to give fans a taste of what’s to come. Scarlet said developing the characters has very much been a collaborative process between herself and her cast.
“We’re actually still somewhat in that process. We filmed things a couple of different ways, then edited it in ways that they thought were best. It’s so difficult to predict what will work and what won’t. It’s a trial and error thing but I think we mostly have it all down. I had the actors fill out and talk to me about this character development worksheet,” Scarlet said with a laugh. “So theater class, but it helped a lot.”
Scarlet has recently launched a fundraiser on the website indiegogo.com, in an effort to give the final product a bit more polish. But even if the campaign doesn’t raise its full goal, Scarlet is still determined to bring “Can You Keep Up?” to life.
“I knew we would make the series, or at least try, funds or not because we all were having fun with it,” Scarlet said. “It just makes it a lot more of a legitimate goal with this fundraiser.”
After being slightly pigeonholed as the self-described “hot girl” in so many projects, it has clearly meant the world to Scarlet to garner a chance to be herself, and to bring something she loves to people.
“I bite my tongue kind of a lot in my everyday life and with this, I really don’t have to. I think all the jokes and actors are great, so it’s working out great for me.”
More information on “Can You Keep Up?” can be found on the show’s IndieGoGo page: http://bit.ly/1umQV14.
