Chop Socky Boom is a comedy web series created by Darlene Sellers and Heath Ward and filmed in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. The series is broadcast on the internet and premiered on May 1, 2012. Season one includes eight episodes, with season two currently under development. Chop Socky Boom follows the adventures of misfit

indie film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

actors An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

cast in the fictional

kung fu film Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...

, “Final Zodiac Warrior.” CSB focuses on main character Khanh and her friends, Scottie, Paige, Daisy and Max, as they audition for a poorly run chop socky series created by Trick, an

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novelist. In the 1950s, Wood directed several B movie, low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult c ...

like Director with his own unique vision.

History

Chop Socky Boom was created by Sellers and Ward as a tribute to the adventures and misadventures of Seattle indie filmmaking. The first season was funded in part through a crowdfunding campaign and from a small grant awarded by

4Culture 4Culture is a tax-exempt public development authority In the U.S. state of Washington, a public development authority (most commonly PDA; also known as a public corporation) is a government-owned corporation. They are established under RCW 35 ...

. In May, 2012 CSB premiered on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and the Web Series Channel and was featured by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE), a distribution company created by

Dead Gentlemen Productions Dead Gentlemen Productions is an independent film company based in Seattle, Washington. They have released a number of films, including the award-winning cult classic '' The Gamers'', '' The Gamers: Dorkness Rising'' and '' The Gamers: Hands of F ...

. In 2014, CSB was picked up for distribution by Frostbite Pictures and is currently available o
JTS.TV

Plot

Khanh is a talented, Seattle actress working hard to find her big break. She and eleven other local actors are cast in a new action show, “Final Zodiac Warrior.” FZW is a cross between

Enter the Dragon ''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien and Jim Kelly. ''Enter the Dragon'' was ...

and Highlander and features twelve warriors based on the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year (or duodenary) cycle. The zodiac is very important in traditional ...

. Portraying the signs of

Rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

Pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

Rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

and

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, Khanh and her friends survive the indie film making process, all the while doing battle with their own individual demons. Be it mistreatment from their fabulous and beautiful cast member counterparts, ambiguous direction from the director Trick, or even the threat of looming unemployment at the day job, the misfits boldly fight the

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

Production

Principal photography takes place in

. Locations include

Kubota Gardens Kubota Garden is a Japanese garden in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. A public park since 1987, it was started in 1927 by Fujitaro Kubota, a Japanese emigrant. Today, it is maintained as a public park by the Seattle Par ...

, the

Seattle Chinatown-International District Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the coun ...

, Hing Hay Park (Seattle), the University District,

White Center, Washington White Center is a census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. It lies between West Seattle and Burien. The population was 16,631 at the 2020 census. White Center is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Rat City ...

, Jet City Improv, and Victory Studios.

Cast

* Khanh Doan as Khanh, the Red

*Andrew McMasters as Trick, the Director *Jen Page as Paige, the Pink

*Jay Irwin as Scottie, the Purple

*Darlene Sellers as Daisy, the Turquoise

*Brandon Ryan as Max, the PA *Lowell Deo as D'Angelo, the Gold

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

*Lisa Coronado as Eva, the Periwinkle

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

*Dan Humphrey as Charlie, the Blue

Dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

*S. Joe Downing as Dillon, the Bronze Ox *Eric Stevens as Ty, the Orange

Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

Terisa Greenan Terisa Greenan (born November 15, 1967) is an American film producer, film director, writer and stage and film actress. Background Raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Greenan attended Whitney High School (Cerritos, California) from 6th throu ...

as Mitzi, the Casting Director *Shawn Telford as Jerry, Khanh's Agent *Angela DiMarco as Carmen, the Line Producer *David S Hogan as Rory, the New

*Brittany Cox as Madison, the Maroon

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

*D’Angelo Midili as Jack, the Silver

Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

*Kim Watts as Athena, the Script Girl *Cliff Lee as Bruce, the Stunt Coordinator *Bella as Herself

Reception

In 2014, the Seattle True Independent Film Festival named CSB the “Best Web Series" of the Festival. CSB has also received five Indie Fest Awards including Merit in Webseries, Directing, Writing and Editing, four Accolade Awards including Merit in Webisodes, Lead Actress and Choreography, three Best Shorts Competition Awards including Merit in Original score, Ensemble cast and Web Series, and five LA Web Fest 2013 Comedy awards including Outstanding Direction, Achievement in Sound, Outstanding Theme Song by

Composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Matt Sayre, Outstanding Lead

Actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Khanh Doan, and Outstanding Ensemble Cast. In 2015, CSB

Production Designer In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Work ...

s Cherelle Ashby and Jonelle Cornwall were nominated for the

6th Indie Series Awards The 6th Indie Series Awards were held on April 1, 2015 at the El Portal Theater in Los Angeles, hosted by Eric Martsolf. Presented by ''We Love Soaps'', the awards recognize independently produced, Web series, scripted entertainment created for the ...

. CSB has also screened at the

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove ...

as part of the London Webfest,

Seattle Asian American Film Festival The Seattle Asian American Film Festival was founded in 1985 and has been revived over the years by different producers. The current iteration was founded in 2012 and made its debut in 2013 by co-founders Kevin Bang and Vanessa Au. It is a reviva ...

, Indie Film Quarterly Film Festival, the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

Catalyst Program,

Emerald City Comicon The Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC), formerly the Emerald City Comicon, is an annual comic book convention taking place in Seattle, Washington. Originally taking place at the city's Qwest Field (first at West Field Plaza, then at the Event Center) ...

, Hollyweb Festival, Vancouver Web Festival, Austin Webfest,

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

Indy, and

KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed The CW, CW affiliate ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chop Socky Boom 2012 web series debuts American comedy web series