Bartlett – Roger (Anthony Veneziale), Bob (Don Reed) and Maggie (Chrissy Mazzeo) – Photo courtesy of Vimeo.
Bartlett follows bad boy Roger Newhouse (Veneziale), who is having a really rough year. Losing clients left and right, Roger finally realizes the time has come to quit his job and fulfill his longtime dream to leave everything behind and become a professional musician.
Bartlett also features Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chrissy Mazzeo, Don Reed, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Eirinie Carson.
The six-part series premieres on Vimeo on January 30th.
“Advertising isn’t about treasuring what you have. It’s about coveting what you don’t.” – Don Reed as Bob Freeman in BARTLETT
‘BARTLETT,’ NEW CONTEMPORARY COMEDY ABOUT THE TOPSY-TURVY, CUT-THROAT WORLD OF ADVERTISING, MINES THE GRAY AREA BETWEEN FAILURE AND REINVENTION IN SIX MUSICALLY INSPIRED INSTALLMENTS BEGINNING JANUARY 30 ON VIMEO
Original Streaming Satire Features Hilarious Ensemble of Comedic Veterans and Newcomers Including Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, White Famous’ Utkarsh Ambudkar, Emmy Nominee Don Reed, and Executive Producers/Stars Chrissy Mazzeo and Freestyle Love Supreme’s Anthony Veneziale
Based on the Life of Co-Creator/Director and Former Ad Exec Martin Edwards, Comedy is Also Executive Produced by eshapTV’s Evan Shapiro with Original Songs by Anthony Veneziale, Supervised by Grammy Winner Bill Sherman and Scored by Tony Winner Peter Golub
WATCH TRAILER HERE
VIEW CLIP FEATURING LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AND ANTHONY VENEZIALE HERE
San Francisco, CA-January 9, 2018- BARTLETT a new original musically inspired comedy premiering January 30th, chronicles a group of incredibly talented advertising execs in Silicon Valley who fight their character flaws and fondness for dysfunction to perfect the art of the pitch, in life and in work.
Based on the life of ad exec turned director Martin Edwards (All the Wrong Places), executive produced by eshapTV’s Evan Shapiro (“Portlandia,” “Take My Wife,” “There’s Johnny”) along with co-creator and exec producer Chrissy Mazzeo (“SanFranLand”) and Anthony Veneziale (“Freestyle Love Supreme” and “The Electric Company”) who also star, the six part original features a talented ensemble including Tony winner and Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda, Utkarsh Ambudkar (“White Famous,” “Freestyle Love Supreme,” “The Mindy Project”), Don Reed (“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “A Different World”) and newcomer Eirinie Carson. The hilarious web series, which made its world premiere at the NYTVF 2017, will make its debut on Vimeo.
BARTLETT trails advertising agency bad boy Roger Newhouse (Veneziale), who is having a really rough year. Maggie Knowland (Mazzeo), the true brains behind the business success of the newly formed agency, has left him, and their agency, for Sanjay Kahn (Ambudkar), one of Roger’s bitter rivals. Losing clients left and right, Roger finally realizes the time has come to quit his job and fulfill his longtime dream to leave everything behind and become a professional musician. The six episodes take place over a single fateful day, as Roger must outwit his neurotic boss Bob Freeman (Reed), keep Caitlin (Carson), his trusted account executive and occasional lover, from jumping ship, and convince Maggie to come back to the agency by winning the prized Pear Computer account (Yes, Pear not Apple). And Roger’s got just eight hours to do it.
Roger expresses his every emotion through song — folk, rap, and pop videos all released from his imagination by Anxiety Records, a fictional label — revealing a talented but tormented creative who is this close to success but needs just one winning pitch to get his shot at grabbing the brass ring. Original songs in BARTLETT were written by Anthony Veneziale, supervised by Tony and Emmy-Award winning Bill Sherman, and produced by Jeremy Fisch and Joel St. Julien (who appears in the series), with a score from award-winning composer Peter Golub.
Mazzeo said: “When it comes to rich topics to explore as storytellers, advertising has got to be at the top of the list. From Mad Men to Bewitched to every ad we relish on Super Bowl Sunday, this is a world worthy of creative exploration. We think viewers will connect with these relatable and truly entertaining characters — they are human in every way and focus on what we have in common vs our differences — I think everyone could use a dose of that narrative these days.”
BARTLETT is produced by A Bartlett A Day LLC and eshapTV and created by Martin Edwards and Chrissy Mazzeo. The executive producers are Chrissy Mazzeo, Evan Shapiro, Anthony Veneziale. Rivkah Beth Medow serves as producer.
Episode Descriptions:
E1: Excuse Me While I Find My Pants
Struggling advertising executive Roger Newhouse wants to quit the business and become a musician; no-nonsense Maggie tries to convince cocky boyfriend Sanjay to attend couples therapy; alpha-boss Bob arrives from New York for a showdown with Roger.
E2: The Awesome Wisdom of Sir Richard Branson
Roger finally reveals that he has landed a coveted pitch with Pear Computer; Maggie discovers just how badly Roger has managed the agency in her absence; Bob hatches a plan to get Maggie and Roger back together.
E3: Jesus Saves (Sinners and Ad People)
Maggie makes a decision about working with Roger; the agency is visited by an oddball creative team who offer their prodigious talents for the Pear pitch; over-worked account executive Caitlin begins to question her loyalty to Roger.
E4: Epiphany with a Sunflower Butter Sandwich
Roger shares a cathartic experience with the guy who used to water his plants; Maggie reads the riot act to Sanjay and avoids repeating history; Bob and Caitlin bond over coffee and racial injustice.
E5: The Healing Power of Maggie’s Underwear
In a last-ditch attempt to finish the pitch on time, Roger bares his soul; Maggie comes to terms with her past relationships; with Roger AWOL, Bob and Caitlin decide to present the pitch themselves.
E6: We Are All Enoch Bartlett—We Are All Liars
Roger has a rude awakening and scrambles to get his plan to “fix everything” back on track; Maggie, Bob and Caitlin crack open a bottle of champagne; we finally discover who Enoch Bartlett is.
About eshapTV
eshapTV is the production shingle of Evan Shapiro, Emmy and Peabody Award winning producer, former head of IFC TV, Sundance TV, and founder of both Seeso TV and Pivot.