OCEAN CITY — Johnny’s Pizza will be hosting an event Nov. 11 to help a young man achieve his dream of having his show air on television.
Filmmaker Matt Rocklin was born and raised in Barrington, Ill. and spent his summer working in Ocean City at his uncle’s pizza shop, Johnny’s Pizza. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in film. He received an Audience Choice Award for his first short film, “She Be Gone”, and left for Hollywood and never looked.
Currently, Rocklin is turning to Kickstarter, an online fundraising tool, to fund his ongoing web series, “Dogs & Me”.
Johnny’s Pizza’s event will include raffles, free pizza, music and a showing of the show’s first season from 6-9:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11. The event is aimed to raise awareness about Rocklin’s talents and assist him in reaching his dream.
A comedic sitcom format, made for the web, “Dogs & Me” centers around Rocklin, an aspiring actor in Hollywood as the main character and his two talking dogs. After screenings at six major film festivals this year, the web series took home four top awards including Audience Choice Award at the recent Chicago Comedy Film Festival.
If the Kickstarter project is successful, Rocklin looks to produce the second season and hopes it will be picked up by Hulu, Comedy Central, Fox or even a major network.
The Kickstarter fundraising project ends on Nov. 15 and if the goal is not reached Rocklin will receive nothing. The show’s website is www.dogsandme.com and the Kickstarter link is http://kck.st/GYnDnk.