Picture this: you and your best friend are living worry-free and independent in your own place. Everything is going great, and you two couldn’t be closer. Until the moment your man-baby friend runs away from home and decides that your perfect little home for two is in need of a childish, messy and hard to handle third roommate. Little do you know but this new roomie will push you to create the world’s most intricate plan filled with theft, strippers and an arrest of a homeless man just to fix the situation.

This is the exact situation that Ben and Vince struggle with in 2014 alum Tim Nolan Jr.’s web series, “Model Citizens.” Nolan wrote and directed the screenplay, working closely with fellow alum Abby Miklas as producer. “I would absolutely classify this series as a comedy,” said Nolan. “I’d say that if shows like ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ ‘Workaholics’ or ‘Arrested Development’ make you laugh, then ‘Model Citizens’ is the show for you.”

With a crew of roughly nine students, preparation for the debut of the series began July of 2014 and post-production continued until the beginning of this year. All together, “Model Citizens” is a six episode series to be released March 18

“As of right now, Youtube, Vimeo and FunnyorDie are the three main platforms we intend on using to host our web series,” said Nolan. “We want this to be seen by as many people as possible so we’re always looking for other places to post it. We’re also planning on submitting the series into film/web series festivals.”

Starting out as an idea, Nolan didn’t imagine his screenplay to come to life until he went to COD. “This series originated as a short film that I had written back in high school but never got around to making. When I was about to begin my final semesters at College of DuPage, I had handed in a revised copy of my script to the [Motion Picture/Television Department] professor John Rangel with the hopes of turning it into a short film as part of an Independent Study,” added Nolan. “This independent study finally gave me the opportunity to make a project that I’ve had in my head for years and I am very grateful to John Rangel for helping me make this happen.”

Sometimes what a student needs is an equally passionate professor to take proposals to the next level. “John [Rangel] was the one who first came to me with the idea of participating in an independent study,” said Nolan. “If it weren’t for John Rangel and him giving me the opportunity to do the independent study, I really don’t know if I would have revisited this script and brought this project to life. John is a huge supporter of independent film and an even bigger supporter of his students, so the fact that I was lucky enough to have someone like him in my corner was a huge benefit to the project.”

What helped Nolan the most about the MPTV department was how they pushed for him to thrive and gave him everything he needed. “Not only does the MPTV department allow its students to access all the necessary equipment one would need to make a film project, but it’s also a place where a student can feel like they’re free to do whatever they want. During my time in MPTV, never once did I feel like I had to film something or write something that I didn’t want to. The faculty really push their students to create content that means something to them. More than anything, they want their students to just go out there and make stuff,” said Nolan.
The production of “Model Citizens” is another example of COD’s resources to help students to push ideas into realities. Check back to codcourier.org for the release of “Model Citizens” on March 18.