Photo credit: Courtesy of Reko Moreno
Kathryn Castaneda and Reko Moreno are a young, talented, attractive, determined, enterprenurial couple who are – well – BROKE. So, they decided to become the next “I Love Lucy” with the help of an Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign sponsored by Fractured Atlas.
Whereas “I Love Lucy” pulled back the curtain on a couple dealing with life in show business, “Newlywed and Broke” will pull the curtain back on a couple dealing with today’s trying times of job loss and financial hardships. In other words, they are making light of their travails, a luxury that only the young can afford.
Reko Moreno and Kat Castaneda
“We created this idea based a little bit on our own relationship,” said Kat in an interview with Hollywood on the Potomac. “We’re a couple, we’re recently engaged and we’re stuggling financially and having to deal with a million things.”
“And we thought it would be fun to poke fun at that,” said Reko – her partner in life and work – “because that is what’s happening in the economy, our society, with a lot of young people moving back home with their parents because they’re broke. There’s actually a study now that some single family houses are having two or three families move in together because they’re broke. And so we thought, so many people are struggling, why not make light of it? Let’s talk about what’s going on with our society and have fun with it. We like to laugh a lot.”
So what exactly are their problems? “We have a roomate, number one,” said Kat.
“I’ve had a roomate for a while,” said Reko, “a good friend of mine from Texas. Then, I started dating Kat. When we were dating she had her own place and I had mine and then when we got engaged so she kinda moved into our apartment. It’s like “Three’s Company” – me and her and my roommate.”
“On our second date,” said Kat, “he took me to The Getty Museum, which is free if you are a student doing art research, so he called ahead of time and said he was a student so he could get us free parking. Then he asked me if I was hungry and I said yes. So we went to the kiosk and he offered me an apple or an orange. Those were my only two options since we had financial restraints.
HOP couldn’t resist suggesting that maybe Reko was just cheap. “Well,” she added, “there’s a little bit of that.”
“Well, I’m frugal when it comes to that. You’ve got to save for things that are important,” Reko chimed in for his defense. “We traveled to Europe and were there for a while and to make it last we did couch surfing, slept in the car, brought our own wine to restaurants and such things to make the trip last longer.” We didn’t ask what ‘couch surfing’ was.
So, what’s up with the job scene, we wondered.
“I have miscellaneous jobs is what I like to call it,” explained Kat. “I have skills in many different facets so I do promotional work. I’ve been costume characters so I’ve been Dora the Explorer, I’ve been a chicken on the farm commercials – not always fun in the 95 degree heat, but it pays. I’ve also handed out samples at grocery stores. I’ve done so many jobs it’s ridiculous.”
“I’m an actor,” Reko said. “So, the last four years I was doing really well so I would make some money there. I also own a camera rental company, but last year is when everything came crashing down which is when we got the idea that really popped (Newlyweds and Broke). We had to think about everything, food, gas. I used all of my savings. It was a moment when I thought ‘wow, we are really broke.’ I used to make six figures and last year I made maybe 18 thousand, but I wanted to follow a dream and actually have a really good life now, even if we don’t have the money to do many things. We don’t work 80 hours a week now which is really stressful.”
Enter the Newlywed and Broke Series: The goal of the company’s Indiegogo campaign is to produce a TV quality web series that will first air on the Newlywed and Broke website. Once there is an established market for the show, the series will be pitched to networks like ABC, FOX, HBO etc. In addition to the series, the show’s website will feature 52 Youtube style videos called, “Broke Tip Tuesdays”. Each week, these videos will provide viewers great money-saving tips by covering subjects such as “Broke Dating”, “Broke Cooking”, “Broke Travel” and many more. The crowdfunding campaign page is currently offering project supporters the opportunity to share their stories and broke tips, some of which will end up in future episodes. “It’s a familiar tale for all of us. Relationship or not, everyone can grow nostalgic over at least a few ridiculous things they did when they were broke,” stated Moreno.
“There are different ‘perk’ levels, added Kat. Check them out.
So what if nobody wants the series we asked. “Well, then I’ll cry,” sniffed Kat. “But we’ve been working on this project for about a year,” added Reko, “developing the characters, developing the script, producing pilots. Newlywed and Broke is a great title. People understand it. People love the concept. We know we have something good.” They are ten days into the crowdfunding and have raised about 9 thousand with a goal of 25 thousand to launch the series.
The Newlywed and Broke crowdfunding project marks the first time that crowdfunding campaign manager, John-Michael Scott and crowdfunding campaign promoter Philip Cardwell have joined forces in support of a crowdfunding film project.
“When John-Michael called to explain the shows concept and the previous accomplishments of the group involved in the project, I felt obligated to take a look. What I saw, was a well-crafted, hilarious pitch for, what I believe will be, a future primetime TV series,” stated Philip Cardwell, Founder of Universal Media Consultants.
Bottom line for Kat and Reko is that if the series is not successful, they will continue to carry on this vein of work. “I feel like this is our calling,” said Kat. “We have the creativity, we have the mindset and we have the support system to do this and be successful at it whether it be this or the next venture.”
And they both, afterall, have credits in the industy: Moreno can be seen in the upcoming films, “Bless Me, Ultima” directed by Carl Franklin (“Devil in a Blue Dress” with Denzel Washington) and “Attack of the 30 foot Chola”. In addition to the “Newlywed and Broke” project, Moreno was one of the creators of “Blanco Boys”, which was mentioned by the WGA for best new comedy web series and is a Fellowship award winner for Producers with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers.
The Promo:
Newlywed and Broke: An IndieGoGO Campaign from Ingenium on Vimeo.
