About

A comedic web series chronicling the quirky owner and his staff of misfits at a gym called The Jim.

Synopsis

The Jim is owned by Jim Maynes, a former Professional Football player who was unceremoniously dismissed from the league after a barely contained ‘indecent exposure incident’. In an attempt to capitalize on the last shreds of his all-star reputation, Jim opens a fitness club and employs a motley crew of trainers. Each episode navigates the daily life at a gym: coming up with unique marketing ploys, inventing the perfect smoothie, preventing inter-staff flings, and just trying to stay afloat in the shark infested waters of the fitness club business.

The Development Process

The genesis of The Jim is the classic tale of guy calls guy and asks him if he wants to write a web series. Only in this case Nelson and Ryan (hereafter known as 'the guys') were on opposite sides of the country. The country being Canada - with Nelson in Toronto calling Ryan in Vancouver. Twas mid-December of 2008. The guys began writing in four hour sessions while on speakerphone with the help of the newly discovered Google Docs (“Hey, this is really cool - I can type and you can see it!”). The elements were perfect for writing: Nelson, first time living in Toronto was disgusted with the sub zero temperature and refused to leave his home for days on end; Ryan, was in an unusually snowy Vancouver and had no life.

After much back and forth about what’s funny (that recipe is still being refined – actually who are we kidding, our taste will never be refined) the guys eventually wrote a teaser and four episodes.

Next came the first table read. The guys held their collective breathe (Nelson via video Skype) as they heard their words emerge from real live actors’ mouths. Some scenes took hilarious flight like winged laughing-hyenas, while others fell from the actors’ lips and moved at the pace of snails. When all was said and table-read, and the test scores were tallied, the consensus was…It’s funny! On to the next step!

At this point cast member Elfina Y. Luk expressed interest in coming on board in a larger role. So from that exact second (and right after saying she was willing to invest) she became an executive producer.

As the three of them cobbled together the remaining scripts and a first shoot day loomed, they realized that they had no director, no crew and no equipment (‘But we’ve got scripts, actors and duct tape!’). Friend, artist and ethereal being, Mike Soloman suggested to Nelson, “Hey, you should see if Johnny wants to direct”. So one glorious April morning, the guys (Ryan hungover and sweating alcohol) trudged up to Arbutus Coffee for a confab with Jon Morris (hereafter known as 'the savior'). The Savior had read over the scripts, thought some funny could be mined from them so he said he’d direct, and could wrangle together a crew and equipment! Wow! The guys, with more balls than experience had a lot of questions but the savior, who's always working didn’t have a lot of time, so off they all went. "What just happened? Did he say yes? Does he know how to edit?"

Fast forward to the David Blue Hair Salon. Nelson is sitting in the stylist chair, enjoying a mango, flax, matcha scalp treatment while practicing his series pitch, “ hijinks at a gym, taxedermy, an asexual…” on Mr. Blue. Suddenly David sayeth unto Nelson, “Hey, have you been to Groundwork Athletics downstairs?” Well I’m sure you can figure out how the rest of this story goes…. Location discovered.

All of a sudden it’s the second week of May! We’re shooting in two weeks! What do we do?! We push the shoot to June 7th. Over the next four weeks we: look at taxedermied animals (try to get the price down by bringing in the female persuasion – no go.), travel to many a sporting store to crystallize the look of the staff wardrobe (much deliberating, some yelling ensues), find out that sex toys can be quite expensive.

Okay, fast forward to the end of July. Hey, we’re not going to spoon feed you everything – watch the show, become a member and see the behind-the-scenes photos. So, end of July: The Savior has shot some frickin’ funny footage and now the mammoth task of editing lay before editor/producer Jason Myers (hereafter known as 'Grumpy'). Grumpy is…well grumpy, but also talented, very talented. Over the next two months he hacks and slashes, (but never mind his dating life) and gives The Jim, a look, a brand, that surpasses our expectations.

And now here we are…Go watch the show. Go enjoy the site...Go!