In 2007, Carlin Trammel started a blog entitled "Nerd Lunch" along with two of his friends. The focus of this blog would be pop culture and food. After three years, Carlin wanted to expand Nerd Lunch into new areas and began production on "Nerd Lunch: The Web Series." This series would last three episodes and feature Carlin along with a female co-host, Savannah Staverosky. The episodes were each around 11 minutes long and featured a "nerd" segment and a "lunch" segment except for the third episode which broke the formula slightly.
Carlin coordinated the segments, arranging interviewees, locations, and production personnel. Carlin reunited with photographer Scott Holstein for this project who worked the camera for the series and appeared in a brief cameo in episode 3. The Web Series was featured on the Nerd Lunch blog at nerdlunch.net. A behind the scenes Tumblr blog was also established to promote the series.
The premiere episode was shot in October of 2010 over the course of two different Saturday afternoons and established what was to be the basic formula for the show. The first segment of the show featured comic book artist Blake Kandzer and the second segment featured a tour of hot dog places in Tallahassee, Florida. In this episode, a bit of a rivalry is established between the two co-hosts which gives the series a continuity and is a departure from traditional journalistic efforts.
Carlin coordinated the segments, arranging interviewees, locations, and production personnel. Carlin reunited with photographer Scott Holstein for this project who worked the camera for the series and appeared in a brief cameo in episode 3. The Web Series was featured on the Nerd Lunch blog at nerdlunch.net. A behind the scenes Tumblr blog was also established to promote the series.
The premiere episode was shot in October of 2010 over the course of two different Saturday afternoons and established what was to be the basic formula for the show. The first segment of the show featured comic book artist Blake Kandzer and the second segment featured a tour of hot dog places in Tallahassee, Florida. In this episode, a bit of a rivalry is established between the two co-hosts which gives the series a continuity and is a departure from traditional journalistic efforts.
Production began on episode two in January, 2011. As with the first episode, the two segments were shot on two different Saturday afternoons. This episode contains the Dagorhir segment which has proven to be the most popular sequence from the entire series. The co-host v. co-host struggle is taken to new heights when the two face off against each other with foam swords.
This episode received a very thorough and positive review on PlaceVine.
This episode received a very thorough and positive review on PlaceVine.
With plans to do more, an effort was made with this episode to break the formula early so that any attempts to break the formula down the road would not be jarring to viewers but be expected. Instead of two separate segments, this was done "Avengers-style" where the co-hosts split up and covered the segments separately. Savannah interviewed the owner of a Tallahassee-based French bistro while Carlin crashed a lunch table of some self-proclaimed "geek" bloggers. This episode was shot in one Saturday afternoon instead of being done over the course of two.
Plans were made for a fourth episode, but unfortunately the amount of time and coordination it took to produce one 11 minute video was enormous. Rather than cut corners, production on Nerd Lunch has ceased. Savannah and Carlin reunited to record commentary tracks for all three episode (episode 1, episode 2, episode 3).
Even though the series was only three episodes, it was a labor of love by all involved and proved to be a very satisfying project. And more Nerd Lunch projects are being planned for the future.
Even though the series was only three episodes, it was a labor of love by all involved and proved to be a very satisfying project. And more Nerd Lunch projects are being planned for the future.
Commentary tracks are available for each episode.
