Italian Turtles (Short)
Did you ever wonder how the pitch for the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” TV show went? I cannot help but imagine more drugs were involved than they are in Vin Nucatola’s short comedy, but the skepticism and “hard sell” of the concept was, no doubt, accurate.
Kevin (Nick Piacente) and Peter (Chris D’Amato) are trying to psych themselves up for their meeting with TV executives to pitch their idea as a kids show. They know the comics world loves it, but this is their big chance to avoid living in Maine, pushing lobster for the rest of their lives. In come the executives, with the head honcho (Timothy J. Cox) flanked by two lackeys (Bj Gruber and Janel Koloski) as Kevin and Peter make their pitch. How they eventually sell them on the concept is a bit of good fortune; it even makes the title of this short film seem more apt than expected.
Nucatola knows to keep it focused on the silliness of the TMNT concept, how you would possibly pitch that, and how baffled the executives are about the whole enterprise. That’s where this film is going to get its laughs, and ultimately land its punches, and it does so with ease and a lot of good humor. Turtle power, indeed.
