A Workplace Comedy Set in a Comic Book Shop? Sign Me Up!
Last week, writer, actress, and host Cheyenne Ewulu dropped a trailer for a comedy pilot she wrote called The Comic Shop. Despite the fact that the trailer is for a proof of concept for a show she hopes to make rather than one already set to come out, it’s clearly a popular idea, as the video already has over 590K views as of this writing.
If you check it out, you’ll understand why. This show needs to exist, like, yesterday.
The Comic Shop is a workplace comedy about a comics geek named Stephanie (played by Ewulu) who owns a comic shop called Oh Em Gee Comics and runs it with two other Black comic book nerds, Keith (played by voice actor, Zeno Robinson) and Dominique (played by Shanae Cole).
The story of the pilot seems to be that Stephanie’s mom, who isn’t thrilled that she’s “wasting” money and time running a comics shop, is stopping by for a visit and Stephanie’s desperate to prove herself.
Unfortunately, her ragtag team might be more unpredictable than she’d like.
Get to know creator Cheyenne Ewulu!
I reached out to Ewulu to find out more about this project, because it got everyone here at TMS jazzed!
The anime fans among you might know Ewulu as the host of Amazon’s Anime Club, where she recommends anime titles for every occasion. Okay, so we know she loves anime, and she wrote a workplace comedy about comic geeks. I wanted to know more about her fandoms and where her geeky heart lives most fully. Ewulu explained:
“Western super heroes were my first geeky love before I got into anime as a kid. I grew up really into Spider-Man and Batman mostly. My first action figure was a cheap Spider-Man toy probably from Burger King or something. I remember making it fight my mom’s hot iron and it melted haha. I also wanted to publish my own comic books growing up. I still do! I love anime to bits, but comics and super heroes will always hold a special place in my heart too. I don’t think I’d be the big nerd I am today without them.”
Sadly, we’ll have to wait for her take on a day in the life at a comics shop. As mentioned, the trailer we can watch online is for a “proof of concept” video that she shot, which is 13 minutes long and is basically the first act of the full pilot script. “Something to give people a taste of what the show is like. A taste of the look, feel and characters,” she says. “No plans to post online for the public right now. But It would be cool to do like…screenings at different comic shops. This is a request I’ve gotten a lot since releasing the trailer. I think that’d be really cool! I love local comic book stores. They’re really a safe haven for nerds like me.”
Ewulu recognizes the strength of her pilot, and everyone who’s watched and shared the trailer on social media seems to agree! When I asked her whether she planned on filming the full pilot independently, or whether she’s pitching it, she said:
“I love the idea of a web series, but I think this project is good enough for network TV, to be honest. There’s definitely a market for a show like this. I’ve been in the nerd community long enough to know. I’m all about going big or going home, you know? I’m hoping the right people see it.”
Sadly, the WGA Strike means that no one is pitching anything to any companies at the moment. However, Ewulu supports the writers wholeheartedly and will continue to write her own passion projects in the meantime.
“I’m 100% for writers getting paid what they deserve,” Ewulu says. “So, until that happens, I’m just having fun with passion projects like The Comic Shop right now!”
Check out the trailer for The Comic Shop above, and when the strike is over, let’s make sure the companies know that we want funny, smart, inclusive comedies like it to get made, and that talented, hilarious creators like Cheyenne Ewulu should be the ones making them!
(featured image: Cheyenne Ewulu)
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