While web-series crossovers are a common occurrence, Old Dogs & New Tricks - the award-winning web comedy about middle-aged gay friends in youth-obsessed West Hollywood currently in its second season - may have just accomplished a first.
Two of its lead characters appear in the upcoming feature film Hot Guys with Guns, debuting this spring - perhaps the first time characters from a web series have appeared in an unrelated big-screen project.
Leon Acord and
Ryland Shelton, ODNT's May-September couple "Nathan and Damian," appear in a pparty sequence in the film, comedy written and directed by
Doug Spearman (Noah's Arc, ODNT's "Neal").
"Doug joined our cast this season as a recurring regular," says Acord, who also writes and created the web series. "When he began planning his film, he asked if we'd make a cameo, and I jumped at the chance!"
Hot Guys with Guns is a modern gay take on the buddy action comedy thriller which, like ODNT, is set in West Hollywood's gay culture. It stars
Marc Anthony Samuel (General Hospital's Felix and a recent ODNT guest star), Brian McArdle, Trey McCurley,
Darryl Stephens (LOGO's Noah's Arc), and
Jay Huguley (HBO's Treme).
In the web series, Acord plays Nathan, a sophisticated Hollywood talent agent entangled in an inappropriate affair with hip but naive actor/model Damian, played by Shelton.
"It was great fun to shoot," says Acord. "Doug basically pointed the camera on us, turned it on, and let us play. Since the film is set in both the same town and the same kind of 'universe' as our series, it was a great fit. Nathan is in his element among West Hollywood's elite, while Damian feels wildly out of place."
Old Dogs & New Tricks concludes its second season on April 17, with an expanded finale episode, with "cliffhangers" for each of the four Dogs. It recently won Outstanding Web Dramedy and Outstanding Ensemble honors at LA WebFest. Watch the show at
www.OldDogsNewTricksTheSeries.com.
Hot Guys with Guns is Spearman's directorial debut. The script was developed through the Los Angeles Outfest Writer's Lab and makes its full-length debut as the closing film at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Saturday May 4th. The week after that it closes the Boston LGBT Film Festival on May 12. The film is scored by six-time Grammy winner
Mervyn Warren and shot by Kelly Jones (Poseidon).
Pictured: Leon Acord & Ryland Shelton as Nathan & Damian in Hot Guys With Guns
