Local video agency The Hummingbird Co. just produced its debut independent web series, Average Guys.

The web series is scheduled to be uploaded weekly on YouTube and Facebook.

It is a six-part mockumentary following a fictional video production house called Sharp Images, with a crew, "whose lofty ambitions are matched only by their absurdity".

Reel life mimics real life

Average Guys is reminiscent of US sitcom The Office. Very self-reflexive.

Inspiration for the series came to the creator, Cheng Chai Hong, when he was doing his National Service (NS) between 2010 and 2012.

Cheng explains:

"I didn’t expand on the idea until I graduated and started living an average life working on corporate projects that felt far from the dreams I started out with. Suddenly, it all made sense, why not parody my own life? It doesn’t hurt that the nonsense that goes on behind-the-scenes of a film set lends itself to comedy!"

The entirely self-funded series stars Channel 8 actress Jasmine Sim and two-time Life! Theatre Awards nominee Thomas Pang.

Not your average sitcom

Unlike the show's title, the series isn't so average after all.

Juxtaposing the mainstream "heavy drama" approach to bringing up social issues, Average Guys tackles matters such as racial and gender stereotypes in a light-hearted way.

Cheng mentioned that the conventional way to go about portraying social issues is usually "idealised scenarios, often not reflecting reality".

"Comedy/ satire allows us to show situations as they are in real-life (by allowing viewers to laugh at how silly they are). Introducing social issues this way also allows us to sneak in perspectives (in the form of character quirks) that people would have dismissed if they were confronted in a self-serious manner."

Great response

And it seems like that unique outlook is going well for them.

The pilot episode released on Oct. 4, 2017 garnered over 61,000 views and over 500 shares on their Facebook page.

They even got the attention of well-known Malaysian YouTuber, Ho Ming Han of The Ming Thing:

While most people would feel ecstatic over such an overwhelming response, this isn't necessarily the case for the creator:

"Fear is the main thing I’m feeling right now. There is no way we are gonna be able to match up to the sky-high expectations that people have set with such response to the pilot hahah."

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Taking things higher

But that doesn't mean they're caving in.

If all goes well, the crew hopes to get Average Guys from the current run time of five to seven minutes made into a full half-hour comedy on networks such as Netflix, and hopefully, create additional content such as funny commercials under the Sharp Images label.

And of course, on a more noble note, they hope for more Singaporeans to #supportlocal:

"We hope to have at least changed the perception of comedy in Singapore slightly, for audiences to realise that we have the talent to do comedy well in Singapore and that they support the scene as such, and for writers and producers to step up and create works that really make audiences sit up and watch."

If you have not watched it yet, here's the first episode of Average Guys:

Top image via Average Guys SG's Facebook page