We are living in the sci-fi universe that writers and futurists of old could only imagine.
Consider the rapid changes of the last few years: we can now watch, buy and read practically anything with a single swipe on our touch-screen devices; social media has changed the way we interact with each other and the news cycle; video stores are mostly gone and malls aren’t far behind; self-driving cars and everyday drone deliveries are a couple of business quarters away, if that.
No joke: the singularity is coming.
Which is why Android Employed, the new locally shot mockumentary web series from Vancouver-based filmmaker Jem Garrard, is must-see web TV. Its conceit – that a new line of androids is working alongside, and in some cases displacing, humans in customer-facing jobs like accounting, babysitting, and teaching – is straight outta the near future.
In the first episode, a mom recruits an android to care for her dysfunctional family so that she can pursue a career in synth music; in the second, an accountant loses his job to a robot and plots his revenge; the third episode explores the consequences of staffing a big budget film production with androids; and in the season finale, a robot diligently attempts to shape young minds in a self-directed kindergarten classroom.
The idea for Android Employed sprung from an article that Garrard read a few years ago, which laid out the advancements in technology that would need to occur in order for robots to better serve humans. “I thought the idea of this robot adapting to social norms and interacting with people on a personal level felt very much like a comedy, and I hadn’t seen it done like that before, so I started writing this idea out and it naturally fell into a mockumentary-style piece,” says Garrard, an in-demand director, writer, and producer whose credits include The Switch, Mech-X4, BC Was Awesome, and the Storyhive-funded short film UNIT Bryan, the first incarnation of the Android Employed idea.
Unlike some of the characters in her series, Garrard isn’t afraid of robots or artificial intelligence. “There’s a great deal of uncertainty around what it all means for the workforce, and what it would mean for humanity, but I think that I’m on the more optimistic side that we’ll figure it out, like we figure out every new technology,” she says in a recent phone interview, adding, “It is a topic that can scare most people, but I wanted to show the challenges but in a light-hearted way, with the inadvertent humour that it would bring up.”
And bring the funny it does. Android Employed features some of Vancouver’s funniest stars, including Sara Canning (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Peter Benson (What An Idiot), Dave Collette (Marrying the Family), Andrea Bang (Kim’s Convenience), Ryan Beil (both a mainstay in the local improv comedy scene and a dramatic actor most recently on stage in the Arts Club’s Angels in America: Millennium Approaches), Sonja Bennett (Preggoland), and Veena Sood (The X-Files).
The fact that some of BC’s biggest stars came out for Android Employed is still a source of amazement for Garrard. “We sent out offers to these people, but because it was such a low-budget show, we thought maybe one or two would say yes,” says Garrard. “We then we got replies from their agents like, ‘This isn’t something they usually do, but they read the script and they’re down for it.’”
Android Employed’s robots were voiced by Trevor Devall, a sought-after voice actor whose numerous credits include Voltron and the Guardians of the Galaxy television series. During filming, the robot costume (the midsection of which was comped out by VFX artists with shots from a robot puppet in order to achieve the desired non-human shape, according to Garrard) was worn and brought to life by actor and dancer Victor Dolhai.
Dolhai brought “beautiful nuances to the role,” says Garrard. “He really understands movement, and he also memorized every single line in the four episodes so that actors in the cast could work with this robot.”
Every episode in Android Employed’s inaugural season clocks in at 15 minutes or less; Garrard is hoping to take the show to a half-hour format, while continuing to deep-dive into the discomfort surrounding robots and AI. “I think comedy is the best way to talk about some of those serious and deeper issues,” says Garrard. “When it’s presented in a comedy format, it’s easier to digest. When I shoot comedy, that’s what I want to bring to it – that, and a lot of heart.”
• Android Employed is currently available on demand on Telus Optik TV and streaming online at androidemployed.com.
