Based in Los Angeles last year, Australian filmmaker Sascha Raeburn quickly discovered that life in Tinseltown can be far from glamorous, fun or comfortable.
“Most of the population are regular people who have packed up and moved to Hollywood to make their dreams come true but in reality are broke and hitting survival needs everyday rather than chasing any amount of dream,” she said.
Loosely based on her experiences, Raeburn created the web series Lost in LA, which is available on outlets such as YouTube and Funny or Die and has been selected for LAWEBFEST, which bills itself as the world’s largest web series festival and will be held in LA March 26-30.
“My web series portrays real characters living in LA who have a specific relationship with the city: that they expect their dreams to come true,” said Sascha, who is now back in Australia.
'I interviewed a wide range of people from LA , homeless people, Spiderman and Tinkerbell impersonators on Hollywood Boulevard along with my friends – a varied mix of people who make up the City of Angels."
In LA she started out staying in a four bunk room with three other women, actresses and singers. She shot the short videos on a Canon 5d using a rode shotgun mike and only one crew person.
“By recording my own personal experiences and sound-bites of living in LA, I captured raw characters that are starry eyed and rely on their phantom instincts to get them through,” she said.
“'Being lost and disillusioned are key themes throughout the series but they are executed through a series of vignettes that emphasise short, sharp, witty humour to portray the irony of big dreams that are going nowhere.
“There are two sides of the spectrum, the perception of Hollywood through the media, that it is a glamorous city, and the other is that Los Angeles has the highest count of people living on the streets in America.“
She returns to LA in June to continue shooting the series. The shorts can be viewed at YouTube and on www.lostinlatheseries.com
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