About Real American Family

This kind of thing happens during the script-writing process.

Back in 2008, I was working on a web series that used the model of employing humor to educate. That show caught the attention of a lot of people, and one such person, Dan Fellini, contacted my team and I about his company, One Economy Corporation. Dan was heading off a website called Public Internet Channel and he wanted us to create a show for the site.

I’ll never forget the first time I met Dan, who lives in Portland because he loves trees or something like that. He came to Chicago, and as he talked about pic.tv I got the feeling that I was about to be able to do what I had always aimed for; make jokes and help people at the same time.

The idea for the show itself was easy enough to come by. We knew the show needed to be family friendly and it was easy to see that a show about the issues of American low income families would be a perfect fit for all of us.

And so, Real American Family was born. The night after we named it and decided on our pilot episode, Dan & I sealed the deal in the only way appropriate. We shared a raw onion. I convinced him that this was a tradition in Chicago and he’s a very trusting guy.

Dan and Nikol participating in the custom of making a media contract deal.

And now, two years later, I work for One Economy as a producer in Los Angeles. I’ve gotten to work on a variety of our shows, and get to contribute regular content to The Beehive. Those first two episodes of Real American Family still existed and I knew we’d be able to create more out of them.

Dan & I assembled a new team, wrote more episodes, went on many thrift store costume hunts, and had many brainstorming sessions that involved making bad knock knock jokes. We’re proud of what we’re creating together, and we’re always trying to make it better.

So stick around. Watch some episodes. Love them. Love them so much you want to marry them only marrying them isn’t legal so you can’t and you start a rally in DC about your right to marry them. Pass them on to your friends. And please, be part of the discussion on ways we can all help each other figure out this parenting thing.

After all, we’re all a part of the Real American Family.