Yesterday the last episode of Revved aired on National TV and Social media. This tiny big project started off as a ‘What if?’ discussion during Portal 2 binges and ended up becoming a somewhat of an amazing project that hopefully inspires others to follow suit.
The local TV market is filled to the brim with the same non-sense riddled with adverts and magazine formats, and what we wanted to do is try and give you a break from that stigma.
Yes we did not have sponsors, which made this programme that much harder to develop, but we made our own rules, stuck to our guns, and developed this show the way we wanted to. We delivered this series 2 months ahead of release, even though we had a whopping three month delay due to the pandemic. We did it on a shoe string budget and with a tiny crew. We premiered our show on TV and Youtube in 4k in tandem, and also went on to launch our series on Facebook video. Because why shouldn’t everyone have access to it? We operated better than some “Big” companies who produce long adverts with no soul or pride.
What we did is achieve and show the big guys, who horde the funds and slots, how to entertain.
I must admit that we could have improved certain aspects, and I wished the pandemic didn’t interfere as much as it did. I wish I could have developed all of the scripts I prepared… but it wasn’t the right time.
Will we do a follow up?
A lot of haters called us out because we are a carbon copy of Top Gear… Are we though? Yes I drew inspiration from the series that shaped my childhood, but Revved is a far cry from Top Gear. It’s my take on the Top Gear format, with our own way to deliver Documentaries, Road tests and challenges with our unique comedic flair and that iconic Maltese feel. This is a unique project that set itself apart. We are not like the rest of the Motoring programmes (Three advertorials and three private garage lurkers). We offered something different, dealt with it.
The finale hit different. The finale to me closed this chapter in a bitter sweet way. Will we do a follow up? I am not sure to be honest. I had originally decided back in Summer that this will be a limited run project to get the ball rolling to a bigger and more ambitious project. It was hard for me to create road tests with 90% of the local car companies denying us access to their vehicles. We get the ‘Dejjem Toyotas’ comments, and you are right, but our own vehicles are Toyotas and the only company open to lend us cars were Toyota, so what could we do? You should ask the question… why are the other car companies reluctant to lending us cars without seeing the script?
Regardless, it has been a great journey, and a huge learning curve. It was a challenging project to take on which tested my perseverance. Be it other TV companies hampering production, the Broadcasting Authority saying that we are an advert (they clearly haven’t watched the other guys), and the complaints we got through the series. But we managed to pull through.
I was overwhelmed with your comments throughout the year and I thank you. You made this really worth while. I also enjoyed the internet trolls going out of their ways to tell me they hate the show… Your view still counted.
Will this be the last time you heard of me or MF Studios? Hopefully not.