FloQast opens entertainment studio, teases accountant comedy series – Accounting Today
Workflow automation software provider FloQast announced FloQast Studios, a new entertainment studio designed to create content for an accountant audience, and released a trailer for the studio’s upcoming flagship web series, “PBC,” to be released in January.
The Los Angeles-headquartered studio was established by FloQast CEO and co-founder Mike Whitmire as a subsidiary of the company using funds from its Series D financing round earlier this year. It is headed by entertainment industry executive Josh Sims and digital creator Drew Carrick, perhaps best known for his “The Rapping CPA” persona, who will be brainstorming and advising on creative content.
The studio released the trailer Wednesday for its first big project, “PBC,” a six-episode web series in the faux documentary style of shows like “The Office” which follows the staff of the accounting department of a tech startup. Among its cast are recognizable names like Danny Trejo from “Machete” and Kate Flannery and Creed Bratton from “The Office.”
During the production’s 10-day shoot in Los Angeles, studio head Sims reached out to Carrick asking if he could come to set in Whitmire’s absence to check the accuracy of the accounting references. Carrick ended up staying two weeks as a technical advisor and is now working to get the word out among his fellow accounting content creators and meme-account generators, directing accountants to an Instagram post of the trailer that garnered over 50,000 views on its first day posted.
“Nobody has made a show about accountants before,” Carrick said. “We pulled on the collective experience.”
In pitching the concept of not only the show but the studio to the FloQast board, Whitmire drew on examples of other companies that have created content divisions, such as Salesforce and Mailchimp.
“The accounting community has historically lagged behind in both creativity and innovation, and there’s a shortage of familiar content that makes light of the many professional and personal obstacles that accountants know all too well,” said Whitmire in a statement. “That’s why we created FloQast Studios, to both speak to and recognize our core accounting audience, and also continue to fulfill our core company philosophy of being innovative, ambitious, and fun when it comes to changing up established norms.”
The studio plans to roll out more content over the next year, including short sketches, music videos, web miniseries and podcasts, all specifically aimed at an accountant audience, according to Carrick.
The goal, he explained, is to push the profession on lagging trends and counter the stereotype of accountants as boring and uncreative by creating viral, entertaining content. While the first priority is entertainment, the studio will be moving into more educational content soon, Carrick said, with a specific aim to provide more unique avenues for CPE credit, with current ideas ranging from a fraud podcast series to one-hour documentaries.
The FloQast Studios team is hoping to draw enough viewers to “PBC” to build an audience for these upcoming projects, for which Carrick and his team have a wealth of ideas and expect to produce at least one new piece of content per month.
All six episodes of “PBC” will be released Jan. 13 on YouTube and the FloQast Studios website.
During production in August, Carrick not only brought realism to certain scenes, he drew on his own experiences, often channeling them through the show’s perpetually overlooked audit manager, based on “every audit manager I know.” The cast’s comedy backgrounds led to roughly half the show being improvised, Carrick said.
Michael Gallagher is the show’s executive producer and showrunner, with Jana Winternitz and Michael Wormser of Cinemand Films serving as producers.
Carrick continues to coordinate efforts to get the show in front of accountants, explaining that the January release date was chosen to get it in front of accountants before busy season accelerates, though the team would welcome a wider audience.
“Next year, if it’s popular, maybe we pitch it to Netflix,” Carrick mused. “Right now, the priority is to make something the accounting demographic can relate to.”
