Muffins and Mayhem

Who would believe that muffins could cause such mayhem? Eat a magic muffin, and suddenly you have the powers of a Chop Chick; a cross between a Power Puff girl and a Charlie's Angel.

Chop Chicks is the newest You Tube hit put out by Hopkinton's own Beta Mu-Mu Productions owned by Suzanne Prunty and her sister, Moira Harvey.

The webisode was filmed entirely in Hopkinton and Meredith Prunty, Hopkinton's rising star, is a featured cast member. In fact most everyone involved has a Hopkinton connection.

"All of the girls that star in the webisode are looking to one day be in the film industry," (Suzanne) Prunty said. "This was a great way for my sister and I to learn about film and give some rising stars a chance."

This was also a resume builder for the three lead girls and others involved.

"There are millions of gorgeous young girls out there looking to break in," Prunty explained, "Giving them the opportunity to perform in a webisode with IMDb ratings is a huge resume builder."

The Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. Being listed in the database sets you apart and is a great thing to have on a resume if you are looking to break into the entertainment industry.

"IMDb credit isn't always easy to come be," Prunty said. "So it means a lot to us that we can offer our actors/actresses this perk. They have all become members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) through this experience as well."

The idea for creating a webisode, a three to five minute short film, came up when Prunty and Harvey found themselves spending hours on various sets with Meredith, who is underage.

"The sets are in Boston and Rhode Island," Prunty said. "We are both SAG actresses as is our mom, Donna Glee-Reim, and we spent so much time on sets, we decided to look into writing screenplays. We are all self taught. None of us are filmmakers."

The Chop Chicks webisodes, there will be three all together this year and four to six next year, is a first step towards what Prunty and Harvey hope will be a larger undertaking.

"The vision for Mo and I is to not stop here," Prunty said. "Ultimately, we'd like to make a major motion picture either in Boston or Hopkinton under our Beta Mu-Mu title. It's a lot of fun, and we would be bringing money to the area."

Prunty is also thrilled to have had the opportunity to have involved so many locals.

"The Hopkinton Librarian went above and beyond," Prunty said. "She worked extra hard to make sure we could get in to film at all hours which was great as a lot of the critical scenes are in the libray. We also had great support from Bill's Pizza and Threads."

The best part about the webisode is that it has given a lot of young local actor/actresses a chance to get their foot in the door.

"All of the kids that participated were thrilled to have the opportunity," Prunty said. " Most of them said it was better than a summer camp. They had a chance to learn, teach and improve their skills."

There were also some adults involved. For a list of all important players and a chance to see the webisode click here.