The Beat Hotel: Puppet Music Show

Multi-Platform

Dear Guest,

Welcome to The Beat Hotel. We hope you enjoy your stay here, and find the atmosphere free, inspiring, and groovy. Checking in couldn’t be easier, in fact, you’ve done it already… Well, you’re here, aren’t you? What more do you want, a piece of paper to prove that you’re here? Don’t be silly.

Your room is all ready and waiting. Which one? Whichever one takes your fancy - though a lot of our guests like their privacy in order to create and exist. Creative energy manifests itself in strange ways sometimes, but who are we to judge?

Cost? No, no, put your magic plastic money card away - the hotel doesn’t want paid, it wants fed. Feed it’s soul with your art, and then in turn the soul of the hotel will feed you, and your art. It’s the great creative cycle; beautiful, isn’t it?

I don’t want to know how long you’re planning to stay either. Plans? They’re just embryonic spirits of future regrets. Live in the now, just be - and then you won’t have to worry about not being. You’re here now, and when you leave you’ll not be here. That’s all I need to know.

So go on, pick a place to stay, make it your own, and let the good vibes free to fertilize those seeds of something in your mind - they’re just waiting to grow into mighty trees of genius! ...But no plastic bags, please. They’re body bags for birds. Love & Good Vibes.

The Show

Mighty Boosh meets Garth Marenghi meets The Tube via The Muppets. The Beat Hotel is a music puppet show, a dark comedy set in a purpose-built hotel. The show spans TV, online, mobile & social networks.

The hotel is run by Sherri Martini a 60s hippy, who hasn’t lost her goal of keeping it beatnik, and some of the characters are from that time, and some are from present day. It’s a “class 13” hotel, meaning bottom line, a place that is required by law to meet only minimum health and safety standards.

The bohemian clientele sometimes pay the rent with paintings or manuscripts & they have permission to paint and decorate their rented rooms in whichever way they want.  Famous guests from back in the day include Allen Ginsberg & William Burroughs, who completed the text of Naked Lunch there, and Sherri makes sure you don’t forget it.

TV

The Beat Hotel’s unique aesthetic will make it stand out visually.

Being a puppet drama, you can also be more adventurous with the characters & storylines, pushing more boundaries than you could with real people when scripting the episodes.

The TV format consists of 18 x 10 minute episodes.  This is comprised of 6 minute of episodic content followed by 4 minutes of a live puppet gig from the week’s guest band/artist.  The unique style and attitudes of the guests will be incorporated into their puppet’s designs, and their participation in the episodes will be in keeping with their characters.

Online

In the hotel’s rooms props like radios, TVs, & pictures will be ‘hotspots’ allowing the audience to access a range of music media & digital content.

With this interaction to move you in and out of their world, exploration will be the name of the game. We have decided to go with puppets & a unique set build, so that there is a less digital feel to the animation, and to make our characters integrate with their world.

Key functionalities of the series include :

Within each episode we will be incorporating the user’s personal tastes for audio & video; music feeds taking the latest top 10 for user’s selected genres will be integrated into the episodes.

Weekly gigs played by puppet versions of ‘real’ touring bands will take place in the ballroom.

Unsigned bands and artists will be showcased through the series using the hotel’s phone switchboard, which will allow the audience to interact with and select new music to listen to in a fun way.

Music promoters, distributors & labels can rent a room from The Beat Hotel, to assist in marketing touring bands & new releases.

Artists can avail of wallspace within The Beat Hotel to hang digital reproductions of their original artwork adding to the eclectic style & ambience of the hotel.