Inside the Sharknado: Mockbusters, Remix Culture, and the Earnestness of Camp

“Inside the Sharknado: Mockbusters, Remix Culture, and
the Earnestness of Camp,” produced by **Zach Weissmueller.
4 minutes.**

Original release date was July 29, 2014. Original writeup is
below.

“The government’s not prepared, man,” says Judah Friedlander,
castmember of Sharknado 2: The Second One, when asked if
FEMA would respond to a sharknado effectively. “But Ian
Ziering is.”

Reason TV talked to Friedlander, Ziering, and director Anthony
C. Ferrante about the upcoming sequel to the wildly popular TV
movie Sharknado,
which became a cultural phenomenon inspiring almost 5,000 tweets a
minute and netting SyFy network more viewers than any other
original program had ever done before.

Reason TV also spoke to David Rimawi, CEO of The Asylum, the production and
distribution company that made Sharknado and has created a
name for itself as a producer of low-budget “mockbuster” movies
like Snakes on a
Train, Transmorphers,
and The
Terminators, which consistently push the limits of
intellectual property law.

“We’re not very creative, but we’re much more creative than the
studios, or at least the same level of creativity,” says Rimawi,
who points to the huge share of Hollywood blockbusters based on
previously existing trademarks or brands. “We do that as well,
using their products.”

As The Asylum has achieved greater mainstream success, they’ve
even inspired knock-offs of their own products, such as a popular

“Shark Tornado” game available on the iTunes app store. To
this, Rimawi can only shrug and appreciate the gumption.

“These guys were quicker. ‘Shark Tornado’: We don’t own that. I
was just jealous,” says Rimawi.

Sharknado 2: The Second One
premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on SyFy.

Approximately 4 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera
by Tracy Oppenheimer, Alexis Garcia, and Weissmueller.