North Shore native and friends debut Netflix show 'Makin Fun'
Imagine turning your favorite practice into your very own Netflix show. That's exactly what happened to North Shore native John Graziano and his buddies in the upcoming Netflix show, "Makin Fun."
Graziano’s co-stars include Jimmy DiResta, Paul Jackman, Patrick Lapierre, Derek Forestier, and Justine Silva.
In 2016, Graziano, who lives and owns a workshop in Peabody, stumbled across DiResta’s Youtube channel where he built extravagant things and discovered that Graziano’s neighbor, Jackman who was also a YouTuber, knew DiResta. From that moment on, a series of connections were built over the course of a few years and they’d say history was made.
Throughout the years, they all became friends and got together to film a special video for Jackman’s page at a YouTube studio in New York. Jackman loved to build big and obscure things so the crew decided to build a giant Adirondack chair.
“At the end of the day we just took a photo not thinking anything of it, Jackman uploaded it to Reddit and then low and behold a week or so later he gets a email from a producer in LA saying they saw his post on Reddit and asked ‘who are these guys’ and ‘what do they do,’” said Graziano.
They then started working with this producer on different ideas for a TV show. The producer pitched the idea to Discovery Channel. They were interested in funding a pilot episode.
The Amini episode was shot and then shown to the Discovery Channel, which decided to pass on their pitch. But then not even a week later, Netflix sought interest in it.
The group said they were ecstatic to hear that Netflix wanted to help the show grow.
“Everyone watches Netflix,” said Graziano.
They then were given a few more members to add to their team and the concept of the show changed slightly. They then took off shooting at DiRestta’s farm in upstate New York.
The show entails this group of builders taking requests from children on what they want to have built. The team can either pass on a ridiculous request or they can accept the challenge of building it. The requests have been extravagant and childish, but nonetheless fun for the crew to take on and share with their audience.
Silva started out as an associate producer then ended up as part of the art department for the show.
”I've been working in TV for about a year and I think I've had the most fun with the crew on this show,” said Silva. “This group of people that came together to make this show, everyone truly is an incredible person and it was so much fun.”
Silva described the filming of this show to be like summer camp. There were 30 people that made up the cast and crew spending days on end from April to July 2021 together doing what they love.
It was a long and grueling process for the cast. They had days where they constructed for hours; something they have never done before. They were making a show, so each step of the way needed to be shot perfectly.
“It was a lot of start and stop, which we weren’t very used to. It was a very unnatural way of building something,” said Graziano.
Lapierre, a French Canadian who did not know much English, met Jackman about six years ago. He started filming videos with him and met up with him and some of the guys at various social media events. He learned all the English he knows from working with these guys.
“For me, it has never been about the TV show, the fame, or whatever you call it,” said Lapierre. “It is really being in a big shop with friends and being able to communicate with them. Like six years ago, I wasn't able to do that.”
After eight episodes, the crew has high hopes for the turnout of this show. They hope they can keep turning their passion into fun by filming more seasons.
“If we can set a new generation of kids on the path of making stuff and get them interested in building, making, designing, and working with their hands we knew it would be well worth the effort.” said lead cast member DiResta.
Their largest hope, however, is that they will inspire kids by showing them how fun it is to build, design and create things they wouldn’t think were possible.
“As an adult you're always thinking about budget, we can't do that because we don't have the tools but a kid doesn't have that mindset so that's super great,” said Lapierre. “I just want to inspire kids to build more and not be afraid to try things because that's what we did in the show, like I have never built a dinosaur before!”
The team shows how fun it is to build and create crazy things while working as a team.
Silva, the only female builder on the show, hopes to inspire not only kids but other women to build as well.
“I would like to represent that women can build and can just get their hands dirty,” said Silva.
The cast is hoping that all generations will enjoy the show and become something that brings people together.
“At first I couldn’t tell if it was a kids show or an adults show but I think there's something in it for everyone,” said Silva.
The show aired in early March and is now available on Netflix to the public.
