The Making of a Fantasy Adventure: How Mike Donis Built a Whole New World

In the delightfully action-packed web series “Pete Winning and the Pirates,” Mike Donis rules the show both in front of and behind the camera. Mike Donis is a man of many talents. He is a director, editor and the lead actor playing the main character, Pete Winning.

This series merges pirates, sci-fi and fantasy into a fun-filled adventure. We sat down with filmmaker Mike Donis to get the inside scoop on how this entertaining web series came to life through his versatile skill set.

1. Pirates, lasers, and an evil queen? How did you come up with the idea behind the web series?
We really just tried to have fun, and not take our ideas too seriously, but take the work seriously. That was our motto! We were going to make a short film for a contest. 

I lived on a boat at the time, and I had access to make visual effects because of my background in post production. So we decided to combine those things together, and we basically worked backwards from there.

2. The fight choreography and shots worked really well together. How did you approach filming and planning the fight scenes?
They were fun to do! I would talk with our fight coordinators (Tyler Williams, Kevin Robinson and Ash Malone) about the characters and the story, and then let them loose to do what they do best. 

We’d adapt things as we needed during rehearsals, and once it was all designed, either me, Jason Leaver or Navin Ramaswaran would come in as directors and figure out how to capture it in a frame. In many ways, it was no different than shooting a dialogue scene, there was just a lot more movement (and occasionally, a few more bruises).
 

3. I loved your performance as Pete! Being a director, actor, editor, and so on, how did you balance all of the responsibilities that you had on set?
Well, thank you! The hardest part for me was when I was directing my own performance. Because we had three directors, when we were designing the schedule, we did our best to plan things so that either Jason Leaver or Navin Ramaswaran were directing the days where I had the most to do on screen. 

I took most of the scenes that focused more on the rest of the cast. Scheduling didn’t always allow for that though, and the times I did have to direct myself as an actor, I relied a lot on feedback from the other cast members so that I could have an outside perspective on what was working best.

Editorially, I didn’t feel it was much different than editing anything else. By that point, since everything was already shot, it was a matter of putting the editing hat on and just trying to be really honest with myself!
 

4. The characters are very distinct. What was your process to create these characters?
I’d say we had two big points in the process: the first was where Aaron Tsang, James Christopher and I were writing the characters. We knew we were making a universe with pirates and laser guns! You’re always trying to make characters who contrast and complement each other, and here we knew that because of the style of the show we could really crank that to eleven. 

The second part was letting the cast run with a lot of what they came up with. They brought so much to the fantasy world we were making; it was like we were all kids playing in a sandbox. 

For example, it was entirely Shawn Devlin’s creation to play Finch with the voice and demeanor that he does – which then in turn influenced rewrites, and definitely shaped how we wrote him further in Season Two.
 

5. Were there any unexpected challenges on the production that you or the crew had to improvise to solve?
Absolutely! The biggest one off the top of my head, was during one of the scenes in Episode Four of Season One. We had scheduled a big nautical action sequence, only to find out on the day that we were only able to have both picture boats at the same time for an overlap of an hour or two. 

Jason and I had to completely throw out the plan and redesign how we would go about shooting. It was hectic… but sure was satisfying when we got it done.
 

6. What made you decide to initially make Pete Winning and the Pirates into a series rather than a feature or short?
We had already done a short film, and a one minute “aftershave commercial” (starring Pete Winning). We knew we had a longer story to tell, but we also felt that, with the style of the show, bite-sized pieces might be a good idea. 

The main decision was made after talking with Jason Leaver about his success with his web series, Out With Dad. He encouraged me to start thinking about doing a short-form series, and it all sort of snowballed from there.
 

7. Making an adventure sci-fi epic is a tall order but I found Pete Winning and the Pirates to be very immersive. What were your biggest takeaways from creating this web series?
My biggest takeaway has to be, if you can, work on something you love. It was a zany project! Pirates, lasers, boats, mutants, action. So many of the things that I love, and so many of the things that everybody else who worked on it love. 

It made the process very special, we formed friendships that are just as, if not more strong, today. So that really is the best takeaway: the friendships and the joy that came from making this thing.
 

8. Are there any plans to continue the series?
If by plans, you mean, do we currently have a plan in place? Then, no. But if you mean, is there a desire to do more? 

Come on. Yeah. Absolutely.

Armed with laser guns and wit, Pete Winning and his ragtag crew navigate a flooded earth in the not-too-distant future. Braving mutants, pirates, and the seas, they search for the self-crowned evil Queen’s coveted maps of the new world. Watch Pete Winning and the Pirates on Reveel