About students on a drug trip

American comedy duo BriTANicK are writing and directing their first film – thanks to an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The as-yet untitled project, for the Hulu streamer, is about two loner college students, Jack and Montgomery, who order a pizza to their dorm. But after accidentally ingesting a homemade drug, their simple journey down two flights of stairs to retrieve it becomes a ‘mind-bendingly transformative quest’.

Wheels were set in motion when Hulu’s former head of comedy turned producer Billy Rosenberg, went to see the pair – Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher – at Edinburgh.

Writing on Instagram, McElhaney said he first came up with the idea as a student film project when studying in New York.

He explained: ‘The idea sat in the back of our minds for two decades until [Rosenberg] came to our Edinburgh show and told us afterwards he’d like to shepherd it into existence.

‘And now here Nick and I are, mid-production in Syracuse NY, with the funniest god damn cast and the most impressive crew I’ve ever seen.

‘Writing and directing a feature has forever been my dream, and after so many years I was beginning to doubt it might ever happen. I will do a post to thank everyone who helped make this a reality when we wrap. I’m too tired right now. We have another overnight shoot tonight and I forgot what sleep is. I just can’t wait to share this glorious nonsense with you all.’

The film stars Gaten Matarazzo, best known for playing Dustin Henderson in Stranger Things, and Sean Giambrone, who played Adam Goldberg in The Goldbergs.

Kocher, who is married to Scottish actor Karen Gillan, posted: ‘VERY excited for you all to see how funny @gatenmatarazzo and @seangiambrone are in this. Also if anyone has an idea for a title please let us know.’

Also in the cast are Jack Martin, who stared in NBC’s La Brea  and Lulu Wilson, who took the title role in the action thriller Becky.  Martin plays Blake, a student resident assistant in the dorm and ‘sociopathic control freak’.

McElhaney and Kocher, who appeared at the Fringe in 2022 and 2024, have previously written for  Saturday Night Live and the sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And while the untitled pizza movie is their first directorial project, they have also written the upcoming Over Your Dead Body – an English-language remake of 2021 Swedish  film The Trip, which will  star Jason Segel. 

Published: 20 Jun 2025