Why Aren't You Swimming?! is a unique and funny film filled with adventure, discovery and action. It is filmed with hand held cameras and follows a group of teenage boys who compete for the title of Flipperman. The film captures the intensity and the comradery of the competitive swimmers during the course of the swim season in the final days before the big qualifying event for the city wide swim meet. The film's theme music is Flipperman by Weird Al Yankovic and the film was shot entirely on a home-built 35mm camera in NYC. Weird Al Yankovic Flipperman the Movie(2000) "Making a film about high school swimmers is a daunting project in any town, but it's especially daunting in the big city. How do you bring together hundreds of boys from disparate backgrounds without them forming some kind of gang or clique? Just another challenge? No! The city is a kaleidoscope of kids who don't really know each other. Some are very wealthy, some are the first in their families to attend college, and many are from large, well-known families. In some cases the children, some as young as 15, are more interested in hanging out with their friends from other schools than in swimming. As difficult as this might be for the director, it doesn't have to be the case for you, the viewer." -Weird Al Yankovic Weird Al Yankovic has written, produced and performed in the stage musical, Dare to Be Stupid, which opens March 15th in Sacramento, CA, Broadway San Diego on April 13th. The hit show was first staged in Minneapolis and is a comedy with a modern twist on the ancient Greek stories. The film is shown in several cities in 2001 and is currently available for educational purposes only. DVD's have been given out as free gifts to high school students who auditioned for the film. What does it take to create a quality product like this? "I am very passionate about swimming because I am proud of the sport. After the summer of shooting this film, I learned so much about the sport that I had never known before. This film was so much fun to do. I hope that it will be just as fun for the audience to watch as well. The characters are all wonderful, but they never give up, and never seem to lose the sport of swimming. These boys have heart!" -Weird Al Yankovic Music is the most versatile of any art form and Weird Al’s eclectic music style fits the needs of children and teens alike. "The Flipperman TV series is the perfect opportunity for children and teens to embrace the diversity and creativity of Weird Al," said Jodi Peck, VP of Programming for the Family Channel. "As we continue to focus on quality programming that is as entertaining and informative as it is inspiring, Flipperman represents the perfect addition to our programming slate." Weird Al has scored six films. "The first one I directed was Off His Rockers, and I put together a band. Since I did The Running Man with Van Halen, I decided to call the band Van Halen and I directed and edited a documentary about the making of the tour and I made that movie with a little video camera that had one-and-a-half minutes of recording on it. Then, when I started recording with Ed, I found out that he and I had kind of different ideas about what I wanted to do with the music. I had wanted a kind of rock thing that I could do with all sorts of sound effects, and he said, 'No, we're gonna make a really realistic documentary record of how we sound.' So, there was a struggle in the early days, but he ended up becoming a great partner with me because he knew that I had to do my own thing, and I had to do mine. There wasn't any compromise. We had a pretty good working relationship with that video camera that we were using to shoot the movie. One day, we just started talking about how it was such a cool tool and how many little things you could do with it. So, I said, 'Well, maybe we could start a company and use this camera to shoot short films or television shows.' It was very inexpensive. You can pick it up at Wal-Mart. Ed said, 'Oh no, no, no. We'll just do it with our own money. We'll make them a big enough success that we'll be able to sell them.'" What does it take to create a quality product like this? "I am very passionate about swimming because I am proud of the sport. After the summer of shooting this film, I learned so much about the sport that I had never known before. This film was so much fun to do. I hope that it will be just as fun for the audience to watch as well. The characters are all wonderful, but they never give up, and never seem to lose the sport of swimming. These boys have heart!" -Weird Al Yankovic The film has been sold worldwide to networks including CBS, BBC and YTV in Canada. Weird Al is a bestselling recording artist. The most recent compilation CD's Weird Al - The Nightmare Soundtrack (1991) and Alotta Netti/Alley Oop/Albuquerque/My Bologna (1992) have sold more than 30,000,000 and 15,000,000 respectively. His top ten singles Albuquerque and White & Nerdy have sold over 15 and 25 million copies worldwide. "Weird Al" Yankovic The Nightmare Soundtrack (1991) Weird Al's style has changed from parody to more of a cartoon sound. The styles of music are also very eclectic; from Jazz, Rock, and Rap to Broadway styles. Weird Al has written and recorded over 30 songs over his 18 year career, and toured with various artists including Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, and Frank Zappa. "At this point in my career, it would be too much work to try to do these different types of records. I guess it's too much work for me to try to figure out