Students from the television and film arts program are creating a 22-minute television pilot for a show they developed call “In/Sanity” for their senior project.

Lloyd’s Taco Truck is doing a fundraiser for the project, which started Monday and runs until Thursday, Nov. 7. A percentage of the proceeds from all sales at Lloyd’s Taco will help fund the project.

Grace Phillips, one of the three producers, said that students who purchase food from Lloyd’s can potentially win prizes.

“If you buy something that is $6, you get a raffle ticket and you can chose which bag you want to enter your ticket in to win some prizes,” she said.

Phillips said that the prizes include 10 free bowling games; $20 to Lloyd’s; a signed photograph of Sabres player Tyler Myers; a signed photograph of former Sabres Daniel Briere; a $20 gift certificate to Sears; a $40 gift certificate to Goodman’s Farm Market; a candy basket with two half-pound Reese’s Cups; and Lloyd’s Rocket Sauce.

Winners will also have a chance to become an extra for the pilot, according to the director of the pilot Chris Greco.

“In/Sanity” follows the journey of a man by the name of Paul Meyer who attempts to dodge the daily obstacles of life by faking mental illness.

One of the writers, Drew Bialy, said that the protagonist sees a commercial for a rest rehabilitation place for the mentally unstable. Meyer finds out that the state will pay for his stay there, so he fakes a suicide attempt in order to get sent to this place.

“It is nothing like the commercial, it is a very hard institution for him,” he said.

The idea to focus on mental health was chosen through a group decision.

“Everyone in the class had an opportunity to pitch an idea,” Phillips said, adding, “We democratically voted on one of the writers, Jennifer Klemann’s, idea, who explained it as a cross between ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Orange is The New Black.’”

Greco described the pilot as a dark comedy.

“There is definitely humor in it but there is also a serious side to it,” he said.

Another producer, Joseph Kostiw, said that it would be ideal to pitch the project to television stations after they graduate.

“We have someone at Showtime who might take a look at it, so we’re trying to make this a quality project and be as professional as possible,” he said.

The project also has an Indeigogo campaign and is aiming to reach a goal of $4,000.

“We need to pay our actors, rent out equipment, get insurance for different scenes; it is a real insight into working in the field real world,” he said.

Kostiw said that this project has helped him and his crew expand on what they usually do to make this a real production experience.

“We have to go through all the steps that real production sets goes through. We have been doing a lot of fund-raising and talking to local businesses to find donations and prizes for our backers,” he said.

The project is estimated to be complete by Dec. 6 and will be screening in the Assembly Hall.

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