Meet the Taildraggers

If the films of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe have taught us anything, it’s that their output is seriously variable in quality, ranging from the great (Super Troopers) to the decent (Beerfest) to the abominable (Club Dread).

But that hasn’t stopped their healthily low-budget efforts making money and, with several projects on the go, they’ve added another possibility – one with a little more depth than usual.

Because while Taildraggers features the sort of immature 20-somethings the team specialises in, this script will also have a nagging social conscience as the Lizards are teaming up with globally aware producers Participant Productions.

It features five slacker pilots for a ramshackle airline in Alaska who must stop an evil rival company siphoning oil from a nearby nature preserve. TV writer Will Gluck is scribbling the script. "Comedies can be as effective as dramas in telling stories about issues and highlighting how people can make a difference, but, really, Taildraggers' made us laugh. That it is actually about something is simply icing on the cake," Participant exec Jonathan King babbled to Variety.

With so many other ideas clanging around in their development dungeon, it remains to be seen whether the Lizards actually end up making this or producing it for someone else. Let’s hope the bigwig’s right and it’s actually funny…