Public access television is neither open to the public nor easy to access, according to director Cody Maupin of "Juiskers II: The Sequel with no Prequel."

"When we called to get information about doing a half-hour sketch comedy show Cox Communications and Multi-Media turned us down. In fact, they discouraged us," he said.

Maupin has been working on spreading his movie with his brother and writer/co-producer, Patrick Maupin.

"Cox told us we could come and sit in a chair for five minutes on a Tuesday or Thursday and unload our thoughts, but a half-hour slot would run us $900. That's the only option we got to be public," Patrick Maupin said.

Without the help of public access, the brothers said they have decided to fire back by creating their own opportunity to be heard.

This weekend they are holding a screening of their production "Juiskers II," a sketch comedy movie they made poking fun at the media outlets that denied them access. But the film is not just about blasting the cable operators.

Along the road to finishing the film, a lengthy process that began in 2001, their comedy troupe decided to poke fun at anything and everything that was bothering them in popular culture.

"Juiskers II"o The film will be screened 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Meacham Auditorium.o Admission is $5 per person, and attendees will receive a free DVD.

With fellow writer Rick Mushinski, the brothers take stabs at infomercials, commercials, sitcoms, and reality television. Some of the skits will actually be based on their experience with the cable companies.

The project began in 1999 when Cody brought together a group of friends to film sketch comedy shorts in the vein of Monty Python and Kids in the Hall. After some good responses from film festivals the brothers decided to expand on the shorts and combine them into a feature narrative.

The film will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Meacham Auditorium, along with a few other comedy shorts from local filmmakers and some live sketches that will lead into the feature presentation.

The brothers said they hope the screening will attract enough attention to start an annual comedy film festival in the near future.

"This is definitely a labor of love. We've technically been working on this since '99 but we've been putting it together since around 2001. Hopefully what makes us laugh will make others laugh." Patrick Maupin said.

Cody Maupin said he hopes audiences will understand their off-beat humor.

"There's probably some stuff that will offend people, but hopefully the audience will see the hypocrisy of media through our experiences and warped imagination. At the very least it's definitely entertaining," he said.

The brothers will be selling DVD copies of the film, which will be loaded with extras that include an in-depth "making of" and original versions of some of the sketches that were screened at various festivals.

For more information on the film and production visit www.juiskers.com.

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