MRB branches out with mall comedy and assaulted tree.

MRB Productions Inc., until now best known for creating slick promos and openers for the Super Bowl, ESPN's X Games and "Monday Night Football," is making the jump into mainstream fare--by way of the local mall.

Last week, the small production company began shooting a pilot for ABC Family called "The Other Mall," a snide comedy about an also-ran shopping center. Completed in four days at Burbank Town Center, "The Other Mall" has a humor sensibility similar to NBC's hit comedy series "The Office."

"The one thing about my job is that it's pretty much the same, whether we're doing sports promos, feature films or television," said Matt Brady, MRB's chief executive. "We still secure locations, crews, lights and cameras. The thing about television and film work is that there is a lot more accolades and recognition that goes with it."

MRB is still hard at work on the promos, teasers and openers for the upcoming football season, but the Emmy-winning production company is also making its move into the film world.

The company recently completed the rock 'n' roll documentary "I Trust You to Kill Me." The film is about Long Beach independent band Rocco DeLuca & the Burden. One scene from the film has already drawn a good deal of attention via the Internet. In it, Kiefer Sutherland, who is the band's road manager, drunkenly body slams a Christmas tree in a London hotel lobby. The documentary makes its mainstream debut next month and will play at Landmark Theaters locally, Brady said. He downplayed the "24" star's role.

"It's actually not as dramatic a moment as you might expect," Brady said of the lobby assault on what appears to be a Douglas fir. "He's really the nicest man on the planet--very polite and respectful."