Tag Archives: Webseries

In ‘Unicornland’ Polyamory Is Honest, Sexy and Awkward

If you’ve seen one web series, you’ve more or less seen them all. The vast majority of web series, even queer ones, involve a hapless young adult surrounded by a troupe of quirky characters as he or she searches for their one true love. It’s funny. It’s poignant. It’s…done.

In that respect, Unicornland is similar. It’s a love story. Except, instead of one true love, the main character is searching for her multiple true loves.

Meek and mild-mannered Annie dreams of becoming a unicorn – that is, a person of any gender who dates couples. Every episode centers on Annie’s escapades with a new couple. Sometimes it’s hot. Sometimes it’s awkward. Usually, it’s both.

The writer, Lucy Gillespie, drew the story from her own life. She got married young and divorced young, after realizing that she was tired of being afraid of life. She wanted to explore, to cherish all of the things – and people – that life had to offer. Her experiences in the polyamorous and BDSM community made her feel like she was alive.

She hired a primarily female cast and crew to make all of her actors feel more comfortable, especially during the sex scenes. Gillespie is literally replacing the male gaze with the female gaze. She also hired a BDSM consultant to make sure that Unicornland, unlike movies like Fifty Shades of Grey, accurately depicts BDSM culture.

The show is also notable for its diversity. There’s not just one way to be sexual – not just one sexual orientation, body type or race. The show proves that women and men of all types deserve to find pleasure.

Says Gillespie, “I was trying to be as realistic as possible about the journey of this young, naïve woman and the pitfalls she makes and the sanctuary that she finds.”

Check out the show for yourself at the official website.

‘Sidetrack’, The Newly Premiered Webseries

Sidetrack is now available to watch on youtube and it is a 10 episode series based on the lives and loves of queer women in Brooklyn.

The 20 somethings are all very diverse and there are some great references to pop culture and some uber sexy moments.

With characters, such as a soccer playing scientist, a dancer, a comedian and a female lothario there are laughs and loves aplenty to be found in the debut season. There is a smartly observed naturalism to the writing, full of wry humor and a few winking asides to its forebearer, The L Word.

Film using an arty hew with a single camera makes the cinematography something to admire as well. Sidetrack is definitely not to be missed.

Web Series ‘Brujos’ Gives Queer People Magical Powers

Queer people are magic. Ricardo Gamboa’s Brujos harnesses that magic.

This web series centers around a group of LGBTQ Latinx heroes who are grad students by day and witches by night. They face off against witch-hunters, the privileged descendants of early American colonists. That’s right – the Salem Witch Trials are getting a round two.

The series consists of twelve seven-minute episodes; each episode reflects a Zodiac sign. According to Gamboa, Brujos both “reclaims the mystical knowledges of our ancestors” and makes “a statement about the magia [magic] in every queer and trans person of color.”

Gamboa created the series partly because he saw the lack of representation for queer people of color (QPOC) in the media. He watched Girls, and although he was inspired by the slice-of-life storylines, he failed to see himself in the privileged white characters who stumbled through New York. Brujos tells a story close to his heart: the story of QPOC surviving in a world that wants them gone.

The witch hunters, who are wealthy, white and male, clearly reflect upper-class America.

Gamboa decided to produce this series himself instead of trying to sell it to a high-powered studio because he believes in making his art directly accessible to the masses. He believes that people’s hearts change when they see stories.

He told Latina.com,

You won’t see my work in a museum. My work is on YouTube, where it’s accessible to people who can’t afford to visit a museum. It’s grounded in the idea that it gets people to see and feel, and if you get them to see and feel differently, you can get them to act and think differently.”

Why is it so important for queer people to have magical powers? One, it connects them to their ancestral, pre-Christian spiritual traditions, which are still alive and well in West Africa and the Caribbean in religions such as Yoruba and Santeria. Two, to supernatural is to be queer – queer meaning radical and abnormal.

To be supernatural is to push against the boundaries of everyday life in order to make the impossible possible. Society tells queer people of color that they do not deserve to live, so every day that they survive is a supernatural act. Brujos adds magic to the supernatural acts that queer people perform every day.

The first episode comes out on Inauguration Day, January 20. Learn more at the official website.

Watch the trailer below.

The New LGBTQ Comedy ‘Chapstick’ Brings Some Light Hearted Fun To Our Lives

A new web series, Chapstick, explores the lives of two best friends, Marlo and Addy, and their daily struggles of being artists, being women and being gay. They often find themselves in funny situations but manage to smile through it all as they rely on each other for support. Chapstick is based in Chicago and the aim of the series is to normalize LGBTQ characters but still maintain the roots that lie within the community.

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The creators of the series, Charlotte Kennet and Kearney Fagan also write, direct and act in every episode. The entire cast and crew are made up from individuals that identify as LGBTQ and every character is played by an LGBTQ actor. The pair wanted to provide more comedy for LBGTQ people and they are both involved in the comedy community in Chicago. This is the biggest comedy project the women have worked on and they are determined to continue to produce dynamic and interesting comedic content for season two.

The entire season can now be watched online via youtube so if you are looking for a chuckle, head on over and check it out.

Connect with Chapstick on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr

Season 2 of Brazilian-based Lesbian Web Series ‘RED’ is on it Way (Video)

The Brazilian-based web series RED focuses on two actresses, Mel and Liz, who meet while filming a movie and find that their mutual attraction throws them both for a loop.

In season one, we saw Liz, who has no trouble attracting women, falling for the very married Mel.

Mel, who has always assumed she was happy in her life and marriage, begins to feel a pull towards Liz that she never expected.

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Created by Viv Schiller and Germana Bolo, the series is beautiful put together and well acted. Lead actresses Ana Paula Lima (Liz) and Luciana Bollina (Mel) are stunning and completely captivating.

The new season starts Friday 29th May. However, you can see the first full season of RED free at KitschMix TV.

Follow RED on Twitter and Instagram for more updates.

Kristin Russo is Giving Queer People A Place To Tell Their Own Stories in New Web Series ‘First Person’

First Person is new web series from WNET in partnership with PBS Digital Studios, which takes a thoughtful, no-holds-barred look at gender identity – from bisexual erasure, trans visibility to coming out in sports.

The first episode of First Person is an intimate conversation YouTube personality Skylar Kergil, a trans artist and activist known in part for documenting his transition via YouTube videos. In it, we get a more rounded out look at Skylar’s life and how he came to transition in the public eye, including the effects that decision has had on his life:

Host Kristin Russo, who is also the co-founder of LGBTQ youth advocacy group Everyone Is Gay, describes the project as an opportunity for “people to tell their own stories about being queer and trans.”

“Our mission for the show is to tackle the topics of gender and sexuality by actually talking with people whose lives intersect with those issues. The digital platform is important because it’s where the younger generation is going for their information.”

Kristin Russo

Why Rent Controlled Is The Funniest Web Series You’ll Watch in 2014

As queer adult women there are experiences that many of us share: we all have that ex we can’t get over, that crush we know we shouldn’t have and there’s that one straight girl we know to avoid for the fear of falling a little bit in love with her. Yet these experiences aren’t reflected in the many shows about adults finding their way in the world.

Lena Dunham‘s HBO series girls was hailed as ‘the show’ for women in their 20s, but the show is too white (despite being based in New York City) for us to buy into. Friends is funny but having started in the 90s it’s about as inclusive as a group of grumpy old men and Sex and the City is so heterosexual that it borders on offensive. So it is a struggle to find shows that represent us and entertain us which is why we should be looking away from our TVs and at the web instead.

One show that takes the best bits of Girls, SatC and Friends (with the queerness of The L Word thrown in) is Rent Controlled, a new web series from tello Films.

Rent Controlled introduces us to the fabulous (yet hapless and pathetic) Heather Dean. A queer woman of colour, she’s got limited funds, schoolwork to keep on top of and she’s dating with a woman named Jennifer who doesn’t love Heather as much as Jennifer loves herself. Relatable so far? You bet it is; so when the two inevitably break up and Heather’s heart cracks into a thousand tiny and adorable pieces you only feel for her even more.

Not that the heartbreak is completely ‘wring your heart out’ though, or really sad at all. The seven episode season mostly focuses on Heather navigating her living situation (her and Jennifer share a room in a house belonged to a couple named Ted and Carla), picking herself up and dusting herself off with the help of Kyle and Lauren (her best friends) all in hilarious fashion.

There’s misinformed daytime drinking, night time underage drinking, and dealing with the outcomes of having drunk too much. Along with the alcohol there’s also awkwardness, make-outs, first dates, new friendships, bad dancing and, in the best description of an episode ever, Rent Controlled also features tello’s “first ever lesbian dance mob”.

The development of Heather is also a fantastic reason to watch. As mentioned, you really do feel for her (even though episodes are around seven minutes long) simply because you’ve been there, done that and can either find the humour in your adult mishaps or you’re looking for a bit of hope.

No matter where you fall on that scale, Rent Controlled is a great pick me up and is one of those binge watch-y type of shows (like OITNB on Netflix) that you’ll want to marathon and then watch all over again just to relive the giggles. Head over to the Tello Film’s website to find out how to watch it.