Tag Archives: lesbian webseries

‘Barbelle’ Is The Queer Canadian Web Series You Should Be Watching Right Now

Barbelle (on the YouTube channel KindaTV) is a female written, directed, and produced web series featuring a cast of queer characters.

It’s a great acid-tongued comedy set in the Canadian music world of now, which follows the story of a newly famous pop star duo whose meteoric rise to stardom has led to a blitzkrieg on their personal lives.

A kind of rowdy anti-romance love story it is officially described as “A lesbian Spiceworld in Toronto, and a love letter to the Canadian music scene.”

It stars Gwenlyn Cumyn and Karen Knox as Alice and Veronica, respectively, the queer duo and music hit-makers Barbelle.

Things kick off two years into the duo’s fame and hit songs. They announce to their record company that they’re breaking up.

That is, as a couple. They are, however, obliged to continue as a music duo.

It’s one nasty, zinger-filled breakup. Veronica accuses Alice of putting boring stuff on Instagram, ruining their hot brand. Alice accuses Veronica of going on the CBC radio show Q to praise a book she hadn’t even read.

Into this fraught scenario comes Lulu (Cynthia Hicks) a teen star brought in to help the former lovers write new songs.

Karen Knox, who is terrific as Veronica, has called Barbelle “a story that follows two queer pop musicians as they navigate the ups and downs of celebrity in the digital age.”

It’s that, but joyous and flinty in its wicked humour. A total pleasure to snack on.

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

‘Girls Just Don’t Do That’ Is Your Next Guilty Pleasure

I love watching highbrow fantasies like Game of Thrones, but sometimes I just want a big bowl of popcorn and some melodramatic lesbian television. Girls Don’t Do That is the perfect midnight indulgence.

Based off a popular novel of the same name, Girls Don’t Do That is a new webseries about lesbians in Atlanta:

These women are navigating life on a college campus in Atlanta, trying to survive love, relationships and life. Some people think that girls are the sweetest and they’d never do that. Yes, they do…only better!”

This show is a wild, steamy ride from start to finish. The first episode begins with several interconnected sex scenes that leave the girls – and the viewer – out of breath.

The show has several lighthearted moments, like when one girl knees her ex between the legs because he was hitting on her, or when sorority drama boils to the surface before a big step show.

But Girls Don’t Do That went to a much darker place than expected, most notably with Shavonne and her abusive girlfriend Tracy.

When Tracy proposes, Shavonne is forced to untangle the knot of fear, love, apprehension and excitement in her chest in order to decide what she wants for herself.

Meanwhile, her friends wonder how much to involve themselves and how much to let Shavonne work the issue out for herself – this show will ring true to anyone who’s struggled to help a friend in an abusive relationship.

Girls Just Don’t Do That speaks to the representation of queer women of color in media – created by queer women and for queer women, it doesn’t fetishize their bodies but amplifies their stories.

The strong female characters take control of their own sexuality. One girl tells a man who gives her unwanted advances, “I [have sex] on my schedule, not yours. And unfortunately you don’t fit into that.”

No one is mindlessly chasing after men, and by the end of the first episode even Shavonne is learning to stand up to her abuser.

Furthermore, the show features more than one type of lesbian – some are feminine, some are masculine, and some straddle the line. There are thin lesbians, there are heavyset lesbians, and there are several girls who don’t know their orientation.

Girls Just Don’t Do That isn’t perfect by any means. The sound in one scene is off, making it hard to decipher the banter of sorority girls, and some scenes dragged with no clear connection to the plot – but overall, the show is hilarious, provocative and honest. Only two episodes are out so far, and the fanbase is growing every day.

Watch it for free here.

‘K&A’ Is Back With New Mini Movie “Gay Camp”

The creators of the female-driven comedy web series K&A are back and ready to answer all our prayers with their new mini movie Gay Camp. If you are not familiar with K&A, it follows best friends Karly, who is straight, and , Alex who is a lesbian, on their many adventures throughout Boston. It’s almost like a perfect storm between Girls and Broad City and if you are interested you can check out the entire first season on Youtube, just click here and binge away!

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In a recent press release, we managed to get some scoop on the plot and what to expect:

The long format episode “ Gay Camp” follows the best friends, Karly and Alex, on a gay getaway that turns out to be anything but.”

And just this much information is enough for me to know I will be tuning in as soon as possible!

Wait…. you can just watch the movie right now! How?! Right here! (You are welcome.)

(SPOILERS AHEAD) 

The movie starts with the two girls heading out to Vermont for a Gay Camp as a birthday surprise from Karly to Alex. But guess what? As they arrive, they quickly discover their Gaycation in Paradise is actually a gay conversion camp. Ups… Regardless, they decide to stay! You have everything you could hope for in a Gay Camp movie: dinner-time singing, priests, praying (so much praying), the lovable yet undeniably gay hosts, and even some romance!

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Alex ends up meeting Amanda, a writer who has been to the Vermont Gay Camp three times… Well, the third time’s a charm as Alex ends up asking Amanda out on a date, not without Karly’s help though.

Although the story isn’t foreign to most gay women, this updated version of But I am A Cheerleader is not only funny but also highly relatable.

(SPOILERS END)

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Can’t get enough of K&A?

With their show’s entire first season funded solely through a hugely successful Kickstarter Campaign, the comedy duo are looking for funding for the show’s second season, this time on Indiegogo (if you are a fan and/or would like to donate to this incredible project, you can find out more about it right here).

With so many positive praises from XO Jane, Curve Magazine, After Ellen (RIP), Boston Globe, and many many more, you should definitely keep an eye on these comedy partners.

K&A has even been considered by Arts.Inc as one of  the “top thirteen web series to watch.” We will keep you posted on all K&A related news and I can confidently say this won’t be the last time we hear about them.

 

 

 

 

Full Out Review: A Well Acted Web Series, With Serious Potential

We first wrote about Full Out, the new web series from King Is a Fink and Open TV, earlier this month.

Starring Jess Duffy as Claire, a woman who has recovered from an injury that threatened to end her career, the show’s lead is now looking to take back her place in the limelight.

However, Claire is also hiding the fact that she’s gay, and being out could be just as detrimental to her career as her busted ankle.

Joining Claire in this cast of characters is fellow dancer, the loud, out and proud Taylor, Claire’s girlfriend Max, the competitive Kayla, and Xan, the autocratic and homophobic woman in charge of the dance company.

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But, despite Full Out drawing you in with Claire’s relatable struggle with staying closeted and the way it teases the simmering tension, the flickers of something happening between Taylor and Claire, the series does manage to be a lot more than that a couple of recognisable tropes.

While it’s difficult to describe this without being incredibly spoilerific, Full Out, the show is as much about the hopes and dreams of these dancers as much as it is about shipping and disliking Xan and her miserable assistant.

Over everything, it feeds you a compelling story about a competitive world and the difficulties its inhabitants face, put up with and overcome. Whether they do wrong or right the characters are wonderfully written and for the most part, you can understand them.

Much of that can probably chalked down to some fabulous performances from the cast. While the sometimes shaky camerawork and some dodgy audio editing do a disservice to their talents, Full Out is one of the best acted web series around.

Admittedly, many web series come off seeming amateurish due to the fact that many of its actors are actually amateurs but you’ll find no lacklustre performances here.

Nana Visitor is a particular standout as, despite Xan’s all-round awfulness, the character’s manipulative ways are still brilliant to watch and you can almost see the cogs turning as she builds her dancers up and breaks them down. Full Out’s dance sequences are good fun too and the show is all the better for King is a Fink’s decision to get local Chicago dance talent in on the production.

However, I do feel that the five episode show (episodes are between 10 and 20 minutes long) could have benefited from another episode or two.

It’s unclear whether the production team is holding back because of second season plans but there are a few cases of things being set up only to offer disappointing conclusions.

For example, in one scene Xan admits to encouraging Claire to take pills (by having snuck them into Claire’s belongings) and it’s brushed off despite just how serious that is. In another scene, a heartfelt conversation between Max and Claire is too brief and we miss out on the opportunity to learn a little more about their dynamic.

So no, Full Out isn’t perfect, but its shortcomings don’t massively detract from everything else that’s going on and it’s still a web series worthy of your time.

Watch Full Out now on Open TV.

Queer Ballet Web Series ‘Full Out’ to Debut January 27

While 2015 was a standout year for LGBTQ+ representation in the media, early 2016 is shaping up to be fantastic too. In just a few weeks, our favourite queer TV shows, The 100, Jane The Virgin, How to Get Away With Murder and Broad City will all be back with fresh new content, while DC Comics show Legends of Tomorrow also debuts.

But as we say around these parts, you can never have too much queer content, so why not add another show to your list?

The show in question is Full Out, an upcoming web series about a ballet dancer named Claire (played by Jess Duffy) who returns to centre stage for “one final leap at the spotlight” following a “devastating injury”.

As if the challenge of recovering from an injury wasn’t enough (and she has just six weeks to make her comeback, too), there’s also the fact that Claire is in the closet.

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While being out doesn’t appear to be a problem for fellow dancer Taylor (played by Kaitlin Webster), power hungry ballet boss Xan (played by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Nana Visitor) tells Claire that “people love a car accident, I’m just not sure they’re gonna show up for a gay car accident”.

The protective nature of Max (played by Carmilla’s Kaitlyn Alexander) is also described as an “obstacle” for Claire, so the dancer really doesn’t have it easy.

With Full Out promising “a story of ambition, manipulation, betrayal, and self-discovery” and also starring a cast of local Chicago dance talent, it’s quite difficult to show all of that in the series’ two minute trailer.

That said, it’s easy to trust that the series will be great given that King is a Fink (the production team behind other fab web series Plus One, #Hashtag and Rent Controlled) are also behind Full Out.

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The first episode of Full Out is set to debut on January 27 on OpenTV, a video platform which is “open to artists who identify as queer, trans, and cis-women and persons of color” and “diverse communities left out of mainstream film and television production”.

Full Out has five episodes overall.

Lesbian Web Series ‘Lease Til Do Us Part’ Is Back

As promised, its back. ‘Til Lease Do Us Part – the hit web series from The Gay Women Channel’s Adrianna DiLonardo and Sarah Rotella – is back for a second season, and you get to binge watch daily from now until xmas.

Til Lease Do Us Part was DiLonardo and Rotella, first web series, and starred Starring Hannah Hogan and Joanne Sarazen. The storyline was about something most lesbians have experienced – two exes living together. (Check out the very first season one here.)

This time around we have new players in place, with a slightly different take. The story revolves around Elliot (Winny Clarke), and her best friend Jess (Angie Lopez) who live together.

The twist in the tale – Jess is dating “Lexi” (Morgan Kohan) and asks Lexi to live with them until she can get back on her feet. When Lexi and Elliot meet, Elliot finds out that she is actually ‘Alexis’, her ex (they were together for 2 weeks in high school). Awkwardness ensues…

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So what makes the show work? Well it has to be the raw truth behind the humour. We’ve all had relationships that ended whether or not we wanted them to, and most of time (after these torturous break-ups) we still have to deal with our exes – like it or not.

This series hilariously shows us both sides coin. It’s a series keeps the laughs coming while probably giving some of you flashbacks of ex’s from the past.

And where can we watch the show? The great news is that the entire first season is available to watch at kitschmix.tv!

Season two will be with us day-by-day.

To stay up-to-date be sure to follow @GayWomenChannel on Twitter!

Introducing, ‘The Flannel Channel’, A Web Series About Falling For Your BFF

If you ask a queer woman about whether or not she’s ever fallen for her best friend, there’s a strong likelihood that she’ll say yes. When your best gal pal is constantly by your side, being cute as a button, laugh out loud hilarious and oh so endearing, it’s bound to happen, especially when you’re a young adult not yet old (or wise) enough to explore the wider dating scene.

One of the most current examples of the trope recently is Faking It, but with the MTV show (which is all about a high school lesbian who discovers her sexuality and falls in love with her best friend) proving to be incredibly offensive and being filled to the brim with unlikeable characters, it’s not particularly helpful to viewers who are going through a similar thing and are in desperate need of some advice or just something to make them laugh.

So, a god alternative is the new Tello Films web series The Flannel Channel which describes itself as being like “Faking It but without the straight people” and it was also created with “combined forces of a lesbian and a gay man who were tired of seeing LGBTQ+ characters portrayed in the same predictable ways!”, says co-creator Jessica Nicholas.

The show is all about a girl named Jordan (played by Kaytra Parkman) who sets up an online video channel as she is in desperate need of advice – she’s fallen in love with her BFF Ashley (played by Megan DeHart) and doesn’t know what to do about it.

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Turning the trope on its head though, The Flannel Channel stays true to its word as Ashley isn’t a straight girl and there will be no lucky horseshoe kissing or praying to four leaf clovers in the hope that Ashley will suddenly be attracted to women – Jordan being that woman in particular. No, Ashley is actually bisexual.

Viewers, along with Jordan (who is aided by her gay guy friend Joe in some of the videos) will agonise over whether or not the two girls (Jashley? Ashdan?) are meant to be together or whether they’re just destined to be a couple of non-het gal pals who stay friends until the end.

The Flannel Channel has five episodes and you can watch them all now over at Tello.

Easy Abby Season 2 Adds Guinevere Turner to the Cast

Easy Abby is one of the most well-liked and well-reviewed series on the web.

Not only did its first season garner over 30 million views online but it also won the the Audience Award at the North Carolina LGBT Film Festival and the show was recently featured on our list of web series that you absolutely need to watch.

And now the show is gearing up towards season two. In its first season, we met Abby we cheered for her as she spoke of her dreams (she wants to leave Chicago and move to Costa Rica to study coral reefs) and we smiled along as the show introduced us to Abby’s friends and her “many” lovers.

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Season two wants to build on that as not only will it “shed some light on Abby’s commitment issues” but Abby will get several new love interests as well and we’ll also meet her mother, Marilyn, who has manic depression.

Indeed, the show isn’t all mishaps with girls as it has “complex characters, awkward emotional moments” and it tackles the subject of depression, albeit “in an honest comedic way”.

The team behind Easy Abby describes the show as “funny” and “fresh” entertainment that’s both women-driven and “it doesn’t have to answer to mainstream TV gate keepers” either. And so it’s no wonder that several new cast members have joined the show, wanting to be part of a production that you’re unlikely to see on television any time soon.

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While there are no details on their characters at the moment, Guinevere Turner (The L Word, Go Fish, and Chasing Amy) is on board, as are Anna Albelo (Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf), Marga Gomez (HBO’s Comic Relief), and Dalila Ali Rajah (Dyke Central).

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As for when you can see the second season of Easy Abby, the show has filmed four episodes already but it has just ended a crowdfunding campaign in order to get funding to film the remaining eight episodes.

It raised just over $5,000 of its $10,000 goal, and though you can no longer pledge money via Indiegogo, people can still donate via PayPal – more information on how to do that can be found on the Easy Abby campaign page here.

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#‎Hashtag‬ – The Lesbian Web Series We Can’t Stop Watching

So, there’s a lesbian web series on the market called ‪#‎Hashtag by tellofilms, that we can’t get enough of.

Season 1 started at the beginning of 2014, and now tello has announced the launch of the next season, which starts in January. Hurrah and Happy New Year!

The web series follows the love lives of two social-media obsessed best friends, Liv and Skylar, from Chicago. The technology crazed duo rely too much on Instagram, Twitter, and OKCupid to rule their lives. The incredible funny storyline twist and turns, when real-life interrupts their virtual world and the friends have to learn consequences of over-indulgence of a cyber existence.

Written by / starring Caitlin Bergh (Roomies) and Laura Zak, the show also co-stars Kate Black Spence (tello’s The Throwaways) and Marnie Alton (tello’s Cowgirl Up).

What to expect from season 2?

In season 2, Liv & Skylar try to reconcile the impulse to over-share with a chance at true connection. While Skylar combats heartbreak by pursuing internet fame, Liv juggles her IRL girlfriend with an online flirtation that’s about to get just as real. They may have mastered the #follow, but will they #fail at the follow through?

Watch for Free

To wet your appetite and celebrate the start of Season 2 in January, tellofilms have announced the release of an episode from Season 1 for free, and we have it here for you to watch.

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.