Creating a Web Series: Be Here Now-ish Case Study
by Danielle Lurie on May 30, 2013 in Audience Building
Roxo and Leite – Knocking It Out
an interview about two rising stars and one new web series by Danielle Lurie
Alexandra Roxo and Natalia Leite are simply too fierce not to succeed. Just take a look at their company profile photo. It’s of the two of them, stylish, poised, and hidden elusively behind the sultry yet powerful logo of a K (for Knock) and an O (of Out) – telling us (without telling us) that they’re going to knock us out by charming the hell out of us, and we’re going to like it.
Now, I’m a female filmmaker writing about other female filmmakers – so I know that it’s more than looks to get a production company, or a film, or a web series off the ground. All I’m saying is that Roxo and Leite are intoxicating and captivating from the outside in, and back again. They’re young, their fashionable, they’re driven as hell and they’re going to put everything they’ve got into making magic happen on the big (and now small) screen – and if you ask me, it’s going to work.
They’ve already had success doing what they do well. Both Roxo and Leite have had feature films and screenplays garner serious buzz: Roxo’sMary Marie was said by New York Magazine to be a “haunting debut feature” and her second feature was a part of IFP’s Emerging Narratives program. Leite won the Kodak Grant Award and is a two-time Sundance Screenwriters Lab Finalist, with her first feature filmBare slated to shoot in Summer 2013. They’ve been around the block, and are back again – this time with the launch of their new webseries call Be Here Nowish.
With the www (as I like to call it) being totally oversaturated with vlogs and make-up tutorials and webseries made by everyone and their cat (actually, mostly made by everyoneabout their cat), Roxo and Leite are trying to stand out and do something different with this new series. Be Here Nowish is about two (sometimes gay) women who give up the bustle of New York City to go ‘find themselves’ in Los Angeles. It’s fresh, provocative, and sexy – especially because Roxo and Leite are not only writing, directing and producing – but are also starring in it, along with some indie film friends of theirs such as filmmaker Ry Russo-Young, who plays one of Leite’s ex-girlfriends.
I’ve just spent the past year and a half working for one of the bigger internet networks, Alloy Digital, creating all the web content for their female branded sites – so when someone tells me they’re going to make a new web-series, and they want me (and you) to invest in it (their Kickstarter campaign has just launched) I’ve immediately got questions about the show’s efficacy, brandability, and – above all else – it’s raison d’être. I’ve posed these questions, and then some, to Roxo and Leite, and here’s what they have to say.
Q: Why did you two decide to make a web show?
A: We’ve both been waiting for our features to move into production and as we all know sometimes that can take years, and then another year for post. Being directors we want to be constantly our craft. So instead of twiddling our thumbs waiting for financing, we decided to make our own show. We’ve shot half of it for no money, just using our resources and involving the amazing, talented people we know. It’s a way for us to be constantly making new work, trying out new ideas, collaborating with other talented people, and just having fun.
Q: Why THIS show? What makes this different than the other series we’ve seen so far? Why will people watch this? Why does it need to get made?
A: Well first off, we feel like there are many shows about white, straight, well-off girls, but none featuring queer, minority, more alternative girls. There is no show out there right now that really reflects our community, so we thought ‘why not create one!’ That has been the mantra for a lot of the work we are making together – not waiting for anyone to tell us what or when to make work, just going out there and doing it ourselves. There’s also no show that we know of that reflects spiritual practices among the younger generation. We think this is kind of a hot topic right now and we’re not sure why more people are not talking about it.
Q: Who will be the show’s audience? Do you see this show being brandable?
A: Hopefully the show’s audience will be broad! Yesterday I (Alexandra) chatted with the producers of my next feature film, Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams, and they said they thought the trailer was hilarious. And they are two straight white guys from Texas, so that makes me feel like anyone can relate to the show. We know it will appeal to a young crowd in their 20’s + 30’s, but we hope that within that age group it will attract people of all different backgrounds, sexual orientation, cultures.
Q: What’s been your acting experience before making this series? How did you decide to act in this series yourselves?
A: I (Alexandra) acted in my first featureMary Marie and really enjoy acting. We decided that we were the only ones who would be available for free and at the drop of a hat to shoot this show, so we cast ourselves. I (Natalia) had barely any acting experience and was honestly pretty nervous about being on camera. My first scenes were super stiff and we decided to trash it in the edit. But eventually I stopped directing myself and just focused on being in character, and now I really love it.
Q: What’s the most fun thing you’ve shot so far?
A: The tantric sex scene with comedian Adam Carpenter was pretty hilarious to shoot. We also loved the scene we did on an LA rooftop where Natalia’s character is being punished by a dominatrix and Ry Russo-Young’s character. Also an improv where Alexandra’s character, Sam, asks her boyfriend to do a bunch of weird role plays (like a lunch lady/student) was really funny. Honestly we have been working with so many great friends that have made the whole experience really fun.
Q: Tell me what it’s like working together as a team? Do you plan to alternate between producing and directing these episodes, or do you both wear all the hats all the time?
A: When one of us is in a scene with another character the other directs and produces that episode. It’s trickier when we are both in the scene, but we have this amazing DP, Dagmar Weaver-Madsen, who has been involved all along so she knows our characters well and she helps a lot with the story and directing when we are both on camera.
Q: What are your three favorite webseries out there right now?
A: High Maintenance, F to 7th, and Slutever are all hilarious and really well-done.
Q: What are your references or inspirations for this series?
A: We’ve both used a lot of our own dating lives and spiritual quests as inspiration for the show. The show is about our generation and the contradictions we live- one day being in yoga and chanting mantras to some deity of another culture, then the next day staying up ’til 5 am wooing a new dating prospect into bed. I think our generation is navigating these moments in a way that’s really different from our parents. Being hungover while chanting Sanskrit mantras at a Kundalini yoga class and checking your phone to see if your new lover texted you is just a part of the world we live in now. It’s kinda weird.
For more information on Be Here Now-ish or to contribute to the kickstarter click here.