club rat

a little announcement about my upcoming mini series <3

Over the last few months, I’ve been developing and writing an episodic mini series called Club Rat, with the intention of creating something that I could independently produce and release online. I recently finished the scripts and have started taking meetings/assembling the team, and the project finally feels real. At this point, there are still a lot of moving pieces, but now I can confidently say that I’m making this show! Yay! 

I’ve wanted to start talking about this project for months, because I’m so excited about it, but I’ve held off, telling myself that I didn’t want to announce it prematurely in case it didn’t end up happening. I was going to wait until the new year, after certain details firmed up and it felt like I had more concrete news to share before talking about it. However, the other day, I started thinking about why that was, and I’ve changed my mind. 

I realized that my hesitation has been rooted in the fear that the project might fail and that it would be embarrassing if people saw that happen. I wanted to wait to share things until after they happened, so I could control the narrative around people’s perception of me and my work. Even though productions of any level are constantly evolving and changing, I didn’t want to say I was doing or planning on one thing before I’d already done it, in case, for whatever reason, plans changed and someone might see that and think that was a reflection on me (or my legitimacy or something). 

I don’t think this mindset is unique to me (though maybe I’m just an insecure baby…). I think it’s scary as an artist of any kind to even share a finished project, let alone to invite people to watch as you experiment (and fuck up). It’s vulnerable to share a creative idea before you know how it will be received or whether you can even pull it off. It feels sexier to share something once you’re already proud of it, or to act like the finished product was a result of some perfectly executed plan.

For film projects, some details need to be kept under wraps (ie your plot), but do the ins and outs of how you get something made essential for producing something exciting and watch worthy? No. That’s more about wanting to seem capable as a filmmaker.

So, all of that is to say that I’ve decided to talk about the process behind the making of this show in real time, instead of exclusively after things happen, by sharing ideas, plans, and updates, whether they’re wins or losses (why am I doing this lol I hate the idea of admitting to an L voluntarily, omg). I hope this proves to be interesting and demystifying for y’all (and that people can learn from my inevitable slew of mistakes), and also that it doesn’t BITE ME IN THE ASS.

I have some ideas about what to talk about in my next post, but if you have any specific questions (about this show or the process in general), please drop ‘em in the comments! I’ll answer what I can.

If you wanna hear a bit more about the content show itself, keep on reading <3.

xoxo

What is Club Rat?

Club Rat is a dark comedy set in modern day NYC. Each follows a new character dealing with a sort of micro moment in their love life, sex life, or general life in the city. In the finale, the characters’ lives intersect one disastrous night when they all end up at the same club. 

The show is grounded in realism, but has an edge of absurdity. Tonally, I’d say it’s High Maintenance meets White Lotus, perhaps with a sprinkling of You’re the Worst. Like in the original High Maintenance web series, each episode is around 8-12 mins long and will be released online. We’ll be casting a mixture of both trained actors and non-actors who can really bring the characters alive and make them their own. 

The characters are all pretty flawed people. They’re all sort of their own worst enemies, and there are a lot of funny and painful miscommunications. Many of the characters are based on real people and many of the stories are pulled from my or my friends’ real life experiences, so even though some of the situations are a little tongue-in-cheek, the stories are ultimately grounded in truth and (sometimes painfully) relatable (especially for young people living and dating in NYC).

Join the chat!

Separately, here’s a special discount to my paid subscription. If you’re interested in meeting other creatives (most of whom are in NYC), my paid subscription gives you access to a group chat I run in which people can share their work/find collaborators/make friends.

To access the chat, you have to also download the Substack app–then you’ll receive notifications whenever the chat is active.

Thank you in advance to anyone who chooses to opt for the paid subscription—it means so much to have your support! <3