Tuesday evening, we screened all 10 episodes of the first season of "Kelsey" back-to-back at the People's Lounge (our IndieWorks space, as well as a prominent shooting location on the web series). The night was hosted by the wonderful Dana Piccoli, writer for AfterEllen.com.
We were worried that no one would show up in the 5 degree chill but there were about 35-40 people, not including cast & crew! It was such a fun night. The audience really responded to the show. Lots of laughs and positive reactions. We know for a fact that there were at least two people there who had never seen the series before and definitely walked away as fans.
Click through the photos of the night:
After the screening, Dana called Christina, Kelsey and Nichole up to the stage to have a little Q&A with her. We unfortunately did not get a chance to record it. But we'll paraphrase what was asked and answered.
Dana first asked Kelsey: "the show is named after you and I’m sure we are all curious….how much of Kelsey is drawn from your own experience?"
Kelsey responded saying that, unfortunately, the first three episodes did happen to her. But after that point, we take creative license. She talked about how telling Christina the "Suckface" story led to the creation of the series. She also spoke a little about wanting to showcase a real person, saying that she's not a stereotype and that, although the series is a comedy, having realism was an important factor for her and pulling from her own experience affected that.
Dana then asked Christina: "CongestedCat has done mainly short films so far, why go the web series route with Kelsey?"
Christina spoke about how she had been watching web series' for a while and noticed how they were really gaining traction in terms of audiences and attention. She felt like it'd be a great move for the company to gain a following. But more than that, the creative appeal of getting to build characters and revisit them again and again sounded like a lot of fun. She and Kelsey both love TV and the idea that audiences fall in love with characters and want more of them. She wanted to give that to an audience and connect with people that way; and when Kelsey told her the ridiculous but hilarious "Suckface" story, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Dana then turned her attention over to Nichole and said, "Nichole! Welcome to lesbian icon status! How does it feel to be adored by lesbians across the country (and Canada)? What has been the response by fans?"
Nichole said it's been great and such an honor. She told a story about how a woman in Germany tweeted that she could die happy because Nichole had retweeted her tweet about the series.
Dana responded by congratulating her on reaching international lesbian icon status! She then asked, "as a very experienced improver, were you able to put those skills to work in Kelsey?"
Nichole complimented Kelsey's writing and mentioned how much fun her lines were to perform. But also talked about how Christina would sometimes hold cut at the end of the scripted material to let them do a little improv to see what fun came out of it.
The Q&A went on for just a little bit after that. We can actually show it to you because the lovely Elizabeth Effy Yanes, a fan in the audience, decided to record the end of the Q&A and was nice enough to send it to us. Thank you to her!
We just want to thank everyone who braved the cold and came out to support the series. And we really want to thank Dana. She was so much fun and such a great host. We loved what she had to say about the show and truly appreciate her support over on AfterEllen.
Be sure to tune in on blip.tv on Tuesday for the season one finale. And don't worry, we've got more updates and fun stuff, like blooper reels, coming your way after the season ends!