You’ve heard of people splitting studios in Williamsburg, but would you split a bed to live within spitting distance of Bedford Avenue? That’s the premise of “Full Disclosure,” a new web series about two women living, dating, and flailing in Brooklyn’s prime real estate. The comedy, created by Katie Baker and Corrie Nance, premieres at Videology Bar & Cinema tonight (April 6th).
I had the chance to catch up with Baker and Nance to learn more about their smart and snappy series. “Full Disclosure” is based loosely on the friends’ real-life experience as roomies in super-tight quarters. The two North Carolina thirty-somethings briefly shared not just a studio but a bed for a few months when Nance fled Washington, D.C. for New York’s hippest borough. That’s not where the fun ended, though: they were both meeting new people and going on dates at the time, too. Though the two had been roommates at UNC-Wilmington, it had been nearly a decade since they shared a space. And dating as juniors in college pre-Tinder was, well, different.
But the creative duo considered the sacrifice (and awkwardness) well worth it.
“Williamsburg is where the cool kids are,” says Baker, who spent years performing in the Feral Chihuahuas, an Asheville, North Carolina sketch comedy group, before relocating to Brooklyn. “It’s just kind of where the action is.”
Nance agrees that New York was always more her style than D.C., where she spent four years working in advertising for the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. While Nance lived in D.C., she kept in touch with Baker and visited her when she could. She says that coming up with characters together has been a part of their friendship for years.
“We had a good dynamic in real life,” she says. “We started making these random characters that we wrote about and wrote little mini scripts of sorts. One day we said, ‘Let’s just sit down and write a pilot,’ before I even moved to New York. I was ready to leave D.C., but there wasn’t enough of a motivating factor. Katie brings out my creative side. There wasn’t a day where we were like, ‘Let’s make a web series.’’’
Though in a way “Full Disclosure” had been in the making for years, Baker and Nance shot the first season in a mere three days. Baker co-wrote, financed and directed it, while her friend, Brad Buehring, served as the director of photography. An impending move was the motivating factor for the swift production schedule.
“My lease was running out,” says Baker, who now lives in Crown Heights. “So we said, ‘If we’re really going to do this, let’s do this.’”
And so they did. From sharing chips and salsa with a new love interest wedged between them on the sofa to making out with the Justin Bieber poster hanging over their shared bed, Baker and Nance poke a lot of fun at their absurd living situation.
“I just hope people laugh,” says Baker when I asked her what her goals are for the series.
And laugh you will.
Watch “Full Disclosure” at Videology this Wednesday. Learn more about the screening and RSVP on Facebook.
Looking forward to the web series.