As we grow and change, we eventually end up leading different lives from our friends. But sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can keep a constant. In the case of the characters in Between Friends, they have a weekly dinner that lets them relive the drama with each other, and act as a comical therapy session for their hit and miss love lives.
Breena Hopper took some time out of her day to talk with us a little about this upcoming series.
LezWatch.TV: Tell us a little about “Between Friends.” What’s the elevator pitch?
Beth Humberd: Between Friends is about an LGBT group of friends who are middle aged and are successful in their fields. You see how their lives play out when they have a weekly dinner to catch up. You see them tell about their week and then you get their friends comedic take on it.
LWTV: Who came up with, or how did you come up with, the idea of making a web series about therapy via group dinners?
Beth: It is truly art imitating real life. I am blessed to have a large group of friends that get together for dinner a couple times a month and have game night at least once a month. Several years ago, I jokingly said that I should write a story about the dynamic of our friendship and soon after I began writing the novel from which this show is based.
LWTV: What are your main characters like?
Beth: The core group of characters are made up of an actress, a judge, a lawyer, a detective, a bartender, and a few professionals in the medical field. They are vastly different in their educational and professional lives. We feel like we have a character for almost anyone. We have the bitchy character with a heart of gold, an out lesbian actress who feels like she has to carry a torch, a loyal to a fault best friend, a jaded character that doesn’t feel like life has ever smiled on her, and more. We hope to put forth characters that people love as much as we do.
LWTV: A lot of web series are about struggling, financially challenged, friends leaning on each other for support. Making your characters accomplished turns that trope on its ear. Did you do that intentionally?
Beth: No, this was not intentional. It is the dynamic of my friends and I wanted to show that life isn’t always about the struggle. It isn’t always you against the world. There are times and there are people who are genuinely happy and have good jobs and aren’t always in a bind, even within the LGBTQ community. I do feel like we don’t see that enough.
LWTV: On the Rebel Iris blog, you have a post about the under representation of bisexuality in the media. We fully agree with that sentiment, but also that the quality of the representation we get tends to be rather poor. Is this something addressed in your series?
Beth: Although I agree with everything that was published by Rebel Iris about bisexuality in media, none of these characters are labeled as anything. This is not something we have broached. Further into the novel, there is a character that is an established bisexual woman, but she is not in the first season. When the character is introduced, we want to do bisexual representation justice.
LWTV: How important do you feel it is to have openly queer actors playing queer characters?
Beth: Of course it is important for people who understand and get what we go through to play these characters but true allies, people who want to understand what we go through, who want to put our stories out, and stand by us are important too. In the beginning, it was our hope to fill out this cast with LGBTQ actors/actresses but at the end of the day you have to go with who has submitted and who fills these roles the best. It is still important to us for a majority of our cast/crew to be LGBTQ+.
LWTV: Were there other series that were your inspiration for this show?
Beth: None that were positive. The only inspiration for turning this novel into a show was the negativity portrayed on shows night after night around the time that Lexa died. The show is based on the reality show that my friends should have.
LWTV: Even though we’re not supposed to, everyone has a favorite character. Is there a character you specifically connect with?
Beth: For me, it would be Peyton because I have this goofiness and explainable ability to screw things up sometimes. This is a characteristic that Peyton seems to have been blessed with.
LWTV: How have you seen the representation of LGBTQ+ content, on television specifically, change over the last five years?
Beth: A few years ago, it seemed like the LGBTQ content was on the rise, only to have it fall in the most horrific of ways. We have a bury your gays trope, we have a con dedicated to what was done, that’s pretty much all that needs to be said.
LWTV: We watch a LOT of TV for the site but we also have our own guilty pleasures. What are your favorite TV shows?
Beth: As a tv fanatic, when all of the things went on with the lesbian and bisexual characters, I turned the TV off for the first time in my life. There was no point. I did not want to get attached when all of these things were being done so poorly with those characters. I turned to books. I started listening to audible. When Melissa Brayden becomes the creator of a show, let me know.
Check out Between Friends coming later this fall.
