Coming Soon: Anyone But Me "Interludes"

We love our ABM fans! Can we adopt you? And will you stay with us while we prepare to shoot episodes 5 & 6? Because you are in for some short, sweet, thought-
provoking “interludes” to keep you jazzed and loyal as you wait.

A lot of you have expressed your desire for more, and longer, episodes. And there is nothing we’d like better than to give you what you want.

We are laboring on love, here. As I’m sure you realize, it takes a certain budget to shoot our series, especially with the high quality we are determined to bring you. We’re getting a lot of attention, interest and press, thanks to you. Eyes are on us, so we have a good feeling that we are just at the beginning of a long life for our series.

So, even though our next full episodes won’t air until early March, you won’t be without your ABM – watch for Anyone But Me “interludes” and more actor interviews coming very soon!

--Susan Miller
Executive Producer/Writer

Editor's Note: Vivian+Aster, Episode 4 of Anyone But Me, premiered last week and is streaming on StrikeTV as well as AfterEllen.com (and YouTube, Koldcast, and myriad blogs from around the world!). All four episodes are available for viewing anytime on StrikeTV, so keep watching!

New Year, New Episode of "Anyone But Me"

Several years ago one of my New Year’s goals – I don’t use the “R” word – was to make a career transition from journalism to film and video production. With the debut of the third episode of Anyone But Me in this first week of 2009, I’m starting the new year with a renewed confidence that setting New Year’s goals truly can make a difference.

Becoming the producer of Anyone But Me has undoubtedly been the apex of that career transition. I am overwhelmed by how quickly the show has caught on with audiences across the World Wide Web.

I knew when I joined the Anyone But Me team that I had had the good fortune of hooking up with excellent writers, a director with a vision, and a cast of committed, creative actors. I also recognized that the scale of the production and the quality for which we were striving would constitute my biggest challenge so far as a producer and could be the career-changing experience I’d been working toward.

Nonetheless, I had worried a bit that, in the infinite landscape of the Web, our little show might be the tree in the forest that no one heard falling. So, it was an exhilarating close to 2008 when, within a week of our December 8 launch on StrikeTV, not only were we heard, we were resonating with viewers around the globe.

First, Exec Producer/Writer Susan Miller was profiled in the Philadelphia Gay News by writer Larry Nichols, who said of Anyone But Me, "It's refreshingly apparent in the first episode that this series isn't cut from the same cloth as most of the teenage dramas on television, instead delivering a more realistic depiction of teenage issues compared to the oft-escapist TV shows populated with vapid and privileged youth."

Then we got huge props from AfterEllen.com blogger The Linster, who wrote, “A new web series called Anyone But Me brings awareness of the challenges of growing up in a generation that doesn’t remember life pre-9/11. ... I was glad to see the relationship between Vivian and Aster treated as a non-issue. ... And the chemistry between the two girls is undeniable.”

When AfterEllen.com subsequently selected Anyone But Me as an Editor’s Pick video, we were off and running.

Since then, Anyone But Me also has been featured on Web sites and in blogs as diverse as TubeFilter News, Tilzy.TV and CliqueClack, which review Web-based shows; the Brazillian blog lebiscoito.wordpress.com; OneMoreLesbian.com, which aggregates film, television and video content; the Broadway Bound blog, which reviews film & video, television and theatre; and numerous others.

This week a front-page Q&A with Miller and Writer/Director Tina Cesa Ward on CherryGrrl.com exclaimed that the series “has found its way into the lives of excited fans across the country,” due in part to “the stellar acting, writing, and producing.”

The response has been so gratifying, and our entire cast and crew are ever-grateful for all the positive feedback. But even had Anyone But Me been a tree falling unheard, I would feel no less blessed to have connected with Tina Cesa Ward and Susan Miller. Being a part of their team has been a personal high-point as well as a career high-point; and I can’t think of a better way to start 2009 than working with them on more new episodes for the new year.

--Leslie Jaye Goff
Producer

Editor's Note: Countdown, Episode #3 of Anyone But Me, premiered on StrikeTV on Tuesday, January 6. Tune in again on Tuesday, January 13, for the debut of Episode #4! And please join our StrikeTV Forum to let us know what you think, ask the cast questions, discuss the episodes with other fans, and more!

On the Making of "Anyone But Me" -- The Web Series

I was waiting for something to happen. Until I decided to make it happen myself. That’s how Anyone But Me was born.

Well, to be honest, I got an email out of the blue from someone I didn’t know. (But I sure know Tina Cesa Ward now! After working so closely together to bring a new idea to life.) She was asking if I’d like to be a consulting producer on this Web series she had in mind. I didn’t even know what a Web series was, but I was intrigued.

And I was drawn to writing about young people and how they navigate their relationships and modern life. I live in New York City. And I love it. And I worry for it. And I hope for it. So, it was important to me that we do a show which is true to all of that, and which is true to real human interactions.

I have a son. And he grew up half the time in L.A and half the time in N.Y. We’re both writers and we both aim for the same thing – to create, not some used-up, over-the-top Hollywood version of young people, and adults, for that matter, but real people, who are different from one another, even as they are the same.

I love the characters of Anyone But Me. They reflect our city, our country, our times. And the actors who play them are so talented, so adorable. I feel close to them and know that everyone who watches them will grow to feel the same way.

Writing and producing our series is the most fun and immediate gratification I’ve had in a long time. (And Tina, thanks for sending me that email a year ago!)

--Susan Miller
Executive Producer/Writer

Editor's Note: Episode #2 of Anyone But Me premieres on StrikeTV on Tuesday, December 16. For promo videos about the series, click on the images above of Vivian and Aster (top) and Sophie and Jonathan (bottom).

Why I Created "Anyone But Me"

Anyone But Me is a series born out of many of my own thoughts, insecurities and perhaps frustrations.

Living in New York, I've often thought about the times before 9/11, before we had all the security provisions that we have now. But the biggest thing that struck me was the fact that many of the kids in New York, have grown up not knowing the city any other way than it is now. They may think nothing about the See something, Say something ads. Or the frequent bag searches or even the occasional armed military security on the streets. This is the world they've always known.

I felt sad about that for a time, but then I realized they can't mourn what they don't know they've lost. So exploring this theme intrigued me a great deal.

There was also something else on my mind. Everyone tells his or her coming out story. I always found it funny that everyone tells it like that was the only time they've ever had to come out. Like after that first "I'm gay" moment, everything else has been easy ever since. But the truth is we all have to come out over and over again. If we change jobs, move into a different apartment building, go to a party with people we don't know. And for most of us, coming out to people can still be just as hard as it was the first time. That was what I wanted to explore with Vivian.

Of course the gay community isn't the only group facing issues of insecurity. And that's how Archibald came into the picture. He's a young man trying to be true to who he is. But he feels pressured from his friends and society to conform to the role of "young black male." We can only hope that these stereotypes start to fall away with our new President and the image he puts forth. But it's a tall order for one man to take on.

Vivian and Archibald both feel like outsiders and this puts them at ease with one another. We can only hope that with that safety of each other's company, they can come to understand they can't be anyone but who they are. No matter the thoughts, insecurities and fears I can't be Anyone But Me, and that's more than OK.

Tina Cesa Ward
Executive Producer/Writer/Director

For a sneak peek at Anyone But Me, click on the image above of Vivian and Archibald. And, don't forget to tune in when we launch tomorrow on Strike.TV!

Anyone But Me Web Series Premieres Monday on Strike.TV

Tomorrow - December 8th, 2008 - the first episode of Anyone But Me will be available for viewing at www.strike.tv/show/anyone-but-me


To learn more about the series, go to www.anyonebutmeseries.com

Enjoy!

WebMaster, AnyoneButMeSeries.com