The comedic digital series Misery Loves Company, recently released on YouTube, is a funny, female-driven exploration of racism, sexism, depression and other American pastimes in the post-Trump era, LA-style.
Written and created by Emily C. Chang and Sara Amini, the seven-episode webseries centers on a New Yorker who joins her friend in Los Angeles to live together amongst the man-buns, wannabes, and Kombucha-lovers of Hollywood. Along the way, they try to find happiness while taking on casual racists, YouTube "influencers," misogynists, cults, and general Millennial ennui.
Here's Episode 5, "Pu$$y," in which Sara and Emily deal with cat-callers on the street:
Produced on a shoestring budget, and primarily featuring the work of women of color both in front and behind the camera, making Misery Loves Company was labor in love, inspired in part by current political tumult and the ongoing discussion around Hollywood whitewashing. For Emily and Sara, the series was an opportunity to take creative control and make something for themselves.
"We wanted to make a show that would portray the narratives of women of color that we weren't seeing on TV," says Sara. "Being an Asian/Latina/Middle Eastern female in Hollywood usually relegates us to the sidelines, but not if we're at the helm behind and in front of the camera."
"After Trump's election, the world around us changed," Emily adds. "We decided to explore what that meant to people like us: how do we deal with serious topics like racism, sexism, and depression through laughter and creativity? Misery Loves Company was the perfect answer to this."
All seven episodes of Misery Loves Company are available now on YouTube:
