Indie Spotlight: In ‘Yoga Partners’, It Takes Two To Tango

We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now.  Read previous installments here.

You could fill up an entire playlist of indie web series with the title ‘Like Portlandia, But‘, and it run for hours. Nonetheless, there are new series debuting every week that make fun of hipsters, yuppies, elitists, and every other vague stereotype in between. This week, that series is Yoga Partners, and it is exemplary in the way it builds a likable atmosphere through solid writing and appropriately unusual characters.

Yoga Partners follows Leah, a stiff, shy woman who begins a yoga class after her boyfriend dumps her. While there, she must partner up with the other misfits in the class, including the hopelessly incompetent teacher (who is subbing while the normal instructor attempts yoga-based conflict resolution in Darfur.)

Of course, there are plenty of jokes about the hippie-ish nature of the yoga studio, where cell phones are a taboo, the worst punishment is child’s pose, and there’s a distinct difference between your real name and your real name. These jokes work well because the series is clearly written from a place of love rather than sneering derision. Yoga Partners’ creators’ passion for yoga is evident, and it helps their series be at peace with itself. Namaste.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT:

• The Underground Notes. A very dark drama set in the appropriately-poorly-lit stations of the New York City subway.
• Film vs. Film. A bunch of smartypants film critics debate and give out movie superlatives.
• Grayson: Earth One. An origin story for Robin (from Batman) that is currently seeking funds on Indiegogo.
• Bloomers. A series featuring both gay and straight characters as well as Husbands star Sean Hemeon.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here.