Diary Of A Web Series: Age Is Just A Number

[Editor’s Note: Welcome to Diary of a Web Series, the column that offers you an entertaining look into the machinations of a zero-budget web series made possible by an idea, fortitude, and democratized tools of production. For all the background on why we started publishing Diary of a Web Series – and why we think it’s great – check out the first installment right here. You can watch the web series the diary is about, too. It’s called STRAY and it’s good. Click here to watch it. And you can catch all the installments of Diary of a Web Series right here.]

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I’m 36 years old, which makes my age pedestrian by national standards – 37.8 is the median age in the United States – but antediluvian by digital media and web series standards. In this context, I’m roughly the same age that Milton Berle was when he passed away (and if you had to look up Milton Berle, you’re likely in the median age range of web series creators). I discovered that pretty early on.

As a new creator, I thrust myself into the web creator scene, attending web fests (hello, Brooklyn Web Fest!) and meetups (looking at you, Stareable!), and participating in online conversations like Snobby Robot’s #WebSeriesChat. The latter is where I met my web series mom, Bri Castellini, who ended up as a producer for my web series and who is a dozen years my junior.

We were Twitter friends before we met, but I knew she was younger, since I had seen her in her web series, Brains. Eventually, Bri suggested that a few of the New York-based #WebSeriesChat participants should meet in real life (#sorrynotsorry, but I’m too old to bring myself to write “IRL”). We attempted to coordinate a meetup at a bar, until another creator in that DM, Jules Pigott, mentioned that she was under age.

17 YEARS OLD!

I didn’t realize they still made humans that young. I am more than twice her age

(shoutout to the math nerds out there in the audience!). I was already gun-running in Venezuela when she was born. I was already twice-divorced with three kids. I had already invented the reversible paper clip. I had already….anyway, you get the point.

On top of that, Jules has WAY more experience than I do. She is the writer/creator of several web series, including the Uncanny Upshurs and co-hosts a podcast called The Web Theorists.

The blatantly obvious point I’m making is that people much younger than me have done much more and know a lot more in this space. I can lament that I started too late or that I was born too early or that my collagen levels are plummeting. Or I can just learn from people who have something to teach, regardless of age.

In the meantime, Bri will have to endure conversations like this:

Bri: Have you done this?

Me: No.

Bri: Have you done that?

Me: No.

Bri: Do you know about this?

Me: No.

Bri: Do you know about that?

Me (ruminating): No.

Bri: …

Me: …

Maybe one day when Bri and Jules are older, there will be a new crop of youngsters teaching them a thing or two about a thing or two, showing them how to utilize the technology du jour, using language that confounds them, and I’ll be laughing…

…from the grave because I’ll be dead because I’m so old.

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Pablo Andreu is not a creator or a scriptwriter. He’s certainly not a filmmaker. He’s just a guy who decided to make a web series called STRAY. It’s a bromantic comedy in which a brash gay dude and a nerdy straight guy talk sex and relationships while reconnecting in New York City years after college. He hopes it’s funny. By some inscrutable alchemy, his scribblings have wormed their way into The New York Times, McSweeney’s and some others. Usually, you can find him babbling here: https://medium.com/@pdandreu

Bio photo by Alison Bourdon.