Indie Spotlight: In ‘Tokens,’ Black Men Take Comedic Journey In Search Of Identity

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.

Two of your token black friends are going on a journey of self-discovery. Troy Dangerfield and Stefan Dezil are the co-stars of Tokens, a compact comedy web series about race, friendship, and identity.

In Tokens, Dangerfield and Dezil portray a pair of nerds who have long been token black friends in their respective social circles. In the show’s third episode, Troy and Stefan (who share their names with the actors who portray them) begin an odyssey outside of their comfort zone in search of a place where they can meet more people like them. It’s best to start, however, with the Tokens pilot, which shares an awkward moment at a party:

Tokens has plenty to say and says it well, but the show’s greatest strength is the compact nature of its episodes. In three-minute clips, director Benjamin Welmond and his team manage to set up palpable social situations, resolve them with plenty of jokes, and move forward an overarching plot at the same time. If you’re curious, all of the current episodes are available via YouTube.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Or Die Trying. This web series about women in Hollywood is a show that can fill part of the void left by the end of Girls.
• The Feels. The show about “a bi guy with way too many emotions” just began its second season.
• Tokyo Neighbors. The Japanese web series scene is heating up, including this show about gay men in the capital.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.