People Like Us follows four gay men in Singapore as they navigate the obstacles of lust, love and life.
Directed by Leon Cheo, the series stars Josh Crowe, Irfan Kasban, Hemant Ashoka and Steven Lim.
What inspired your web series?
I had been working ideas for a new Singapore gay-themed project for the past couple years but nothing bore fruit until I was approached by Action for AIDS Singapore with the idea to create an episodic web series for the local gay community to be shown on their Gayhealth.sg website. They wanted it to be educational and entertaining at the same time. I said I was very interested but this show should not have a scene where a character goes to a clinic to get tested – it shouldn’t be preachy. They wholeheartedly agreed, saying it was exactly what they had in mind. The writing is mostly based on my own experiences, research from AFA and friends, and some creative magic dust.
Why did you choose web series as your format?
There are two main reasons. The first is AFA’s goal to reach out to younger gay men in Singapore, a group which has a rising rate of HIV infections. The younger generation are consuming a lot of content online so creating a web series is a natural move to reach out to them. The second reason is censorship. In Singapore, censorship is restrictive especially for films and television series with gay content, but there are currently no restrictions on the internet, thus allowing us to create realistic and authentic scenes, e.g. sexual scenes, for our series.
What is unique about your series?
The series shows an authentic side of gay life in Singapore with Singlish accents and local slangs. It is also filmed in real locations and establishments the gay community are familiar with.
Was it challenging to find so many different locations to film?
Surprisingly no! Or perhaps we got lucky. There are only several gay bars, clubs and establishments in Singapore. The establishments are extremely helpful and supportive in permitting us to film because they understand that the web series aims to capture an authentic slice of gay life in Singapore. Instead the challenge was to film all that many different locations within the short filming period that we have, as we are working on a tight budget.
How did people react to your LGBT series, especially in Singapore?
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Many viewers commented that the series is relatable as it reflects their lives and see themselves in the characters. Interestingly, there hasn’t been flak from the conservative camp. We had a private screening for the MSM/gay community in Singapore, and comments on Gayhealth and YouTube are very positive, with fans clamouring for a second series or more episodes. Internationally, people are intrigued when they hear that it is still illegal to be gay in Singapore due to anti-sodomy laws. A law many British colonies used to, or still have.
As a filmmaker, it is very heartening to receive comments about how viewers connected with one character or another’s situation, or how they saw themselves as Rai, Joel, Ridzwan and Isaac. At the screening, people laughed and that’s when you know people are connecting. As icing on the cake, we scooped up the Best Short TV Drama award at ITVFest last October 2016 in Dover, Vermont. Funny story: at the inn where many festival attendees stayed, everyone put out post cards. Ours has Joel and Ridzwan kissing and for two nights, someone would only overturn our stack of postcards.
How long did it take to produce and shoot the series?
From commissioning through to filming, it took about four months, but we shot the first season in six days. Post production was completed in about two months.
What are the challenges you came across making your series and how did you overcome them?
From the get-go, we knew the series will have sexual scenes and I was worried that we couldn’t find actors who would agree to appear in the show. We did a casting call on the internet, reached out to actors I knew, and had 2-3 days of auditions. For Ridzwan, I wrote the role specifically for Irfan Kasban, a talented actor-playwright-director himself, who graciously agreed to play the part. For Joel, Josh Crowe said that a friend sent our casting call to him, saying he’s perfect for the role. This twenty-something Asian actor with a non-Asian last name, who grew up in Colorado, showed up and really impressed us. He does a lot of stage work for musicals and Universal Studios Singapore and this was his first starring role on film/TV. Interestingly, his mother is from Singapore and after a few lessons taught by yours truly, he got used to the Singlish accent and could pass off as Singaporean.
For Hemant, who played Rai, I found him in a bar in Singapore. I kid you not. It was during pre-production and I was having drinks with friends. I thought he looked the part, asked if he did any acting (he did a bit of theatre) and invited him to come for an audition. He floored us with his vulnerability and innocence. Finally, for Isaac, we saw a few actors but I wasn’t sure about them. One day my producer, Jen Nee, sent me a news article about the cast of “Growing Up”, a hit Singapore period TV drama and it mentioned Steven Lim. I reached out to him, he fell in love with the script and weeks later, we started filming.
What do you want your audience to take away from this series?
I hope audiences will take away that gay men, like everyone else, are looking for and dealing with the same things in life: loneliness, love, happiness and companionship.
Do you have any future plans for this series?
The series is now currently showing on US-based LGBTQ television network HereTV and streaming service Revry. Of course, you can still find it on YouTube. Moving forward, we are trying to make season two happen!
What advice would you give to emerging creators?
Have a point of view. Keep it short and sweet, and ideally something fresh people don’t normally see.