TELLO FILMS Debut NEW FILM "SKIRTCHASERS"

TELLO FILMS PREMIERES 

“SKIRTCHASERS” 

STARRING ELIZABETH KEENER, BARRY BOSTWICK AND MEREDITH BAXTER 

Los Angeles, CA - tello Films just released the highly anticipated comedy “Skirtchasers” starring Elizabeth Keener ("The L Word", "My Generation") as Robyn Samuels and Barry Bostwick ("Rocky Horror Picture Show", "Spin City") as her estranged father, Damien Samuels and Meredith Baxter ("Family Ties", "Young and the Restless") as her divorced mother - https://www.tellofilms.com/series/skirtchasers

The five part web series was written and created by James Berg & Stan Zimmerman ("The Golden Girls", "Roseanne", "Gilmore Girls", "The Brady Bunch" movies).  Amanda Bearse directed four of the webisodes, with Zimmerman directing one.  

Bearse has directed and produced such series as "Big Gay Sketch Show", "MADtv" and "Dharma & Greg”.  

As an actress, she is best known for her role as Marcy D'Arcy on Fox's "Married With Children" and the feature film "Fright Night”.

"There is a new media landscape that I'm thrilled to explore and I'm very glad to be doing it with my friend Stan Zimmerman and working with a company like tello with their focus on content for the lesbian community," said Bearse. Zimmerman and Bearse appeared on the Sean Hayes produced Bravo reality show, "Situation: Comedy.”

Robyn is freshly single after a break-up with her long time girlfriend the day before their wedding. As Robyn deals with mending her broken heart, she realizes her issues delve further than her issues with commitment; they go way back, to her father. After the split of her parents, her best-selling novelist father, remarried a much younger woman, and became a father again, abandoning Robyn.

Watch the Trailer: https://www.tellofilms.com/series/skirtchasers/skirtchasers-trailer

Rounding out the "Skirtchasers" cast are Katie Walder ("How I Met Your Mother", "Mad Men"), Tangie Ambrose ("In Plain Sight"), Jessica Lu ("Awkward"), JJ Totah ("Jessie"), Valerie Ortiz ("South of Nowhere", "Hit the Floor"), Shaughn Buchholz ("Scrubs"), Brandy Howard ("The People's Couch") and Clementine Ford ("The L Word”).

"I am extremely excited to be bringing this new series to life," said Christin Baker, co-founder and CEO of tellofilms.com. "James and Stan's writing is phenomenal and targets the exact kind of audience tello is all about. Not to mention the amazing actors that have been drawn to this material.”

Known for “Maybelle”, "Nikki & Nora" and "Kiss Her I'm Famous," this new web series will be joining an astounding list of other well-known series on the tello Films website.

Recently tello confirmed that actress/comic/singer, Lea DeLaria, who plays "Big Boo" on the award winning Netflix series, "Orange is the New Black", will cover a classic tune as the theme song to the new tello Films comedy "Skirtchasers”. 

Tello recently greenlit another web-pilot from Zimmerman & Berg called "Secs & Execs". It will go into production late summer 2016.

tello Films produces and distributes innovative, high-quality web series with a lesbian focus. "We believe in telling authentic stories about people whose lives are often ignored or marginalized. tello creates web series specifically for the lesbian/queer community. Meaning that lesbian/queer characters are  front and center. We love lesbians and we don't feel that there are enough stories about us. At tello, we create new web content that is intelligent but fun, timely but classic, and tasteful yet sexy. Providing a whirlwind of classic ideas from a lesbian perspective, brave and challenging content with a lesbian twist."

For more information, visit https://www.tellofilms.com/series/skirtchasers/skirtchasers-101

REVIEW: Maybelle S01E01 - The Death Card

by Lauren W

*obvious spoiler alert*

It's been a while since I delved into a new lesbian web series, so where better to start than at tello Films; the home of online lesbian content?

As a long-term fan of Bridget McManus, I decided to give her new series a go.

The plot of Maybelle (from what I've gathered from the first episode alone) revolves around a young woman, somewhere in the deep south of America, who is suddenly reunited with a past love.

Episode 1 doesn't give too much away in terms of the exact history of these two women, but it tells you just enough: they were in high school together, and things were a little more than friendly.

The chemistry between Bridget and her co-star, Fran Nichols (starring as Della), is evident almost immediately. Neither of them say a word about their past relationship, but anyone with two eyes and a brain can tell something romantic is - or was - going on there.

As I previously mentioned, it has been a long time since I ventured into new web series waters, and the first thing that pleasantly surprised me about Maybelle was the stunning cinematography.

Gone are the low budget days of the shaky, handheld, low quality cameras that haunted lesbian content for years. Maybelle almost has an air of Amazon Prime's series Transparent about it. I'm not sure whether its the filters used or the way things are framed - or a little of both - but something about this web series seems hyper-realistic; as if you're right in there with the characters. 

Of course, the first episode is more of a set-up to the series, so there isn't much in the way of plot (Maybelle's mother passes away, and one thing leads to another until she ends up on Della's front porch - no pun intended), but it is a lovely start.

Lastly, I must mention the calibre of McManus' acting thus far. As someone who is mostly used to seeing Bridget performing stand-up, this was a different side of her that I wasn't expecting. She plays Maybelle with the right amount of grace and excited whimsy: my favourite moment was the micro-expressions on her face when she was having her first conversation with Della in 15 years, followed by a subtle sniff of her shoulder when they first embraced. Little details like this are a testament to McManus' nuanced acting.

If the rest of the series continues to impress me like this first episode did, I'd definitely recommend it.

Stay tuned for my review of episode 2!

Maybelle is available at https://www.tellofilms.com/

View the trailer here:

INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN: Nikki & Nora Season 2!

tello Films Launches Indiegogo Fundraising Campaign to Produce Season 2 of Nikki & Nora

As fans clearly don’t want to let go of the hugely popular crime fighting lesbian couple in America’s oldest party town, tello films, Nancylee Myatt and the cast of NIKKI & NORA have launched a fundraising campaign to bring Season 2 to computer screens around the world.

Fans can give their pledge at: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nikki-nora-season-2/x/2497042#pledges

The campaign will be running until mid-March and is expected to break its previous record.

The fundraising campaign for Nikki & Nora Season One was indeed the largest funded campaign for a series with lesbian lead characters, raising $65,000, surpassing their goal by 30%.

Nikki & Nora follows New Orleans locals Nikki Beaumont (Liz Vassey) and Nora Delaney (Christina Cox), former NOPD cops turned private investigators in the Big Easy post Katrina.  They navigate the channels of their personal life together alongside their dedication to uncovering the truth in the one city that really likes to keep its secrets. The original lead actresses are joined by a super cast of other familiar faces including Janina Gavankar (best known as “Papi” on Showtime’s The L Word) and Aasha Davis (Pariah, South of Nowhere), among others. 

Originally created in 2004 for the now defunct UPN network, the series would revolve around two professional and romantic female partners who worked for the Special Crimes Unit of the New Orleans Police Department. UPN passed on the show, but the unaired episode didn’t die and instead made its way to YouTube.

The show became a critical online smash and somewhat of an internet phenomenon - a juggernaut of watercooler talk that ran rampant over social media and some of today’s major online trendspotters. While the pilot accumulated dust on a shelf for 9 years, with loyal fans keeping their love thriving through fan-fiction sites, Nikki & Nora was at last reborn as a web series.

Now, in the Netflix and overall online tradition, fans can boot up their computers, grab a bowl of popcorn, laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll) and enjoy a binge-watching marathon of “ N&N” indulging in seven glorious episodes all at once on tellofilms.com