EDGEWATER — It’s been four years in the making, but writing duo Blake Dorris, 25, and Spencer Glenn Miller, 27, finally released the pilot episode of their Chicago-based web series, “Tenants.”
The show’s premise centers around “two morons moving into an apartment and doing what morons do,” Miller said, and takes place at varying North Side hotspots.
Inspired by popular comedy series like “Portlandia” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” the team, who also star in the show and use their real names, said they wanted to depict characters and scenes that closely mirrored their own lives and experiences, but not always entirely.
“For our characters, they’re hopefully a little bit dumber than everyday people,” Miller joked.
Dorris and Miller say although they’ve released the pilot episode, they’re currently working on a split-production plan for the remainder of season one that will allow them to build viewership while filming upcoming episodes. This way, they hope, future episodes can be released on a consistent weekly basis.
Now, after the series’ Nov. 25 debut, the show is averaging as many as 200 hits a day so far, a discovery the creators call, “mind-blowing.” Dorris added that when he’d gone to post a link to the episode in a web series forum on Reddit, someone had already beat him to it.
“It’s been sort of overwhelming,” Miller said. “Our friends told us, you now, ‘Don’t be upset it it only gets a couple of views, the first few weeks are the hard ones.’”
Miller said the concept was originally created in Memphis in 2010, but the pair said the area lacked a strong arts community and neighborhood feel. Miller and Dorris decided to part ways, venturing off into separate parts of the country with Miller heading northwest to Chicago, and Dorris to San Francisco.
In May 2014, Dorris packed his bags to join Miller in Edgewater, a move that would give new life to the project that “fell apart” in Memphis.
“I think this feel of the city fits much better than Memphis would have had that ever panned out,” Dorris said. “It’s a positive turn.”
“It’s really shaping the way we’re writing the series now,” Miller added.
The duo said it’s been in Chicago, and Edgewater specifically, that they feel they’ve finally found their creative home. They cite perks like a close-knit arts scene “within half a block” of where they live and the willingness of local shop owners to let them film in their storefronts as reasons the web series has gotten a second chance.
“The North Side is, I think, a very supportive place for [art],” Dorris said. “It’s this beautiful neighborhood, it’s amazing.”
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
