New Web Series, Flatbush Misdemeanors Comes From Dan Perlman and Kevin Iso
Straight from the minds of Dan Perlman (whose writing we’ve featured right here on The Interrobang), and Kevin Iso…comes a new web series.
Flatbush Misdemeanors follows the lives of two friends living together in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Described by the creators as “a raw portrayal of city life, Flatbush Misdemeanors explores the lives of two friends seeking to climb out of their heads and connect with others.” The first installment is broken up into five episodes, of about three minutes each. Each episode starts with a quote, in the first, we hear a familiar voice say, “Well the universe is everything and if it’s expanding, someday it will break apart and that will be the end of everything.” His mother replies, “What has the universe got to do with it? You’re here in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not expanding.” Woody Allen fans will recognize the quote from Annie Hall. Other quotes from other episodes come from Crooklyn, Ray Bradbury and Lao Tzu. The quotes set the tone for Flatbush Misdemeanors, a comedy series that also has some statements to make.
In episode one, we meet Kevin, who has just made a huge mistake while delivering food to some drug dealers. This action guides the story in act one. Episode two focuses on Kevin’s roommate Dan, who is also having a hard time– his problems center on his new job, teaching kids in Brooklyn. Dan teaches in a local school in the neighborhood. He and Kevin are longtime friends since middle school. Dan‘s loyal to Kevin and often does a better job standing up for his friend, or for his students, than for himself. According to Dan, his character “constantly seeks sincere connections, but often struggles with self-doubt. has a difficult relationship with his stepdad, Kareem, who serves as their unwanted guide to the neighborhood.” Dan described Kevin as a perfectionist with pride, who has sort of a fear of failure. “He is afraid to show anyone his art, he doesn’t interact with people much beyond Dan and people through his job, so he’s drawn to the confidence and aggressiveness of people like Kareem, Dan‘s stepdad, and Drew, the drug dealer.” The personalities of their characters are reserved, even withdrawn, but their jobs force them to interact with others creating conflict and interesting scenarios.
Kevin and Dan co-wrote the series from an idea they used on their Moderately Funny web series years ago. “The ones that became more interesting to us were the ones that both had an intensity (like Projects) and felt like they were filmed in a world rarely-shown, compared to the Central Park/Williamsburg NYC seen in a million shows,” Dan said. “We chose Flatbush of the vibrancy of the not-yet-gentrified, largely Caribbean neighborhood. It seemed fun to explore that, adjusting to a brash exterior environment with characters dealing with their own internal issues.”
Future episodes will have the characters in therapy and dealing with, or avoiding dealing with, that in different ways, and a social injustice march. There’s Jess, she’s a good friend of Dan‘s who also works at the school, who isn’t seen in this first one. There’s more with Zayna’s character (Keturah Wright). Kevin’s pursuit of art, fighting his own unwillingness to put himself out there in any way. My character has his own ambitions within the school, coaching basketball.
The series also features comedians Kareem Green as Dan’s stepdad, Drew Dowdey as Drew the neighborhood drug dealer, Petey DeAbreu as a guy on the train, Jeffrey Joseph as the school principal, Napoleon Emill as Pebbles, JOnas Jeannot as Jon, Keturah Wright as Zayna, and Eagle Witt as a student (Eagle appeared on an edition of our live show, Comedy 101).
The first four episodes are available now, below, and on YouTube, Facebook, and on flatbushmisdemeanors.com. Check back tomorrow (or possibly in five minutes) for the big finale.
