''My Roommate's an Escort'' is a Canadian

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

created, written by, and starring Katie Uhlmann and Trish Rainone. All 11 episodes of the first season are directed by Uhlmann, and the series premiered on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on April 3, 2017. Rainone plays a non-confrontational, small-town girl living in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

who suspects her new roommate Kesha, played by Uhlmann, is a

call girl A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who (unlike a street prostitution, street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by ...

Background

''My Roommate's an Escort'' was written by Katie Uhlmann and Trish Rainone. Uhlmann and Rainone met at a mutual friend's party and bonded over similar ideas about creating "strong female-driven content." The series went from concept to completion in twelve months. A preview for the series debuted at the 2017 Toronto Short Film Festival.

Plot

Each episode opens with the same intro, establishing the house where most of the series is set. The same music plays for the intro and outro. Heather, a girl from

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in northern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of the St. Mary's River directly across from its "twin city," Sault Ste. Marie, in the state of Michigan. The city's population was 72,051 at the 2021 census, makin ...

, now living in

, finds a new roommate online, Kesha, who may or may not be a private escort. Heather passive-aggressively tries to find out more about Kesha, unintentionally getting dragged into her world and the sketchy characters who inhabit it. In each episode, Heather retreats to vent at her one place of solace, a tattoo shop.

Cast

*Katie Uhlmann as Kesha * Trish Rainone as Heather *Bobby Del Rio as Sam *PJ Lazic as Terry *Stephanie Baird as Megan *Alan Peterson as Golden Jimmy *Jane Luk as Jen *Natasha Bromfield as Susie *Juan Carlos Velis as Bernie *Matthew Willson as Jazz * Angela Asher as Joanne *Barbara de la Fuente as Ronda * Ellen Dubin as Ginger *David Sparrow as Daddy *John Tench as John Jebovah *Jake Raymond as John *David Emanuel as Ricky * Aisha Evelyna as Kristy *Karlo William as Guillaume

Reception

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' reviewed it positively, describing it as "wry and a bit bonkers" but "endearing and quite funny" and "highly polished for a low-budget production."

Awards and nominations

Awards: *2018 Best International Series – Miami Web Festival –

Miami, USA Miami is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a population of 6.14 million, is the second-largest metropolitan ...

*2017 Best Web/New Media Award – Kapow Intergalactic Film Festival,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, USA *2017 Best Actress – Katie Uhlmann – Yes! Let's Make a Movie Festival,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada *2017 Audience Choice Award –

Austin Revolution Film Festival Austin Revolution Film Festival (ARFF) is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. History James Christopher is the festival director and founder. Christopher said the festival is focused on indie filmmakers who are creative without large bud ...

, Austin, USA *2017 Director's Choice Award – Best Web Series – Austin Revolution Film Festival, Austin, USA Nominations: *2018 Best Comedy – Vancouver Webfest – Vancouver, Canada *2018 Best Web Series – Miami Web Festival – Miami, USA *2017 Best Actress – Katie Uhlmann – TO Webfest – Toronto, Canada *2017 Best Actress – Trish Rainone – TO Webfest –

, Canada *2017 Best Trailer – Bilbao Web Fest – Bilbao, Spain

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 5786580 2017 web series debuts Canadian comedy web series YouTube original programming