What do two recent college graduates, each disillusioned with life – and their careers – after getting their diplomas, do to make their lives fun again? They go back to school, of course! The new comedy web series NEW ORLEANS PIE, co-written, created by and starring Deanna Meske (of another series previously covered here, GOVERNMENT LIES), follows the adventures of two young women, each having another go at college – and the college life: Courtney (played by Meske) and Jillian (played by Michelle West). Both women seek their respective Masters’ degrees, but perhaps more importantly, seek all the fun and excitement that comes with being in an institution of higher learning, where the only pressures come from homework and cramming for exams, and where there’s plenty of partying, drinking and mischief on campus.

The series will have a soft launch of its first four episodes sometime this week, and Meske hopes to have at least 10 (if not 12) episodes total for the show’s first season, with each episode airing on the show’s official web site (see link below) before airing on Youtube and other platforms.

The show also stars a recurring cast of characters who not only add to Courtney and Jillian’s misadventures in reliving their youth, but also contribute plenty of laughs: Courtney’s cousin Ted (played by Garrett Hines), and his best friend Rex (Greg Williams, respectively), John Chan as the show’s token Chinese character (one who steals the only scene he’s in in every episode), plus Jaqueline Fleming (BOURBON WHIZ, also covered on this blog) as Melinda, Courtney and Jillian’s longtime friend who along with Ted and Rex, moves into the girls’ condo, and a host of day players including Roy Farthing, John Swider and Michael Dardant (a.k.a. ‘Magic Mike’).

Meske created NEW ORLEANS PIE based on her own real life experiences as a collegian. “I came up with the idea from my life. I was talking to this girl, and she was telling me how she was going back to school, taking night classes, and I just got to thinking about what would it be like to go back to school again, but to not have any responsibilities, like to actually really go back to school again without being weighed down with bills and other stuff, and then I started thinking about it,” she says.

The series’ pilot episode was only her second film project, and despite having no formal experience or training as a filmmaker, Meske’s goals were simple: “I really wanted to create a fun comedy, and I wanted to make it union so I could have SAG actors (also so I could get into the union; that was one of my motivations). I have a lot of fun history from my past in college that I felt I could share, and create a fun web series for people to enjoy,” she says. Producing the show’s first four episodes were just as fun, despite the finished product having a few rough spots. “Basically, I just got crews together. We came out, and everybody had a blast. Some of the production quality isn’t as high as it should be, so for episode 5 I want to really make the production quality as high as the script and the cast, because the cast are awesome,” Meske says.

Described by Meske as a cross between the popular sitcoms FRIENDS and SEINFELD, NEW ORLEANS PIE is a comedy that portrays both the fun of college life – and the often bittersweet reality of growing older – through the wacky experiences of its two main characters. “These two girls are in their late ‘20s, early ‘30s, and they’re going back to college. They already got their four year degree, but now they’re going back. They tried regular life, they didn’t like it, they quit their jobs, and decided they’re going to go back and get their masters’. Now, they want to try to party and keep up with these young kids. Different random things happen to them. It’s a very female strong comedy. The females are kind of like the males, so the females are pulling tricks on the guys, and it’s kind of like roles have been reversed.”

ON THE WEB: www.neworleanspiethewebseries.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/NewOrleansPie.WebSeries

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/NewOrleansPie