'Quarter Life*' gets its debut

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IRL friends, actors, and writers Shelli Delgado and Celia Quillian take on exaggerated versions of themselves for the long-brewing web series "Quarter Life*." Although the ethos smacks familiar of critic sweetheart "Broad City," the women say their show's optimism and heavy Atlanta focus make it a whole 'nother beast.

CL got with Delgado and Quillian over email to talk balancing a billion jobs with pursuing a creative quest, celebrating the city, and dismal double dates. 

Last we checked in with y'all in February, you were halfway to your Indiegogo goal. What's been going on since then?

SO MUCH! As you may have seen, our Indiegogo was successful, and we were able to raise about 106 percent of our goal. It was such a relief and incredible experience — if you want to see us ball our eyes out, check out this YouTube link of the monumental moment. However, there wasn’t much time to revel in our relief, as we had eight days before we began to shoot the entirety of our premiere season. ... Our first day on set was insane, we shot for 12 hours straight.

We spent 13 days over the next six weeks shooting the rest of the season in over 10 locations in and around Atlanta. In total, it took about 70 people (talent, crew and background) to make it all possible. In the last few months, we’ve been designing and distributing Indiegogo perks, editing the footage, contracting musicians ... and of course, we’re doing all of this while trying to maintain our own, personal “quarter lives.”

Celia works three jobs right now as a social media coordinator, videographer, and trivia host. She also has started directing The Crucible at her alma-mater, Westminster. Shelli has been in a total of five Atlanta theater shows throughout this process, worked as a teaching artist at the Alliance Theatre, and just shot her first television gig!

So to those of you that may still buy into the whole “millennials are lazy, not driven, and don’t work for their own money,” you know nothing. However! The most fun news of all is that Season 1 of "Quarter Life*" IS HERE, Y'ALL. ... We could not be more excited to share this with our supporters! 

Tell us a little about writing the pilot episode. You two both star under your real names; how much do your real personalities inform that of the characters portrayed in "Quarter Life*"? 

The best description of how "Quarter Life*" became a thing is probably this sweet and strange love story that Celia wrote on our website when we were first starting, "The Birth of a Web Series."  Our characters are very much based on us in real life, hence they have our names. They are hyperboles of our own personalities, which makes them even less socially functional and funnier than the two of us are in real life. 

Character Celia Mitchem is a die hard optimist. Real person Celia Quillian is a “hobbyist” optimist. Celia Quillian eats a reasonable ration of bacon and eggs. Celia Mitchem would like to live in a house made of bacon and eggs. The biggest, definite difference is that fake Celia spends half a year pretending to be vegan in order to impress a guy she likes — and real Celia would never do that, ever. 

Real person Shelli Delgado is a realist and a Virgo. Character Shelli Colt only likes three things: her dog, her mom, and Beetlejuice. Mainly,  Shelli Colt is too afraid to get close to anyone because she doesn’t like to feel vulnerable. Shelli Delgado is an actor and this way of life is not feasible since being vulnerable is her main job. 

"Broad City" also follows the lives of two mid-20s female characters in a large city. How is "Quarter Life*" different? 

Let’s preface this by saying that we both love “Broad City.” Those ladies are great. However, our series is significantly different in style. We’d say our web series in general has a much warmer, optimistic tone. We call "Quarter Life*" a celebration of your mid-20s and not the crisis. Our series isn’t sunshine and rainbows, but it definitely has a brighter outlook.  

The pilot episode calls out Cabbagetown by name but other than that, doesn't seem particularly rooted in Atlanta the city or its culture. How does the series' shoot location play into the feel of the show (or not)? Any familiar faces we can expect to see throughout its run? 

We don’t name a lot of Atlanta businesses, publications, etc. because copyright starts to get "iffy" when you branch into that territory. What’s more important to us is the fact that our cast is as diverse as the city we live in. That goes for gender, race, sexuality and age. ... "Quarter Life*"’s tone is also grounded in Atlanta culture in the sense that this is a city where millennials flock to for work. It’s way more affordable than New York or L.A. and to us, is a city that hosts a friendlier vibe than other bigger cities. 

Something we’re very proud of is the fact that we used all Atlanta-local talent for cast and crew — about 70 people that worked on set various days. We also shot all our locations in or around the Atlanta area. How much more Atlanta can you get?! 

Friendly faces you might recognize: William Tokarsky of Adult Swim’s viral “Too Many Cooks” makes an appearance in our third episode. RC Sayyah plays one of our favorite characters; you may have seen him in “Horror Hotel: The Web Series.” Theater regulars such as Molly Coyne (Eliza in My Fair Lady, Georgia Ensemble Theatre), Brian Hatch (King Henry in Ann Boleyn, Sychronicity Theatre), Sarah Newby Halicks (Sh!t-faced Shakespeare, 7 Stages Theatre), Erik Dillard (The Dingalogues tour). Fray Forde is a main character, Noah, and is a big, upcoming stand up comedian in the Southeast. 

The pilot also starts to get into the bullshit nuances of dating as a millennial. How much can we expect "Quarter Life*" to dissect and investigate this territory? 

“Quarter Life*” definitely dissects nuances of “courtship” as a millennial. However, each episode mostly  focuses on the progression of the friendship between Celia and Shelli. Don't worry — you will get to see the WORST DOUBLE DATE IN THE HISTORY OF DOUBLE DATES. 

What's up with the asterisk?

It's thematically symbolic. Asterisks are often used to provide further context as a footnote. To us, they mean that there is more to it than initially seen — you have to look further to fully "get" what's going on. A lot of the series is about breaking down and overcoming misconceptions from first impressions ... of people, of relationships, of moments in life, etc. Basically, this series points to the fact that people often surprise you, and you can't assume you know everything about a person; you need to look into their footnotes, follow up on their asterisks. It's something we want to happen for the audience, too, as they watch and discover the characters and situations in the show.

What are some short-term goals with the series? Long term? 

Short term goals: Shortly after our premiere, we are going to drop the entire season on our YouTube channel . We’re also planning on creating  a “Quarter Life*” tutorial playlist on our channel, documenting what it's like to produce your own web series and any advice we have for young creators like ourselves. 

Long term: We would love for the series to gain a wide popularity online and hopefully it will be picked up for further development. This has always been a passion project for us, and we never even expected it to have come as far as it has already come! We can’t wait to see what is in store. 

What's the biggest takeaway you hope audiences take from this week's screening? 

We hope we make you laugh. Understand that you, Ms. and Mr. Millennials, are not alone. We also hope you go home and can’t wait to watch the rest of the season!

"Quarter Life*" Season 1 premiere party and screening. $11.34. 7 p.m. Tues., Oct. 18. The Plaza Theatre, 1049 Ponce de Leon Ave. N.E. www.quarterlifethewebseries.com.

Editor's Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. This piece also originally ran with incorrect dates which have since been remedied.