UCLA student co-creates ‘Mrs.’, a 10-episode Web series

They had worked on the script from the East and West coasts for months, using a Dropbox folder to collaborate. One would write a draft of the script and wait while the other critiqued, edited and eventually perfected the episode. This went on until Chelsea Taylor and Talia Rothenberg felt they had a full season of dramatically comedic shows.

This past summer, Taylor, a fourth-year theater student, successfully filmed in two weeks 10 episodes of her upcoming comedy Web series “Mrs.,” which will premiere this winter. “Mrs.” features three women whose ultimate goal is finding husbands, and is co-written and co-produced by Rothenberg, a fourth-year drama student at New York University.

Taylor and Rosenberg met four years ago while taking a Shakespeare class at a summer program in London, and kept in touch despite their distance, working on the idea separately from opposite coasts. The Web series merges the work of several UCLA and NYU students and portrays the pressure of finding a perfect relationship that three college-aged women in the show experience.

The series is centered around these three women, Madeleine, Renee and Seraphina, who attend UCLA and hope to attain a “ring by spring,” to be engaged before graduating. Taylor said many of the episodes are inspired by events that have happened to Taylor and some of her close friends.

Taylor said she hopes the web series will be relatable to both women in college and those who have attended college. The three main characters explore college relationships, and figure out what is right for each other as they cope with friendships, ex-boyfriends, disastrous dates and over-analyzed text messages.

“There are some episodes that are verbatim dialogue from conversations I have had with my friends, and all of the episodes are based on scenarios that have actually happened or we have imagined,” Taylor said.

Last year, Taylor said she read a book about ways women can hold their own in a relationship, which both frustrated and intrigued her. She then approached Rothenberg, who was working on a short film at the time, with the book. She said Rothenberg was also talking to a lot of people about relationships and how relationships are shaped within New York City. Taylor said that she had the plot while Rothenberg had the concept.

Originally Taylor and Rothenberg began writing the script for the Web series with the intention of practicing screenwriting, but decided to begin filming when they received positive feedback from friends and family.

Taylor and Rothenberg, along with a crew of lighting designers, a producer, actors from NYU and a few of Taylor’s friends from UCLA’s theater department, filmed from 8 a.m. until midnight, with few breaks throughout the day. Not only did they act as main characters in the series, but it was both Taylor and Rothenberg’s first time directing their own original work.

Rothenberg said the production process was smooth and fell organically into place. Everything was a team effort and it felt like a professional learning environment, she said.

“While co-directing with (Taylor), I learned no decision could be wrong,” Rothenberg said. “Just moving into production and knowing that we had a limited amount of time to do everything, we made decisions to make a decision and stuck with it.”

The episodes were shot at various locations around Los Angeles, including Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Boulevard and Taylor’s apartment in West Hollywood.

Although the series is based in Los Angeles, students from NYU traveled to UCLA to participate in the filming. Rothenberg said the merge was seamless and there was a high level of excitement within the crew.

“It was a really cool experience merging UCLA and NYU, since they are similar educations, but set up differently,” Taylor said. “We were teaching them what we’ve learned and they were teaching us what they have learned.”

Taylor said one of the biggest challenges was assembling a crew and creating shooting schedules, since she had never done that before. In the end though, everything somehow came together, she said.

“The most difficult thing (about the project) was to put the producer hat away, be an actor and not worry about time,” Taylor said. “I had to switch roles within ten minutes, and as soon as the word ‘action’ was said, I had to put my organized (self) away and become Seraphina.”

UCLA alumnus Matthew Barry, an acting coach and casting director, mentored Taylor and Rothenberg throughout an episode called, “The Engagement.” He said both Taylor and Rothenberg are talented screenwriters and actors.

“‘Mrs.’ is a testament to their abilities and their craft,” Barry said. “Every actor is talented, but they need confidence, something (Taylor) and (Rothenberg) have.”

Taylor and Rothenberg said their desire to keep learning and practicing provided continuing motivation for the web series. Rothenberg said the professors at NYU preach that the students should not wait for someone to give them an opportunity, but instead should take the time to grab a camera and begin filming.

“If no one is going to give me an opportunity, I will make an opportunity for myself,” Rothenberg said. “It’s a daunting, but great experience.”