Show about gay men in New York has taken on ‘a life of its own,’ write/director/actor Goldman tells MTV News. By Vaughn Trudeau Schoonmaker Adam Goldman appears on “The Outs” Photo: Adam Goldman is the writer, director and an actor on his own hit series, “The Outs.” If you are young, gay and Internet-savvy (as most young gay men are these days), then you have probably heard of his show since the first three episodes are already out. If you are not any of those things, you should still check out the show. Once the gay blogs (Out.com, Queerty, Towleroad, etc.) caught on to “The Outs,” the show took on “a life of its own,” according to Goldman, with viewers begging for more. The most interesting thing about the show, aside from its surprisingly high production value and its well-written dialogue, is that “The Outs” is an independently produced Web series that’s making a sizable impact on a generation of viewers who are watching more and more of their entertainment online. This six-episode dramatic Web series is funded entirely by successful Kickstarter campaigns and out-of-pocket expenses from the 26-year-old Bard College graduate and the creative team he assembled. “The Outs” tells the story of a couple of recent exes in New York and a good friend of theirs. The exes just so happen to be gay men. Goldman explained the void he aimed to fill when he created the show. “I asked people, ‘What’s your favorite TV show about gay people?’ Or ‘name me a TV show [exclusively] about gay people,’ ” Goldman recalled. “Nobody really has an answer, and I think that’s just sad.” Goldman noted that while TV has become more LGBT-friendly in the last few years, with a handful of excellent gay characters on “Modern Family,” “Glee,” “Smash,” “True Blood,” “American Horror Story” and more, none of these shows is centered around a gay story line. “I think that what we’ve seen from the moment we started the project is a desire for it, and there’s an audience for it,” Goldman shared. “We just want to prove that there’s space in media for stories like this. It’s a story about people who happen to be gay, and we’re super-proud and pleased to appeal to a gay audience.” As far as being on the edge of the online entertainment frontier, Goldman described his stance on the exciting position: “We’re just trying to stretch the definition of what a Web series can be, so we’re trying to shoot it as a TV show that happens to be online.” As HD camera technology continues to improve and the costs of the equipment drop, piecing together a quality show is not the impossible dream that it was only several years ago, though the process is not easy to fund alone. With the viewer base growing rapidly, Goldman and his team just surpassed their latest Kickstarter goal in just 48 hours. That puts the team ahead of its budget for the production of the show’s upcoming fourth episode. Now is the time to keep an eye on Goldman and independent producers like him who are leading the new “TV on the Internet” movement. And if you haven’t already, check out “The Outs” at www.theouts.tv .
